On the third day of the tour, we woke
up and left early in the morning to see the sunrise on the Salar de
Uyuni. The salar is the largest salt flat in the world, bigger than
Salt Lake City or San Pedro de Atacama. It also contains the largest
deposit of lithium in the world. The sunrise was beautiful with the
white horizon of the salar meeting the light blue and yellow sky.
After stopping to take photographs of the sunrise, we had breakfast
at the Fisher Island, which is an island on the salt flat that is
totally covered with cacti. Just as we were getting ready to leave,
two guys rode up on their bicycles and stopped at Fisher Island. As
soon as they arrived, I knew there was a story here. They were both
warmly dressed, and were carrying multiple bags, efficiently placed
on various spots on their bikes. I approached them, asked if they
spoke English and found out that one of them had started in Alberta,
Canada! He had been riding his bike for an entire year, through
Central America and now South America, from Canada to Bolivia! He had
met the other person in Columbia and they were riding together.
Everyone in the group was like, “holy fuck, for a year !” So we
asked them about where they stayed, where they slept etc. One of the
Chilean couples took a picture with the two guys but I just took a
photograph as they started to ride off again into the salar.
Basically they stayed in fire-houses, churches, schools and in empty
buildings. Often relying on the hospitality of others. After the
conversation, we were all thinking and feeling the same things: a
combination of amazement of what they had accomplished but also that
those two were just plain crazy! Travelling on a bicycle for that
long is way too adventurous for me and I wondered if it would be a
lonely experience. After all, you experience the world mostly by
yourself, just you and your bike!
Our next stop was in the middle of the
salar, where we had a lot fun acting stupid and taking more cool
photographs. The two Chilean couples came prepared with props (e.g.
dinosaur, spoon, etc.) for picture taking. To the naked eye, the
salar seems endless and you can create the illusion of distance with
object in the forefront and background of your camera's field of
vision. The entire group had an awesome time there! Afterwards we
stopped at the train cemetery, which sounds like what it is, a
deserted area where there are parts of abandoned old trains. Somehow
it has become a destination spot on the Salar de Uyuni tour. Our
tour was winding down as we neared the town of Uyuni. Some of the
people on our tour were heading back to San Pedro the next day and
others, like us, were taking the night bus heading to La Paz or
Potosi. Having spent three days together, we became friends with the
guys in our vehicle and exchanged information to keep in touch. As I
mentioned before, the people we were with on this tour were great and
made it really fun. Although it is still early in our year-long
trip, I know that the Salar de Uyuni tour will be one of our most
memorable.
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