Jimbojack - Bolivia - Salar de Uyuni

Uyuni is a small town in the southwestern part of Bolivia, it was founded in 1889 by Bolivian president Aniceto Arce. It is very famous for the nearby salt lake, the Salar de Uyuni. The lake is located just a few kilometers from the town, and sits at an elevation of 3,653 meters. It is the worlds largest salt flat, encompassing 12,106 square kilometers (Almost 30 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats).

Nearby the town is a train graveyard that houses Bolivia's first steam engine, El Chirpa, dating from 1890. There is also an ore train that was robbed by the legendary bandits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (They both moved to Argentina then Bolivia to escape the attention they started receiving in the United States after their robberies).

40,000 to 25,000 years ago, lake Minchin existed in this region. It evaporated, and the area was dry for around 14,000 years before lake Tauca came into existence. Tauca was only around for about 1,000 years, and dried out. At it's highest point, the lake reached an elevation of 3,720 meters. After Tauca dried up, the lakes of Poopo and Uru Uru remained, as well as two areas of major salt concentration, the Salares de Uyuni and Coipasa.

The Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, with 20,000 tons being extracted yearly at the moment (18,000 tons for human consumption, 2,000 for livestock).

The lake has numerous islands on it, such as Isla Incahuasi. The island looks very surreal coming out of the totally white ground as you're driving towards it, and is covered by Trichoreus cactuses.

Volcan Tunupa rises out of the lake to a height of 5,432 meters. At it's base is a small village of Coquesa, surrounded by ancient villages and burial grounds. Ceramics, articles of clothing, gold and copper artifacts have been discovered in the area. Unfortunately, over the years many items have been stolen by tourists visiting the area. Partly up the volcano is an ancient cave that was used as a burial ground, some skeletons remain there and local people bring them offerings every once in a while.

The lake is a breeding ground for three different types of Flamingos. The Chilean flamingo, which reaches a height of over 1 meter and has a black-tipped white bill, the James flamingo which has dark red legs and a yellow and black bill, and the Andean flamingo, which is the largest of the three.

The Salar de Uyuni has more interesting things to see, but unfortunately I did not have the time to visit them. I will write about them at some point in the future, but for now please enjoy the pictures.

Train graveyard near the city

Town of Colchani

Salt mounds on the lake. The workers pile salt this way and let it dry for a couple of days before putting it onto trucks.

Geothermal activity causes water to come bubbling up out of the ground in some parts. The water is cold

Our Land Cruiser and road

Aggie and I having some fun on the lake

Another Land Cruiser

Hotel Playa Blanca, completely made out of salt. Unfortunately this particular hotel was built on the lake itself, which is Illegal. Nonetheless it is still a stop on many tours of the lake (including the one we were on). Local environmentalists encourage people not to give these places any business. There are many other salt hotels which are built in places where they are allowed to be.

Photos from Isla Incahuasi.

Offering to Pachamama, or "Mother Earth" (In the Aymara language Pacha = earth, Mama = mother). Many local people still worship her, and regularly bring offerings.