Southern Bolivia - Salt, Desert, Lakes, Volcanos, Flamingos

The Uyuni Salt Flats are the largest in the world formed by prehistoric saltwater lakes; they are really spectacular and recently hyped for being the world's largest source of lithium. We did a 3 day jeep tour with a Dutch couple, a Scot & a Kiwi and enjoyed a lot of laughs while trying to stay warm. Aside from visiting the salt flats we also saw red and green mineral-rich lakes with flocks of flamingos, steaming geysers & hot springs, and drove through barren volcanic desertscapes with amazing rock formations.
Here's the story in photos:

Abandoned locomotives on a sunken track outside Uyuni

Outside of a primitive salt processing plant

Entering the Uyuni Salt Flats; salt piles ready to be loaded onto the trucks

Naturally occuring honeycomb patterns left by moisture as the salt dries

 

the famous 'perspective' photos - not as easy to perfect as we thought

sunset on the Solar

our group of cheesy, talented jumpers

the hotel on the first night was made entirely of salt - the tables, chairs, beds, walls...

Vicuna's, the prettiest of the lama family

wee!

hundreds of flamingos

"Ladies of the Desert" rock formations

sunrise ("Sol de Manana") view of the Geysers

mmm, the smell of sulfur...

7am dip in the hot springs - the air was way too cold to take off my 7 layers of clothing and get in, however

cruising through the Dali desert, close to the Chilean border

at Laguna Verde with Licancabur Volcano in the background

We finished our trip at the Chilean border and crossed into Chile where we spent one day/night drinking delicious wine and touring the dusty town of San Pedro de Atacama. Over the next few days we made our way via three long buses to Buenos Aires - what a great city! We spent four days eating the world's best steak, drinking wine and visiting the various city highlights before catching our flight to Cape Town :)