Salar de Uyuni and Bus Adventures

We finally got to experience the South American bus system we had heard so much about. With no particular plans of any sort, and hearing rumors of a pretty cool salt flat in Bolivia, south of La Paz, we decided to embark on a few overnight buses from Cuzco, Peru through the south of Peru and into Chile. Two overnight buses in three days turned out to be not as bad as we expected, it was the return home where we saw all the rumors of the Bolivian bus system come to reality... more on that in a minute. The town of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile was unexpectedly awesome, looked like a mini Santa Fe, New Mexico full of mountain bike rental shops and great restaurants. We rented bikes and cruised around, and booked our three day tour into the salt flats of Bolivia.

The Tour consists of three days and two nights of driving across the desert in an old Land Cruiser 4x4. We were told there would be max of 6 in a car, of course we had 7. And every guy was over 6 ft. Needless to say it wasn't all that comfortable, but we made it work. You get out about 12 times a day to see crazy colored lakes with flamingos, rock formations, hot springs you can swim in, and a lot of desert. The drivers dont speak english, and drive whereever they please since there aren't any particular roads. There are a few places where the water is a tad deeper than it appears, as you can see (in my picture with cool effects) our driver just slightly misjudged that one spot. We got towed out in a minute or two by the other car.

The big day was on the third day, where we woke up at 330 am to see the sun rise from an "island" made of coral over the salt flats, or the Salar. It had rained the night before, which was a mixed blessing. The good thing was that it puts about an inch of water on the salt flats so you get a perfect reflection of the sky. The bad thing is it was cloudy and we didn't get the full effect of the bright reflection. With the endless white of the salt flats, you can also set up some cool pictures with the perspective. I guess you could do this anywhere with a flat surface, but everyone does it here so... when in Rome, right?

Our tour ended in Uyuni, Bolivia where the real adventure began. We had heard horror stories of the bus ride from Uyuni to La Paz being the worst ride ever, with tipped over buses and long delays, but with little choice, we made the adventure. We got used to the constant rattling of the bus, like the worst turbulance ever, as we rolled over the rough dirt roads and were actually able to fall asleep. We stopped at about 3 am for a few hours, not sure why, and when the sun came up I went outside to see. There were two trucks and a bus stuck in the river, one of many you have to cross. After about 4 hours, they got the one bus out and it was our bus's turn. Our driver revved the engine, and gunned it, only to get stuck as well. One thought went through all our minds, DAMMMMMMIIITTTTTTTT!!!! There were about 100 people working together, well sort of, with no particular leadership. If this had been America, the police, fire department, CHP, and CalTrans would have been on the scene. But no, its Bolivia and if you can't get your own bus out of the river, you aren't going anywhere. With a combo of a car jack, rocks, boards, and straw, we lifted the bus up and built a road across the river. After 9 hours of work and waiting came the moment of truth. The driver gunned it and we were out. I went ballistic, high fiving the drivers and hugging old Bolivian women. There is a video out there somewhere, that I hope to someday post, of the celebration. We then drove 8 more hours to La Paz where we are now. It was a 24 hour journey in all, and it sucked while doing it (big time), but it was all worth the story. We have about a week here to see Lake Titicaca, do a bike ride, and see this crazy city. Bolivia, what a country.

Oh, and a few more pictures....