Uyuni Salar - Bolivia
9/18/05
The woman of the hostel served us a continental breakfast. But when Angie went to the kitchen to ask for more hot water for the group, the Bolivian family was sharing their traditional breakfast: cooked lama meat with hot sauce and quinoa.
A few minutes after leaving the town, we passed an area of lama farming. The locals are still dressed in a typical way, live in very very small mud houses and cook thanks to an oven made of mud which is located outside the house. The lamas are kept in stone-fenced areas.
We then crossed a valley where lamas where wandering freely along the multiple small lagunas and frozen water streams. We left the valley driving up a small mountain that led to another part of the altiplano where a small village, Juliaca, is located.
Less than a 100 people live there and there is an abandoned train station with some old rusty trains. When the kids heard the jeeps, they came running and sang for us. They seemed really happy to chat with us and since we had spare fruits, we gave them some. Their mum was washing clothes at the well and was much shier. Angie spoke to her while the two other tourist groups were visiting the town. This woman had four kids, all under 8, and was living in a small mud house close to the well.
Click here for a facade panoramic
She was dressed like most of the native Bolivian women, which means with a hat, several layers of skirt and high wollen socks. She did not want us to take a picture of her, only of the kids. So here they are...
A bit later we crossed another small village, San Angostino and then headed towards the salar. Getting closer to it, it seemed like the mountains were flotting in the air. Indeed, from the distance, the salar looks like a big mirror in which the Andes are reflected. It is an amazing sight. We had lunch on a little hill, in front of the salar. And then the wonderful adventure accross the Uyuni Salar started!
Salar de Uyuni
The Salar de Uyuni is a huge dry salt lake at an altitude of 3653 meters that stretches over an area of 12000 square km. It was part of a prehistoric salty inland sea which covered most of south-western Bolivia. The Salar is estimated to contain 10 billion tonne reserve of fine salt. Several islands are scaterred over this immense desert.
At the edge, the layer of salt is quite thin, 15cm, but in some areas it can go up to 7m. Under it, there is water up to 3000m down.
Here is the beginning of the salar...
...and then it gets thicker.
We drove on the salt for a while and everything around was white.
We reached the isla dos pescadores, an island full of giant, and old, cactus; they grow only one centimeter year.
We climbed it up and enjoyed the impressive view all around of the salar. Far away we could see a jeep croossing the salar.
We crossed a part of the salar where the famous hexagonal shapes are forming.
The next stop was the salt hotel where everyhing is made of salt.
A bit further, there a spot where the layer of salt is broken and you can see bubbling water due to gas escaping under the layer of salt. This place is called ojos del salar and from there we watched the sunset.
Our tour was going to an end and just before the other end of the salt lake, we saw salt mines.
Soon after we arrived in Uyuni where e shared a bottle of red wine and dinner with our German friends.
The woman of the hostel served us a continental breakfast. But when Angie went to the kitchen to ask for more hot water for the group, the Bolivian family was sharing their traditional breakfast: cooked lama meat with hot sauce and quinoa.
A few minutes after leaving the town, we passed an area of lama farming. The locals are still dressed in a typical way, live in very very small mud houses and cook thanks to an oven made of mud which is located outside the house. The lamas are kept in stone-fenced areas.
We then crossed a valley where lamas where wandering freely along the multiple small lagunas and frozen water streams. We left the valley driving up a small mountain that led to another part of the altiplano where a small village, Juliaca, is located.
Less than a 100 people live there and there is an abandoned train station with some old rusty trains. When the kids heard the jeeps, they came running and sang for us. They seemed really happy to chat with us and since we had spare fruits, we gave them some. Their mum was washing clothes at the well and was much shier. Angie spoke to her while the two other tourist groups were visiting the town. This woman had four kids, all under 8, and was living in a small mud house close to the well.
Click here for a facade panoramic
She was dressed like most of the native Bolivian women, which means with a hat, several layers of skirt and high wollen socks. She did not want us to take a picture of her, only of the kids. So here they are...
A bit later we crossed another small village, San Angostino and then headed towards the salar. Getting closer to it, it seemed like the mountains were flotting in the air. Indeed, from the distance, the salar looks like a big mirror in which the Andes are reflected. It is an amazing sight. We had lunch on a little hill, in front of the salar. And then the wonderful adventure accross the Uyuni Salar started!
Salar de Uyuni
The Salar de Uyuni is a huge dry salt lake at an altitude of 3653 meters that stretches over an area of 12000 square km. It was part of a prehistoric salty inland sea which covered most of south-western Bolivia. The Salar is estimated to contain 10 billion tonne reserve of fine salt. Several islands are scaterred over this immense desert.
At the edge, the layer of salt is quite thin, 15cm, but in some areas it can go up to 7m. Under it, there is water up to 3000m down.
Here is the beginning of the salar...
...and then it gets thicker.
We drove on the salt for a while and everything around was white.
We reached the isla dos pescadores, an island full of giant, and old, cactus; they grow only one centimeter year.
We climbed it up and enjoyed the impressive view all around of the salar. Far away we could see a jeep croossing the salar.
We crossed a part of the salar where the famous hexagonal shapes are forming.
The next stop was the salt hotel where everyhing is made of salt.
A bit further, there a spot where the layer of salt is broken and you can see bubbling water due to gas escaping under the layer of salt. This place is called ojos del salar and from there we watched the sunset.
Our tour was going to an end and just before the other end of the salt lake, we saw salt mines.
Soon after we arrived in Uyuni where e shared a bottle of red wine and dinner with our German friends.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 2:57 AM
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