Our first stop for the day was Colchani where the only salt making facilities using salt from the Uyuni salt flats are located. In this tiny one-street town, around 25,000 tonnes of salt are processed annually. We walked in expecting to find a big factory but all it was was a tiny room with a a small oven where the salt is cooked, a small corner where iodin is added to the salt to make it edible and finally another small cordoned off area where the salt is packed for sale as table salt.
This is what Ryan and Mia have been waiting for. To roll around in salt! They gave our poor guide heart palpitations when he saw them. If any of the people working here saw them, he would probably be in a lot of trouble!
This is the production room and this little old lady is THE packing department!
And this is what we came to Bolivia to see. Salar de Uyuni, at 10,582 square kilometres, it is the world’s largest salt flat. The salt flat was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. Over the years as the lakes went dry, they left behind the salt crust creating what we see today.
Salt pools, the minerals are said to have strong healing ....
Salt as far as the eye can see, not a soul in sight, a picnic lunch is being set up for us.
How spoilt are we?!
Tummies full, we set off to Incahuasi Island, once a resting place for the Incas who crossed the lake with llamas loaded with goods for trade in Chile and further. This island sits right in the centre of the salt flats at its highest point. Sitting on the remains of a volcano, it is a rocky formation of basalt and regolith that contains corals and seashells.
Giant cactuses cover this island, some as tall as 10 metes high and said to be around 700 years old.
View from the top
Tyre tracks are the only visible marks across this vast salt flats.
Salt hexagons
