Atacama Desert and Uyuni Salt Flats Bolivia
We did a 3 day 4-wheel drive trip across the Atacama Desert to Uyuni Salt flats in Bolivia. It was amazing.
We first went to the Hito Cajon the border of Chile/Bolivia, once the formalities were complete we were organised into our 4×4 there was 7 people in the 4×4 which included the driver. It was a great group of people, we all got on like a house on fire. Our first stop was to Laguna Blanca and Verde the water was emerald green and you could see the reflection of the Volcano in the Laguna. We continued onto the and had a lovely soak in the hot springs. Following this we went to Sol de Aguas Termales Mahana to witness the bubbling hot mud pools that shot steam many meters into the air. It was a great first day. We had basic accommodation that evening and this was our first time to stay in a six bed dorm. It all went very well.
It was an early start to day 2. Our first stop is Laguna Colorada a fascinating lake of red water that had the most flamingos I have ever seen feeding along the edge. We travelled to Siloli desert area that had surreal rock formations, this is where the rock tree lives. We continue to see volcano (still active) Ollagüe it is 5,900 meters above sea level. Yes back to the dreaded altitude again. They say that your body should remember the last time you were at altitude and you should acclimatise quicker than the last time, I am not sure I agree with this, as I had a pounding headache for most of the time I was at altitude. We stopped at a beautiful place for Lunch, just beside a stream. We stopped in a small ghost town to try the local bear, Cactus bear. The town use to have a train station were the local minerals were exported. The mining operation is now closed and there are only 10 families left in the town. It was a bit sad as I am sure at one time it was a thriving town. Martin reckoned the beer was pretty good. We continued on to our accommodation for the night hotel Tambo Loma, the rooms were nice and big, food was good and a hot shower was very nice.
Day 3: We are all very excited as it looks like we are going to be able to get out onto the salt flats. Even though there has been some rain it is still possible. We left the accommodation at 5.30am so we could see the sunrise over the salt flats and boy was it worth it. I had not realised that the salt flats were do big. We drove for 120 kilometres and on they went. They are 10,500 square kilometres and are 3,656 meters above sea level. It was amazing, we were so lucky, there was a small amount of water on the salt flats in some areas therefore the reflections in our photos were amazing.
When we got Uyuni Bolivia we went to the local markets. Uyuni is a nice little town, it seems to be a transit place as we met a lot of travellers. We went to have a look at the Train graveyard. We said goodbye to our travel partners and hoped we might meet them on the road again. Overall it was a wonderful trip.
Next day we took an overnight bus to La Paz which is the Capital of Bolivia. It was our first overnight bus to take, we paid a little extra for the bus fair so that we could have a seat that lay flat, this made the journey a lot more bearable. We checked into our Airbnb at 7am, the host was very nice and told us everything we needed to know about La Paz.
We went out to looking for breakfast, Martin was very happy with himself as we came across an English pub that did a big breakfast of Bacon, eggs, hash brown, tomatoes, mushroom, Tea and toast. That’s him sorted for the day.
We booked in to ride the world’s most dangerous road an exhilarating mountain bike tour of Bolivia’s Death Road. I really had to summons up the courage to do this as I have never been on a mountain bike before, let alone come down Death Road. It was snowing when we started the descent, we were at 4,800 meters above sea level. The views were amazing, were able to admire the dramatic changing landscapes, from snow-covered mountains to tropical jungle. As we decended the weather got much better. It was tough going, we had to ride through rivers, under water falls and carry our bikes over landslides. In the end I was glad I did it, but I am not sure if I will ever feel the need to do it again.
Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable fresh water lake in the world at 3,800 meters we had a wonderful day here, the town the bus dropped us off at was Copacabana, we had a really nice lunch here, if we had of known how nice this town was we would have stayed the night. We then took a boat out to Isla del sol which is on the lake, it is a beautiful island with a lovely small harbour, It reminded me of some of the small harbours in Dubrovnik.
Our time in Bolivia has gone in all too quickly and it is time for us to move on. I would definitely recommend a visit to Bolivia.