In many wonderful places in the world there is just a line between heaven and earth. But at the Salar de Uyuni you can’t even see the horizon on some days. When the infrequent rain puddles of water on the flat but rough, sandpaper-like salt crust, the sky falls into the mirror of the earth. Up and down can no longer be distinguished, and the light is so glaring that you can’t open your eyes without tinted glasses. A surreal experience, like standing in the middle of the clouds like the main character in a painting by René Magritte. Hikers can get an overview on one of the islands in the salar, on which bizarrely shaped thousand-year-old cacti grow. But when the sun goes down and an icy storm wind comes up, it’s time to find shelter. On the edge of the salt lake there are small nests with few inhabitants like fishing ports by the sea. At night, the temperature here at 3,600 meters above sea level falls below minus 20 degrees Celsius. Pumas occasionally roam around the poor mud houses – one more reason to think carefully about whether you really want to leave your warm sleeping bag and go to the outhouse outside the door. The people in this barren region of Bolivia have little to eat and are happy with the money that tourists bring. Sometimes gangs of robbers come in vehicles without license plates. Besides heaven and earth, it can also be hell here.
Overnight at Salar de Uyuni – Journey
