Uyuni Salt Flats and Siloli Desert

We left Potosi after visiting the mines, and it was a long drive to get to Uyuni, the entrance to the Salts Flats. Steph was still feeling really ill, so we had to make a few stops so she could get out for air! At one point she was sitting on a rock, ready to vom at the side of a road in the middle of a mountain range, and she noticed a large egg underneath. In fear of it belonging to a snake, we hurriedly got back on the coach and carried on. As we neared Uyuni, we saw lots of llamas and went round windy roads. As we arrived the sun was just setting over the tiny town, and it was a pretty pink spectacle. 

We checked into our hotel, and got our glad rags on as it was still Melissa's birthday. We headed out for dinner armed with party hats and minion balloons that Kike picked up earlier. Uyuni is actually like a ghost town which is odd, as it must house a lot of tourists in order to get to the salt flats. There aren't lots of bars or restaurants, and there wasn't much choice for dinner but Kike knew a place called lithium that did food. We went and had burgers and pizzas, and the cocktails started flowing in prep for the next bar. We unfortunately couldn't carry on with the party animals as Steph's stomach was still playing up from the malaria tablets.

Birthday Girl

The next morning, we were quite grateful for not going out, as everyone looked a little worse for wear and we had a long day ahead of us. We left our main luggage at the hotel, and packed smaller rucksacks for the next 3 days, as we would be travelling by jeep, so space was limited. We went outside and saw 2 jeeps waiting, one with a map of the salt flats on its bonnet, so Kike showed us the route we would be taking. We both crammed in with Susan, Melisa, and Kike in the front. Steph was feeling better that day, so this was officially going to be the party car, especially as Romeo our driver had a party mega mix in his car with some classic 90s club bangers.

We headed out of Uyuni and into the desert, but first stopping at a deserted train graveyard, which housed tons of rusting old engines. It was really interesting and the graffiti and rust made it look like a film set. One train had even been made into a swing so we fought over that ending in a few injuries!

injuries from fighting over the swing

From there, we drove for a few hours and went to a Bolivian market to stock up on wooly hats, gloves and sun glasses for the salt flats as they can get chilly! We also purchased a toy dinosaur as Kike assured us it was an essential for Salt Flat photos. We entered the Salt Flats and had to really stop the urge to take perspective pictures as that would be done the day after. We drove for about an hour on the salt flats, with literally nothing around to look at apart from blue skies and white salt. It was a really surreal drive! We found the island we needed to get to and watched it grow larger and larger as we drove towards it, it looked much nearer than it was though so it was a trippy experience.

 We got to our hotel that was right on the edge of the island and got out of the car. Standing there, was the cutest, fluffiest animal you'd ever seen in your life! A baby pecuna had adopted the hotel and roamed around looking all wide eyed and cute.

 Kike told us that the owner of the hotel was present, and that we had to be on our best behaviour as he could be a little strict! The accommodation was split into sexed dorms, so it was the first night we'd be apart. The rooms were amazing, built entirely from salt, beds included, with a mattress on top for comfort. They were comfortable little huts that stayed really warm and housed 5. 

We went to the similarly salt structured dining room and had some tea. There was a very friendly cat which fell asleep on Steph, while tom had a photoshoot with the pecuna outside. It was so tame that it came into the dining room and had milk from a bottle In front of us! 

We sat down for dinner which was a pretty horrible tasting steak and then played cards, whilst we watched the sun set over the salt flats which looked incredible. The owner of the hotel wanted us out the dining area and into our rooms at 7, so we had to sneak the boys into the girls dorm and continue our games there, with a few rums Included which was naughty as alcohol had been banned too! When with Kike though, rules were a bit more flexible. We went to bed fairly early as we had to be up at 6 for our day in the flats.

Salf Flat Sunset

The next morning we packed up and got back in the party car. We drove out into the salt flats for a couple of hours. We still don't understand how Romeo could navigate where we were going as it was just salt and no roads. We had some stops to make before we were allowed to take our perspective pictures. First was the small island that you could climb. It was covered in cactus and was a good 20 minute hike to the top were the views were amazing. 

We got down and headed to our next stop, the Dakar racing monument, and the flag island which were next to each other.

We climbed the monument and danced around the flags trying to find the UK flag but with no luck. It was safe to say that we were all very overexcited. 

We got in the car again and found a pod spot for pictures. Kike was an expert photographer when it came to the salt flats now, so he knew it looked best with no mountains in the back ground. He took pictures of us for a couple of hours, whilst we exhausted every idea possible including running out from Pringles cans and being attacked by dinosaurs. From there, it was out of the salt flats, and into the desert.

We adopted a cook and a couple of staff from the hotel we stayed in the night before, who would join us along the way. They also took pictures in the salt flats too! We drove to a nearby village and they set up a lunch they cooked that morning for us which was tasty. Kike said that in the small village there was a site with mummies in so we took a walk over whilst they cleaned up lunch. There was a wall surrounding the graveyard but no one there to open them, so in true Kike style he convinced us to just jump the wall and have a look! Inside were mud huts filled with skeletons and skulls. Some had 2 bodies in and others just a few bones. A lot of the tombs were looted though so there wasn't much else in them.

From here we got back in the car and embarked on our long journey over the Siloli Desert. It was really scenic with mountains and blue skies surrounding us, but we couldn't help getting a little bored, so Melisa and Steph resorted to rapping and singing for a majority of the 7 hours.

We stopped at a rock where we looked over to an active volcano and took a seat on some rocks. We also noticed a little like pride rock from lion king so took advantage of that photo opportunity.

We carried on and eventually got to our next hotel which was owned by the same owner. This was an eco friendly hotel so had solar panels and light saving bulbs. Again, it was split into male and female dorms so we unpacked and went for food. The food cooked by the bring along Cook was tasty, and we followed routine and went back to our rooms for cards and rum. The rum flowed a lot, and with Steph feeling better, we decided to celebrate Melisa birthday again as we were present. To stop noise complaints (even though we were the only people in the hotel) we went outside to the lagoon that neighbored the hotel. The stars were out and looked stunning against the mountain backdrop and we listened to music and danced on tables till the early hours. We had to be up at 5am so we didn't go to crazy, but it was a very surreal way to spent an evening, and we were proud to say it was Kikes first time drunk in the salt flats. We got to bed and woke up early to start our drive around more desert. We didn't have much breakfast and realised we hadn't taken our malaria tablets with dinner so we popped them at 5am on empty stomachs. This would be prove to be a big mistake later on in the day. 

That day we had lots of stops, including some rancid smelling geysers, and also the 'Arbol de Piedra' which is the 'stone tree' located amongst lots of other interesting large rocks. 

We drove with the lagoons being our destinations. There were coloured with algi and housed thousands of flamingos! We reached the summit and were awe stricken by the amazing scenery. 

We stopped for lunch at the hot spring and got in to the pool with the best view in the world. It was so so warm, on the verge of being a little to hot and boiling us. The water was crystal clear so we took a dip while lunch was prepared.

From there we headed back to Uyuni, with the aim to catch an overnight train to Oruro and then transfer onto a bus to La Paz. After a day of about 14 hours driving, we were pretty sick of jeeps, but thanked Romeo for being a great driver and for providing good music. Kike said that he wanted to thank us for making his drive in the Salt Flats so memorable, and he would think of us rapping every time he listened to his mega mix. 

Kike arranged rooms for the girls and boys to shower and change. Here, Steph realised the malaria tablet on an empty stomach was going to reek havoc with her tummy, and the burning sensation in her chest started. The overnight train seemed like a nightmare. We got to the station and waited for a while and boarded the train. 

When looking back at Bolivia, we have told a few people that the attitudes are quite awkward and if you differ slightly from that rule it can be uncomfortable. A prime example of this was a soon as we sat down on the train, Steph needed to be sick so Kike asked the attendant if he could open the toilet but he didn't want to as the rules were he couldn't till we started moving. At this moment a man came up with his child who was desperate for a wee, and yet the attendant still wouldn't open the door. It was going to be a very messy journey, so Steph had to resort to a sandwich bag instead, God knows what the little boy did! After a pretty rubbish journey we arrived in Oruro and found somewhere for some tea. We got onto another bus and from there we went on our journey to LA Paz.