This weekend we adventured to Salar de Uyuni – the famous salt flats in Southwestern Bolivia. The Salt Flats expand over 4,000 square feet, roughly the size of Connecticut! It’s the legacy of a prehistoric lake that went dry, leaving behind a desertlike landscape of bright-white salt, rock formations and cacti-studded islands.
We opted for the three day tour to make sure we were able to see it all. We started the trek with an overnight bus from La Paz to Uyuni, roughly a 10 hour bus ride. We arrived Friday morning ready to rock and roll! We packed into our 4×4 land cruiser and headed out with our trusted driver Freddy.
Day 1
Our first stop was a train graveyard. These trains had been abandoned here leaving behind an adult-like playground.
From there we ventured to the anticipated salt flats. There really are no words for the vast landscape that spreads across as far as the eye can see. So instead of trying to describe it, here are some epic pictures.
After fighting with dinosaurs and getting stomped on we moved further south in our journey for landscapes. We arrived at Incahuasi Island, an island full of cacti. It was a strange sight to see an island brimming with cacti surrounded by the vastness of the white salt. We took a short hike up to the top for some pretty incredible views.
We arrived to our salt hotel in time for a few rounds of card games, dinner and an early bedtime.
Day 2
The day of lagoons. Seriously, I think we saw 4 lagoons, maybe 5? There was a green one, a red one, some with flamencos, and some surrounded by a volcano, or seven.
We visited an old train track where the surrounding area looked like we suddenly teleported to Mars. We made sure to rep Remote Year!
After we were lagooned out (is that even a thing?) we drove to our sleeping destination where we were greeted by the best surprise of the day!
Again we had an early dinner, and an even earlier bedtime, since we had an early morning wake-up call.
Day 3
With a 4AM alarm set to see the sun-rise we packed into the car half-asleep. This day was about making the trek back to Uyuni with a few stops to stretch our legs. We saw some geysers, more lagoons, and stopped by a hot spring to warm up.
PSA: It was f***ing cold!! Bring layers, warm layers. Hat, gloves, scarf, long johns, under armor. You will want it all!
We got back to the town of Uyuni after about seven hours of driving, where we had an epic pizza dinner. The shop was even owned by Bostonians, represent!!
We piled back onto the overnight bus and quickly passed out, waking back up in La Paz.
Bed Time
It was an exhausting weekend, but nonetheless another amazing nature-filled couple of days. Bolivia has seriously surprised me with how many landscapes, adrenaline adventures, and all around epic trips it has to offer. This month has flown by – as we already leave for Peru on Saturday! I know that I will always look back on Bolivia with found memories and a crazy photo album to boot. ♥♥♥
Drink the wild air 