Going to the Uyuni Salt flats was an incredibly long day, beginning at 9pm on the 22nd Feb and finishing at 6am on the 24th Feb- which meant two night buses! But it was completely and utterly worth it! Lily had sung their praises on the way to the wrestling, but warned us against travelling there and back with Roadrunner as she had a nightmare journey consisting of travellers bug, false information and just complete chaos. So we decided to be on the safe side we’d book the bus journey through our hostel…turns out Selina was the middle man and we had actually booked with Road Runner… thankfully, we were picked up from the hostel as expected, unlike poor Lily who was forgotten. We also took Lily’s advice and avoided all the food we were given during the journey!

We were travelling with our friend Kristy, and at 9pm we were all hurdled into a taxi racing against time to catch the night bus. We arrived in Uyuni the next day at 6am a little groggy but having managed to get a decent amount of sleep. We had been told before leaving La Paz that we should look out for someone called “Suzie” when we arrived in Uyuni, who would then take us to our breakfast stop, however Suzie was nowhere to be seen which meant no free breakfast, which was not the best start to the day. Luckily, Kate and I had bought some cereal bars along with us. Finally, at 10:30am we said goodbye to Kristy who was off on her 3 day tour and said hello to our 4×4 truck and our group for the day! We had a Bolivian couple with us and a French pair (who we presumed were brother and sister but later transpired to be a couple…very weird…). We decided to book the one day tour with Andes Salt Exhibitions, which I would totally recommend to anyone. A lot of the companies charge you a load more and more to have a guide who speaks English, but all of the guides employed by this company can speak basic English, and really the trip is just about the scenery anyway! Frankly, none of the trips are particularly luxurious so I really don’t see the need to splash the cash! Here is the companies link if interested – https://www.andes-salt-uyuni.com.

The first stop on our expedition was the Train Cemetery. This was where you can see the remains of nineteenth and early 20th century steam locomotives which was fascinating! Unfortunately the place was flooded by tourists climbing the trains blocking us from taking any artistic photos but it didn’t stop us from climbing them like 8yr olds! The landmark was rather eerily beautiful but, as is often the case these days, slightly spoiled by vandalism and graffiti. Some history now… all of the trains are from Britain! Uyuni was meant to become a major train destination linking cities, but due to disputes between neighbouring cities and failures of the mining industry, this never happened.

After this we all reconvened and headed back to Uyuni to get the supplies for our lunch. This is when Kate and I became proper detectives trying to snoops into the bag to see what we’d be eating. Sandwiches? Chocolate? Picnic stuff? I suppose we just had to wait and see!

Up next on our trip we drove to the Salt Flats, which are spread over a whopping 4,086 square miles! A common complaint we came across when Googling about trips to the Salt Flats was with the drivers. There are thousands of accounts of people getting stuck on the flats with careless drunk drivers, so both Kate and I buckled up and clenched to the handles. Another common issue is the cars breaking down or getting punctures, which never happened to us thank god! Honestly, our driver was a dream. Make sure you bring flip flops or rent wellies as your feet get super wet! *Next are some pics of me trying and failing to be an influencer…

Next we arrived at Colchani which lies beside the Salar de Uyuni and is the home of the Cooperative Rosario. It is the best place to observe the methods of salt extraction from the Salar! After, we made our way to the ex-salt Hotel Playa Blanca! This is landmarked by a huge Bolivia sign, which is the Dakar Monument. This a huge salt statue which we were told was to commemorate the passing of the Dakar Rally and it is here you see flags brought by visitors all around the world, although there wasn’t a British flag in sight….

It was at the ex-salt hotel that we had our lunch! Nope it was not a picnic but instead a feast! It consisted of alpaca steaks, salad, omelettes, potatoes and much more. It was absolutely delicious and we all sat around like Kings. Unfortunately, the conversation was very much lacking due to the fact that Kate and I speak very poor Spanish, the Bolivian couple spoke very poor English, and the French pair didn’t seem to speak either language… I think it was definitely a good thing we were only with them for one day, as one lunch full of awkward silences was definitely enough.

Full and energised it was the moment we had all been waiting for… the perspective shots. Because we visited during the rainy season, the Salt Flats flood with water and the sky is perfectly reflected, creating an incredible display and providing us with some amazing shots. When you are searching about the Salt Flats, these perspective shots are pretty much all you’ll see- people cowering in front of giant toy dinosaurs, drinking humongous cans of beer and stamping on little versions of themselves… mine and Kates attempts were probably a 2/10…

After about 3 hours of perspectives and insta worthy pictures it was time to wait in the car for the sunset… It is so hard to explain what we saw and I think the photos speak for themselves!

Finally, it was time to head back to La Paz. Obviously, we shared a pizza first though!