BOLIVIA, SALAR DE UYUNI, THE WORLD'S LARGEST SALT FLAT
The next day in the early morning we started our four-day trip from San Pedro de Atacama to Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni. It covers over 10,000 square kilometers and is the largest salt lake in the world. The salt crust reaches about 10-meter thickness in most places and when covered with a thin layer of water during the rainy season it provides a mirror-like surface that stretches for miles. It took a whole day to pass the border and reach the first hotel located near Salar, Tayka de Piedra (Tayka of Stone).
We passed some beautiful lagoons (white and green), hot springs, and the amazing Cascade Canyon before reaching the hotel and watching the amazing sunset and then sunrise the next morning at the Salar. We opted for a very expensive private tour with a driver and guide since Bolivia’s lacking tourist infrastructure only provided two options: backpackers or “luxury”, even though the notion of luxury has a very different meaning over there. Tayka hotels are beautifully designed and are in perfect union with the surrounding nature. Still, hot water and heat are only available for a couple of hours a day since the only energy they use is solar.
Here we are, joining the backpackers’ crowd at the Bolivian border to see some of the world’s most incredible scenery: white, green, and red lagoons and the magnificent Salar.
On our second day in Bolivia, we started our Salar adventure and were lucky to cross the Salar as there was just enough water left to be able to do it and still see the amazing mirror effect. Our driver and guide were exceptional in providing ample chances to take pictures and enjoy the incredible place.
They took us to the amazing Incahuasi (House of Inca) Island in the middle of Salar where we had a great lunch of quinoa soup and llama steak and climbed the island’s highest point to savor one of the greatest views of Salar. There, at the top, together with a couple of Japanese honeymooners, we enjoyed beautiful Inca ceremonial music played by our guide who used to be a miner, and a musician, and had taught himself English in a country where nobody speaks English. We spent the night at the Salt Hotel hammered by hail in the evening.
The below gallery shows Incredible Salar views, walking on water, between the Earth and the Sky.
As it was impossible to go any further after last night’s rain and hail, our driver returned us to the Salar’s edge the following day. On that day, we took some amusing and creative perspective pictures before moving on to the Hotel Tayka del Desierto (Tayka of the Desert).
We stopped to observe flamingos at the Laguna Hedionda (Stinky Lagoon) and capture pictures of grazing llamas despite the bad weather, which included rain and poor visibility. At 14839 feet (4522 meters), Tayka del Desierto is the tallest hotel in the world. The altitude made it nearly impossible to sleep, but that is the price you had to pay to continue to be at the top of the planet.
And finally Dali Desert, near the border, light and shadows, our last glimpse of Bolivia before crossing back into Chile.
