Jez & TZ's Worldwide Adventure: Atacama Desert Jeep Trip

After two days of driving in the desert, we had finally reached our prized destination: the Uyuni Salt Flats of Bolivia. Although striking under almost any conditions, at sunrise it really was a sight to behold. Having had some experience with the salt flats in Jujuy, Northern Argentina, we knew how strong the compulsion would be to act up...

With nothing to block the paths of our shadows, they seemed to go on forever...

After I took the following photo Jez pointed out a rather strange phenomenon. While the rest of his body had been stretched to giraffe-like proportions, the shadow of his middle leg was in fact life size...

Jumping?

Or freefalling?

Ok enough of the stills, what fun can we have with our video?

When we hopped back in the jeep, our driver impressed us again with his navigation skills. Not only could he traverse the desert on imaginary roads, he could do the same on these salt flats. Although constantly surprised by where we would land up, nothing could prepare us for the sight of a cactus island that sprang forth from no where! It was here at Isla Incahuasi (Cactus Island) in the middle of the Salt Flat that we would enjoy Christmas cake for breakfast.

After breakfast, we walked around the Island. Jez made a rather interesting discovery...

A unanimous decision had been made, the Cactus Island set against the backdrop of a seemingly endless Salt Flat was indeed the highlight of our jeep trip. But the day had just begun for us and very soon, that would pale into insignificance...

We headed for the Salt Mines where we were to stop and have lunch. But not before a quick stop where our driver was to point out the Ojos de Salar, the eyes of the salt. Here we would see holes in the salt which revealed two things: 1) There was water under the salt and 2) the salt was pretty damn thin! We tapped our feet on a couple of salt ridges which created more eyes. We were still horrified by the realisation that we had been driving on such precarious terrain when our driver invited us back into the car...

When we reached the salt mine we realised we had run out of Bolivianos and could therefore not afford the mine tour. We took the opportunity to relax and have some lunch and meet a rather sociable looking vecuña...

The vecuña is part llama, part deer...but also part evil. We did not know that until for some unknown reason I stood before it and said: "I´ve been attacked by a cow before but never by a vecuña..." In all honestly, I dont know what compelled me to say that but click on the video below to see how that played out...

After the vecuña incident, as it has now been named, we jumped in the jeep, slammed the doors and wound up the windows. The beast was hunting for its next victim and no one else was willing to sacrifice their dignity. So we sped off and stopped at the outskirts of the quaint city of Uyuni. Here we explored the train cemetery - a sad collection of rusty old steam trains.