The Scenic Safari Part 1

The morning of our tour of the salt falts, my coworker was feeling much worse. He looked much worse too (no offense bro). But we packed up our bags and made the walk to our tour agency anyway. Here we ditched our bags and went looking for a bus to book back to Sucre after the tour, hopefully for the same night. It took six bus companies but we found one that would get us directly to Sucre without having to stop in Potosi again and without having to switch busses. That secured, it was time for some breakfast before our tour`s departure. I ordered my coworker two large glasses of fruit juices and I downed another Americano breakfast (my favorite - typical).

As we waited at the office for all the provisions to be packed into our truck, my coworker started feeling worse and decided it would be best to skip the trip. Clearly I was bummed. Who was going to take all the pics of me now? Or speak Spanish for me? But he decided he needed to go ahead and catch a bus to Sucre then and rest at his grandparents` house. I couldn`t argue with him and just wished him well as I jumped on board my jeep with the other four people in the group.

My group included two Isrealies who had just finished their conscription and two Swiss girls who unwillingly got stuck in the back of the truck, just over the tires. Everyone was quiet at first; the Swiss girls talking amongst themselves in Swiss-German and the Isrealies talking in Hebrew. And the guide humming flute music to himself. That left me to stare out the window.

Our first stop was our guide`s house where he picked up some laundry. That duty taken care of, we moved on to our first official stop: the train cemetary. Not all that exciting. Not sure why it`s on the tour. Just a bunch of old locamotives abandoned and rusting on the outskirts of the town. We dutifully took pictures and then let the guide know we were done and very much ready to move on. Next it was to a small village that technically, I believe, worked directly gathering the salt for distribution; but seemed to exist soley to sell tourists ashtrays and figurines made our of salt. There was a little salt hotel where everything was made of salt, even the beds (mmm...comfy). And some salt sculptures that a woman tried to charge me 5 soles to view. They weren`t that interesting. We let our guide know we were, again, ready to go.

On to the salt flats. It was wild. We were suddenly surrounded on all sides by white. Lots of white. We made a stop in the drier area of the flats and, skipping the second salt hotel, played with various poses in the salt desert. It took a few goes, but I finally was able to explain to the barely English speaking Swiss gals what I was trying to acheive in my fool-the-eye pics. Though they still couldn`t get most of the pics just right, they did manage to get one the way I wanted it (see photos for bottle posing). Once our guide grew tired of watching us pose with various food packaging, he summounded us to move to the next spot.

We drove further into the flats as the landscape became more and more surreal. The horizon disappeared as the clouds melded into their reflections in the salt water. It felt trippy. Woooaaaaahh.

Watching other trucks in the distance sail across the flats looked like they were flying in mid air. We eventually arrived at Isla Incahuasi in the middle of the flats. Here an "island" full of cactus seemed to rise up from the waters. There were trails to hike up for better views of the surroundings. But mainly the crowds of trucks and their passengers stopped here to have lunch and walk through the salt water. And take more pictures. It was a very cool experience and I am still going back and looking at the pics a month later.

It was getting late in the afternoon and time to get to our hotel for the night. We sailed on through the trippy landscape and I fought off heavy eyes so I could take it all in. My truckmates were out for the final hour`s drive back.

At our hotel, with nothing to do in the two hours before dinner, I ordered a grande beer and pulled a plastic chair outside to watch the sunset. An American from Iowa and his girlfriend, a Dutch gal, joined me as did the Isreali guy. The couple were aid workers and we spent the evening talking about their work and their travels. Dinner was better than expected and bed time was early - in my shared dorm.

To see photos of the Salt Flats and surrounding landscapes, follow this link:
http://flickr.com/photos/15233918@N00/sets/72157603705286504/