Day 69. Tuesday 5th November. Uyuni. Bolivia. A day on the salt flats.

So much happening in the world!

First of all, it’s Guy Fawkes Day…not that you would know it in Bolivia..:)

Voting closes today in the American presidential elections. The world waits, with bated breath. Some will be very unhappy, some may go into hibernation, many will be thrilled. Where do you sit?…:)

The Melbourne Cup is run today. Will their be a Kiwi connection?

For us, we take on the worlds largest continuous salt pan, the Salar de Uyuni. It’s an exhausting day but one we wont forget, thanks to ‘Percy’ our young tour guide. A 10.45am pick up, in a Land cruiser…:( about 5 minutes before we were told our room, that we had only booked for the previous night, would not be available for us again tonight! A frantic rush to put everything in Poki before jumping in the Land Cruiser for the 30min drive to the salt flats. Land Cruisers are sterile, but there are dozens of them!…:)

I thought to myself, this would be a great place to hold world land speed records…but then realised, while vehicles would have less wind resistance, their internal combustion engines could not reach maximum efficiency, through oxygen starvation, just like us..:)

Salar de Uyuni.

They are breathtaking. So flat and large, you can see the curvature of the earth. Just as well we both took our darkest sunglasses and applied sunblock, as the reflection from the sun is blinding. But first we were taken to a railway junkyard. Trains and carriages from half a century of yesterdays mining transport and paraphernalia, from the Pulacayo mines, that Jen wrote about in yesterday’s blog.

Could that be an Aussie, or a Kiwi? …:) Nah!

Then onto a retail opportunity. A jumble of stalls to buy momentoes of our visit…thanks, but no thanks.

The salt flats are such a money spinner for the city/town that they have built, and are still building, a two lane tar sealed road to their beginning. The first stop, to see crystal clear water bubbling up through a hole in the crust. Thinking it could be drinkable? Not so, strongly brackish. I wonder why?…:)

For the rest of the day, with a cooked lunch in between, served in a salt block guesthouse, with rocks on the roof to keep the iron from blowing away.

Our young guide had us, and our other two companions, a Korean lady and young Peruvian, in contortions to create interesting photographic creations…

Our lunch table and chairs, made of salt. Salt on the floor…but no pepper! ..:(

Our young guide had us, and our other two companions, a Korean lady and young Peruvian, in contortions to create interesting photographic creations…

Never a truer statement…)

To get to the area containing the following “works”, and many more, we had to find our way through a salt maze. Entertaining and not at all easy!

She’s between the fingers, hiding..:)

The salt forms itself into either pentagon or hexagon shapes.

The crystals are razor sharp and you would easily cut yourself on them.

Dinner at sunset.

After the maze, we drove for half an hour to an area that is covered in water. For the occasion, we were issued gumboots, where we enjoyed some snacks and a very drinkable bottle of Bolivian wine. I didn’t have much cause Jen liked it so much..:) You can tell I didn’t have much, ‘cos my glass is empty..:)

As the sun went down we were treated to a glorious spectacle

It was after 8pm when we were returned to the hotel. Both shattered. Doing anything at 3800m is exhausting but holding unnatural poses for 5 different takes, so everyone got to keep the image, was going too far…:)

It was a brilliant day. Our young tour driver made it that, for us. He was excellent and was duly rewarded. His face on receipt, was worth the fee….:)

Before we could relax, we had to relocate our possessions from Poki, to another room. It’s smaller, but just fine, though lacking a toilet!

Tomorrow we face the uncertainty of getting to the Argentinian border, with the fuel we bought in Peru? The hotel owner is trying to get us some extra diesel, just in case.

Lillian and Rob.

Oh! and a belated note of appreciation to Lillian and Rob, who are driving their Land Rover Defender, currently heading for Montevideo, in Uruguay, for putting our minds at rest. Ever since starting our journey six years ago, we have been concerned about getting Poki into Chile. We were chatting on WhatsApp and they agreed to put the question out to the wider travelling public. “Are RHD vehicles allowed in Chile”? The answer soon came back. YES!!! Brilliant. Thanx boyz & girlz..:)

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2 Comments:

  1. Great photos and the one of Dennis in your hand is priceless. You are making me wish I had taken the opportunity to do the same last yeah. Keep up the great blogs

    • Hi Ash, where are you? Still upright on your two wheels. BIG biking country, here. Just saying..;)

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