Our second mission in Bolivia was to the 3 day Salt Flat Tour. Before embarking on the tour this is what I knew about it:

• You drive in 4x4s
• You see the Salt Flats
• You take trick photography pics on the Salt Flats

That’s all I knew – so I wondered about how we would spend 3 days taking pics on a Salt Flat (surely it would get a little boring?). Word on the street is that it is an amazing tour and some even go as far to say it’s the best part of South America. Clearly, there was more to the tour than just the Salt Flats.

Yes, there was a whole lot more to the tour. If I had done minimal research I would have discovered this. If I had actually listened to what others told me about the tour I would have known this too. But in the end I’m glad I had no idea what it was about because I had no expectations and therefore was not disappointed.

We started the tour in Uyuni, which is the creepiest desert town I have ever seen. You can almost hear the cowboy music and visualise tumble weeds rolling past. It’s dusty and dry and there is nothing to do. We also spotted a creepy looking Ferris Wheel and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a whole lot of kiddie fiddling going on in this part of the world. We were glad to get out of there.

Creepy Uyuni

The next port of call was the Train Cemetery – which doesn’t really need explaining. It’s an area filled with rusting old trains. I could imagine Tyra Banks using it as a set for America’s Next Top Model and finding it extremely deep and symbolic.

Train Cemetery posing.

After posing a bit on trains we headed off to the infamous Salt Flats. It’s a large area that was once a lake and all that remains now is the salt deposits. It’s blinding white and stretches out to the horizon. Because it’s so flat and so white you can do some really cool trick photography. That is, if you get the right photographer. We asked the German couple in our group to take a pic of us and they completely cocked it up. There are so many things wrong in the picture below that I don’t even know where to start.

Argh…don’t trust a German with your camera

At this stage I figured since the sunset fail in Huacachina we should just give up on trying to get cool photos. But we persevered and eventually got some decent shots (sans German photographers).

ooooh….

….aaaaah

The rest of the Salt Flat Tour was not spent on the Salt Flat. We spent the next two days driving around and seeing some of the most beautiful landscapes ever. We saw rocks, desert, lagunas and flamingos and geysers.  That might not sound amazing… but it was and you will just have to believe me. Here is proof:

Nice.

A whole lot of rocks

And flamingoes

Vast landscapes on the Salt Flats Tour

Overall it was a really awesome experience, amazing sight-seeing during the day and chilled out nights spent playing card games in the middle of nowhere.  It was peaceful, relaxing, beautiful and definitely a highlight of this trip.