The (dreaded) crossing into Bolivia and getting salty in Uyuni

I was scared, I must admit, of the journey from Chile across the border into Bolivia. I had read many a blog post with horror stories detailing being stuck on a bus at the border crossing over night for 7 hours in -20 degree temperatures, drunk drivers, accidents, you name it. However, in reality it was not so bad - a lot of altitude, (to put it in perspective at the border we would have been at the same height as Mont Blanc!) and some very bumpy roads in a suspension-less bus, and lots of dust seaping through the windows. However, we made it to Uyuni after 9 hours, massively relieved to be in one piece!


Uyuni is a strange town, it is the main place to visit Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flats(yep you got it, Sth America has a lot of world records!). It is a very transient town, with most people only staying for 1 night as there is little to do and it is ferociously cold! However, for us, this was our first taste of Bolivia so we took it slowly for the first day, as at almost 4km above sea level you get puffed out pretty quickly.
Below is the 'train cemetery'- 100's of trains have been dumped after accidents and following the closure of train lines

After much deliberation we decided on a one day trip to the salt flats. We'd have loved to take the trip independently however we would have most definitely gotten lost in a mass of white salt. This place is huuuuge and very surreal. Literally a white salty landscape for many miles, 12,000km squared to be exact. There's over 10 billion tonnes of salt, of which 25,000 tonnes is removed each year and shipped off, ultimately ending up on dinner tables throughout Sth America.

Salt is piled high to dry before being shipped off


And of course with such a cool landscape, we couldn't finish the trip without having some fun with the camera!