Unuyi (Bolivia) Salt Flat tour

The bus ride to San Pedro de Atacama, in the north of Chile, was a modest 26 hours from Valpariso. The highlight was definitely coming into the desert going West and seeing the most spectacular sunset. Since I had my memory card out and words can't describe sunsets, I´ll just leave it at that it was very nice-- a gigantic horizontal rainbow. I arrived in the tiny, dusty town of San Pedro at around 7 pm at a little hut, apparently the bus station. I found my way to town, got my hostel, and took all of 5 minutes to cover the town to explore. Because I irresponsibly squandered my time, I only had one night there which was a bummer because despite its size, there was a ton to do there.
The next morning I left for the 3-day Uyuni tour with 10 other people (turns out two of whom I knew from Pucon-- the gringo trail is VERY small, you are constantly running into people). We started off going through immigrations; no problem in Chile, the hut in the middle of the desert that is Bolivian immigrations could not issue me a visa, but luckily they just packaged up my passport and gave it to my driver for us to do in Uyuni. We broke up into two jeeps. Next we got whopped with a 150 Bolivianos park entrance fee, up from 30 Bolivianos three days before. We headed to Lagunas Blanco and Verde- Verde was not verde when we arrived, but after about 10 minutes of wind, we watched the whole thing turn green. We continued on in our jeep, rocking out to Bolivian music, passing all kinds of Vicunas (llama-like animals) and bouncing along the very rocky road in the middle of the desert. The mountains were in the distance- they were all multicolored (a lot of red) and topped with snow.
Next we stopped at the termas (hot springs), just one small natural pool with an incredible view. It was at 4500 meters, it was very cold outside, and very hot in the springs, a combination of which gave us all headaches within 15 minutes and we were done. We were out of breath just changing our clothes. The ground was very warm though, as you could feel the hot water below it seeping up.
After the termas we stopped at the geysers, which pretty much just looked like how I imagine the moon to look (except not white, I imagine the moon to be white). There were probably 50 or so crater things, with gurgling and spurting mud/lava type stuff, and an overwhelming rotten egg smell if you got in the way of the steam (it was sulfer). It was pretty scary walking around them because they feel like mines because you never know if they're going to decide to shoot up at that moment. You can hear the gurgling right below your feet, even if you're not next to a geyser-- very unsettling.
Our last stop for the day was sunset at Laguna Colorada, a deep red lagoon filled with flamingos. Finally we made it to our hostel for tea (very welcome because it was exceptionally cold). The hostel strongly resembled army barracks. It was in the middle of nowhere, and just two or three long, concrete, one-story, very basic buildings ... with no heat. We actually had a great dinner (hot dogs and mashed potatoes) and sitting very tightly next to each other with blankets over us, we managed to even play a few games of cards! We promptly put on every layer in our bags, got in our sleeping bags, and piled as many blankets on as we could, and still we were freezing. I literally wrapped ace-bandages around my calves for an extra layer. But we made it.
By sunrise the next morning we were already considerably warmer, and we stripping layers as soon as the sun started coming in the window. Good thing it was warm because one of our jeeps was out of oil, so we had a very long breakfast and had to wait a few hours for them to go get more oil (no idea from where!). Finally we were on our way and stopped at some giant rock formations- one looks just like a tree. Next we stopped at several lagoons, all beautiful, but much like each other. Lots of flamingos and Vicunas. You could see Ollague Volcano in Chile steaming-- still active. Finally we came over a crest and you could see the salt flats (just the small ones to start, Chiguana Salar) and we saw a train crossing it. We drove down, and just after we teetered over the railroad, the other jeep bit the dust. Luckily we were on the flats so it was perfectly smooth, but our drivers hooked up the jeeps with a seatbelt, and we towed the other jeep for about two hours to San Juan, about 45 minutes short of where we were supposed to stay. We arrived into a "town" with maybe 25 houses, maybe 5 of which had internet, who knows for running water. We parked the jeeps and our driver drove around trying to find a place for 13 people to sleep. Finally we came across what I can only imagine is an old hostel, a sight to be reckoned with. Bare bones to put it nicely, but it was warmer than the first night, so we were fine with that.
Sure enough, the next morning our company had brought us a new jeep by 5 am, but as the drivers were up drinking all night (awesome) we didn't leave till about 5:45 am. Shockingly, we made it to the flats in time for sunrise. The flats are spectacular-- endless white that if you didn't know better you would think it was a sea of snow. It was absolutely freezing and we were running (as much as we could at that altitude, not much) around to try to keep our toes from falling off. We were stopped for about an hour or so and took ungodly amounts of pictures playing with perspective as it's not often you get an endless flat plain to play around in. Finally when our hands were about to stop moving altogether, we got in the jeep and headed for Isla de los Pescaadores (Fisherman Island), a small mountain randomly in the middle of the flats where we had a great pancake breakfast. We took some time to explore and climb the cactus-clad isle and were rewarded with 360 degree stunning views of gorgeous white salt in every direction, as far as you could see. We spent a couple hours having more fun with perspective and made a great video that I can't wait to see! By this time the sun was full-on (another perfect, cloudless day), and we were in tshirts.
Next we raced (80 mph over just salt- smoother than a road) over to the old salt hotel (which is now a salt musuem because they were not able to manage their waste, so you can't stay there anymore). Aside from the thatch roof and the windows, the entire thing is made of salt, including all the furniture in it. After we headed toward the Colchani settlement (30 families) where they have the little salt mines (little piles of salt about 2 feet high that look like miniature volcanos) which they pile up and then use to export.
After this we continued to Uyuni and stopped at the Cemetario de los trenes (Train Cemetery) where several very old and very rusty trains have been put to rest. It was pretty cool to climb around in them and read the graffiti. On the way we saw the flats from a distance and there was a bit of water making a perfect reflection of the mountains. We had a spectacular sunrise, but I've seen some photos from the rainy season when the flats are covered with a very thin layer of water, and you can't even see where the flats stop and the horizon begins. Next time I'll go in summer!
In Uyuni we dropped our bags at the tour office, explored what little of the town there is, and a few minutes later we had covered it. I had to go to the tiny, one room immigration office as I was the only American and had to pay $135 USD to get in, but then we all headed to a great pizza place and enjoyed a few beers before catching an evening bus to Potosi, 7 hours away. Great tour!!