Emma destroys Carl with her new powersDon't believe me? Smart move. A giant, all-powerful Emma would be amazing, but it hasn't happened yet. Still, when you're looking across the bright white expanse of the Salar, it does feel pretty magical.
A perfect reflection as the sun rises over the SalarCovering 12000 sq. km, the Salar sits 3653m above sea level and is between six and seven metres deep in parts. It was the piece de resistance of our journey through south west Bolivia, and it didn't disappoint.
We set out early this morning, well before dawn. During the rainy season, a shallow layer of water covers the salt flats and acts as a giant mirror. We drove slowly, watching as everything around us turned to pink, then red, then orange. The view was spectacular. Unbelievable. The reflection in the water was perfect, making it impossible to tell where the sky finishes and the land begins.
We watched in silence, then drove quietly to Isle de los Pescadores, one of several islands that pop up around the Salar. From the top of the Isle, the blinding white of this salt desert stretches as far as the eye can see. In fact, if you didn't know better, you'd swear it had been snowing.
The view from the top of Isle de los PescadoresThe Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually. A handful of families from the nearby village of Colchani mine the salt on the edge of the Salar. It's a simple operation. They extract the salt using a pick, rake it into piles and initial the piles for credit with the truck drivers that pick them up. They work for hours each day in the hot Andean sun. Scarves or ski masks protect their faces from the blinding glare on the white Salar. Unsurprisingly, like miners all over South America, they work hard for little reward.
Colchani, a small mining village on the edge of the Salar
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