Uyuni

Potosi or Uyuni?

Potosi had always been on our radar, one as a centre for which to purchase anything shiny and silver, a bunny can always dream and hope, and second as a bunny hop breaking up yet another long tedious bus journey. In the end we decided to bunny hop, skip and jump over Potosi and suck up yet another sauna bus of endless miles and misery. This bus was due to leave Sucre at 10pm, but left at 9.45, and was supposed to arrive at 8 am, but pulled into the station at 5.30 am. Prior to leaving Sucre (altitude 2790) for Uyuni ( 3700) we asked our host what the bus journey would be like. Frio !! Muchas Frio! he was quite adamant.... (cold, very cold) I thereby erred on the side of caution, and wore layers. Yep, another bloody (sorry) sauna! My patience and tolerance for these buses is wearing thin. Yet it would seem only I was ridiculously hot. My seat was on the only bus heater, and the heat stayed local to me. Two seats in front, and two behind the passengers were piling on scarfs, hats, jumpers, coats and wrapping themselves up in furry blankets. Me? This bunny? I wore shorts and my thinnest cotton vest top. and darn near melted. Hardly surprising that I got many curious looks as the bus doors opened at Uyuni at 5.30 am and temperatures in the minus!!! Grab the layers onion girl, grab the layers!

Uyuni

 When you arrive at a destination at 5.30am after a long, hot stuffy sleepless journey, wake a sleepy hotel owner to beg for an early entry, who in turn then agrees to come and get you from the bus station, it does not put you in the best frame of mind to appreciate your surroundings. I clocked nothing was open (well it was 5.30am) and I did get the feeling that the town was quite desolate looking..(understatement). Jhony, apartment owner did try to engage us in conversation asking if we had a trip booked, but he quickly got the hint to shut up, let us get some sleep, and we would converse with him later that afternoon. So so cold. Utterly grateful that for the first time on our trip we had a room with heating! We have never been particularly cold anywhere we have been so far (except maybe the one night in Quilotoa) but Uyuni was something else. Comfy beds and a warm room, we slept so well that morning, walking at 1pm ready to face the day. We arranged for a one day tour to the Salt Flats the following day, and headed into town searching for some bunny fodder. Oh my goodness where on earth are we? Unmade roads of sand, no markings, no traffic lights or roundabouts, small scruffy buildings, I felt myself wanting to hum the theme tune from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly such was this strange sand ridden town. Barely any traffic, the few cars we did see were so so old, rust buckets mostly, old buses with doors that no longer closed. A true old western looking town. We did come across a couple of slightly more finished buildings, restaurants, and cafes, but nothing particularly sparkling. Diving into an `italian` restaurant that promised pizza or similar, I did manage to procure a rather good cup of coffee, with milk! but alas my choice of `chicken soup` made my stomach churn. Best described as dishwater, with a boiled egg, a boiled potato, and (eek) a boiled chicken leg, complete with soggy boiled skin. From the sublime soup of Sucre, to this... little bunnies orange chicken, was distinctly lemon flavoured, she`s not a fan, while Mr bunny fared a little better with his beef (we hope) steak and rice.

Uyuni Salt Flats, Train Cemetary,

Picked up from the hostel at 10 am, we collected our other 4 passengers, and headed out to the Train Cemetery. Having watched so many different You Tubes about the Salt Flats, and in particular the Train Cemetery, it was a brilliant feeling to finally be there and see these rusting deserted abandoned trains for ourselves. We didn`t have the longest of time there, but did have long enough to explore these old relics of times gone by, you can climb on the trains if you so wish. From the trains we made a quick pit stop to collect food and wellies, before we headed off to the Salt town of Colchani. Yes, it entirely true that this town thrives, or at least used to, from the production and preparation on the mined salt, but a more accurate observation, this little town is quite clearly making all its money from the endless stalls of T.S. * tourist sh.t the vast number of tourist land rovers and range rovers parked along the road bearing testament to that . From Colchani it was time to drive to the Salt Flats themselves. What an experience! We drove from sandy covered almost tarmac roads, to a surface of pure salt, and a pristine vision of endless nothingness. We passed by the worlds largest salt hotel, but alas didn`t stop to investigate. Carrying on into a white oblivion, the lack of scenery and landmarks became quite unnerving. There are no roads across the Salt Flats, but endless tourist visits has marked a flattened slightly dirty car wide path along which we travelled. Sunglasses were an absolute must. The endless white of the salt flats coupled with the bright sunshine made for a blinding vista. On and on we drove, heading for who knows what. How did he know where to go? suddenly our grubby path went off at an angle, and so did we. The spanish speaking mother of the family who we were with did voice what we were all thinking, `how do you know where you are heading for`. Our young guide and driver simply smiled and said, `road and sun`...hmm....not vague or reassuring at all. But all of a sudden, there it was, looking out of the whiteness a vast spectacle of colour. Flags. From every country, and the giant obelisk of Dakar. From 2009 to 2019 the Dakar rally ran across South America, and the salt flats of Uyuni. We lunched ( rather well in fact) at the salt restaurant. Each tour group had brought their own food, obviously by mutual discussion of what food was to be served, given that every table, made of salt, along with salt stools, appeared to be eating the same things. Hot rice, meat, potatoes, salad, coke and water were available, with oranges for dessert. From the restaurant we headed out once more onto the vast whiteness of the Salt -Flats. For 45 minutes we drove heading to who knows where. Tried playing I Spy, but Salt and Sky where the only things to spot ending the game ended quickly. A lump? Is that a lump we could see? It was, yet it took forever to get there. We passed, most unbelievably 2 people on bicycles!!! How? Why !!! We had no answers, just shocked disbelief. Finally our lump turned into a desert island called Incahuasi. or Cactus Island. Quite amazing to see this large lump of rock, with its many many tall handsome cacti. We paid our price, got the ticket, `no ticket no loo` declares the sign, and started our ascent of this big black volanic rock. Quite the challenging uphill hike, was a hot cloudless sky, and the altitude and thin air quite debilitating. 2 bunnies almost made it to the top, but decided that a view of endless nothing wasn`t really a view at all. Little bunny pushed onto the top, but didn`t come back sounding particularly enamoured about the view, muttering something about, its the same in every direction. We left Incahuasi and pushed on again deeper into the salt flats. and Stopped. Here, in the middle of nowhere, in a pristine untouched environment, we had the most fun ever taking forced perspective photos. Being `chased` by a dinosaur was so much fun, but looking back at the photos, mrs bunny has to accept that acting isn`t her strong point. Mr bunny however had the actions off to a tee. Last stop, as the sun begins to set, we headed off in the approximate direction of land, and stopped in a pool of water. We donned the wellies, and as the sun was setting and the temperatures plummeting, we also added our extra layers of puffer coats and gloves. Standing in a pool of salt water, watching the most spectacular cloud free sunset, reflected in the ponds of water, was quite something special. The colours of the sunset so vivid against the white of the salt. To the west the sun set in a blaze of colour, whilst to the east the full moon rose with equal speed. to see both at the same time, with nothing to interrupt the view was nothing short of awe inspiring.

One full day on the Uyuni Salt Flats, is a day we will never forget. the cost? £20 pp. there are 2 and 3 day options, but our mantra is a little of everything and a lot of nothing. One day was enough to have a day to remember.

So ends our very brief time in Bolivia. short, sweet and spectacular. Would I return? not sure. True the food in Sucre was quite special, but do I want to face the awful buses again? Somehow I doubt it.