Bolivia- Salar De Yuni- part 2

Salar De Yuni- The Salt Kingdom

Click here- Episode 1, if you missed it.

After Carlos's briefing, we all got back in the car. Fellow passengers are searching for my comfort, whether I am feeling any sickness or not. Of course, I am not feeling sick. I left the oxygen bottle behind the seat. I hope this trip will not be a problem. Our next destination is the Salt Hotel in the middle of Salar de Uni. Earlier, Carlos announced that we would go to the Salt Hotel and have our lunch.

The hotel was built in the early nineties using salt blocks. But later when problems with waste management started and pollution started in the vicinity, these hotels were closed down in the early 2000s. Those installations remain here. From the walls of the hotel to the chairs, tables, and cupboards, everything is made with blocks of salt. Now the tourists sit on the salt table chairs and eat.

Arriving at the Salt Hotel in the afternoon, we also sat down to eat at the salt table and chair. The meal consisted of lama meat steak with a variety of cheeses and salads and local fruits at the end of the meal. Lama's flesh is so hard. When the meal was over, Carlos came and announced that we would go somewhere in the middle of Salar to take pictures. I will now take the funny pictures we see on Instagram and travel blog sites. I stopped at one place on the way and took the photography. We all took some funny group pictures together.

This time our journey is to Incahuasi Island. It is also called Fish Island. In the middle of Salar, this island looks like a lot of fish from a distance. Across the island, there are giant thousands of years old cactus. I had no idea the world could have such a big cactus. And there are different structures that look like corals.

Later, after listening to Carlos's briefing, I realized that it was actually a huge volcanic eruption. The whole lake was submerged during the creation of Lake Minchin 40,000 years ago. This was history.

It took us about an hour to get back around Inkahuasi Island. This time it is Uni's turn to return to the city. The journey is still two and a half to three hours. On the way back we saw the sunset somewhere in the middle of Salar. Sunset in the middle of the white salt sea. I can't explain in writing what it looked like. I was so busy looking around the whole tour and was so surprised to see the magical landscape that I forgot to take too many pictures even though I wanted to take a thousand pictures of Salar de Uni.

On the way, there was a lot of talk with Carlos. They have a very quiet, ambitious lead back life. Where no one is bothered with expectations and receipts. And that is probably the first lesson of peace.

The journey is over. Saying goodbye to everyone, I got off at Uni Airport. You have to catch a flight to La Paz. I flew to La Paz and decided that I would never stay at such a high altitude again. I will go to a city of low altitude. That's what I thought, I moved to another city, Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Then I went again to see the Maya civilization in the Yucatan province of Mexico. The most talked-about thing in history is ‘the Mayans disappeared’. It was a big surprise why a whole civilization became an overnight wind. That story is another day.

Happy traveling! 😊