Salar de Uyuni, Blurred Horizons

After killing a few hours in Ororu, Emma and I boarded the train to Uyuni at 7pm and headed out across the flat altiplano desert. We settled in to our seats, surrounded by a group of 4 young guys from Holland and another set of 4 from England. Train hosts came through trying to sell us everything from plastic-looking packaged chicken dinners, beer, soda, jell-o with whipped cream, donuts sprinkled with powdered sugar and candy. All we really wanted was a steaming hot cup of tea, due to the ever dropping temperature within the coach car. Movies came on, first Maid in Manhattan complete with english subtitles, then some horrible Robert Redford film. The temperature continued to plummet, not just fall, but dive deeply into the base of the thermometer. Soon the condensation on the INSIDE of the windows was frozen into sheets of ice that obscured a view to the outer world, not that there was much to see anyway. We put all our clothes on that we had with us and opened Emma´s sleeping bag up and draped it around us as we snuggled together to keep warm. We finally arrived at Uyuni at 2:30am, in the freezing cold darkness, claimed our packs and looked around for our pick up. Well, our pick up failed to appear and the rest of the travelers dissappeared slowly into the town square, respective hostels, leaving Emma and I cold and alone, unsure as to what to do, or where to go. We finally gave up on our pick up, and asked a european-looking girl who was waiting for the 4:30am train to the Chilean boarder, if she had a guidebook we might glance at to find a reasonable accommodation. She stared at us incredilously, as if anyone traveling without a guidebook was mad, and silently handed her torn-out section of Bolivia out. We quickly located two close hostels and set out, was ushered into one by a woman, and then found that the only room left was one with a double bed. We scrambled into the room, unpacked our sleeping bags, placed them under the triple layer of woolen blankets and climbed in wearing the full assortment of thermals, gloves, hats, scarves, socks and fleeces. Even so it took at least an hour to be comfortable to fall asleep. We woke suddenly in the morning, worried that we had missed our 10:30 departure time for our tour. It was only 9, so we called the travel agency, packed our things and had some breakfast, in time to join the other four in our 4WD Toyota Land Cruiser along with our guide and driver Carlos and our cook Janet.
All packed in and ready to go we first visited a small settlement outside Uyuni where the salt is processed, first piled in pyramid-like towers to drain the water, then heated on a flat sheet of metal with a fire below to dry it further, then placed in a giant grinder to produce the powder substance that was packaged in 1 kilo bags for the market and for our dinner table. Then onto the "museo" of roughly carved salt statues which we found upon leaving costs 5 Bs. per person, sneaky eh? Back into the jeep and out onto the salt flats which are indiscribable. Streaching 90 km across and 167 km wide, the layer of salt that covers the ground like icy snow stretches as far as the eye can see and obscures the usually clear horizon line with its vastness. A few pictures then onto the Salt Hotel, a hotel composed entirely of salt blocks, the tables, the chairs, the nightstands, the bedstands, everything, but yet again, you had to buy something at the overpriced snack bar in order to take a photo, unless you were really devious and sneaky of course! Back into the jeep and off again across the ever expanding salt road to Isla del Pescado (Island of the Fish), not because it has fish, but because from an aireal view the island is shaped like a fish in the middle of the white sea of salt. The island is composed of petrified coral, PETRIFIED CORAL at some 3800 meters, and dotted with HUGE cacti extending 3-40 meters into the sky. Odd surreal landscape which we hiked, then returned to the jeep and a neatly set salt table for lunch. Because of the neverendingness of the salt flats, its possible to do "trick photos" where it appears as though a miniature of a friend is standing in the palm of your hand. Yeah we´re cool like that, ha!

Back into the jeep yet again for a two hour jaunt across the flats to the southeast shadowed by mountains of more petrified coral, cacti and odd letchin clumps. Through rocky valleys we drove upon leaving the Flats, up dry creekbeds and over rocks which produced a flat tire. With the efforts of our diver and one of our group we were soon on the track again. Our route took us through a valley surrounded by volcanic peaks, one softly smoking/steaming in the distance and stopping us at odd rock formations, no doubt created by hardened lava that was exposed by the raging rivers of the rainy season. We finally arrived at a small settlement, which was to be our stop for the night. Cemented rooms with private half-bathrooms containing fridgid running water. If you wanted a hot shower, you had to go to the communal showers in the other building, where you turned the tap on just enough to power the gas heater so the water could be the hottest possible, and even then, whichever side was absent from the water, was turning shades of cold, which caused a constantly revolving bather.

We weren´t the only group there, and in the communal dining room we were eached served our dinners from our respective cooks, Janet was great, good hot food to warm our bodies and souls as we scooted close together at the table to keep warm. Our group was fantastic from day one, two sweet girls from Denmark; Katarina and Monica, then two guys Menno from Holland and Volmer a Dutch-Austrailian, Emma reperesented the English and I from the States. Carlos our driver was amiable and easy-going, enjoying the music procured from the guy´s MP3 players and Janet was constantly teasing him and the rest of us. That night we played the ever popular traveler´s game of President-Asshole, a revolving game of seats, heiarchy and fun. When the generator powered down at 10 we were snug in our frigid echoing chambers, privy to the foreign conversations of others as their voices echoed off the unfinished cement walls. Small twirling flower fireworks were thrown into the halls and created shock and a revolving rainbow of colors, then everyone settled in to stay warm until morning shone her face.