The Salar de Uyuni
One of the places that I was really looking forward to riding is the Salar. Wahoo….. 16 months down the road I am here.
Riding 20KM north of Uyuni is the main entrance to the Salar. It is a rough washboard road that you are glad to be done riding…. The anticipation builds as you ride through the town of Colchani to the salt flats.
The Salar de Uyuni is the largest Salt flats in the world. WIKI says this….
“Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the world’s largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi) and is at an elevation of 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above mean sea level”
As we enter the Salar they are taking salt out. Maybe it ends up on your table?
It is am amazing feeling as you ride out onto the white expanse of the Salt flats. We followed the “road” out to the Salt hostel, then it is wide open to ride in any direction…… We ended up riding 180 miles just on the salt flats.!
First stop.
Radioman sticker added to the building!
Inside the Salt hotel….
Then out across the salt for about 50 miles to the first island. But on the way we had to stop and take the crazy perspective photos!!
The surface is hard with crystal structures….
Once you get miles out….. it s fun to stop and enjoy the crazy environment.
Trying to get just the right perspective…..
Looks funny …..
But the end result…..
or
And as we messed around….. More funny photos
and a few classics………
Had to get a Radioman Jump in as well! Jill was a great photographer on my jump!
Jill thought we were nuts…. But here is one for the ADV community from the SALAR! You might have to squint a bit ….. for affect!
Cheers to the ADV’r round the world! Thanks for joining my ride! Thanks Mike for making this happen.
There are islands out in the middle. It is surreal. Catus.
At the island is a map of the place
We continued out to another island about 20 miles further…. and set up camp!
With all the white Salt it was really warm. We set up camp on the edge of the island, then did some exploring.
Even a few flowers in this harsh environment!
Off course Hello Kitty was happy to finally reach the Salar!
We set up cooking dinner in the protection of the island. Warm food camping tastes really great!
Sun finally setting! The wind picked to a real blow. but few hours later slowed down. Glad we had warm cloths!
Beautiful Sunset
Another Jump to celebrate being on the Salar
Nightime. No extra lights and no sounds….. far from anything else!
Awesome stars overhead, and a full moon.
Then a nice sunrise…… Cold morning but what a place.
we rode back to the island and had coffee in the restaurant before riding off the Salar.
You can see how easy it is to get turned around. You start riding and there are tracks going each way….. thankfully we had GPS for the start and the island.
Salar Entrance
S20 18.977 W66 58.892
Island S20 14.400 W67 37.469
As we rode back into Uyuni, the road was still rough But had a bunch of Llama cross the road.
Once back in town we found a place to have the bikes washed for 30 Bolivianos.
Had a snack in town and then headed out for Potosi
Stopped again for Gas, and there were still big lines as you can see.
Mike asked if we could get in line since we only needed 10-12 liters of fuel vs the hundreds the jeeps are loading. The gas attendant was different than last time at the same spot. He said he did not have to fill us up but finally let us cut in line and fill up. Crazy.
Out of Uyuni we went! Happy to be out of town with full tanks.
It is a beautifully paved road to Potosi, although they did charge us a toll of 5 Bolivianos each at the toll booth a first for us in Bolivia.
Loved this photos. Llama in the Llama crossing
We arrive in Potosi in the afternoon, and Mikes bike was running rough. Air fllter is a problem. So mike set to work fixing it for there ride to Cochabamba. It is very plugged up.
Mike did surgery on the filter as I looked on
Potosi is a mining city at 4,000 meters (around 14,000 feet) claiming one of the highest cities in the world. The life of the miners is a hard and dangerous one. Many mine tours but they are said to be very rough and possibly dangerous. I watched a film the other night about a young miner which give a little picture into their world. If you can find it watch it.