(Everybody) After waking at 4.30, we flew from La Paz on a small plane that sat 52 people, to Uyuni, one of the smallest airports we have ever been to - no queues - wonderful. We had an itinerary, we had pre booked a driver/cook, a 4 wheel drive, and an English speaking guide. (To mis- quote the Blues Brothers ) It was dark, we were wearing sunglasses, we had half a packet of biscuits and a full tank of gas. Hit it.
We started off visiting a 'train cemetery' - the rusting remains of hundreds of old steam locomotives. Probably originally used a source of spares, these trains sit a few miles outside Uyuni. We climbed all over them.
From here we drove out to the Salar de Uyuni. This is a massive, 10,000 sq km, area of salt lake. It is so white, it is difficult to tell if it is snow or salt. It was once part of the Atlantic Ocean, then subsequently a lake after the movement of the tectonic plates. The water evaporated leaving a 120m deep salt layer. The salt is wet/ damp to touch, but dries in interesting polygons.
It is a truly astounding place. So bright, so vast, so empty. Unique. The local people pile up the salt, to dry, then load into flat bed trucks to take back to Uyuni, where they dry it further then pack it by hand into small bags.
Very hot, hard work.
The landscape is so vast and so flat, it afforded a superb chance to play with perspective on the camera.
Dinosaurs....
Water was in short supply until Lyra found this bottle
A giant Lucas gives Lyra a drink
Riding dinosaurs
In order of size?
We played frisbee for a while, but it was extremely tiring as it was so hot and still 3600m above sea level
We drove to Tunupa volcano, then trekked up to a see a cave containing the 800 yr old mummified remains of a whole family sacrificed to...? We were totally exhausted.
We checked into a hotel made of salt! 35000 blocks of salt cut from the Salar were used to construct this hotel. Ownership reverts to the community 15 years after construction by a private company. After the heat of the day, the freezing temperature in the rooms was a shock to our systems. Night temperatures can drop to -25'C from a daily high of around 30'C - one of the widest day night temperature fluctuations in the world. Dad found it difficult to sleep as he was short of breath because of the altitude - about 4000m. There were piles of quilts on the beds so once warm, we stayed warm for the night - except our noses.
The salt blocks
The hotel was tucked into the hillside, with a great view over the Salar and the llamas in the foreground.
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