Salar de Uyuni & 3 days in a Land Cruiser

Wow wow wow! This 3 day Uyuni salt flats tour is probably a highlight of my trip to date (Lucas too I think). The tour started in San Pedro de Atacama and crossed the border to Bolivia within the first couple hours on day one. So the tour was basically all throughout Bolivia.

We got collected from our hostel at 6am, where we then went and collected the other two couples. The first couple picked up were from Chile, near Valparaiso. I think they said they were about 35, with two young kids (romantic getaway for them). The other couple were from the Netherlands, who yes could have been our parents, but man were they fun! They brought the energy and I think made it the trip it was. It almost seemed like we got put as a couples group haha. We spent a lot of time with these people, think 8+ hours in the cars per day, every activity, every meal together, etc. so was pretty make or break depending on the group were got. It worked out in our favour thankfully. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners were all provided which were all hot meals except for 2 breakfasts, and all seemed traditional to Bolivia. We even tried Llama!

On day 1 of the tour we had a freezing breakfast next to the car at 4,800 m elevation before we headed through the border crossing. Cold start, but we definitely warmed up throughout the day. We had many stops before we arrived in Villamar Mallcu at about 6.30pm in Bolivian time (we gained an hour at the border crossing meaning it was 7.30pm in Chile time). This made it a 13 hour day!!!

We stopped at hot springs, geysers, and many lagunas, including our last stop which was laguna Colorada. The hot springs were a lovely way to warm up after the cold morning. The geysers weren’t quite as exciting as El Tatio Geysers in Chile, but they definitely smelt like Rotorua. Laguna Colorada is known for its pink flamingos, and it certainly lived up to the expectation. There would have been thousands of them. It was also the first time we saw Llamas up close which was cool. The Llamas in Bolivia are owned by farmers, even though they roam wild. How they tell them apart I have no idea, perhaps the colourful tassels they have on their ears and necks?

I think one of the highlights of the tour for me was seeing a puma hunting a vicuña. We were driving along the 4WD track in the afternoon of day 1 when Jaime slammed the brakes on and pointed, puma. Me and Lucas instantly locked eyes on it, possibly about 50 m away, sprinting at top speed along the barren land towards a baby vicuña. There was a pack of vicuña, with only this one young amongst them, so it was an obvious choice from the puma. One of the adult vicuñas, possibly its mother/father, started running towards the puma trying to fend it off while the rest of the pack including the young got away. Now the puma had a new target and started going for the adult vicuńa. We didn’t see how it ended as they went down a slight incline, however, it was not looking promising for the vicuña. It left me feeling a mix of emotions. Happy that the puma may get a meal, but sad that a vicuña may have died saving the young one’s life. It’s all Mother Nature though I guess. Not only did Jaime say it’s super rare seeing a puma during the day, but it’s even more rare seeing it hunt like that. So we felt pretty privileged after that!

As I said, day 1 was huge so we were glad to get to the hostel and have showers and a hot meal. We slept in a 4-bed room and I conked out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

On day 2 we got a sleep in (7.30am) and had some Brekky before me and Lucas went for a little explore of Villamar Mallcu before we hit the road at 9am. I found a wild puppy and made the foolish mistake of looking keen on patting it because it then wanted to play and followed us everywhere and became a bit annoying. It was very cute though, but sorry buddy, we were not your new owners.

The morning of the tour was spent exploring some cool red rock formations. They were pretty cool, but coming from Cafayate and San Pedro de Atacama we had seen more than enough of them. This day we saw many more llamas. We also drove past a lot of quinoa farms, apparently quinoa originates from Bolivia. Though because it’s so popular around the world, it drove up the price of the grain for locals which was once what they survived on for no cost at all, I guess like rice in the poorer countries across the world. Our final stop of the day was at a pub in the middle of nowhere. There were 3 pubs all right next to each other filled with other people on the same tours, with Toyota Land Cruisers dotted everywhere. They blasted the music and sold beers made with cactus, coca, and quinoa (all local ingredients).

We got to our hostel, a salt hotel, made completely of salt at about 5.30pm (so a much shorter and less tiring day). This was in Villa Martin, a tiny town with salt hotels/hostels dotted around. It was on top of a bit of a hill and you could see right out towards where the salt flats began, and where we’d be tomorrow morning. Lucas and I, and the other couples, got our own twin rooms which was nice. That evening we watched the sun set with the group, ate dinner and drank some wine, and went out and viewed the stars. It was a wholesome evening!

Day 3, wow, this was another biggie. We loaded up the car and left the hotel at 4.30am to make it to the Salt flats in time for sunrise. It was stunning but really cold, so I definitely enjoyed our time on the salt flats once the sun had been up a while. We spent about 3+ hours on them which was epic. Because we did the tour in wet season it meant there was about 5cm of water covering the surface of the salt. This made for a mirror like reflection! The salt ranges between 2-10 m deep, with the lake water underneath that. You can see in the photos the salt forms hexagon shapes which I think is due to the molecular shape of salt joining together? This may be wrong. The lines and the holes are formed to allow oxygen to/from the water underneath.

We spent most of the time trying to get creative photos with the reflection and playing with perspective. It was so much fun! Once off the lake we noticed our shoes and pants were covered in salt! We also had breakfast on the lake, standing around the food perched on the back of the truck, it was a vibe.

After the salt flats we stopped off at the train graveyard which was not that interesting to be honest. Just a bunch of rusted old trains dumped off the train track. It was the last stop before lunch and then the end of our trip and I think a lot of us were quite hungry (and tired) by then. Our final lunch we had the choice between beef or llama, so of course me and Lucas ordered the llama to say we’ve tried it. To me it tasted similar to beef, but with more bones.

By the time we got dropped off to our hostel, concluding the tour, we were absolutely nackered! It was a huge 3 days filled with early mornings, sun/cold, dust, driving, altitude, socialising! But man was it worth it, an unforgettable experience.

MacKenzie

Feb 27, 2025