Where's Grayleen?

As our last stop in Bolivia, we did a three-day jeep tour through the Salar de Uyuni and the surrounding countryside which ended in the north of Chile. Hundreds of gringos descend (or rather ascend– it’s pretty high up there) into the small town of Uyuni daily, this being the biggest tourist attraction in Bolivia and for good reason. The unforgettable views of the miles upon miles of salt flats (by far the largest in the world), flamingos in highland waters, and vast desert cannot be captured in words. While my photography is not up to the task either, photos are still the best I can do to try to convey the beauty and vastness of this Bolivian wilderness.   So here’s some eye candy:

Two stunning people on the salt flats

The salt flats extend to the horizon in all directions

The desert of the Bolivian antiplano

Huge numbers of gorgeous flamingos seem an incongruous sight in the generally inhospitable antiplano. This one is on the verge of evolving self-awareness.

Colorful yarn earrings mark the owner of this daddy llama

Now that you’ve taken in some other-worldly beauty, a few mundane things of note:

1.  Bolivia is utter chaos and this tour was no exception. Agencies book tourists for tours without yet knowing if they can get the jeeps and drivers, gasoline supplies are iffy, the jeeps break down on a regular basis, the roads verge on impassable, and the guides finding a spot in the limited hostels is a bit of a free-for-all since there are no phones to call ahead. It’s standard to charge for every single extra in these “all-inclusive” tours, angering some tourists when they are charged 10 extra Bolivianos (admittedly only $1.40 USD, but it’s the “principle of it”) because they took a shower at the hostel or because the tour agency ended up having to go with a more expensive hostel. It’s hard to imagine that they go through this level of chaos every single day, but I believe that they do.

2.  A national park that we drove through on the tour raised its prices from 30 Bolivianos (~$4.30 USD) to 150 Bolivianos (~$21.50 USD) effective in the new year. The tour agencies are understandably very angry about this approximately 25% tax on their businesses (the entire tour only cost us ~$85 USD), especially since the improved roads and public restrooms never seem to come, with the money disappearing into who-knows-whose pockets. Our agency asked us to stand by them in their protest, refusing to pay more than 30 Bolivianos. After over an hour of arguing with the park ranger, most of the jeeps ended up just driving around the gate. Definitely a lesson in Bolivian culture and politics.

3.  The contrast upon crossing the border into Chile was amazing. It had been a while since we had been out of the much poorer countries of South America (Bolivia, Peru, Colombia). We were struck by the lovely paved roads, the large middle class, and the very expensive prices. Admittedly, those prices do come with much better service. (We don’t think they have a word for “service” in Bolivian Spanish.)

All in all, it was a truly unforgettable experience, made all the more unforgettable by the four awesome new friends we shared our jeep with (a French Canadian couple and an Argentinian/American couple living in Buenos Aires who we plan to meet up with later). In the innumerable hours we spent in the jeep (and out of the jeep waiting for repairs to be completed), we bonded over travel stories, similar life stages, and, when the going got rough, Cuba Libres.

Okay, enough talk; you can find more photos from Salar de Uyuni here. And finally, a public service announcement:

Smoking kills