Salar de Uyuni: Some Other Planet

Tupiza is the kind of town that reminds one of an old Country and Western film. Firstly, not much seems to happen, mainly because there is not much to do and secondly due to the fact that it is seemingly surrounded by endless mountains with no obvious way out. Due to these unique factors I decided to join in the fun and embark on a triathlon (a day of jeeping, horse riding and mountain biking) in the mountains surrounding the town

The tour was a lot of fun and the fact that it was in Spanish didn't detract from the day. I did the tour with a three French people and a Dutch girl (pictured below) who were all very nice and made the day even more enjoyable.

Ready for the ride



Riding like a professional

Start of a 17 km ride

Whilst the triathlon was a great day, the main reason I went to Tupiza was to go on a four day tour to the salt flats. I had heard that not only did a tour from Tupiza include more sights, it was also more likely that I would be able to find a reliable tour company. I ended up going with Valle Hermose Tours as they were based out of the hostel I was staying in.

The first day involved being woken at 8am to be told that we had enough people for the tour and consequently would be leaving in 30 minutes. I met my tour group; Tristan and Kirsty (an English couple), Leo (a self declared crazy Argentinian) and Javier (our Spanish speaking guide/ driver) at reception and off we set.

Don't think I'll be investing here in the near future

A very cold sunset

Hot springs with a view

The "Stone Tree"

A hotel made entirely of salt




 

Planking

What a Rig!!

Overall the four day tour was incredible and I took over 300 photos (I just included a few of my favourites on here). The people on my tour were really nice, however Leo really did live up to his crazy status (especially after he had a few drinks!!). For anyone thinking of doing the tour I would recommend the company I used; the food and accommodation were pretty good and most importantly our driver Javier was responsible, which is one of the main risks in taking the tours from Uyuni.

The tour finished in Uyuni and this is undoubtedly the worst town that I have ever visited. The main tourist attraction is an area of rusting railway carriages about 2km out of town and apart from tours to the salt flats I'm sure the main businesses are the bus companies booking tickets out of town. On that note I booked a bus for that evening to Sucre which didn't go quite as planned but I'll fill you in on that in my next post...