We decide to do a 3-day excursion in 4WD jeep in the Salt desert of Uyuni (Salar de Uyuni ). This desert is THE attraction in Bolivia and probably ranks pretty well as one of the top spots done in Latin America. Start of the tour is not from La Paz but from Uyuni, accessible with a night bus.
Day 1:
We start the ride late morning after a very bumpy night in the coach.
The first attraction is a cemetery for old locomotives (Cementerio de Trenes). Indeed Bolivia constructed a railway during the gold age of silver to facilitate the transportation of extracted minerals. However this early 20th century period is finished and locomotives have been left in the desert and untouched since.
Anecdote: usually some parts of the salt desert are still covered with a thin layer of water making it a mirror surface; the cool effect is that the surface reflects the sky making the horizon line nearly invisible. However, at the time we are there, there has not been raining for quite a period if time and therefore we can only see the dry salt desert, still impressive though.
We arrive later on to a cactus oasis, called Isla del Pescado because it was an island when the sea was ruling here.
Anecdote: We both forgot to put some sun cream and 1-2 hours in the so reflective desert were enough to burn our exposed parts of the body... Hem looking red in the evening..
In the evening, we reach the camp, before the small town of San Juan. The camp is composed of very basic blocks, where many things are made in salt, like for example the beds and bedside tables in the rooms.
We suppose the drivers rush to get some rooms there as there is no Internet or any booking system ("first in, first served"). We also suppose that drivers prefer staying in the desert than reaching out San Juan, in order to pay cheaper prices for the rooms, thereby reducing their costs... Well for us it does not make any difference and it is even nicer to sleep in the desert with superb sunset and sunrise.
Day 2:
We progressively leave in the morning the typical salt desert and head to other landscapes. We go through the Volcan Ollague and eventually reach 4 different small lagoons with so nice colours (Laguna Cañapa, Laguna Hedionda, Laguna Honda and Laguna Charcota). By the way, one of these lagoons is hosting pink flamingos.
We then reach the Arbol de Piedra, literally meaning "Stone Tree", which is a very special rock formation in the middle of the desert.
Last attraction is the bigger lagoon called Laguna Colorada, where you can see a variety of colours due to the different types of rock layers. Can you see them?
After many lagoons (and pictures), we arrive to the second base camp, another group of 1-floor basic blocks, but with hot water shower (if you pay 2 bolivianos). We take the opportunity to wash our clothes as the air is so dry that everything dries in a few hours.
Anecdote: Francois forgot his nice yellow polo drying on the line over night and at the time Francois realised on the road of Day 3, it was too late to come back. The place has no phone neither Internet, so here we are with an additional Kraffterie... :(
Day 3:
Early morning at 5:00am we ride straight to see some spectacular gas geysers (Sol de Mañana Geyser), in the middle of nowhere.
Just after we reach the reward of the 3-day trip, natural hot springs, a pool in stones with very warm water (Aguas Termales).
Anecdote: later after the first mechanical incident, we stop again. One of the cable reaching the battery was cut. Again thanks to Leatherman we can denude the remaining wire and fix it again to the battery.
Anecdote: last but not least, we got a puncture. It is not a problem if you have spare wheel on the roof like we do. However it is a problem if you cant turn the damned wheel screws. After 10 minutes trying we stop a another jeep and there you go. A chubby big guy comes and untight the screws in 2s...
After arriving to Uyuni, we hurry up to take another night coach back to La Paz.