Move to Uyuni.
I am moving to Uyuni.
I am moving to Uyuni.
I am moving to Uyuni.
The town of Uyuni.
We have arrived at the village of Uyuni.
Just seeing the bright white salt lake in the distance makes me excited.
We will be starting a 2-night, 3-day tour tomorrow. There is no internet access, so I will be out of contact for a few days.
The price is 750 Bolivianos (12,000 yen), which is almost half the price I heard in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. An English-speaking guide would cost 1,200 Bolivianos (19,000 yen), but since we are mainly seeing nature, Spanish is sufficient. This tour, which includes meals and transportation by 4WD, with dormitory accommodation, is a good deal at 4,000 yen per day. There is only a shower on the first night, and no shower on the second night, but that is within an acceptable range since we will be returning to town soon.
There is also the option of going by motorcycle, but I have already passed through San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, so going back there again would be difficult, and going back and forth would also be difficult. Moreover, even if I ride an on-road motorcycle, the roads are bad and not enjoyable, so I decided to go with the tour. I don't have a strong desire to ride a motorcycle here.
Just seeing the bright white salt lake in the distance makes me excited.
We will be starting a 2-night, 3-day tour tomorrow. There is no internet access, so I will be out of contact for a few days.
The price is 750 Bolivianos (12,000 yen), which is almost half the price I heard in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. An English-speaking guide would cost 1,200 Bolivianos (19,000 yen), but since we are mainly seeing nature, Spanish is sufficient. This tour, which includes meals and transportation by 4WD, with dormitory accommodation, is a good deal at 4,000 yen per day. There is only a shower on the first night, and no shower on the second night, but that is within an acceptable range since we will be returning to town soon.
There is also the option of going by motorcycle, but I have already passed through San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, so going back there again would be difficult, and going back and forth would also be difficult. Moreover, even if I ride an on-road motorcycle, the roads are bad and not enjoyable, so I decided to go with the tour. I don't have a strong desire to ride a motorcycle here.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 1: The train graveyard.
Participated in a 2-night, 3-day Salar de Uyuni tour.
This tour seems to be popular, and there were 20 to 30 tour vehicles running, but 90% were Land Cruisers. The rest were Lexus SUVs and Nissans.
It was very comfortable because it was a Land Cruiser, even though the roads were very rough.
Since there are no gas stations, fuel tanks are mounted on top of the Land Cruisers.
After that, we finally headed to the salt lake.
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Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 1: Uyuni Salt Lake.
Wonderful. It's fantastic. It's beyond my imagination.
It feels like I'm flying over the lake.
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Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 1: Isla Incahuasi.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 1: A place where the salt crystals are clearly visible.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 1: Cave.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 1: sunset.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 1: Moved to the accommodation.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 1: Accommodation.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 2: morning.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 2: Moving to San Juan.
I am moving to a small town called San Juan.
I am moving to a small town called San Juan.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 2: Moving closer to the border.
I am moving near the border.
I am moving near the border.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 2: Branching off to the "Road of Jewels."
The road branches off to the Jewel Path.
The road branches off to the Jewel Path.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 2: Lunch by the lake.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 2: Moving to another lake.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 2: Heading south along the road of jewels.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 2: A type of moss (hard).
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 2: Heading south to Arbol de Piedra.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 2: Arbol de Piedra.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 2: Accommodation.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 3: Sunrise at the geysers.
This time, the highest altitude was 4920m, and we saw the sunrise from the geyser.
The Andean mountain pass seems to reach 5000m, but it's difficult to reach that height. It seems I will end up without experiencing 5000m.
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The Andean mountain pass seems to reach 5000m, but it's difficult to reach that height. It seems I will end up without experiencing 5000m.
BGM: Copyright(C)Music PaletteUyuni Salt Flat tour, day 3: Moving to a hot spring.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 3: hot spring.
I soaked in a hot spring at an altitude of 4300m (just my feet).
It was a little warm, but Westerners seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps for people whose bodies are cold in the morning, this temperature is fine, but for Japanese people, it was a little too warm, and I felt like I might catch a cold if I soaked in it. The wind is also cold.
It was a little warm, but Westerners seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps for people whose bodies are cold in the morning, this temperature is fine, but for Japanese people, it was a little too warm, and I felt like I might catch a cold if I soaked in it. The wind is also cold.
Uyuni Salt Flat tour, day 3: Heading south along the road of jewels.
I will go south along the path of jewels.
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Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 3: Moving towards the Bolivian border.
Uyuni Salt Lake tour, day 3: Returning to Uyuni.
And we return to Uyuni.
This route from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile is famous as the "Road of Jewels," but it seems there are three different routes. The difficulty level seems to vary greatly depending on which one you choose.
In the case of a tour, you first head south on a rough road towards Chile. If you try to pass through here on a motorcycle or bicycle, it would be very difficult, but the entrance is not easy to find, and it's not the main route on Google Maps, so probably most people wouldn't take this route.
It seems reasonable that people who accidentally choose this route would say "rough road, rough road." Indeed, it is a very rough road. If you're on an on-road motorcycle, you should be prepared to fall at least once. It might not be a problem for an off-road motorcycle.
The second route is the one that is displayed in bold on Google Maps. In fact, on the tour, we only passed through the southern part of this route for a short distance. So, I only know about the southern part, but it's not a bad road. If you take this route, you might think, "It's a long distance, but maybe not as bad as the rumors." That's how it felt. It seems like you can make it on an on-road motorcycle if you go slowly.
The third route is the one that goes inland towards Bolivia. It connects what looks like salt factories, and the northern part of the route runs along a mountain range on one side and flat land on the other, and this seems to be the easiest route. I think I could probably drive at a decent speed for about half of it. It felt like a bulldozer had been grading the road.
On the tour, we quickly passed through this route on the way back.
When going south from Uyuni Lake, there was no Google Maps back then, so I think people probably ended up choosing one of the three routes at random.
Nowadays, if you rely on Google Maps, the second route, the one that is displayed in bold, is probably the most likely one. It's a route that connects the large lake, so it's easy to choose intuitively.
In any case, the "rough road" that people talk about is the first route, the one that runs closest to Chile. This is definitely a difficult route. I think it would be quite challenging on my on-road motorcycle. I saw a Land Cruiser driving slowly at about 20 km/h.
However, once you go south and enter the national park, the dirt road is relatively flat, and the third route is not that bad.
In the case of the tour, we stopped at various places, so I think it might have been more satisfying from a sightseeing perspective than if I had gone by motorcycle. After all, you can only travel along one of the routes with the amount of gasoline you have, and the distance is quite long.
There is also a rumor that the roads are rougher on the Chilean side than on the Bolivian side, but the distance from the border to the paved road on the Chilean side is not that long.
This route from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile is famous as the "Road of Jewels," but it seems there are three different routes. The difficulty level seems to vary greatly depending on which one you choose.
In the case of a tour, you first head south on a rough road towards Chile. If you try to pass through here on a motorcycle or bicycle, it would be very difficult, but the entrance is not easy to find, and it's not the main route on Google Maps, so probably most people wouldn't take this route.
It seems reasonable that people who accidentally choose this route would say "rough road, rough road." Indeed, it is a very rough road. If you're on an on-road motorcycle, you should be prepared to fall at least once. It might not be a problem for an off-road motorcycle.
The second route is the one that is displayed in bold on Google Maps. In fact, on the tour, we only passed through the southern part of this route for a short distance. So, I only know about the southern part, but it's not a bad road. If you take this route, you might think, "It's a long distance, but maybe not as bad as the rumors." That's how it felt. It seems like you can make it on an on-road motorcycle if you go slowly.
The third route is the one that goes inland towards Bolivia. It connects what looks like salt factories, and the northern part of the route runs along a mountain range on one side and flat land on the other, and this seems to be the easiest route. I think I could probably drive at a decent speed for about half of it. It felt like a bulldozer had been grading the road.
On the tour, we quickly passed through this route on the way back.
When going south from Uyuni Lake, there was no Google Maps back then, so I think people probably ended up choosing one of the three routes at random.
Nowadays, if you rely on Google Maps, the second route, the one that is displayed in bold, is probably the most likely one. It's a route that connects the large lake, so it's easy to choose intuitively.
In any case, the "rough road" that people talk about is the first route, the one that runs closest to Chile. This is definitely a difficult route. I think it would be quite challenging on my on-road motorcycle. I saw a Land Cruiser driving slowly at about 20 km/h.
However, once you go south and enter the national park, the dirt road is relatively flat, and the third route is not that bad.
In the case of the tour, we stopped at various places, so I think it might have been more satisfying from a sightseeing perspective than if I had gone by motorcycle. After all, you can only travel along one of the routes with the amount of gasoline you have, and the distance is quite long.
There is also a rumor that the roads are rougher on the Chilean side than on the Bolivian side, but the distance from the border to the paved road on the Chilean side is not that long.
