After hearing we’d been to Bolivia at the beginning of our trip, the first question out of everyone’s mouth was, “how was Uyuni?”, home of the world’s largest salt flat. We didn’t have an answer… because we didn’t go. We were only in Bolivia for a short time and had to catch a flight to Patagonia, we explained to disappointed, dumbfounded faces.
We quickly learned we’d made an epic travel mistake by not going and were bummed we’d missed what many called a highlight of their travels. Fortunately we got an opportunity to redeem ourselves on our way back to Lima to catch our flight home.
Booking a tour seemed a bit daunting at the beginning of our trip when we read countless reviews complaining about the high number of drunk driving accidents – not a single company seemed to have a flawless record. Now, with more experience and travel friends, we had the luxury of a personal recommendation for a currently reputable company.
We felt confident that we’d booked a trustworthy tour and were ready to go. As we loaded our bags onto the truck, our confidence began to waiver when our local guide showed up 30 minutes late explaining that the company had just called him 15 minutes ago. He then proceeded to tell us that he’d never traveled with this particular driver before and hoped he was safe and not a drunk.
His name was Robert and he was a freelance tour guide born in the mining town of Potosi, Bolivia. With no formal classes, he picked up English by listening and practicing with tourists. Immersion: a technique I’d been unsuccessfully attempting for the past 6 months. He was a goofy guy always cracking a big toothless smile highlighting shiny, gold stars implanted on the few remaining teeth.
Robert shared his extensive knowledge over the next three days of the salty, barren terrain. We learned an iphone is not good enough for the sweet dinosaur attack perspective photos you see tourists take of the Salt Flats. We learned the new meaning of “cold” even compared to Minnesota windchill standards. And we learned that tours aren’t all bad and in this case can be well worth it.
The beauty of such an isolated area exceeded our expectations and ranked among our Patagonia and Iguazu Falls shock and awe. See for yourself….
The Traveling Blues 
Such an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing!!
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Glad you read it and enjoyed it! We were never sure if it was just our parents following. 😉 Hope everything is good with you!
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