September 5, 2013 - Uyuni Salt Falts, Bolivia, Day 3

September 5, 2013 - Uyuni Salt Falts, Bolivia, Day 3

It was a very cold wake up call but followed by warm coffee with pancakes and cereal.  We all got ready in our swimsuits as one stop for the day includes a hot spring.

However, our first stop was in a volcanic region with steam vents everywhere!  The snow on the way up was as high as the car.  And we reached an elevation of 5000m before we stopped to take a look.  We walked through the vents for about 20 minutes.

It was absolutely freezing.  One guys watch said it was 14F.  Brrrrrrrrrrrr! That stop had me seriously doubting my ability to strip off my clothes and hop into a pool of water...no matter how warm it was supposed to be.

Thankfully, the sun came out and we went down in elevation which made the temperature much tolerable at the hot springs.  Though it was still cold.  We were the first to arrive and eager to try out the thermal pool.  The 6 of us quickly shed down to our swim gear and hopped into the pool.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.  So nice, warm, and relaxing.    It totally made you forget that there was still evidence of snow around.  We got to soak for a half hour and then made a very quick dash for the changing room and warm clothes.

We stopped at one spot called the Salvador Dali because the landscape resembles one of his paintings.

We made a few more stops to snap photos of the views and then headed to the Chilean border to drop off 3 people from our group.  The 2 swiss folks and Selami from Germany were heading to Chile after the tour rather than back to Uyuni.  We said our goodbyes and got one last group photo.  What a great group!

Now it was just a very long bumpy drive back to Uyuni.  We stopped for lunch at noon.  Tasty chorizo, veggies, and mashed potatoes.

Ronal, our guide and driver, has been cooking for us and giving information all along the way.  He has been a fantastic guide.  Of course the information is in Spanish but its been another learning opportunity. And there were enough of us that knew enough Spanish to usually get it all sorted out.   Our tour was with Andean Salt Expeditions.  The 3 day tour with transport, food, and accomodation, and guide for 700B (about 100US).   Highly recommended! We took a night bus from La Paz to Uyuni and will take another night bus tonight from Uyuni to Sucre.

September 4, 2013 - Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia, Day 2

September 4, 2013 - Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia, Day 2

Eggs and bread for breakfast around 7am.  We loaded up the car and headed out shortly after.

Vicunas!  A small relative of the Alpaca and Llama.

Our first stop was in a little village.  The only thing we bought here was a 25B bottle of wine to have with dinner tonight.  Thats about 3bucks folks!

Shortly after that was our first lagoon.  The lagoons are shallow and provide homes for thousands of flamingos in the warmer months.  The view was spectactular.  The water  perfectly reflected the mountains in the background and flamingos meandered through the shallows scooping up algae food.

This also served as our lunch stop. We gathered around the back of the truck and had a meal of chicken, noodles, veggies, and coke.  For being in the absolute middle of nowhere we are getting some quality and tasty meals.

We had some free time to walk around the lagoon.

The next stops where another lagoon with flamingos:

The desert of nothing:

The arbol de piedra (rock tree):

Then the highlight of the day, the Red Lagoon:

Its the algae in the water that gives it its color.  The more the wind blows  the more it stirs up the algae and the more vibrant the color. We caught it on a rather windy day!


Then it was to the hostel for the night.  This night we were the only group staying so we had the whole place to ourselves.  Once we got settled in we were served cookies with tea and coffee.  Then soon after was dinner of soup and spaghetti.  They also included a bottle of wine.  We devoured the foods then the 6 of us played cards and finished the wine.  We played a German game called MaoMao....very much like Uno.  We played until just after 8 and then headed to bed.  You may laugh that thats realllly early but they turned off the generator at 8:30 and its hard to do anything without any light. PLUS we are supposed to be on the road by 5:30 in the morning.