Bolivia > The salt flat of Uyuni

Around six in the morning, I gather the courage to go to the toilet. The headache has gone, but now nausea has set in. I skip breakfast—I don’t think it would stay down. With a plastic bag at hand, we set off in the jeeps toward another part of the Deserto Dali. Enormous rock formations, beautifully sculpted by wind and sand, rise from the desert.

Bolivia - The Siloli desert, also called the Dali desert

Even while feeling queasy, I can still appreciate how impressive they look. Fortunately, I start to feel better as the morning goes on. Farther north, we stop at a viewpoint overlooking a canyon. The steep rock walls and immense depths reveal yet another striking face of the Andes mountains. Near San Juan, we stop for lunch. The fourth jeep is delayed due to a flat tire. During the meal, a curious herd of llamas approaches to investigate. Cautious as they are, they stay at a safe distance on the other side of the small stream where we’re sitting. After lunch, we continue toward the Salar de Uyuni, the immense salt flat at the foot of the Tunupa volcano (5,432 meters high). It’s quite a drive over sandy tracks to reach the salt flat. Occasionally, Iber—our driver and also our guide—cuts a bit off the route, driving straight across the desert terrain. Along the way, the same jeep that had a flat tire earlier gets another one after hitting a submerged rock while crossing a stream. As a precaution, it wasn’t driving last in the convoy, allowing us to use a spare tire from another jeep. Without further incidents, we drive onto the salt flat around half past three. It’s a strange and wonderful sensation—the surface looks most like a frozen, snow-covered lake. The enormous expanse (roughly one-fifth the size of the Netherlands) makes the landscape and the journey across it truly remarkable.

Bolivia - The group photo on the cactus island in the Uyuni salt flat

Driving in a straight line, we head toward Isla del Pescado, about forty-five minutes across the salt flat. Isla del Pescado, or “Cactus Island,” rises from the salt like a ghost ship in the middle of the white sea. The island is completely covered with cacti, some reaching up to ten meters tall. From the top of the island, the view across the Salar de Uyuni is breathtaking—salt stretching endlessly in all directions. We have to hurry back down in time to watch the sunset over the salt flat. To get a good view of the setting sun, we walk a short distance out onto the flat. After spending the whole day in the jeep, it feels nice to stretch our legs. We walk for about fifteen minutes straight out across the surface. Since the distance to our overnight stop is still more than thirty kilometers, the jeeps pick us up again, and we continue to Jiriri. By the time we reach the small village at the edge of the salt flat beneath the volcano, it is already completely dark. At the farmhouse where we’ll spend the night, we have a cozy dinner in a small dining room. At half past nine, we go to bed—deep inside our sleeping bags and covered with extra blankets.