Excursion to Uyuni, Bolivia
The next day I was off and running at 6am to begin my 4D/3N tour to and from Uyuni, Bolivia. The salt flat of Uyuni is the biggest in the world at just over 4,000 square miles (by my calculations almost 75 miles in diameter). It is huge, with a fairly uniform water depth of about 1/2 inch. Yes, 1/2 inch, which provides for some fairly specular illusions, especially with good weather.
I was picked up by a bus to the local Chilean immigration control, where I had to wait in line for an hour to get my passport exit stamp, and then driven to the Bolivian border, where I had breakfast and waited in another line to get my visa and passport entry stamp into Bolivia. Because I am an American, my visa cost a hefty sum of 160 dollars. Apparently, the US and Bolivia do not have the best of diplomatic relations, but to the extent that any Bolivians have to enter the US, they have to pay 160 dollars as well, which certainly hurts them more than me.
The office visa fee for Americans to enter Bolivia is actually 160 dollars, but the immigration agent tacked on 10 extra dollars for no apparent reason, and then tacked on 10 more dollars because I did not have my travel itinerary with me. It is so funny how he acted as if these were additional official fees sanctioned by Bolivia. I didn't have enough US dollars, so I had to pay the additional fees in Chilean Pesos. He even gave me back change. But this is the way it is in third-world countries, and officials of the state do not see this as corruption, but rather a privilege that allows them to make more money, and therefore, feed their families. 20 dollars, and whatever portion they take from the official 160 dollar visa fee, will feed a lot of mouths. I am quite sure that the Immigration Control office keeps a pot of money that they collect from tourists, which is then divvied up between everyone at the end of the day. It is what it is, and I was just happy to be allowed passage in Bolivia.
After everybody got their stamps, five of us piled into a 4-wheel drive as our backpacks were secured up top on the room. It was me, an Italian guy, a Chilean girl, and two Korean women.
We would end up spending the next four days, 24 hours each day, together. Somehow we all communicated with each other. I only spoke English, and a little Spanish. In addition to his native tongue, the Italian guy could communicate fairly well in Spanish. He could also speak English, although not as well as Spanish, and the Chilean girl spoke very little English. She could not understand me even when I tried to use the most basic of Spanish. So the Italian guy served primary as an interpreter. The Korean women spoke English, but spoke no Spanish. But they could not understand the English of the Italian guy, so I served as and interpreter between the Korean women and the Italian guy, and to the extent that I could understand, the Chilean girl. So, somehow we could communicate with each other.
At the first stop, we were treated with a view of Laguna Verde, which gets its color from copper sediment (corroded copper is green).
We were next treated to a dip in a geothermal pool. Again, I was unprepared and forgot to bring my swim trunks, which were packed away in my duffle bag back in Chile. We were fairly high in elevation (somewhere between 14,000' and 15,000'), so it was cold out. It gets easier to strip your clothes off in public the more you do it. This time I didn't go to the changing room to do it. As the Korean women were sitting poolside, I just dropped trou right there and jumped in.
This time, I was wearing my less conservative grey underwear, which I attempted to dry off after my dip in the pool before putting it in my backpack.
We then visited a pretty cool geyser field.
What is a four-wheeling trip without a flat tire?
While the driver fixed the tire to take in the scenery, I walked ahead about a half mile to take in the scenery.
After fixing the tire, I was picked up down the road, and we were on our way. We stopped for some lunch, and while lunch was being prepared, I went on a little hike, and spotted this green thing growing on a rock.
I didn't know what to make of it. It almost looked like coral. After some investigation, it seems to be moss with a very hardy root structure. I still do not know what it is called, but it was pretty cool to see.
After lunch, we stopped by a train track. I'm still not sure why, but most people marveled at it as if they had never seen one. I took a quick snap shot of it, and went back in the car where it was much warmer.
We stopped just outside of our next hostel to get necessary items, such as alcohol. Others bought beer, while I bought a bottle of anis flavored vodka for a couple bucks. It was actually good. While waiting outside of the store, I witnessed a tiny little dog hassling full grown llamas.
On the way to Uyuni, I did see some blue sky, which gave me hope . . .
. . . but when we got to the hostel, the sky opened up with a torrent of hail.
It was a very basic hostel--this time with no windows. It was essentially a prison cell. But the cool thing about it was that the structure was composed entirely of salt. There is so much of it around the area, that it makes for a convenient and inexpensive building material.
During dinner that night, I needed salt for my French fries, and ironically, there was no salt shaker to be had. So I asked the Chilean girl in my Spanglish if she could scrape some off the wall. It was a good laugh. The Korean girls appreciated my American humor. One wanted me to take me back to Korea and manage me as a comic. I told her not to quit her day job. In Korea, they are a bit closed, and not as brash. I'm a bit unfiltered, and they were not used to that--I guess in a good way.
The itinerary gave us an option of seeing Salar de Uyuni (the salt lake portion outside of Uyuni) at sunrise or wake up a little later, so we discussed this at dinner over our beer and anis-flavored vodka. My thought was that we should wake up for sunrise only if there was a good chance that we would actually see the sunrise. However, the driver told us later that there would be no option to see the sunrise, as the cloud cover would make that impossible. Not a good sign.
So we woke up the next morning, not before sunrise, but just after at 6am, and went on our way. Driving down into the valley, we saw a nice view of the flats, but did not see much blue sky. My heart sunk as Salar de Uyuni was supposed to be the highlight of the trip, and really, the whole reason why I ventured into Bolivia in the first place.
As we drove unto the salt flats, my fears were confirmed, as there was not one bit of blue sky. As we drove, I kept peering up at the sky through the window, just looking for that glimmer of hope. The flats were cool, but not spectacular as I had wished.
The mirrored water effect was indeed cool. Imagine standing on the mirror that extends as far as the eye can see. It is a very unique phenomenon that you cannot see anywhere else in the world but here. But I wanted to see blue sky and puffy clouds in this mirror. At that moment, I knew that I had to revisit Uyuni to see it in all of its glory, and I do plan on coming back, but next time, I will make sure that the weather is optimal.
We were still able to create some cool optical illusions.
After finishing with the salt lake, we drove into the town of Uyuni. They were having some type of off-road race, which apparently is a huge deal in Bolivia, as the town of Uyuni was completed closed down to traffic. Everybody has, and actually needs, an off-road vehicle here, since there is only one major road made of asphalt. We walked around and took in all of the sights, including this cute little baby llama, which I hereby nominate as the cutest animal in the world.
We all had lunch, and the two Korean women parted ways, as they were heading north to Peru, and we were going back to San Pedro in Chile; but not before we took one last picture together.
We (me, the Italian, and the Chilean) then headed back to San Pedro, staying the night in one more hostel along the way. Although this one did not have any Wifi, it did have a window in the room, and a nice hot shower, which I took full advantage of, as I hadn't showered since San Pedro.
For some crazy reason, we had to wake up at 4:30am in the morning. I'm not sure why as were not going to do anything later that day except drive to San Pedro. I did get to one last look at the geothermal pool on the way back.
We proceeded to the border where we had to get an passport exit stamp. I was anticipating that I would have to pay a fee to get out of Bolivia, but the same guy who took an extra 20 bucks from me, mumbled something, and I gave him the same puzzled look that I give everyone who speaks Spanish to me. Perhaps he took pity on me, or perhaps he just figured I paid enough money, but he stamped my passport and waved me off without requesting any money. I spoke with the others, and they actually had to pay money before he stamped their passport.
We then returned to San Pedro, and it felt like home to me.
#vagabonding #vagabondism #travel #instatravel #travelgram #tourist #tourism #vacation #traveling #Bolivia #Uyuni #Salt Flat
I was picked up by a bus to the local Chilean immigration control, where I had to wait in line for an hour to get my passport exit stamp, and then driven to the Bolivian border, where I had breakfast and waited in another line to get my visa and passport entry stamp into Bolivia. Because I am an American, my visa cost a hefty sum of 160 dollars. Apparently, the US and Bolivia do not have the best of diplomatic relations, but to the extent that any Bolivians have to enter the US, they have to pay 160 dollars as well, which certainly hurts them more than me.
The office visa fee for Americans to enter Bolivia is actually 160 dollars, but the immigration agent tacked on 10 extra dollars for no apparent reason, and then tacked on 10 more dollars because I did not have my travel itinerary with me. It is so funny how he acted as if these were additional official fees sanctioned by Bolivia. I didn't have enough US dollars, so I had to pay the additional fees in Chilean Pesos. He even gave me back change. But this is the way it is in third-world countries, and officials of the state do not see this as corruption, but rather a privilege that allows them to make more money, and therefore, feed their families. 20 dollars, and whatever portion they take from the official 160 dollar visa fee, will feed a lot of mouths. I am quite sure that the Immigration Control office keeps a pot of money that they collect from tourists, which is then divvied up between everyone at the end of the day. It is what it is, and I was just happy to be allowed passage in Bolivia.
After everybody got their stamps, five of us piled into a 4-wheel drive as our backpacks were secured up top on the room. It was me, an Italian guy, a Chilean girl, and two Korean women.
We would end up spending the next four days, 24 hours each day, together. Somehow we all communicated with each other. I only spoke English, and a little Spanish. In addition to his native tongue, the Italian guy could communicate fairly well in Spanish. He could also speak English, although not as well as Spanish, and the Chilean girl spoke very little English. She could not understand me even when I tried to use the most basic of Spanish. So the Italian guy served primary as an interpreter. The Korean women spoke English, but spoke no Spanish. But they could not understand the English of the Italian guy, so I served as and interpreter between the Korean women and the Italian guy, and to the extent that I could understand, the Chilean girl. So, somehow we could communicate with each other.
At the first stop, we were treated with a view of Laguna Verde, which gets its color from copper sediment (corroded copper is green).
We were next treated to a dip in a geothermal pool. Again, I was unprepared and forgot to bring my swim trunks, which were packed away in my duffle bag back in Chile. We were fairly high in elevation (somewhere between 14,000' and 15,000'), so it was cold out. It gets easier to strip your clothes off in public the more you do it. This time I didn't go to the changing room to do it. As the Korean women were sitting poolside, I just dropped trou right there and jumped in.
This time, I was wearing my less conservative grey underwear, which I attempted to dry off after my dip in the pool before putting it in my backpack.
We then visited a pretty cool geyser field.
As we were finishing up with the geysers, it began to hail, and unfortunately, that was a precursor to the inclement weather that we would experience the remainder of the trip.
 |
| The white lines in the distance are not the troughs of a corn field, but are tire tracks. It was kind of cool how the hail highlighted the tire tracks. |
 |
| A herd of vicuna (high altitude cousin of the llama) |
We arrived at our first hostel mid-day. We were previously told that the accommodations would be very basic, and we were not disappointed-six beds in one room, and only electricity from 7pm-9pm. We were a pretty cozy five-some, and one could even say that we all slept with each other.
 |
| We were trying to figure who was sleeping where. I picked the one in the far corner. |
One thing that was misrepresented to us was the Wifi situation. We were told that Wifi was included. However, it was only available between 7pm-9pm, and we had to pay for it, although it was only a nominal fee. Out of principle, I opted not to pay for Wifi. Little did I know that the next two hostels didn't have wifi at all. So I was a bit irked, since having Wifi for two hours out of three days at a fee does not constitute "Wifi Included." Not cool as some people thought my normally responsive self was dead.
We had lunch at 4pm, and then dinner at 6pm. Yep. I was not quite hungry for dinner after our large lunch.
We were given the option of going to see Laguna Colorado between lunch and dinner or in the morning the next day. However, Laguna Colorado needs to be seen in the sun, and the weather was not close to clearing up . . .
. . . so we decided to take our chances the next morning. This is what we woke up to next morning at 6am. It wasn't raining, but not as clear as we had hoped.
So we did not get to see Laguna Colorado in its full glory. But just try to imagine a blue sky behind the snow-capped mountain, and more vivid imagery as the sun's rays enhance the pinkish-orange color of the lagoon.
Next, we saw a cool looking rock formation . . .
While the driver fixed the tire to take in the scenery, I walked ahead about a half mile to take in the scenery.
After fixing the tire, I was picked up down the road, and we were on our way. We stopped for some lunch, and while lunch was being prepared, I went on a little hike, and spotted this green thing growing on a rock.
I didn't know what to make of it. It almost looked like coral. After some investigation, it seems to be moss with a very hardy root structure. I still do not know what it is called, but it was pretty cool to see.
After lunch, we stopped by a train track. I'm still not sure why, but most people marveled at it as if they had never seen one. I took a quick snap shot of it, and went back in the car where it was much warmer.
We stopped just outside of our next hostel to get necessary items, such as alcohol. Others bought beer, while I bought a bottle of anis flavored vodka for a couple bucks. It was actually good. While waiting outside of the store, I witnessed a tiny little dog hassling full grown llamas.
On the way to Uyuni, I did see some blue sky, which gave me hope . . .
. . . but when we got to the hostel, the sky opened up with a torrent of hail.
It was a very basic hostel--this time with no windows. It was essentially a prison cell. But the cool thing about it was that the structure was composed entirely of salt. There is so much of it around the area, that it makes for a convenient and inexpensive building material.
During dinner that night, I needed salt for my French fries, and ironically, there was no salt shaker to be had. So I asked the Chilean girl in my Spanglish if she could scrape some off the wall. It was a good laugh. The Korean girls appreciated my American humor. One wanted me to take me back to Korea and manage me as a comic. I told her not to quit her day job. In Korea, they are a bit closed, and not as brash. I'm a bit unfiltered, and they were not used to that--I guess in a good way.
The itinerary gave us an option of seeing Salar de Uyuni (the salt lake portion outside of Uyuni) at sunrise or wake up a little later, so we discussed this at dinner over our beer and anis-flavored vodka. My thought was that we should wake up for sunrise only if there was a good chance that we would actually see the sunrise. However, the driver told us later that there would be no option to see the sunrise, as the cloud cover would make that impossible. Not a good sign.
So we woke up the next morning, not before sunrise, but just after at 6am, and went on our way. Driving down into the valley, we saw a nice view of the flats, but did not see much blue sky. My heart sunk as Salar de Uyuni was supposed to be the highlight of the trip, and really, the whole reason why I ventured into Bolivia in the first place.
As we drove unto the salt flats, my fears were confirmed, as there was not one bit of blue sky. As we drove, I kept peering up at the sky through the window, just looking for that glimmer of hope. The flats were cool, but not spectacular as I had wished.
The mirrored water effect was indeed cool. Imagine standing on the mirror that extends as far as the eye can see. It is a very unique phenomenon that you cannot see anywhere else in the world but here. But I wanted to see blue sky and puffy clouds in this mirror. At that moment, I knew that I had to revisit Uyuni to see it in all of its glory, and I do plan on coming back, but next time, I will make sure that the weather is optimal.
We were still able to create some cool optical illusions.
After finishing with the salt lake, we drove into the town of Uyuni. They were having some type of off-road race, which apparently is a huge deal in Bolivia, as the town of Uyuni was completed closed down to traffic. Everybody has, and actually needs, an off-road vehicle here, since there is only one major road made of asphalt. We walked around and took in all of the sights, including this cute little baby llama, which I hereby nominate as the cutest animal in the world.
We all had lunch, and the two Korean women parted ways, as they were heading north to Peru, and we were going back to San Pedro in Chile; but not before we took one last picture together.
We (me, the Italian, and the Chilean) then headed back to San Pedro, staying the night in one more hostel along the way. Although this one did not have any Wifi, it did have a window in the room, and a nice hot shower, which I took full advantage of, as I hadn't showered since San Pedro.
For some crazy reason, we had to wake up at 4:30am in the morning. I'm not sure why as were not going to do anything later that day except drive to San Pedro. I did get to one last look at the geothermal pool on the way back.
We proceeded to the border where we had to get an passport exit stamp. I was anticipating that I would have to pay a fee to get out of Bolivia, but the same guy who took an extra 20 bucks from me, mumbled something, and I gave him the same puzzled look that I give everyone who speaks Spanish to me. Perhaps he took pity on me, or perhaps he just figured I paid enough money, but he stamped my passport and waved me off without requesting any money. I spoke with the others, and they actually had to pay money before he stamped their passport.
We then returned to San Pedro, and it felt like home to me.
#vagabonding #vagabondism #travel #instatravel #travelgram #tourist #tourism #vacation #traveling #Bolivia #Uyuni #Salt Flat
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