Salt Flats of Bolivia

Hola de Bolivia!

Nathan and I have finally made it into the country of Bolivia, which is north of Argentina. We have now visited three countries, Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. Can you find all of these on a map?

This entry, as you can see, is pretty long because we have seen many cool things. If it seems too long to read all at once don´t worry. Just read what you can and go back to it later. Remember that all of my entries will stay on the web so you can read and reread any of them at your own pace.

Our first adventure in Bolivia was a tour of the Salar de Uyuni. A salar, or salt flat, is a large deposit of salt on the surface of the earth. Salt flats occur all around the world and are formed after giant salt water lakes dry up. As the water evaporates, the salts and other minerals that were dissolved in the water are left behind. The lake that created the Salar de Uyuni evaporated around 1,000 years ago. There are several salt flats in southwestern Bolivia, but the Salar de Uyuni is the largest. In fact, it´s the largest salt flat in the world at 12,000 square kilometers and up to 80 meters thick! This is the truck that we rode in during our tour of the salt flat.

Have you ever wondered where the salt you eat to flavor your food comes from? Most likely it came from a salt flat! People in the nearby town of Colchani harvest the salt from the Salar de Uyuni by piling it into mounds like these to dry.

Once the sun has dried out the salt they take it back to their pueblo and process it for different uses. It can be made into table salt for eating or pressed into small blocks which are then carved into trinkets. They also cut the raw salt into large bricks and build houses with them. We slept in a "salt hotel" like this one on our tour.

After seeing the salt flat we drove for two more days through the amazing landscapes of the Altiplano, which means "high plain". This is a geographical feature that lies between two cordilleras, or mountain ranges, of the Andes. It is a very large, flat plateau lying between 12,000 and 15,000 feet in altitude. The environment is so dry that it is considered to be a desert. This picture was taken in the Desierto Siloni, or Siloni Desert, area of the Altiplano.

Throughout the Altiplano there are many volcanos as well. Because of the volcanic activity in the region one can find geysers. Geysers occur when the heat from magma below the earth´s surface causes water, also below the surface, to boil. Of course we know that boiling water creates steam. This steam needs to go somewhere and it often escapes through vents in the earth's surface. These vents of escaping steam are called geysers, and as you can see they make a really cool sight!
There are many lagunas, or lagoons, in the region we drove through as well. These lagunas are also heated by the magma underground, however they don´t get hot enough to boil. Because they are warm and full of minerals from ancient volcanic deposits they make great feeding grounds for birds. Flamencos, or flamingos, are the most exciting bird to spot. One can find three species of flamingoes in the lagunas. I am pretty sure this one here is the Flamenco Andino, or Andean Flamingo. A beautiful volcano is towering in the background.

I could go on and on about the wonderful things we saw on our tour of southwestern Bolivia, but I´m sure your eyes are hurting as much as mine from so much reading on the computer!

Until next time, Chaio!