After a rather sleepless night on the 10h ride from La Paz we arrived in Uyuni which used to be a very important town during the mining area. Once we got off the bus we got pulled into one of the offices which offered tours. Since Lauren had done one of the tours already a few years ago and went through quite an horrible journey (bad hostels, limited food, drunk driver, almost accidents, early termination of tour…) we were very cautious. But everything looked ok and so we booked – three days and two nights for 750 Bolivianos (100€). It had rained all night so even the main road in Uyuni was flooded. Good that we had a proper 4×4!

 

 

First stop was the train graveyard. These trains are from around 1880.

 

 

 

And then off to one of the definite highlights – the salt flats. An ancient part of an ocean which had lost connection to it. Obviously at around 3.700m 😉 And now it’s dried out which left the flats with a thick salt crust. During the rainy season the mirror effect in the lake becomes.

 

 

And since you have little to non points of reference in the flats without any obstacles like trees you can create amazing visual effects.

 

 

 

The cloud game was amazing. A massive thunderstorm passed us and gave us a good shower and a mystical scenery.

 

We arrived in our hostel for the first night close to the lagoons where we will be going tomorrow. A very funny system – the drivers just go to the hostels and who ever gets there first gets to choose. No reservation or similar. We wer early and with this lucky. Also the second car of our tour broke down so they had to return to Uyuni. Rustical but good. We even had a warm shower for 10 Bolivianos and the food was great! The few power failures during the night were bridged with candles, headlamps and a proper fire for the dinner preparation.