W H I T E

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

We had no idea what was awaiting us on the way to the Salar de Uyuni, the biggest and highest salt lake in the world. We knew the 3 days tour from San Pedro de Atacama to Uyuni was full of amazing lagunes, protected fauna and rare flora...and of course, once at the salar, the white desert.

Our guide/choffeur/chef/enterteinment accompanied us for three unforgettable days. We could learn that he wasn't much of a guide, but he definitely liked to spise up our jouney! Not happy with the fact that the landscape was already stunning and that we were already a nice group of people, he made our blood boiling by keeping one wheel flat and driving 100 km/h on a sandy stony road! We breathed dust and swallowed sand, went up to 4.800 mt to see flamingo's and lagunes of different colours, slept in places without water and basics toitet equipment, had some expectable headaches or stomachaches and sat on a jeep with our knees in our mouths for some hours!

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We survived all this for the last day to wake up at 4 am, direction Salar de Uyuni. The Bolivian travel company told us that it was unfortunately not possible to get into the Salar because the wet season made it unaccessible. Well, few centemeters of water did not scare our guide/choffeur in the least. So, he drove on water for about 30 min's in the middle of the dark, with a couple of stars to tell him where to go.

The sunshine we saw from the top of the Isla de Pescadores was a priceless spectacle. Only for the six of us. Then, we were surrounded by a shining white all around, walking on candid crystals of salt, with only the blue of the sky to tell where the white stopped!