It may have been incredibly dusty, uncomfortable, extreme weather but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. What a stunning trip!
It began with an ovenight bus journey from La Paz to Uyuni, a notoriously uncomfortable ride. The first four hours are OK, just a bit bumpy and you settle down to sleep, the next six hours are unbelievable! A bus going extremely fast on a dirt track road full of pot holes, it feels as though you are sitting on a pneumatic drill and it sounds as though you are in the middle of a hurricane! By the time we arrived in Uyuni everyone was exhausted and everyone’s gear on the bus had either been thrown to the back or the front, or anywhere except where it had been put! I took the tourist bus rather than a local bus as it does provide a bit more comfort but I did feel as though I had gate crashed an 18 to 30’s holiday! I was by far the oldest person there!
Tours begin at 10.30am and the bus arrived in Uyuni at 7.30am. Such a strange town, a small salt mining community which eight years ago was unheard of and then the salt tours began. It is in the middle of nowhere and everyday bus loads of people (mainly young back packers) arrive to take the tour and then disappear again.. a strange community. I had done a bit of research and found a company that had average reviews. I asked all the right questions ‘does the driver get drunk’, ‘are there seat belts’ ‘is the 4 by 4 in reliable condition’… that sort of thing! I was given the standard responses and signed up and then went and got breakfast.
When I got back at 10.30am, as I had heard, the companies all join together so that all the jeeps have 6 passengers and it is luck of the draw who your companions are. I think I was pretty lucky, there were two Portuguese girls and one Portuguese guy, a Spanish girl and a German girl, they were all under 30 and all spoke English. They were very kind and most of the time spoke English so that I would understand. They also translated for me as the driver spoke no English. The down side was that our driver was not the best, he was sulky and gave very little information, mind you what a job, twice a week doing 3 days driving over incredibly rough terrain and driving at least 8 hours a day!
Our first stop a train cemetery which I didn’t really get (I think more of a boys toys kind of thing) and then onto the salt plains. It was all I had imagined and more. Hundreds of kilometres of salt and nothing else, except small islands dotted around, which appeared to float in the air. We drove for hours and you could not believe that you were not on ice or snow, we took lots of pictures, everyone taking strange reality shots. It was incredibly hot, probably about 40 degrees, which I hadn’t bargained for. It was beautiful and if you got away from people for a bit it was absolutely silent. At least a dozen 4 by 4’s do the trip daily and everyone makes the same stops, so you are never alone for long.
We spent the whole day driving across the salt plains, stopping at an incredible cactus island for lunch (the driver produces all the food and luckily 3 of us were vegetarians and the food for the 3 days was alright) During the afternoon Julio the driver did keep falling asleep at the wheel, but to be honest there is nothing to hit, so to be asleep for a few minutes at the wheel didn’t make that much difference!
We all knew accommodation would be basic, and it was! The first night was a salt hostel (cow shed) everything made from salt, the walls, beds, tables, seats, loose salt as carpet. But, there was some electricity, basic toilets and if you paid extra a strange hot shower contraption. Food was alright again, although the girls were complaing that it wasn’t salty enough!! Excuse me, just pick some up off the floor! There were plenty of blankets on the bed and it was two to a room. It was early to bed and I did get a bit of sleep.
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