It’s not that I would thoroughly enjoy sleeping in a tent when it is 10 grades below zero. Neither am I too happy when I see my car sinking in salty water.
However, while travelling through Peru had involved a lot of Pisco Sour and a fair amount of decent hotels with hot showers, I would sleep in a fridge to have the experience I am going to write about.
I have crossed the Salar de Uyuni! Bolivia's biggest salt-lake (and the world’s biggest, too, I assume)! And probably one of the best sceneries you can find on Earth.
Driving from La Paz to the small desert town of Uyuni I crossed many windy villages which were not marked on my map. The street got worse and worse and from time to time the car was in the air with all four wheels. However, right before sunset I made it to Uyuni and found a nice hostel. I fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning I had lunch with 32 Israelis and one of them suggested to go to the tourist office to ask for passengers who would cross the salt flat with me. Good idea: right when I entered the tourist office I met German Mona who just had been inquiring about how to cross the salt flat. I had my passenger!
I prepared the car in the afternoon (spraying it from below with oil and diesel as an impregnation against the salt), bought more fresh water and food and studied maps.
Together with Mona I had dinner and ended up drinking in the back-room of the tourist agency in Uyuni where a small bar was installed.
Once we were sober again, we asked one of the chauffeurs of the many tour cars (they all drive Land-Cruisers since Land-Rovers never could take so much salt!) whether we could follow him in order not to get lost on the Salar and he eagerly allowed us to drive behind him. In the tour Land-Cruiser were some 7 tourists plus the driver and the cook cramped together and I was quite happy to have my own car.
What we saw then cannot be described with words: Check out the pictures. It was breathtaking. The Salar was dry except for some salty waterholes to cross at the very beginning and driving on the super flat salt was fun. No streets, just salt. Miles and miles. At the horizon the sky got mixed with the white sallt. Endlessness. You quickly will lose any sense of perspective. It was not for real. We stopped many times to take pictures and then drove on with up to 140km/h over the salt.

For lunch we halted at the “Isla de Pescadores” with its super high cactuses and made it right for the sunset to the other end of the salt flat.

Mona and me decided not to sleep in the hostel built out of salt stones (even the beds were made out of salt) and drove back into the desert after our homemade dinner. It was very cold but the sunrise in the next morning is probably the most beautiful view I have ever had. In our back was the full moon, right in front of us and literally coming out of the salty ground the sun went up. Meantime I had turned on the stereo and we listened to Mussorgsky’s ”Night on a Bare Mountain&”. The music floated the slat desert. Our very own concert to welcome the day. It felt so good.

After some breakfast we were lucky again and managed to tailgate yet another tour car. Again its chauffeur said “no hay problema” when we asked whether we could follow him. The landscape we crossed in the next two days was wonderful. The trail we followed sometimes called for low-range gears and it was quite adventurous. Once again I was impressed by a guy we saw on his mountain bike. What took us 3 days with the car must have taken him 12 days without any possibility to buy food or drinks.

We passed hot springs, geysers, drove up to 5030 meters above sea level and stopped in a valley Salvador Dali seemed to have painted.


After three days and well shaken we arrived at the border of Chile. The guy at the border was a bit difficult to handle but he seemed to like Swiss chocolate. After I had handed him a bar of “Cailler” he loosened up and stamped the car documents I needed.
And then – what a surprise – after another 50 meters of bumpy trail, we were welcomed by a super smooth motorway on the Chilean side.
Chile is rich! The richest country in South America. And they managed quite well to demonstrate this right after their border.
However, the Salar the Uyuni and the trail through the Andes is probably the most beautiful experience in nature I have ever had. Even better than beautiful Iceland. And far cooler than any US National Park. Go there, see it with your own eyes!

Ps: When arriving in San Pedro de Athacama, the first town on the Chilenian side of the border, visit “El Vale de la Luna”… Once more you will lose your breath – it’s beautiful!