Salar de Uyuni salt flat tour, Bolivia - Day 61-64

A group of us loaded up in 2 Toyota Land Cruisers and headed out to the high altitude desert for a 4-day tour of the Altiplano and Uyuni salt flats. We spent these next 4 days on 4WD roads at elevations between 12,000-16,000 ft.

DAY 1: Tupiza-San Pablo de Lipez

El Sillar rock formations along the drive.

Town of San Pablo de Lipez where we spent the 1st night at 14,000 ft.

Day 2: San Pablo de Lipez-Laguna Colorada

Llamas grazing.

The minerals in Laguna Colorada give it its red color. Thousands of flamingoes feed off of micro organisms that thrive in these lakes. Altitude: 14,500 ft.

These bubbling geysers of mud and steam sit at the highest point of the tour, at 16,000 ft.

Day 3: Laguna Colorada-edge of the Salar

Arbol de Piedra; one of the many crazy rock formations in the middle of the desert.

A giant Yareta, a plant used to fuel fires and as a medicine. These bright green plants look very odd in this brown landscape.

Llama tagging party! We were invited to have a celebratory drink with the campesinos who were spending the day marking their herd of llamas with colorful tassels in their ears and around their necks. It was very fun dancing with them!

On the last night, we stayed in this hotel made entirely of salt, even the furniture.

Day 4: Salar de Uyuni

We woke up at 4:15 to drive out to the salt flat before sunrise.

Isla Pescador is an island that sits in the middle of the salt flat. Many years ago, this area was a giant lake and the island was a coral reef, but now, 30 ft tall and 1,000 yr old cacti grow on the coral.

Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat on earth, sitting at 12,000 ft, encompassing an area of 4,674 sq miles and averaging a depth of 100 ft.

Tiny Bella. Because of the white flat lighting and lack of depth perception, taking funny photos is a very popular thing to do here, we tried...

Tiny Kris... Taking these photos takes A LOT of coordination and patience.

Tiny Kris and Bella.

Giant Ken doll!