Uyuni Day 2 -Thunupa Volcano

June 2, 2016

In the morning we set out at 4:30 to climb Thunupa. In the dark we started up with our not-so-talkative 'guide' who basically just walked ahead of us the whole time. We knew where to go thanks to him, but there was no interpretive anything.

This little dog, who we dubbed 'mop dog' or the 'Bolivian mountain dog' went with us at least halfway up the mountain. We were impressed.

Sunrise over the flats from a thousand feet up was amazing.

After the sun came up we had a couple more hours of trekking towards our goal, as the crater became larger and larger.

Epic Bolivian mountain dog

We passed out of plants and into pure red rock

The saddle at the edge of the crater. From here we turned and climbed up the side of the crater to the summit.

We finally arrived at the top lip of the crater, at an elevation of 17,457 ft (5320m)

We were definitely feeling the elevation by then. My legs didn't feel too bad, but I was just WIPED and a little nauseous.

We hung around long enough to get a couple summit shots, and then headed straight down to lower elevation and more oxygen.

The view from the top was incredible, no denying that. Looking down 1600m (5300ft) to the flats below.

Coming down was significantly easier than going up, we glissaded down the gravel on the the back side.

Yep, it really was that steep.

And left the volcano behind us, conquered, though not without it doing a little butt-kicking of it's own.

We grabbed our things from the hostel, and met up with our second day tour group to complete the loop with. There was a Bolivian couple and a Peruvian couple, and everyone was super nice. We ate lunch in the park before setting back out into the flats.

We stopped for more photos, since it really wasn't possible to have too many. And you just got to play around in the middle of nowhere for a while.

Taryn got another super cool close-up salt shot.

Our next stop was Incahuasi, an island in the middle of the flats filled with cactus. It was also called 'fish island' since they said it looked like a fish in the salt. I thought maybe it looked like a dead...squished fish... But the cacti were super cool!

So big!

Everywhere. Literally everywhere.

The sun started doing some crazy rainbow reflecty things with the sky, and we managed to get it on camera

The 4x4s parked way down at the bottom

The fluffiest baby llama ever

And on the way out of the flats back to Uyuni we were treated to a wonderful sunset.

We finished out our Uyuni adventure by eating llama steaks for dinner. Verdict was not bad, but the meat was a pretty poor cut and kind of overdone, so it wasn't really that great. We left determined to find a better one in La Paz for comparison.

Uyuni Salt Flats - Day 1

June 1, 2016

Bright and early we got up our first morning in Uyuni, put on warm clothes in the morning chill and ate breakfast at the hotel. Then we forayed out to find a tour for the two days we had at the salt flats. After talking to a couple different people and going to basically all the ATMs in town in an attempt to get money to pay for the trip, we signed on to a two day tour that included a stay in the salt hotel on the flanks of Thunupa volcano, and time to climb said volcano.

It was low season plus road blockades, there weren't a lot of people wanting two day trips. Many of the folks we talked to said they only had the one day tour available. The gal we ended up going with was awesome and said it was no problem, they would put us in with other one day tour people, we'd do half the loop and get dropped off in the middle for our overnight and climb, and then we'd get picked up the next day by another one day tour, and complete the second half of the loop with them.

We started off with a stop at the train graveyard just outside of town. The trains were once used, but now are lines of rusted out locomotives and cars. We had a blast exploring and climbing on them.

(prepare yourself for an awesome photo montage)

We had to leave much too soon, I could have spent a lot longer looking at broken down trains, especially set against the bluest sky ever.

Our next stop was a little town just outside of Uyuni that had arts and crafts to buy. It was pretty standard, except for all the plastic toy dinosaurs. Since the salt flats are big and good for perspective photos, having a toy dino to attack you is handy. I got a kick out of it.

Then out onto the flats we went. First stop was 'Los Ojos de Sal', the eyes of salt. They're natural springs bubbling up through the salt, and were kinda cool. Also just about the saltiest, nastiest thing I've tasted. Yes, I dipped my finger in just to see.

I also discovered that my camera couldn't deal with panorama shots, the landscape was too similar for it to register I was moving it. So once again, amusing failed panorama.

In the middle of the flats is a monument built of salt to Dakar, which is a big moto/car/bike rally that happens every year. It's been held (or is held every year) in Bolivia so it's a big deal to them, with the logo plastered all over everything.

It was right outside the first salt hotel, which has been turned into a restaurant. They had salt llamas outside.

Never pass up an opportunity for a selfie!

Salt furniture inside.

And some gnarly flamingos that looked like they've been around forever.

There is a monument to the countries of the world outside the hotel, with flags from all over. Lots of them have been signed by people from that country, and lots are very shredded from the constant wind. It was kind of a cool effect.

The flats were wide and vast, and good for pictures. It was incredible to try to comprehend just how far they went, flat in all directions. The temperature was probably low 40s, and the salt crunched under your feet when you walked. It was hard to make my brain believe that I was on salt and not a frozen lake.

Cool close up salt shot

We drove maybe 20 minutes across flat and white, then pulled off to the side of the main path (there was a faint grey track showing where the main paths between landmarks went) and had lunch in the middle of nowhere. It was quinoa, rice, veggies, and a cut of beef, with water and Coke. It was also delicious.

Our guide said 'put your forks in the air!' Obviously everyone else on the tour had no idea how to be awesome...

The big flat landscape made the perfect opportunity for perspective photos, which we had fun with.

The best part is you know she's standing with one shoe on right now...

And this is what taking the photos looks like- not nearly so epic.

Action shots!

One frame taken. Nailed it.

And some nice shots in front of the volcano that we'd be climbing come morning.

The surface patterns are made when moisture comes to the surface and freezes off, the hexagons are the most thermodynamically favorable shape for it to make. Science!

We got dropped off at the base of the volcano in the little town, and spent the night by ourselves in the salt hostel there. The rooms were made out of salt blocks, the bed under the mattress was salt blocks, and there was loose salt on the floor.

In the other room this was one of the blankets. I thought it was hilarious. 'Good colleague-Romantic Loverd dog'

We wandered around before dinner, and it felt like we were on the edge of an island, with a shoreline and nothing beyond it.

Llamas. Llamas everywhere.

This kid was hilarious. So far as we could tell, he was just eating mayonnaise out of the package, with plain spaghetti noodles. He had a really cute smile, but I could never get a photo of it.

After dinner there were flamingos hanging out by the little puddles by the shoreline.

The sunset was pretty above the flats.

The 'road' heading out across the salt.

Thunupa, our adventure for the morning.

We snuggled under a pile of llama blankets for the night, and set our alarms for o'dark-thirty to climb the volcano the next morning. Prepare yourself for more epic photos coming up!