The perspective-bending kodakmoments of flat salt

Back to my 'Deep South' blog

Uyuni, Bolivia
Monday, December 1, 2014

On the altiplano, geological conditions sometimes yield unusual results. One such is Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt lake in the world. As such, the town of Uyuni, though sleepy in its own rights, hosts a large percentage of travellers and backpackers, eager to visit the stunning landscape in the area. The nights would be spent having high altitude pizza at Minuteman's and drinks with ekivoque names (such as Sexy Llama Bitch, Multiple orgasm and Llama's nipple) at the aptly and humbly namned Extreme Fun Pub.

But first things first. Uyuni was once an important train hub, and remnants of that era can be seen around town, in the form of statues of railroadian nature, the display of Bolivia's supposedly first locomotive and a vast train graveyard.

Loading up in some landcruisers, we headed out towards the salt flats for a day of SD-card-munching activities, where photographs were taken of salt pillars and their reflections, trains and landscapes.

Lunch were held at Incahuasi, a largish island in the salt flats. Rising high above its surroundings, the rocky and cacti covered outpost serves a great viewing point of the flatness around it.

The main reason for visiting Salar de Uyuni is of course to take silly photos. The flatness and whiteness makes it impossible to hang up any sense of distance, and as such, forced perspective can be used to great effect; small objects appearing big, big objects becoming small and people taking all sorts of sizes.

Leaving Uyuni behind and heading toward Chile, the drive took us through Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa, a large area of connected national reserves. Other than stunning high altitude landscapes, the volcanic activities provides lakes of unusual colours, geysers and hot springs, and a great many flamingoes. A long days drive, including border crossing can be a dull affair, but interspersing it with legstreching and shutterfriendly pit stops in breathtaking (both figuratively and literally) landscapes makes it more than worthwhile. And a dip in the 40 degree waters of the hot springs sure help warming up the body after having endured the low temperatures and strong wind that the barren and high altitudy environment produces.

To summarize: Went to salt flats, took photos. Went through national parks, took photos. Went to Bolivian-Chilean border, took no photos.

Fun factoid: It is well-known, to those who know it well, that Flamenco Day is on December 1:st. As chance would have it, that was the day we were in Eduardo Avaora, and therefore got to see the pink long-legged birds. Any other day, and they wouldn't have been there. What are the odds? Well, 1 in 365 I suppose.

.

Pictures & Video

Train Salt Cacti Flat Snoops Gojiras Salty sunset Flamingoes
Flamingoes
Ducks or eagles
Geezer and geyser
Geezer and geyser
and the scent of rotten eggs...
Hot springs
Hot springs
eternal
Back to my 'Deep South' blog