12000 km2, from 1cm to 10m thickness, it would take 10 days to walk across it: Salar de Uyuni, the stunning salt desert in southwestern Bolivia – the largest salt flat in the world!
Just as unbelievable as these facts sound, was the experience to actually visit this marvellous creation of nature. Spending 8 hours out there, enjoying the views, taking loads of pictures, absorbing all this beauty, was definitely THE highlight of my little Bolivia excursion. Alessandra & I departed La Paz on a night bus on Monday night. Equipped with snacks, warm clothes and our minds set on an 11-hour bus ride, we were happily surprised when we already arrived after 10 hours and a pretty comfy and most importantly warm bus ride (a little explanation: people scared us, saying they spent the coldest nights ever on those busses going to Uyuni, so we were prepared for the worst). We got dropped on the main road of the city, were escorted to a little cafe by some travel agency ladies & spent the next 3 hours here, talking to other travellers and exchanging stories and travel plans. At 10:30 am, our tours started at the tour agency and this meant for us: saying goodbye. Alessandra would go on a 3-day-tour, while I – unfortunately, due to a lack of time (and honestly, due to my fear of the cold) – had to go for the full-day-tour. After one month of working together and a good handful of shared travel adventures, this would be our farewell, until we see each other again in Maastricht or Amsterdam (where Alessandra is going to start her Masters in September). Our time together was well spent and it was great to share all these experiences with a friend – safe travels, Alessandra!
The 4×4 Toyota, with the other 6 tour members, plus driver already in it, picked me up at the office and so our gran aventura started. First stop was the train cemetery that stopped operating about 25 years ago. Next came the obligatory visit of the local souvenir market and finally, we drove out to the actual salt flats. Honestly, I think there is little point in trying to describe the atmosphere and the look of this place, so I’ll simply let the pictures speak for themselves. Let me just mention a couple of things: once again, I got very lucky with my group and we had a blast, taking all the perspective shots and other amazing pictures. In some moments, when nobody talked and no van was driving by, there was this incredible silence. And if, in those moments, you looked out into the seemingly endless width of this salt desert, the sun reflecting so strongly from the white and flat surface, no sound to disturb that perfect silence, you would forget for a second where you are. An overwhelming and incredible feeling that I will never forget.
At 7 pm, we got back to Uyuni, exhausted but once again amazed by the previously witnessed sunset on the salt flats. Quickly grabbed some food, charged phone and power-bank and an hour later, I already found myself on the night bus back to La Paz again. This ride wasn’t going to be as recreative as the first one but at least this time, it only took us 9 hours to reach our destination. After being dropped off at the bus terminal at 4:45 am, I made my way back to my couch surfing host Alex’ place. Walking through the quiet, mostly still sleeping city of La Paz, watching traffic lights turn from red to green, without any cars driving on the streets, passing closed shop windows and street stalls, I almost forgot how busy this city is during the day and how impossible it gets to take a taxi or bus through the ever stopping traffic of the packed streets. The city almost seemed peaceful that early in the morning, and I only precautiously reached for the pepper-spray in my pocket once or twice during the 40-minute walk to my premium-couch-surfing-accomodation.
lenacatherine 
Pingback: Top 5 Things To Do in Tilcara (Jujuy) | lenacatherine