5:30 a.m. departure; drive to the Salar de Uyuni (salt flat)
6:00 a.m. Hotel of Salt
We drove through standing water over the salt flat to arrive at the Salt Hotel, which is actually a museum made of salt bricks. We wandered around outside watching the sun rise over the salt flat. It was extremely cold, even for me, though I was better prepared than anyone else out there. Isabel had only her little sandals and tights and she must have been freezing as she prepared our breakfast of pancakes inside the cold museum.
I was immediately struck by the human impact on the salar. there were tire tracks as far as the eye could see in every direction. I felt profoundly sad. In the US, there would be one road in and out and this sort of trampling would be regulated. Nonetheless, it was a dramatic landscape that resembled the frozen tundra in northern AK.
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| Sunrise on the Salar de Uyuni; looks like AK |
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| No US flag! |
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| Sculpture inside the salt museum. The dark rings are annuli. The salt flat is growing. |
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| Pancake breakfast inside the salt museum |
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| Me and My Shadow |
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| Fun on the salt flats |
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| Getting traditionl Quechuan Trensas (braids) |
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| Showing off my new braids |
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| Dancing on the salar |
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| An attempt at staging a photo walking on Isabel´s braids |
8:30 a.m.: photo fun on the salar
The sun warmed things up a bit and we drove to a more remote spot for photo opportunities. We engaged in all sorts of silliness and even danced along with Isabel. My word of the day is ´trensas´which are braids. Isabel braided my hair in the traditional Quechuan way. I played along. I was disappointed that the natural hexagonal shapes in the salt flats were not visible because it is too early in the season. Photos I have seen are jaw dropping.
10:15 a.m. Salt mounds
We visited the area where salt is mined. They use shovels to pile it in small mounds which have a surreal appearance.
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| Salt mounds |
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| Looks just like the Carribean |
11:00 a.m.: Back to Uyuni to say our goodbyes and eat another yummy lunch.
12:00 a.m.: The road trip back to Tupiza
Since I am southbound, I caught a ride back to Tupiza with the driver, Isabel, and the owner of the company. As part of Fidel´s tip, I bought him an aux cable to plug ipods into his radio. All of the tourists have iPods. Fidel only has 8 songs he played over and over. I played DJ for the 5 hour dusty drive. I mainly played world music, but for the last 45 minutes I gave a US music history lesson beginning with Loius Armstrong. They hated Johnny Cash and John Denver and didnt care for Mrs Robinson. I was about to give up when I tried Jessica and they loved the Allman Brothers. We played it twice!
5:00 pm: Tupiza
I checked into my hostel and checked email. I went to an LP recommended restaurant and ran into 3 people from my pampas tour. I spent the remainder of the evening watching American movies dubbed into Spanish on my cable TV.
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