We woke up at 5 am to see the sunrise over the salt flats. It was the most breath taking natural phenomenon I have ever witnessed. The water on the salt flats reflected back the colors of the rising sun on the water below. We really lucked out because there isn’t always water here.
Pictures were not doing it justice, so I took this footage as we drove through the salt flats during sunrise. Enjoy.
Fast Tube by Casper
In the morning sun, our shadows were the longest any of us had ever seen. It was incredible!
Our troop of travelers.
Ben and I making a heart with our shadows…awwwww!
Shadow Art by Ben & Leah
Then we came up to Fish Island but it really should have been called Cacti Island.
It was like any other island except that it was in a Salt Flat, not a body of water , and it was covered in cacti in freezing cold temperatures, not the desert. Ok, so it wasn’t like any other island I’d seen at least, it was strange, but this is Bolivia after all, the land of the unexpected.
Ben on Fish Island with teeny tiny cars in the background.
Finally after 3 days of traveling we got to the largest salt flats in the world! But then things really started getting weird!!!
Me having a Ben snack attack.
Yoga on Ben's head. It's the only way I do yoga!
Me kissing Ben's butt
After our photo session, we drove on to learn where our table salt come from.
First,
You dig out the salt.
Next,
You make the salt into nice neat piles
Finally,
You pick up the salt in a dump truck.
The drive through all that salt water really did a number on our jeep. Here’s a video of us pushing our jeep into action. After this we had to go to the hardware store to replace the starter.
Fast Tube by Casper
The Salar de Uyuni is a very popular destination for backpackers from well everywhere. I recommend going if you happen to be in Bolivia. It really was an out of this world experience for us. We used Tupiza tours. It starts in Tupiza and ends in Uyuni. It operations out of the Mitru Hotel in Tupiza.
You can check them out here! http://www.tupizatours.com
Flags on the Salt Flats
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Hey, you two! Love all these gorgeous pictures! I especially like the trick photography–that’s not as easy as it looks! Guess you must be using Ben’s new camera. Whatever camera it is, the pictures are just great! And the stories are really fun. What an adventure you’re having!!
Love you guys, and miss you–seems like you’ve been gone a really long time!
Thank you Sandy! yeah… the trick photography, we spent a lot of time on it. haha, but it was good fun. =)