Uyuni Salt Flat (Salar de Uyuni)
We are in San Pedro de Atacama.
And now the hardest part of the trip is about to begin, it would be 4 days to the city of Uyuni, passing through the Salar de Uyuni and crossing the southern border of Bolivia.
This stretch does not have a road, but walks through the plateau, which, in addition to being extremely hostile, also has a high altitude.
The accommodations are just basic and many do not have a shower. Besides being very cold.
First day
We left San Pedro de Atacama at 6:30 am by minibus and went to the border with Bolivia, which is 4,400 meters away, we changed the vehicle to a 4×4 with a capacity for 5 passengers.
We continue the journey through the Bolivian plateau in places such as Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca, located at the foot of the Licancabur volcano, continuing through the Dalí desert, where you can admire a truly surreal landscape, the thermal pools, the geysers of Sol de Mañana; intermittent fountains of water gushing at a temperature of 90 ° C and fumaroles, crevices through which volcanic lava flows.
At the end of the day, we arrive at Laguna Colorada, a breeding ground for more than 30,000 flamingos of 3 species.
Right there we stopped at the hostel, which was being built. Very simple place, the food was good and the night was extremely cold.
Second day
We leave in the morning to visit the place known as Lost Italy, rock formations of different sizes in the middle of the desert, where you can see many shapes such as the World Cup, camel, etc.
Then we head towards Vinto and through the viewpoint of the Anaconda Canyon, we will pass through the towns of Alota and San Agustín.
We arrived at the edge of Salar de Uyuni and stayed at the salt hotel that was under construction at the time, today it is very sophisticated.
Uyuni Salt Flat (Salar de Uyuni)
On the third day, departure at 8 am. A general visit is made to the Salar de Uyuni (12,000 km2), Inca Huasi Island, with giant cacti located in the center of the Salina with a formation of limestone rocks with remains of corals and sea shells, continuing towards Olhos do Sal, town of Colchani, a small town located on the edge of the Salina de Uyuni, 20km from the city of Uyuni, we arrived at the end of the day.
Taking advantage of the fact that we arrived on time, we bought a ticket to Lapaz leaving at 8 pm, the journey time is 10 to 11 hours and the bus didn’t have a bathroom.
It was a very difficult night, with people standing on the bus, stopped in the middle of the road to go to the bathroom and without a bathroom, it was on the road.
This was one of the worst bus trips I have ever taken. We arrived in Lapaz around 7 am.
We returned to the hostel we had been to at the beginning of this trip.
After meeting Lapaz and Copacabana in Bolivia.
In Peru, Puno, Cusco, Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley and Arequipa.
In Chile, Arica and San Pedro de Atacama.
And to know the south of Bolivia with the Salar de Uyuni, was to wait for the arrival of the return flights.
Ranji’s flight was the next day and I stayed one more day.
Here comes the end of this first backpacking trip.
And I was sure that many others would come.
