Alaska Expedition – Salar de Uyuni

We left Sucre very early on our way to the Uyuni Salt Flat and soon entered the Bolivian Altiplano. The route surprised us with its beauty and the excellent quality of the roads. Breathtaking scenery, blue skies and imposing mountains, it was very reminiscent of the Paso Jama, from Purmamarca to San Pedro de Atacama.

Arriving in Uyuni is very impressive, from afar we can see the small town of Uyuni and behind it the enormous Salar, which is 90 by 130 km long.

We arrived in the city around midday, had lunch and went to find out the route to the salt flat. Our goal was to camp on Isla Pescado, which is about 100 km from the city. As it's the dry season, the 4×4 cars mark a trail on the salt flat, which is what we used to locate us, as without this trail it's impossible to know where to go.

Before arriving at Isla Pescado we visited the Hotel de Sal, where everything is made of salt, beds, tables, chairs and there are flags outside. We made our way to Isla Pescado through the middle of the salt flat. It's amazing how you completely lose track of distance and speed, an immense white expanse with almost no landmarks except the marks of cars.

We arrived at Isla Pescado around 3pm, walked around a bit, took some photos and then went to set up the tents, because it gets dark early and it's already dark at 7pm. The sunset was a special sight, as was the full moon rising on the opposite side.

We admired the moon illuminating the Salar, ate and then went to sleep, or at least tried to. It was very windy and extremely cold, around -10ºC at dawn, so we could barely sleep, but the experience of spending a night on the Salar was incredible.