Bolivia, Uyuni there is a Hostel made of Salt and two curious Backpackers.

Even though we heard about, the Salt Hostel is something that has to be seen to be believed, the mandatory stop for any Backpacker around Bolivia. This beautifull place is all made of salt and people say that you can see from there at night one of the most amazing sky full of stars of the world. Imagine, no pollution, no civilization salt that makes your lips taste funny, dessert all around, and a Hostel in the middle of nowhere.!!
The spell of that amazing destination for Backpackers of all over the world did not last long because unfortunatelly we couldn't find a room to stay so we had the chance to walk around for a while and we got into the car again to start our way back to the civilization after the beautiful ride around the dessert of salt in Uyuni, Bolivia. Definetly one of the most amazing places I've seen in my life as a backpacker.

We are visiting the Salar of Uyuni, Damian is almost dying!!

After breakfast we took a car with a guide that took us to visit the Salar of Uyuni which is the biggest salt dessert of the world. We travel around one hour until we found ourselves in a big white dessert where all the floor, and the only thing we could see through the window was WHITE.
Salt Salt and more Salt,,,, nothing else.
As you can see all we could see was salt and more salt, we travel for around 2 hours, I fall asleep and when I woke up we still were surrounded by this white beauty. We drove until we got to "La Isla del Pescado" where we had lunch,,, here is a picture with the sick Backpacker almost dying, in that beautiful mountain standing in the middle of all the with salt.


They call it Island, because during the rainy season, the water covers all the dessert of salt with up to 1,5 meters... so in those days this mountain standing in the middle of the withe dessert becomes into an island in the middle of the crystal water.
So there we were two backpackers visiting one of the biggest wonder of Bolivia, El Salar de Uyuni...

The sun rises in Uyuni, Bolivia,,, I am feeling well but..

I woke up really fresh and ready to visit the "El salar de Uyuni" that was one of the most amazing things we saw while we were Backpacking in Bolivia. We had breakfast (it was included in the hostel tea and a loaf of bread with jam), Damian only looked at me with face of dissgusted....

Here I am a hungry Backpacker, against a sick one.... he was feeling really really bad...
Here is a picture of him Waking up after his looooooooooong night!

Don't leave me my Friend do not want to be a lonely Backpacker

4 Am, I am sleeping and suddenly I wake up because of some weird noise.... and I turn around to see my Friend Damian throwing out really bad in the trash can....
Man what's going on how are you what's going on....He just gave me look in between rounds of......
So when he got a little bit better, he gave a daring look and yield at me..... WHY YOU ARE NOT TAKING PICTURES!!!!... wow what a brave Backpacker I found... so here is the picture I took of him after the great idea of drinking a creamy drink in Uyuni Bolivia.

Brave Backpacker YES... SMART??? not that much!!.

Let's rock the night in Bolivia

The night arrived and Damian and I decided to go for a walk to see how was the crazy life around the town of Uyuni. We walked for a while searching for an open bar, or some lights in the total darkness..
After around ten minutes we heard some music coming out from a small place and we
We sat there and order some drinks, I order a Kaipiroshka, and Damian had the smart idea to order an Alexander....

Alexander Cocktail recipe
1 oz
1 oz white creme de cacao
1 oz light cream
nutmeg

As you can see in this recipe one of the components of this drink is light cream!!!... and we WERE in UYUNI, BOLIVIA where we only saw 1 refrigerator in the town.

We stayed there for a while, we talk or even more heard all the funny stories of this guy about his Skydiving anecdotes, and then we returned to the hostel.

When we took this picture we didn't know what was going to happen to my Friend.

Uyuni we arrived!!!!

Anyway nothing was going to stop this two backpackers discovering Bolivia, so there we were after a loooooooong and packed trip we arrived to Uyuni. We got off the bus, and went straight to leave our Backpacks in the Hostel named "Hostal Marith". This hostel was really nice with a big patio in the middle as you can see on the picture below.

So we decided to go for a walk and look around what Uyuni had to offer to this Backpackers around Bolivia. First we walked through the main street , up to we reach the fruits and vegetables Market where we bought a really nice whatermelon!!!. Then we kept on walking around the town until we made a break to enjoy our little friend...
That little kid on the back of picture after being shy for a while joined us in the feast!!!

Do you think we fit there???

Tupiza to Uyuni, bus is ready... all set!!!

Anyway after some time we started getting inside the bus, that had capacity for around 6 people but to our surprise once we sat there more and more and more people were getting in until we got literally totally packed. That was it, we were in this tiny bus with complete families sitting next to us, there was no room at all, for 6 or 7 hours, no complains, just eye contact with my friend, also amazed about this place called Bolivia. You can see in this picture people over people!!!

Early wake up Backpackers in Bolivia have to take a Bus

We woke up around 700 because we were supposed to take an early bus around 8 at the "Main Bus Station" of Tupiza in Bolivia. So we woke up, grab our Backpacks and stuff and left the Hostel. We walked to the bus station but first we stopped in a small shop where we bought some crackers for breakfast.

So there we were right on time at the bus station at 8 in the morning, backpacks in our backs, sunglasses to welcome the new rising morning in Bolivia...

That was the first lesson we learn, schedules and timetables in Bolivia are only an estimation of what could be good.... because we wait for the bus that would take us Uyuni for more than two hours, sweating like pigs, under the burning sun... mosquitos all around strong smells and lot's of dust...
Welcoming us to Bolivia.


So there we were waiting and waiting at the main bus station that as you can see had nothing but a big parking lot where the buses would stop for some hours.
It was a sunny and beautiful day, and as you can see on this pictures desolation was the only guest that morning, so we wait and wait and wait.

The bus from Tupiza to Uyuni was supposed to last 7 or 8 hours...

Backpacking in Bolivia ,Tupiza first Day

We woke up and there we were our small backpack full of candy's and cookies as u can see in the picture, and we were ready to start walking around the small town of Tupiza in the beautiful Bolivia. So we grab our important things, such as passport and Money, we put it all in our safety belts (You can see more information about this in my Backpacking around Europe Blog), and we left the Hostel.

We started walked around the town trying to see what it had to offer, starting from the Market that had lot's of stands at both sides of the road with different products to buy and later we went to check at the bus station at what time we were supposed to take the bus that would take us to Uyuni in the south of Bolivia at 3670 meters above the sea level. We wanted to start big, visiting the Salar of Uyuni that it's the biggest Salar of the world!!! so this Backpackers deserved to see it with their own eyes.