Uyuni is the gateway for the salt flat tours (the other two being Tupiza in southern Bolivia and San Pedro de Atacama in Chile) and the city has an elevation of 12,040 feet with a population of around 30,000 people; but otherwise there is nothing special about it. Street dogs reign supreme.

Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat stretching over 4,086 square miles (roughly 25 times larger than the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah). It was created from the remains of an evaporation of a prehistoric lake around 40,000 years ago. The fields of salt extend as far as the eye can see and are backed by distant mountains, creating one of the most unique vistas on Earth. It can be visited in the dry or rainy season; and the rainy season creates a dramatic mirror effect.

Getting In

I took the night bus from La Paz to Uyuni leaving at 8:30pm and getting in around 7:30am. The seats reclined pretty well and I was able to sleep for a good portion of the ride. I was still half asleep when I arrived and even though I told myself I would do my due diligence selecting a tour agency. However I immediately got harassed by multiple agencies selling their tour right when I got off the bus; I hadn’t even gotten my big backpack yet. I talked to a few of them and ended up following this woman to her office. She sold me a tour that had all the major highlight stop offs and was a good price. The tour was cheaper in Spanish and when I told her I wanted to be with other backpackers she told me that I would be (her first white lie).  

Uyuni Salt Flats Tour Day 1

I had a few hours to kill before the tour so I charged my phone and hung out on the couch waiting for our departure. It turned out that I was not in the backpacker group I was hoping for. I was in a group with three middle aged Brazilian women and two young kids from Sweden traveling for two months. At first I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t your typical backpacker crew but oh well I can enjoy myself with any group. I just wasn’t expecting to make any lifelong friends on this excursion. In hindsight should have gone to a hostel in La Paz and made a group of friends to ride down to Uyuni together with or at least asked Jess in Puno which tour she did because she loved her group. However in the end it’s good to meet a diversity of different people and not only backpackers.

The Swedes knew no Spanish and the Brazilians barely any, they just talked to him in Portuguese, and the guide knew no English, so I was actually the most adept translator. It didn’t really matter too much because the guide was more of a driver anyways. There was some information to be told, but not too much; and I was able to understand most of what he said.

I had some good conversations with the Swedes, and they were really nice young kids, but they were very cut and dry people; not a lot of flavor to them. The Brazilian woman ended up loving my energy even if we didn’t really understand what each other were saying (one of the women knew a little bit of English). Communication is more than just verbal and I chopped my way through some convos with the Brazilians with hand signals, common words, and facial expressions. If they laugh you laugh. This was indicative of what’s to come on the tours and excursions I will do in Brazil.

I popped on Sound Tribe and gazed off into the otherworldly landscapes: desert salt flats with mountainous backdrop on a bluebird day. The mountains in the distance looked like they were floating above the salt flats. Llamas and vicuñas were walking along the side of the road. Some of them looked like fluffy stuffed animals. The shrubbery felt like you were in Arizona or West Texas…just 12,000 feet high.

The guide had a bag of coca leaves that we could grab whenever we wanted. I liked it. It felt like you were chewing gum with an added kick plus it’s good for the altitude. The driver would continually put more in his mouth every few minutes and by the end of the day he looked like a puffer fish.

They last minute switched the order for what we’re doing because you know, why would they stick with the schedule they sold me (the next while lie). It didn’t really matter as long as we still did everything, but it was a classic change of plans. I later learned it’s because the rest of the group was a day ahead of me and they just threw me in with them to fill the car. So instead of doing the salt flats on my first day it would be my last day. The lady who sold me the tour was not entirely honest with me and it bugged me at first, but I could either be grumpy about that or let it slide and enjoy being in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I chose the latter. Although as the tour progressed it was hard not to feel a bit jipped. Little things came up like the fact that we would be dropping off the rest of the group at the Chilean border and I would be driving all the way back to Uyuni with the guide. Also I would be staying in Uyuni on night two rather than somewhere in the desert. The agency saleswoman definitely did not tell me that, otherwise I would have chosen a different one, but the learning experience was that I didn’t ask enough questions (which can be hard to do at 7:30am after a night bus). Whenever I started to feel upset about the agency I booked with, I would just look out the window at the stunning landscapes and everything was okay again. 

The drive started out on a nicely paved road for the first two hours but then we hit the ole dusty trail for another 30 minutes (and next 1.5 days) before arriving at Laguna Negra; an old volcano crater that’s now a lake filled with mud at the bottom. The wind was absolutely ripping. The desert landscape with massive mountains that had me jonesing to climb one of them. I imagined the route I would take and other than the crazy altitude, the path up most of them to the peak looked very doable. Of course who knows what that terrain is like up close. 

We had a good lunch spread with baked chicken, rice, fries, salad, veggies, and an apple; as well as Coca Cola and water to drink. It was a lot of food and actually quite tasty. I chatted up the Swedes throughout. After lunch, we continued along the dirt road with the occasional “white out” conditions from the dust and wind. Once or twice we had to stop entirely to let it pass. Our guide, Jorge, would occasionally provide us with some details about what we were looking at, but he was a man of few words. Although I’m not sure how much there really was to say since the tour is all about the landscape…which speaks for itself. 

We entered the Silali desert and drove by red rocks with interesting shapes and formations caused by erosion from wind and rain. In the middle of nowhere Jorge stops the car and pops the hood. “Houston we have a problem” – one of the Brazilian ladies. Jorge spent a few minutes fiddling around then we kept going again, but the car had a squeaking noise. Uh oh. My outdoorsmen brain starts kicking in about what to do if we got stranded here, my biggest concern being water. Luckily I have my filtered bottles and there were lakes somewhat nearby. After a few minutes the squeaking stopped and presumably all was well. 

The road started to get a little bumpier the deeper into the desert we got, but still was never too bad. I’ve driven way crazier roads in the Colorado and Utah. We continued driving for another 30+ minutes before stopping at Laguna Cachi which had a flamboyance (group) of flamingos. Jorge told us that there were three types of flamingos (of the six total) that lived in the area: Andino, Chileno, and James’s. There was a salt beach leading up to the lake and the mountains in the backdrop added another layer of beauty to the already magnificent scenery. 

We drove another 15-20 minutes before making a quick stop at Laguna Q’ara which had an even higher concentration of flamingos. One of the Brazilian women (the one that liked me the most), Lila, would ask me to AirDrop her my photos from each stop (this continued for the rest of the tour). We would get to a stop and she would say “you…AirDrop?” So I became her personal photographer of the landscape. I was okay with that. It was an easy way for us to bond.

Jorge was going much slower in the afternoon and he definitely knew something was up with the car. Once again, we had to stop for him to pop the hood and fix something. This time he was going at it for 20+ minutes. I love breaking down 15,650 feet high in the middle of the desert. At least the views were nice! In the end it makes for a better story and a more authentic Bolivian experience. If your vehicle didn’t almost break down at least twice, did you even go to the Uyuni Salt Flats? Little did I know what was to come the next day. Jorge said there was an issue with the one of the cables and eventually he did what he needed to do to get us going.

We continued driving through the high desert and there was a nice contrast between the snowy peaks and the red sand. The next stop was el Arbol del Piedra (Rock Tree). It was beginning to get colder so this was a real quick stop. 

Then we entered Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa where we had to pay a park entrance fee (this was communicated to me by the agency). The final stop of the day was Laguna Colorado, a red salt lake with another flamboyance of flamingos.   

We got a beautiful sunset on our drive to our lodging with the outlines of the mountains and shades of pink layered on top of light blue. You really can’t beat a desert sunset, and all three nights were special. 

It was a long day going from 9:45-6:30 with lots of driving, but all the stops were great! The dorm had six beds but luckily they split up us and the Brazilian woman so it was just me and the two Swedes in the room together. The building surprisingly had WiFi too, but they charged you 30 Bolivianos to use it and I figured why bother? Do I really need to be connected to WiFi out here? The mattresses were placed on top of a giant rock slab as the platform.

We had an hour to kill before dinner and there was hot water available for tea and hot chocolate. There was also another group at the lodge. All ten of them were non-native English speakers (Dutch, German, and Polish) taking the English tour and speaking English amongst themselves as the common tongue which always cracks me up to see. The dinner exceeded expectations – soup and lasagna paired with Bolivian red wine from Tarija (which was actually quite good). After dinner I took a quick look at the stars which were absolutely fabulous! You could even see a light haze of the Milky Way. We slept at 14,350 feet high that night and the Brazilians told me the next morning they really struggled sleeping at that altitude. I woke up once in the middle of the night and it took me awhile to fall back asleep, but otherwise was fine.

Uyuni Salt Flats Tour Day 2

We got up at 4:30 for pancakes and yogurt breakfast then left just after 5 then drove a little over an hour to catch sunrise at the geysers at Sol de Mañana. It was a crisp -9 degrees Celsius and just over 16,000 feet high at the geysers. It was awesome to see the contrasts of the steam from the mud pools and the rising sun.

Then we continued driving to the hot springs of Polques. The rest of my group didn’t want to go in but I wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity to get into some hot springs with an incredible view (sadly I didn’t take any photos). The boiling water felt great and quickly counteracted the below freezing temperature outside. It was a popular stop with lots of other groups also in the hot springs. I chatted up a girl from Bend who was doing extended travel while working. The next stop was the Salvador Dali Desert, which is a set of rock formations that look like they came from a Dali painting (although he never actually visited this area). The rest of the group was hanging on by a thread at this point so I was the only one who quickly got out and took photos.

The last stop with the group was Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde which had massive volcanos in the backdrop that straddle the border between Bolivia and Chile.

Then we continued for another 10-15 minutes to the border between Bolivia and Chile as they were all heading to San Pedro de Atacama. This is a common route amongst backpackers and others so that you don’t have to circle all the way back to Uyuni. We had to wait for them to get through the Bolivian passport control (I guess that’s the last responsibility for the agency to ensure they are at least able to exit Bolivia) so I was chatting up Jorge asking about the Bolivia relationship with Chile (historically speaking it has not always been great, especially since Chile won the Pacific Wars in the late 1800s and cut off Bolivian access to the ocean) and he says depends on the president. Jorge was not happy with the new Bolivian president saying he’s a liar.

The border control line was long and once the group was finally done, Jorge says we are waiting on some other guy to get through and then we can leave. 15 minutes later some old Chilean guy from San Pedro de Atacama (who I will refer to as border guy) hops in the car and I let him sit up front with Jorge. They didn’t know each other so I’m not sure how he became a part of our car but sure whatever. We had a seven hour car ride ahead so I just gazed out the window soaking in the sights and listening to music. I will never get tired of these landscapes.

The next series of events are notes I wrote in real time about our car troubles because when it rains it pours. 

I was fading in and out of sleep when I noticed we had stopped. I got out of the car to pee and saw we had a flat tire. Cool. Nothing like getting a flat tire in the middle of the desert. At least I learned the Spanish word for flat tire. Jorge had all the tools to handle a flat, but then he realized that he didn’t have the key to unlock the spare. Just another day in Bolivia. A few other tour companies drove by and finally one of them had a spare roughly the same size that we could borrow. After about 30-40 minutes we were off again. Just another 5 hour drive on rocky dirt roads, what else could possibly go wrong?!

Besides the one time Jorge got out to tighten the new tire, everything went smoothly to our lunch spot. Once again it was another nice lunch spread with a mystery meat, rice, potatoes, and a veggie mix of cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers. But then after we ate lunch, we got into the car and Jorge’s battery was dead. I think the border guy left his door creaked because the front passenger door really needs to be slammed. Might as well stack on another car problem for good measure. Jorge and another guide fooled around with it, and I don’t know what the hell they did, but eventually he got it working without a jump. Hopefully we don’t have to stop again in the next three hours.

I had noticed earlier that his gas was running low and about an hour out we stopped to get gas. There was a line of at least 30 cars not moving with people standing outside their cars and no one filling up at the pump. At least there was a big truck at the station refilling the pumps, but who knows how long that will take? I’m not sure if this is Trump’s fault or just another Wednesday afternoon at the gas station in the deserts of Bolivia, but either way this looked like it was going to take awhile. I decided to put on my stopwatch to get an accurate timing for our wait. 

A few posts back I said some of the best (or worst depending how you look at it) stories are transportation related and that continued to hold true. This afternoon had been a comedy of errors. I wasn’t even mad; it was all part of the experience and making for one hell of a story. Also I was really in no rush to get back to Uyuni (other than wanting to make the Salt Flats the next day) since the town itself isn’t very exciting. Finally the line started slowly moving. Meanwhile Jorge and the border guy were just shooting the shit with some dude in a blue mechanic jumpsuit exchanging coca leaves with each other. After 42 minutes since we had arrived at the station and I started my stopwatch, we hopped back in the car and Señor blue jumpsuit directed us through this shanty town to some random rundown location with more llamas than people where he had a secret stash of gas. Oh man you can’t make this shit up. That might have been the best part of the tour so far…the true Bolivian experience. 57 minutes later and we had a quarter tank of gas and were back in business. What more can happen on this last leg home?

It was another beautiful desert sunset as we approached Uyuni to cap off a very entertaining day. There were no final car troubles and we made it to Uyuni by 7pm. It was a super long day after hitting the road at 5am. It had taken nearly nine hours from the Chilean border which wasn’t too bad given all the car issues we had. To my delight, Jorge picked up my dinner (I thought I was going to have to scavenge around town) and dropped me off at a hotel. It was in a random area of town, but all I needed was a place to sleep. And since my whole group went to Atacama, I had a triple twin bed room to myself (and the beds were quite comfy). Plus the shower actually had hot water and one of the walls in the room was lined with bricks made of salt! Man what a day! I was actually glad to have had all the car troubles because we still made it back safely and it made for a great story.

Uyuni Salt Flats Tour Day 3

Thanks to the random last minute schedule change to my tour agenda, I hadn’t even done the Uyuni Salt Flats yet; the highlight attraction. I got scooped from the hotel at 10:30 in the morning and I was the first person picked up so I got the co-pilot seat in the front. Then we went to a tour agency to get the rest of the group: three generations of Peruvian women from Puno (grandma, mother, daughter) and a couple (mid 40s Australian guy and his younger Bolivian “girlfriend”) who were all just doing the day tour. At this point expectations were low to be with other backpackers so I wasn’t surprised. Me and the Australian guy, Mark, turned out to be good friends chatting at every single stop. His “girlfriend” Jocelyn didn’t know English and his Spanish was pretty limited so I think he was excited to have someone he could talk to. They had met when he was in Bolivia last September. He worked two weeks on, two weeks off in a gold mine in Australia where they paid for his transport to the mine, lodging, and food; so he would always travel on his time off. He was an interesting guy who was easy to talk to and had lots of great world travel stories.

The first stop was the train cemetery, the first Bolivian trains from the late 1800s that would go from Uyuni to the coast in Antifagosta (formerly Bolivia but now Chile after the Pacific Wars), but a decline in the mining industry left the train to rust in the desert. At first I thought it was super cheesy with everyone taking their train photos. Plus it was so damn crowded since it was the first stop for all the day and multi day tours to the Uyuni Salt Flats. It felt like Disney World. After the brief explanation of the history of the train cemetery, our guide (Cristian) gave us thirty minutes to walk around and take photos. I wandered off by myself through the mass of people.

I enjoyed climbing on the train cars and making it an adult jungle gym. Then I started chatting up this German girl and Dutch girl and we began doing a photo shoot which made the experience a lot more fun. We were doing different poses and being silly. Now I got it and understood the appeal of this stop! Although it did make me a little sad to see the potential of what this tour could have been like if I was in a good group. Normally this is the first stop on day one and I could see how it would be the start of a three day bonding experience. Sigh. Oh well you can’t win them all. 

The tour continued to Colchani, a small village at the edge of the salt flats, where Cristian explained the process of salt extraction. The salt from the flats is very wet so the first step is to create a fire to dry it out. The dried salt gets pressed through a machine multiple times to make it a finer consistency and sifted down to a form that gets packaged and sold. The Uyuni salt is not exported and only sold within Bolivia. Then we had 15 minutes to walk around the artisan shops and buy souvenirs. I purchased a fluffy little llama. I had wanted one in La Paz and figured I might as well buy it here.

Then we made our way into the salt flats where it felt like you were on the world’s largest beach with salt as far as the eye could see and mountains in the backdrop. It’s such a massive expanse of land that all the different tours can spread out where they drive and it doesn’t feel quite as crowded (although you still see 4×4’s driving all around). The salt makes this interesting hexagonal pattern in the Earth. We stopped for some photos and found a place to eat lunch. Once again we had a nice spread for lunch and the Peruvian abuelita blessed our food before eating. 

The next stop was the salt structures park where there was a salt block maze and other artistic structures (animals, a hand, a pyramid, etc) carved out of salt blocks. It reminded me a lot of the sand sculpture competition in Sarasota on Siesta Key beach. Cristian gave us an hour at this stop, which I thought was way too long, but the Peruvian group needed the full time and then some. The level of detail on the structures was very impressive but 15 minutes was fine for me. Mark and I ended up just shooting the shit about all sorts of different things to pass the hour.

We drove deeper into the Salt Flats and found a good spot to stop and take the silly perspective based photos that are always advertised for the tours. Cristian set up a toy dinosaur that we pretended to be scared of and ran away from. We took a few group videos (and kind of failed) one where we pretended like we were jumping in and out of a boot, and the other where I lifted a hat with the rest of the group inside then smashed them. Then we took individual perspective photos fighting the dinosaur, drinking a massive bottle of wine, and getting stepped on by another person. It was all pretty goofy, but a fun use of perspective in the desert.

The next stop was the original salt hotel which had a really circular layout in the restaurant area. It also had the Plaza de las Banderas which had flags from a variety of different countries (surprisingly I didn’t see the US flag; I guess they really hate us). The stop also had the Dakar Monument, which is a tribute to the famous Dakar Rally, an off-road race that passed through Bolivia in 2016. 

For the final stop of the day (and my tour), we drove to an area that still had a couple inches of resting water. Cristian instructed us on five different steps for doing a coordinated video, then he circled around us in his car while we did each step and took a timelapse video. It was actually much cooler than I expected it to be.

Afterwards he set up a table for a “picnic” with a bottle of Tarija red wine and some snacks while we watched the sun go down. The low levels of water created the mirror effect where it looked like a double sun. As the sun started setting, we got an amazing 360 view of desert sunset plus the reflection of the colors splattering on the water. It looked like a painting and was a great way to end the tour. We drove back to Uyuni and arrived around 7pm, giving me plenty of time to buy my 8 o’clock bus ticket to Tupiza.

While there were a few hiccups throughout the tour, and I do wish I was with a group of backpackers, overall I still had a great time because of the jaw dropping landscapes and the ridiculous car trouble stories. In the end, I still made some good friends on the tour – Lila told me to let her know when I’m in Rio de Janeiro and Mark might be meeting me in Sucre. I must admit that I was a bit salty (pun intended) on the first night when I found out that we were dropping off the rest of the group at the Chilean border and would be coming back to Uyuni for night two. But my whole perspective changed during all the crazy car troubles as it made for a great story. I would not recommend this tour agency for those coming to Bolivia just to experience the Uyuni Salt Flats and looking for a more upscale excursion. But it worked out just fine. I saw and did all the things I wanted to and came away with some good stories I’ll be telling back home. Not everything needs to be perfect every time. What’s the fun in that? It was also a good reminder to shop around more when selecting a tour agency and not to settle just because I feel pressured by the salesperson.