San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Our trip through Salar de Uyuni ended at the border of Chile, where we got transport to San Pedro de Atacama. San Pedro is a small tourist town in northern Chile, located in the world's driest desert: the Atacama. Because the skies are perpetually blue (the average yearly rainfall is just 1 millimeter) and there is practically no light pollution, it is the best place in South America for stargazing. We wanted to get a good look at the sky, so we took a tour with Space Star Tours. They have ten telescopes, with the largest being 60 centimeters in diameter.

Our guide was a Canadian astronomer who moved to the Atacama desert specifically for the cloudless skies. He started by asking us to pick out some stars and constellations that we recognized, and I immediately looked for the north star and big dipper. Of course, being in the southern hemisphere, I didn't find either. The entire sky was different than what we see at home, which was very interesting. Our guide pointed out and explained many different stars and constellations, and gave a brief history of astronomy. We were able to see the milky way, which was absolutely stunning. Because the skies were so dark from a lack of surrounding lights, we were able to see so many more stars than you normally can. We looked at the moon through a telescope, which showed the craters in an incredible amount of detail. We saw at least five meteors in the two hours we were outside, and we later found out that there are approximately ten per hour. It is amazing to think about, because I have rarely seen a meteor in my life until now. Despite it being freezing cold and late at night, both Daniel and I loved the tour.

Earlier that day, we rented bicycles and rode through Valle de la Luna (aka "moon valley"). The landscape was a stunning array of arid desert, mountains, and caves along a dirt road. We rode six miles or so until we reached the caves, then did some hiking around and through them. It was a little eerie because the caves were pitch black inside and the halite strata made a constant cracking sound. At that point, the altitude started bothering us so we made our way back to the city.

We found San Pedro to be very expensive, especially compared to Bolivia. We left the following day for Antofagasta, an industrial city five hours south. Our sole reason for going there was restock our supply of Lush shampoo bars, the best travel shampoo on earth. Next stop, Santiago!

Nuts and Bolts:

• Hostal Hara: CLP 20,000 ($42.25) for a double room with shared bathroom and no breakfast. It was fairly basic, but there was a communal kitchen. It was the cheapest non-dormitory we could find in town.
• Space Star Tours: CLP 18,000 ($38) per person. English speaking tours are from 11pm to 1:30am.
• Bicycle rentals: CLP 3,500 ($7.40) per person for up to six hours. They give a good map and directions if you ask. If you want to hike the caves, bring a headlamp... it is dark in there!

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia - Days 2 and 3

The second day of our Salar de Uyuni tour began with an early start. We woke up for breakfast at 6am and began driving about thirty minutes later. The roads were bumpy and entirely made of dirt, but we passed a lot of amazing scenery. Our first stop of the day was the beautifully blue Laguna Hedionda, a lagoon full of flamingos. We walked around the lagoon, taking pictures and enjoying the view. It was cold outside, but the wind is what really gave us a hard time. I would estimate that they were blowing steadily at up to 100km/hr, which made walking around a challenge.

We left the laguna and drove to our next stop, Arbol de Piedra. Arbol de Piedra literally translates to “stone tree”, because it is a tree-shaped stone that formed from the sandy winds. It was so windy, that Daniel had to walk backwards toward the tree to avoid getting sand in his eyes and destroying the camera. I got out of the car for a quick peek at the tree, but promptly got back in and left Daniel to do the dirty work of taking the pictures. At this point, the elevation (4400 meters) was beginning to cause problems for me, and trying to push my way through the winds was making matters worse. Stepping foot outside the car left me gasping for air. Up until this point, neither one of us had any problems with altitude, and I´m fortunate that I only experienced breathlessness and general exhaustion. Many travelers get so sick from altitude that they end up hospitalized with pounding headaches, nausea, and vomiting.

The next stop of the day was Laguna Colorada. The lake is red because of the algae that live there, and it was full of flamingos. Again, it was ridiculously windy and cold, so we didn´t spend as much time outside as we otherwise would have. It was really beautiful though, seeing the red of the lake, the pink of the flamingos, and the bright blue of the sky.

We saw a few smaller lagunas on the way to our accomodation for the night, which was extremely basic. By basic, I mean that we shared a room with six other people, and shared a bathroom with several other rooms. There was no electricity, heat, or hot water, so once the sun went down it got extremely cold. Each small bed had four blankets, but it was still so cold that Daniel and I shared a bed and piled the extra blankets onto us. We ended up sleeping in our thick base layer clothing and two pairs of socks each underneath of eight blankets. When morning came, we were ready to get out of there!

We started day three early, and headed for the Solar de Mañana Geyser basin. The geysers sit at nearly 5,000 meters elevation, and again, it was freezing cold and windy. It was really beautiful, and almost eerie, seeing the steam rise with the sun´s rays streaming through. Daniel spent some time walking around, watching the geysers spit chunks of mud into the air.

Next, we drove to Termas de Polques hot springs. There were probably fifteen or so people swimming in the hot springs when we got there, but no one in our group could bring themselves to get into the springs because it was so cold and windy outside. It probably would have felt great while we were in the water, but the thought of having to get out and attempt to dry off in the elements was absolutely miserable. We spent some time exploring the area, then got back into the car to head to our final destination before crossing the border into Chile.

Laguna verde is a beautiful green lake, colored by the arsenic, lead, copper, and other heavy metals in the water. There is also a beautiful view of a volcano from the lookout point. We spent some time there taking in our final portion of the trip and taking some pictures with our group. Our driver took us to the immigration point, where we went through customs and were transferred into Chile. Despite the cold, wind, altitude, mediocre food, and basic accomodation... we had an absolutely amazing time. The Salar really is a surreal place and a site to see. From the breathtaking views of salt as far as you can see to giant cacti, colored lakes and flamingoes... it is absolutely amazing.

If you haven´t seen our pictures from Salar de Uyuni of Flickr yet, you should check them out!

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia - Day One

People ask us all the time what made us want to leave everything we knew behind to travel. We talked about "the why" a bit before we left, but usually, we reply with something along the lines of, "There are so many amazing things out there, and we really want to see them" or "We want to travel while we're young, before we settle down." While those answers are true, the real inspiration for the trip began about six years ago when we first saw photos of Salar de Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat, with over 4,000 square miles at 12,000 feet elevation. It is the most massive expanse of pure white that you can imagine, with the clearest of blue skies. We learned that the combination of large area, clear skies, and flatness make it one of the best places to calibrate the altimiters for Earth's observation satellites. Both Daniel and I were captivated by the photos taken from other travelers... and a dream was born. To say that we are excited to finally see the very place that really started it all is the understatement of the year. We both had to remind each other, "Wow. This is it. Soak it all in, because we are FINALLY here. This is what the trip is all about."

We took a three day, two night tour starting in Uyuni and ending in Chile that included the Salar itself, as well as what is called the Southwest Circuit. We were paired with a driver in a 4x4 and two other couples for the trip. A lot of time was spent driving between sites over salt planes, dirt roads, and bumpy 4x4 tracks. Our first stop on day one was at the train cemetary. Uyuni used to be a distribution hub for trains carrying minerals (such as lithium, borax, sodium, potassium, and magnesium) from Salar to ports in the Pacific Ocean. The railway was built in the 1890s, and abandoned in the 1940s when the mining industry collapsed. The abandoned trains are still there and in remarkable shape, given the weather conditions they endure. There were some fun things set up like teeter-totters and swings made out of old train parts to play around on as well. We spent twenty minutes or so walking around, climbing on the old trains, and taking pictures of the area

Seven kilometers north of Uyuni, our next stop was at the villiage of Colchani. Here, the people make their living by processing salt. The villiagers sold souveniers made entirely of salt, which were among the more interesting souveniers we've seen. There were salt turtles that caught our eye, so we snapped a picture for Daniel's mom. Until this point, we have not bought a single souvenir (with the exception of hats or other useful items)... but we thought it would be nice to have a piece of the Salar to take home and remind us of our time here, so we bought some tasteful candlestick holders. To be honest, they look like something you would buy at Crate & Barrel, except they are made and carved entirely from salt. I am hoping that they don't get destroyed when we ship them home.

The third stop of the day was at a salt mining area, where salt is dug from the plane and piled into mounds that look like miniature mountains. They are left in the sun to dry before being transported off to a refinery. This was our first glimpse of how vast the Salar really is. The mounds of salt spread before us were such a beautiful sight.

After the mining are, we drove to the original salt hotel for a brief stop. The hotel is no longer in service (it is now a small museum), but it is made entirely of salt. The bricks, the mortar, the floor, the ceiling... all salt. In front, there is an area where tourists can put the flags of their home country. I was sad to see that there was no United States flag... if I had known, I would have brought one with me. Anyone reading from home, if you ever go, please put up a flag for us!

At this point, it was time to head to our next location to eat lunch. Our driver stopped at Isla Incawasi, an island made of fossilized coral that sits in the middle of the salar and is covered in giant cacti. The cacti grow at a rate of 1 centimeter per year, and many are estimated to be over 1,000 years old... that makes for a big cactus! Our driver prepared us a lunch of grilled llama steaks, quinoa, avacado, cucumbers, and apples. It is pretty normal for Bolivians to eat llama, and it is a good source of protein and very low in fat. It is a little chewy stringy, though, and definitely not my favorite. After lunch, we hiked to the top of the island, where you could see hundreds of giant cactus plants, with the salar in the backdrop. It was truly stunning, and we spent several moments standing there looking at the view, just saying "Wow." It was breathtaking. When it was time to go, we walked back to the bottom and really got a good look at the flora. A few of the plants were flowering, and we also saw a small bird sitting on top of a cactus. Also, we saw a giant cactus whose flesh had rotted away, and an intricate bark was remaining. We spent some more time taking photos, then it was back to the car for the long drive to our hotel for the night.

Along the way, we stopped in the middle of a vast expanse of salt. It was a beautiful spot... the salt formed a hexagonal pattern the went on for ages. The hexagons were really interesting, and we later found out that they are formed by Rayleigh-Bénard convection (or in easier terms, because of convection that occurs in the water left during the rainy season).There, we took a lot of goofy pictures that played around with perspective. Because the ground is so white and flat for as far as you can see, you can make it look like you are doing things like sitting on top of a rubix cube, fighting a giant dragon, eating your husband out of a spoon, or holding a car in the palm of your hand. Some of these came out better than others, but we had a lot of fun trying out some different things with our camera. Once we had our fun, we got back into the car and drove the rest of the way to our accomodation for the night.

We stayed the night in San Juan in a salt hotel. As with the original salt hotel from earlier in the day, absolutely everything was made of salt. We stayed in a room with two double beds and a bench to sit on, all made from salt. In the common eating area, the tables and benches were also made of salt. The walls, floors, bricks, mortar... more salt. It was incredible. There was no electricity, but that didn't matter to us. We ate a lackluster dinner then went to bed early. This concluded the long first day of our three day trip. The whole day was moment after moment of thinking, "Wow, we are actually doing this." After six years of talking and planning and dreaming, we finally saw the place that was captivating enough to make us decide to go on this crazy adventure. Since this post is already long, I will detail days two and three in a subsequent post.

Check out all our crazy Salar de Uyuni pictures on Flickr.