Salt Flat Excursion - Day 1

After a free morning we boarded our jeeps - land cruisers, and we were off.

Our first stop was the famous train cemetery and I thought it was great. The sheer number of rusting relics was unbelievable. I could have spent all day having a look among all the types of trains and the way they were constructed, but we took some good photos and got back into the jeeps to continue on into the Salt Flats.

En Route we stopped in a little village called Colchani and its inhabitants make a living from the salt they collect from the the flats. We were shown the process involved and it is hard work with very little money going to the workers. We had a look at the handicrafts on offer and I bought a lovely scarf. From here we drove to the illegal Salt Hotel. We got some funny, yet typical salt flat photos here, but we weren't to know it wasn't the main place for photos... that came after lunch.

For lunch we stopped at a place called Isla Incahuasi - which was a coral island raised up from the ocean bed and covered in tall cacti. It was an amazing place as it was in the middle of the whiteness of the flat and the views from the top were something else. When you drive on the flat, its similar to being on a conveyor belt, you are moving, but the surroundings don't seem to get any closer. Mindblowing really.

The next hour was taken with more silly photos and everyone got really sunburnt - even with factor 30 and 50!

Finally from here we took our final drive to our hotel - Bella Vista, and the views were lovely.
Once dinner was finished, we were entertained by some local musicians - 4 young boys who played the panpipes - although they were good, they needed more practice, but their hearts were in it.