Uyuni Salt Flat - a wet desert

The last evening before our 4 day tour to the Uyuni Salt Flat was one of the wettest we've had during our trip. We had already exchanged a few Bolivianos for the trip but we still needed to visit the tour agency to pay the balance and leave our baggage with them. We did this under heavy rain and lightnings. The coming back to our hostel was quite an adventure as San Pedro de Atacama had suffered a power cut and we were trying to avoid the puddles in the dark. Once there, we had dinner by the candlelight and went early to bed. They were coming to pick us up at 6:30am.

A couple of Australians were waiting by the entrance at the agreed time, but no sign of the minibus that would pick us up. This came a few minutes after 7am without any apologies. We collected a few more people and we were soon on our way to the Hito Cajones border control.

The Chilean side took a little while to open but was quite easy to get through and a few kilometers later we arrived to the Bolivian building. One could have thought that he was getting into a farmer's tool house to get his passport stamped. After all the bureaucracy, we got a well deserved breakfast in the open cold by the 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser that was going to be our loyal companion during this trip.

The weather was not on our side that day. We managed to take a bath in the hot springs and to see the fumarolas but the lakes were somewhat a disappointment as the heavy rain did not let us enjoy them. At least we had a good time getting to know our awesome guide Filemon and the Australian couple Gino & Toni who were traveling with their find Jill. 

Day two was much better. We had pancakes with arequipe for breakfast and then we visited a few different rock formations including a camel and the football World Cup (in hands of the French at that moment). 

After climbing onto one of them and admiring the astonishing view of the surroundings, we took the dirt road again and checked out the laguna negra before lunch. What an amazing and varied landscape! Once our appetite was satisfied, we headed to the Cañón del Inca and drove to our next hostel la Piedra de Sal, way better than the previous night.

The highlight of the trip was due on the third day: the Uyuni Salt Flat. At 3,663 metres over the sea level and covering an extension of 12,000 km2, this flat is the highest and largest in the world. It is also said to have a maximum depth of 153m of salt. 

We set off at 5am with a promising clear sky that soon turned cloudy. As we drove towards our destination everyone's mood sunk to the bottom of the ocean. No sun meant no reflection on the salt flat and no amazing pictures! After a quick breakfast in a passing by town, we continued our way with the heavy clouds over our heads. Around 10am we stopped at the train cemetery for a few cool pictures and about an hour later we arrived at the salt flat.

The sky was still cloudy so we dragged our feet out of the car and walked to the Dakar sculpture and the salt building next to it. Half an hour later, Filemon asked us to get on the Toyota so we could drive to a more isolated place of the flat and try some pictures.

Just when we got off the car the sky started to clear and smiles started to pop up on our faces. We spent the following hour and a half taking some of the funniest pictures of the trip. Everyone could see that Filemon had years of experience arranging these sort of photographs.

Unfortunately the photo session came to an end and we went back to Colchani for some shopping and lunch. That was our last moment with Filemon and the Australian trio as they were all staying in Uyuni. That afternoon with our hearts still in the salt flat, we drove to the first hostel in Villa del Mar.

The following and last day we left again at 5am and got back to San Pedro de Atacama on time for lunch and for some disturbing news: due to recent heavy rain storms all tourist had been evacuated and no more tours were leaving to Uyuni. We had been one of the last lucky groups in making it there!

Albeit no more buses were operating from San Pedro, hopefully we managed to get onto a semiprivate bus and escape to Calama, so we could continue our trip on Valle del Elqui.