We saw Salar de Uyuni for the first time four years ago during our first trip to South America. It made such a big impression on us that we decided to come back one day. We didn’t expect that this day would be so soon. This time we arrived during the rainy season.
Salar de Uyuni is located in the south-west of Bolivia near the town it is named after. Uyuni itself is not a welcoming place. Frankly speaking it is a small, dirty and ugly town, which became famous as it is a good starting point for the salt desert tours. So if you’re heading that way you’ll probably spend a night or two in one of its hostels. It is worth mentioning that in the past Uyuni was much more important as there were mineral mines in the surrounding areas. Today you can see the remnants of those days of glory in a very unusual form, which is the train cemetery. Quite a few old, rotten trains once used to connect Uyuni with the rest of Bolivia, are standing there in the outskirts of the town where they have their ‘second life’ as a tourist attraction. But this is not the highlight of the area. It is the salt flat.
As mentioned above, we decided to come back to see the salt desert again because we found it so beautiful at first encounter. In 2009 we visited it in August, which was during the dry season and now we could see its watery side. We went there on the Valentine's Day by the way! People asked us which was more beautiful. I wouldn't be able to tell as it’s such an amazing form of the nature that you can sit there for a long time and just watch its pure beauty. It’s the world largest salt desert with the area of more than 10 000 square km and it is located at the altitude of about 3600 m. So whichever way you look you see just salt everywhere. You don’t need more to be impressed. I’ll stop describing at this point and invite you to see the photos below.
