By: Noemi Gamel
We spent four glorious days traveling through the Bolivian Altiplano and the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats). Six weeks into our yearlong round the world trip, we all agree that the Salar de Uyuni is our favorite part so far. Interestingly, we all have different reasons why we enjoyed traveling through Uyuni and we want to share them with you.
Chris
As a wildlife photographer, Chris loved the biscachas (squirrel-like bunnies) of the Inca corridor, zorros (fox) near our rock hotel, and flamingoes in the Red lake. No other place we have visited so far had as much wildlife as this highland desert. Since we were on a private tour, he was able to ask the driver to stop whenever we had a good wildlife sighting. At one point, I told Raul, our driver, and Carla, our guide, that we had to pull him back in the car or he would stay shooting biscachas all day long.
Noemi
I loved learning about the history, archeology, and geological intricacies of the area. The tour was also a culturally eye-opening experience because we learned how the Andean people live in this harsh environment. Next time I feel like complaining about slow Wi-Fi, I will remember the huts with no running water or electricity in the Altiplano desert. I also enjoyed getting to know our guide and driver, Carla and Raul. They were wonderful.
Kara
Kara’s favorite part of the Salar Uyuni trip was taking the “crazy pictures” in the middle of the salt flat. Because there is no way to gage distance, you can come up with some funky images with your camera. We took a picture of a gorilla eating us, Tommy the Frog chasing us, driving inside a boot, and Chris stepping on us with his shoe.
Tristan
Tristan’s favorite thing to do in the world is to climb trees. While there are no trees in the Bolivian highland desert, we encountered many rock formations that he wasted no time in climbing, including the Army of Corals, the Stone Tree area, Valle de las Rocas, and Pia Pia Island.
Whenever you are afraid to travel to a remote and harsh place such as the Altiplano with the whole family, set your fears aside. The whole family can have fun and extract different joys from the experience.
