Some notes for the route :
Local Bus to the salt flat?
Last post we stopped at taking the train from border town Villazon to Uyuni. Uyuni is a super touristic place, full of different tours. But you don’t really need to follow a tour to go to the flat if you don’t want to. There’s at least one local daily bus going there.
- There’s a city called Tupiza, where you can take a tour to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile and see the famous colourful alpine lakes in between. It could make sense if your final destination is Chile. From Tupiza you can also take a tour to see the red lake and the salt flat and the tour ends in Uyuni.
- The buses that pass the salt monument and Isla Incahuasi leave at around 12:30 and the bus ride takes 1h30. There are two bus companies: Trans Tours Asuncion and Bus Villca, check out both. Day tours to the salt flat isn’t that expensive but the local bus is almost free and more fun. The bus back from Isla Incahuasi to Uyuni leaves around 18:30 and 13:00.
- I couldn’t find any local buses to the Alpine lakes, but afterwards I heard from another budget traveller there is a local bus leaving every Thursday to the lake. Let me know if you could take this adventure.
I got my bus ticket to Salar de Uyuni with my very limited Spanish.
The bus I took, it’s amazing, it could ride all the way across the salt flats and into the villages nearby.
The alpine lakes that are included in any 3-day tours from Uyuni. I didn’t see them myself because I don’t like multi-day tours and couldn’t find any local bus to get there.
Overnight in Isla Incahuasi?
Isla Incahuasi is the well-known cactus island in Salar de Uyuni. The island is super small and there aren’t any hotels or accommodations on the island. Still deciding to stay a night there was a fun experience, as you don’t need to get up early to see the sunrise the next day. The place where I slept is simple, just a storage room that you can ask for at the entrance.
- To stay overnight in there storage room, pay the island entrance fee 30bs, ask the personnel for the room to sleep, it costs 30bs (3.5euro) per person. Better bring your own sleeping bag with you, you will get a key so you can leave the sleeping bag in the room while going for a walk.
- There is a restaurant on the island so no worries but bring some snacks with you if you wish to overnight there.
- The room is super simple, but it makes a fun experience for me.
Isla Incahuasi
Enjoying the sunset, as long as possible.
Too lazy to go out to see the sunrise, just staying in bed admiring the view from my room ?
Mirror Effect at non-rain season?
When in Isla Incahuasi, I noticed that you almost don’t find any water anywhere, let alone the incredible mirror-like effect. But the beginning of April was only at the very end of the rainy season, in some parts in the salt flats, a big area’s of water can be found. As it goes into the dry season, the mirror effect can be more and more difficult to be found, normally until the end of May, you can still find tours that can find water for you.
- The rainy season in Uyuni is from December to March. The mirror effect can be seen during and shortly before and after the rainy season. But sometimes due to the flood, some area such as Isla Incahuasi can be inaccessible (which means the local bus can be cancelled), the tour company will take you to some accessible spot to see the mirror effect.
- A Japanese tour agency Hodaka and a Korean tour agency Brisa in Uyuni try their best to find water for you. We Asians are apparently more obsessive with the mirror effect. lol
- The tour by Brisa begins at 16:00 and ends at around 20:00. They provide rain boots.
The tour agency
The “mirror”, there isn’t much water left if looking carefully.
sunset
行程分享：从布宜诺斯艾利斯到利马
去年这个时候去了趟南美，从布宜诺斯艾利斯一路走到利马。为什么这么走呢？其实本来就是想看玻利维亚，但是飞拉帕斯好贵，而这样A进B出的机坪总共才花了500欧上下。
最近听一些欧洲朋友想去南美旅行，但又觉得年假没那么多（大部分比利时人有差不多一个月多一点的年假），似乎大家都觉得去趟南美需要很长时间。我去年也是全日制学生，没什么大片的假期，也就去了差不多一个月时间，其实计划做好了也不觉得很赶，而且玩得很开心，于是想把行程分享给大家。
布宜诺斯艾利斯Buenos Aires 5晚 – 萨塔Salta 2晚 – Humahuaca 2晚 – 边界La Quiaca/Villazon (border) 1晚 – 乌尤尼Uyuni 3晚 – Oruro 1晚 – Patacamaya (transit) – Sajama National Park ① ② 3晚 – Patacamaya (transit) – 拉帕斯La Paz 4晚 – Tuni Condoriri 1晚 – 科帕卡瓦纳Copacabana 2晚 – Juliaca airport – 利马Lima 4晚
这段行程其实要玩两到三个月都可以，比如在玻利维亚加个丛林行，在乌尤尼加个3天吉普行去南部的高原湖（如果时间多也不用拼团，甚至可以坐公车去，接下来我会慢慢说），还可以在马丘比丘和库斯科待一周，可以加的内容太多了。但是如果有限的假期内，我觉得30天的行程看着拥挤，但是其实还好，并没有想象中那么赶。从欧洲飞去南美不是那么麻烦，所以我把库斯科和马丘比丘都直接跳过了，以后肯定要再去。
接下来开始干货了（这篇主要是乌尤尼盐湖的干货）：
不跟团去乌尤尼盐湖
-在乌尤尼的大街上可以看到各种一日团三日团，一日团不是很贵，但是其实可以更便宜（如果你是背包客穷游），有当地人坐的大巴也可以到那里，玻利维亚物价很便宜，大巴非常便宜。
-穿越盐湖的巴士公司有两家，Trans Tours Asuncion和Bus Villca，后者中午12:00开车（有时晚上5点还会加一班）。路线是从乌尤尼穿越盐湖的纪念碑（有很多国旗的那个地方）以及Isla Incahuasi仙人掌岛（乌尤尼到岛车程1个半小时）。下午1点和6点左右有一班车从仙人掌岛开回乌尤尼。
-可以选择在纪念碑附近徒步几小时然后回乌尤尼（我觉得有点冒险怕迷路但是一起坐公车的小哥就这么干了），也可以像我一样，在仙人掌岛住一晚。
-如果不想走回头路，可以第二天或者当天晚上从仙人掌岛坐公车去附近一个叫做Llyca的小镇体验玻利维亚原住民的生活。从Llyca应该直接有公车去Oruro市然后继续去拉帕斯，不用回乌尤尼。
在仙人掌岛过夜
-仙人掌岛很小，本身没有旅馆。但是还是可以问售票处的工作人员是否可以留宿。入岛票价差不多3.5欧，借宿一人另外3.5欧。其实就是个储存室，但是有大玻璃窗，盐湖景观房？哈
-建议带睡袋，工作人员会给你钥匙锁房门。所以可以把行李都放在房间，然后去岛上走走看仙人掌。岛上有一个小超市和一个小餐厅，餐厅大部分菜单都没有，但是每天有套餐，还是挺好吃的，还可以来一杯鸡尾酒。
-储存室自然条件很一般，跟纪念碑附近的豪华盐旅馆无法比。但是也方便了看日出日落看星星，想看多久就看多久，而且如果懒得出门看，直接在房间看就好了。
什么时候可以看到天空之镜
乌尤尼的雨季是从12月到3月，雨季虽然可以看到大片的镜面，但是雨季也并非最好的季节，由于积水太多，可能导致没有办法去仙人掌岛。
我去的时候是4月初，仅仅在旱季的开始，当时盐湖大部分已经彻底干了。在仙人掌岛附近根本没有看到什么积水了，所以旱季要看天空之镜基本只能着旅行团跟日落团。
在乌尤尼的旅行团街，有两家日韩旅行社， Hodaka和Brisa，他们会带你去找水，找到天空之镜。大概亚洲人对镜面比较有迷思，大部分墙上写的感谢信都是日语和韩语。
找水团找水很努力，找到大片镜面，由于越来越进入旱季，到5月底盐湖就干的差不多，再往后就不太可能找到水。
另外
如果你的路线不需要经过乌尤尼，比如从阿根廷去智利，途径玻利维亚。你不一定需要在乌尤尼停留，从边境到乌尤尼之间还有个城市叫Tupiza，从Tupiza可以直接去智利的San Pedro de Atacama，达到旅行社都可以提供三天的行程，经过玻利维亚南部的五彩的高山湖，也经过盐湖。也有很多Tupiza的旅社提供另一种途径红湖，最好在乌尤尼结束的两日行程，顺路的可以考虑，我不是很喜欢多日的团，所以没有参加。
同样的原因，三日去好几个高山湖的吉普团，我也没有参加，去偏远的高山湖很难找到公车。在我猜想肯定就不存在公共交通时，路上遇到一个穷游小哥告诉我每周四有一班车可以去高山湖，我没有时间去一探究竟，如果你时间多，不妨探索一下。
