Young, Wild & Free on the Salar de Uyuni

June 8th, 2016
The vast salt flats of the Salar de Uyuni are one of those bizarre and amazing places that leaves one wondering how it could possibly have come to be. There is less than 1m of elevation variation over the entire 10582 square kilometer area of the flats. The surface is impossibly white and textured with mesmerizing salt polygons repeating into obscurity.
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Upon arriving at the flats, not having done much research, we were surprised to find that driving onto them was as simple as turning at the sign and telling the cop at the checkpoint that we wanted to drive on the flats. After rolling through a few pot holes we were released onto the alien world of the Salar de Uyuni. We started out following land cruiser tracks to some springs. They were cool, but couldn’t possibly measure up to my surprise when Harry and Chris, friends I had met in Mompiche, Ecuador rolled up in a land cruiser. They had spotted the camper and diverted their tour to say hi. It’s easy to spot it on a big white One of those happy coincidences that travelling so often affords you. Great to see you guys and congratulations on your engagement!
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One of these things is not like the other…

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After saying goodbye we made a brief stop at the restaurant out on the flats before leaving the land cruisers trails behind. We drove out onto the flats to a solitary spot and enjoyed a surreal coffee break break while trying our hand a taking some perspective bending photos.

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After coffee we fired the camper up and did the thing I’d been dying to do since first rolling onto the flats; crank Young, Wild, and Free on the stereo, point the camper in some arbitrary direction, and burry the gas peddle. It was an absolutely liberating joyride. With nothing but flats for tens of kilometres it was complete driving freedom. I amused myself even more by imagining what the many tourists on 4×4 tours in decked out land cruisers must have thought as they watched my dinosaur motorhome ripping by them at 100km/h. It was one of the great moments of the trip.

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4 thoughts on “Young, Wild & Free on the Salar de Uyuni

    1. Thanks for the support guys! We’ll get right on pitching that photo to aeropress 😉 Looks like you were just right in our backyard, hope you had an amazing time on Vancouver Island.

      Like

  1. Thomas
    Wow, incredible photography!
    It is so good to read your post. I feel I am there. (I can hear your voice telling the story in one of our T meetings!

    Fabian

    Like

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