Getting to the Middle of Nowhere Uyuni

Downtown Potosi. On the way to the Salar de Uyuni salt flats we stopped in the towns of Oruro and Potosi. Oruro was not that interesting of a town. They were preparing for Carnival so there were droves of people in the streets, banners, bleaches, flowers, etc were being erected for the parades. There is an interesting thing about a lot of the people on the streets in every Bolivian city. They don’t smile. Who knows why? Potosi is supposedly the highest, in altitude, city in the world. How is that for a superlative. I thought the highest city would be in some place like Tibet but who really cares. The significance of altitude for us was its difficult to get around and even more difficult to get a restful night’s sleep. Potosi is also one of the oldest cities in South America because of its silver mines. We found a nice hostel with a great shower and a secure spot for the motorcycles. We walked around the square, got a bit to eat and called it a night. We were told that the road from Potosi to Uyuni was under construction. That was an understatement. It was dirt road separated by stretches of sand or gravel. It was difficult going at times because of the deep sand and fresh deep loose dirt the road crews were dumping on the road. The road is being improved but given the terrain, mostly mountains, that will be a long project.

The final stretch of the road gave some magnificent views of the Salar de Uyuni salt flats and the town of Uyuni. Once in Uyuni we checked in to a hostel and headed for the salt flats.

This guy rode with us for a while between Potosi and Uyuni. He was from Uyuni and knew the road well. He would go flying by us in traffic and downhills on his Suzuki.

Here is our Uyuni hotel. We checked in and since it was not raining we immediately headed off to the salt flats.