Day 288 Salar de Uyuni 19 November 2012

Day four of our tour brought us to the highlight, Salar de Uyuni.

We started the with a 4:30am wake up call to head out and reach the summit of Isla Incahuasi for the sunrise. The climb was only 350 meters/1150ft but with the fact that we were tired, hungry and cold as well as feeling general sluggishness from the high altitude- it was an effort. The views however were truly spectacular with giant cacti growing on a coral island on a background of white.

 

 

 

This 9 meter cactus is 900 years old since it grows only one centimeter a year. Martijn averages 5.5cm a year!

 

For our next stop we drove across the Salar de Uyuni to the Tunupa Volcano. We hiked up a tough 800 meters/2625ft for a grand vista of the volcano and the salt flats.

 

 

 

We had lunch in the middle of the salt flats where we had fun making some truly cool pictures! The all white surroundings play tricks on the perspective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After short stops at the Salt Hotel, the eyes (cold water pools) and a site where salt is produced we found our way to Uyuni, where we had an early dinner and waited to catch a bus to Potosi.

We started our tour in Tupiza and we ended with two pizzas!

We thought our adventure was over but the bus to Potosi was also exciting. At one moment a digger machine put the shovel out in front of the bus to stop the bus so that the worker behind the digger could come aboard. Only in Bolivia!