• Home
  • About
    • Who We are
    • Affiliates
    • Disclosures & Guidelines
    • FAQs
    • Privacy Notice
  • Funding Your Travels
    • Banking on the Road
    • Credit Cards in Our Wallet
    • Spending
  • Contact
    • Media
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Partnership Opportunities

i should log off

log off and live!

  • Travel & Planning
    • Travel Reflections
      • Good, Bad & Ugly
      • Re-Entry
    • Travel Resources
      • Travel Tips
      • Travel Bloggers
    • Reviews
      • Gear
      • Operators
      • Travel Clothing
    • Travel Gear
      • Cameras
      • Danny’s Clothes
      • Electronics
      • Health & Hygiene
      • Jillian’s Clothes
      • General Gear
  • Destinations
    • Travel Guides
    • Africa
      • Egypt
      • Ethiopia
      • Lesotho
      • Kenya
      • Malawi
      • Morocco
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Sudan
      • Swaziland
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Zimbabwe
    • Asia & Oceania
      • Armenia
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • Georgia
      • India
      • Kazakhstan
      • Laos
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vietnam
    • Caribbean
      • Antigua
      • Cuba
      • Jamaica
    • Central America
      • Belize
      • Costa Rica
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Nicaragua
      • Panama
    • Europe
      • Armenia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Czech Republic
      • France
      • Georgia
      • Germany
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Spain
      • Turkey
    • North America
      • Canada
      • Mexico
      • USA
    • Middle East
      • Egypt
      • Israel
      • Jordan
      • Oman
      • Turkey
    • South America
      • Argentina
      • Brazil
      • Bolivia
      • Chile
      • Colombia
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
      • Uruguay
  • Weekend Adventures
    • Cycle
      • Pastimes
        • Beer & Wine
        • Books
        • Cooking
        • History & Culture
    • Dive & Snorkel
    • Hike
    • Trek
    • Whitewater
  • Photos
    • Photo of the Day
  • Family Travel
You are here: Home / Journey / Flashback / Flashback: Bolivia

Flashback: Bolivia

September 20, 2011 By Jillian

My lips are chapped and I’m balancing on the top of Coca-Cola bottle in the middle of Bolivia’s salt flats.  Although that is what our pictures show, it wasn’t exactly the reality of the situation.
IMGP4222

Bolivia’s salt flats (also known as the Salar de Uyuni or salt of Uyuni) are the world’s largest salt deposits and the vast, seemingly unending expanse of white salt is perfect for some interesting perspective photography.  That’s how I found myself balancing on the top of a wine bottle.

We dove into Doritos bags, balanced on soda caps, swam out of chip canisters and generally tried to do anything imaginable that might produce a fun or interesting picture.  It was chaos as we tried to position ourselves on the Salar without anyone else in our shot.  Sure it looks completely empty in the photos, but just as I’m not actually on the coke bottle, we weren’t actually alone.  In fact, the space felt a bit crowded with travelers from around the world trying to set up funny pictures.

IMGP4266

Our group of six was incredibly creative with the junk food packaging, hiking boots, guidebooks and random assortment of junk from the tour van.   Others on the Salar had small plastic children’s toys, like dinosaurs and G.I. Joe’s as props, the expanse was almost like being on the set of a professional photo shoot. Unfortunately getting the camera to focus on an object 10 inches away and 30 feet away can be a little tricky, especially when you’re trying to look through the viewfinder from your belly on a bed of salt.

I’ll never forget the Salar, and not just because of the fun and interesting pictures.  I know this is where I’m supposed to rave about some amazing cultural experience, but I’m not, because there was no amazing cultural experience in the middle of a salt lake.

When I think of being on the Salar my lips immediately begin to feel chapped and my eyes feel dry.  It’s a psychosomatic reaction to the memory, but that’s what I’ll never be able to forget- how dry everything felt. We spent three days on the Salar and in the end I’m surprise my skin wasn’t preserved.

Salt has been used for centuries to preserve and dry out meat so it shouldn’t have been any surprise that it dried us out as well. I felt like a salted ham hanging in the back of someone’s shed.  It was awful, no matter how much chapstick and lotion we put on, it never seemed to help.

So much of our memories are the result not of what we see, but of what we feel.  Bolivia of course has much more to offer than just the Salar and we spent time in the Amazon, rode the death road and even saw dinosaur prints, but my strongest memory will always be of the Salar.  Balancing on a coca-cola top feeling like a salted ham!

Filed Under: Flashback, Headline, Journey Tagged With: Bolivia, salt flats

About Jillian

I'm an adventurer and a fun loving spirit. I'll do almost anything once for the experience, well within reason. I love mountain biking, hiking and swimming. I compete in adventure races, but I'm also a complete nerd and love to read. I try to live my life without regrets, in the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. "

Comments

  1. Bama says

    September 26, 2011 at 9:59 am

    I’ve seen pictures of Salar during wet season as well as dry season (like the ones you have here). One thing for sure, no matter which picture I look at, Salar has become one of the places that I want to visit the most in South America.

    • Jillian says

      September 28, 2011 at 5:56 am

      It should definitely be on a must-see list of South America. It’s a strange, yet amazing place!

  2. Claire says

    October 11, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    That is amazing! Awesome photos too!! Makes me want to visit Salar. Is it a popular thing for people to take funny photos like that there? The backdrop of the photos (the mountains) is beautiful too.

    • Jillian says

      October 13, 2011 at 6:34 am

      It is a very popular thing to do in the Salar- if you go bring some props to make interesting photos!

  3. Sofie says

    November 8, 2012 at 2:28 am

    This is so going on my evergrowing ‘to do’-list!

    • Jillian says

      November 8, 2012 at 5:36 am

      It’s an amazing place!

Connect With Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Featured Posts

Our Bucket List
How We Travel For Free
$ Travel Tips

Recent Comments

  • Barbara on Kayaking Kauai’s Na Pali Coast
  • Lori Hubbard on Review: Eneloop Batteries and Charger
  • TK on The Trouble with Philadelphia

Banking on the Road

It can be very hard to keep track of your finances while you're on the road long-term. Be sure to check out how we took care of our finances while traveling and feel free to email us any questions you have.

Adventure Guides

Torres Del Paine
China Adventure
Uzbekistan Overland
Egyptian Odyssey
Malaria
Argentina Adventure
DIY African Safari
South Africa Guide
Bolivia by Bus
How-To African Visas

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright 2008-2015 · All Rights Reserved · Contact I Should Log Off · RSS · Partner With Us · Privacy