The Travel Chica

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6 Tips for Surviving the Four Day Tour to the Salar de Uyuni

By

I did it!

I survived four days in a Jeep with five strangers without a shower in the freezing Altiplano of Bolivia including:

extreme altitude,

no internet,

and minimal access to electricity.

For someone like me who likes to run every morning, eat reasonably healthy, and have lots of me-time, a tour like this is a little frightening.

But it is totally worth it to see some of the most beautiful landscapes in South America, and I will be sharing my photos starting next week.

A sneak peak at the beautiful landscapes. So many hours spent sorting and editing photos.

But first, let’s get practical.

I was mostly prepared, but there were also some surprises along the way.  If you ever take this tour (and you should), here are my tips for surviving.

6 Survival Tips from Tupiza to Uyuni

#1 – Pair up with travelers you like (if possible).

This was not an option for me as a solo traveler.  My previous location was Tarija, which is not on the backpacker trail, so I did not pick up a travel buddy for this tour.

But I did get lucky with my group.

The group eating lunch at one of the spectatular stops.

There was a Canadian couple, a solo traveler from Vancouver, a solo traveler from France cycling his way through South America (that is pretty bad-ass if you ask me).  We are all on long-term trips and have experience traveling solo, meaning we have interesting travel stories to pass the time, AND we know how to respect shared spaces.

I have to admit there were certainly times when I wanted to punch someone because of repeated annoying and/ or ignorant comments, however, there were only a few instances.  Once again, I was lucky.

The point of this admission is that if I had a friend with me, my frustration could have been easily vented.  As I said before, my group was pretty awesome, but I imagine this could be a big problem if you don’t get along with people on your tour.  Seriously, four days is a long time

#2 – Be cool about seat rotation.

In most Jeeps, you have two front seats (the driver and the cook), a middle row for two passengers, and a back row for two passengers.  In our case, we shared a cook between two Jeeps and had a fifth passenger in the front seat.

The back row sucks.  A lot.

And I am only 5’2,” so imagine how cramped it must have been for people of normal height.

Luckily, I was with a group that did not try to pull the BS that the short girls (there were two of us) should take the back simply because we fit better.

There was no debate about rotating seats each day.

My advice is to be clear the first day about expectations regarding seat rotation before you even get in the Jeep.

# 3 – Be prepared for the cold.

I get cold very easily.

My lips turn blue when I am cold, and it freaks everyone out. 

It happened when I learned to scuba dive in the Caribbean while wearing a wetsuit.  It happens at outdoor tailgate parties at Ohio State football games.

It happened on this trip multiple times, but I was just warm enough to not be miserable.

I already had some gear with me, including wool socks, hiking boots, scarf, and a cheap hat and gloves I bought to survive the Buenos Aires winter last year.  In Tupiza, I bought a long-sleeve base layer similar to the material I have for snowboarding and these sexy Alpaca socks.

I was told Alpaca is warmer than other types of wool socks, and I believe it.

The nights get really, really cold.

The second morning we left very early (still dark outside), and we got a flat tire.

I kept walking around to keep the blood flowing while our awesome drivers changed the tire in under 25 minutes, but my toes were still frozen when we got back in the car.

It is that cold.

The homes we slept in did not have heat, but the beds were covered with about six layers of heavy wool blankets.  Those blankets are amazing.  I tucked into my sleeping bag and wore my sexy knee-high socks, leggings, base layer top, hat, and gloves.  I needed it all to stay warm.  (Note that you can rent very warm sleeping bags from most tour agencies, but I used my own, which was not quite as good.)

Our room on the third night.

#4 – Be prepared for lack of electricity.

Every time we arrived at our sleeping quarters, the first thing I did was scout out the power outlets.  Although it is not guaranteed at every place you stay, I found an outlet every night.

And I made sure to get to it first.

There was usually only one outlet in the entire building, which is why it is important to scope it out.

Sometimes the electricity is turned off and only comes on for a couple of hours late at night when you eat dinner.  Don’t be afraid to ask if and when the electricity will be turned on.

There are two things you can do to conserve the charge of your batteries:

During the day, keep extra batteries in a pocket close to your body.

At night, put all batteries in your sleeping bag with you.

The freezing cold of the Altiplano will drain batteries almost immediately.  Someone taught me the sleeping bag trick during the worst hike of my life in Patagonia.

Of course, you should have at least one spare set of batteries for all cameras.

# 5 – Avoid altitude sickness (and know the symptoms).

On this tour from Tupiza, you ascend rapidly.  We slept at over 4,800 meters (15,748 feet) the first night.

Be sure to spend two or three days adjusting to the altitude in Tupiza.  Then when you start the tour, drink tons of water, take it easy, and chew coca leaves.  I drank about three liters per day.

(Note: The tour I went on provided water, and there were a couple of places they could buy water on the third and fourth days in case they ran out.)

I started chewing coca leaves when I was hiking in Tarija.  Be aware that coca leaves diminish your thirst and hunger, so be sure to eat and drink plenty.

There is not much chance for athletic activity beyond a five-minute walk, however, some of the guys in our group played soccer and basketball with the local kids in the small town we stayed in our first night.  They all felt like they were going to die afterwards.

The symptoms of altitude sickness include fatigue, lightheadedness, drowsiness, lack of appetite, headache (caused by dehydration).  I have been lucky to never experience this, but others I know have told me how miserable it is, and there is little you can do once it is full-on.  Start chugging water, force yourself to eat something, and take it easy.

#6 – Lay off the alcohol, and go to bed early.

You have to wake up very early every morning, especially if you are with good tour guides that try to get you to the sites before the crowds show up.  I think we had to get up at 4am the second morning!

(And yes, the sites do get crowded – more and more Jeeps show up each day.)

A stop on the third day. We got there early and two other Jeeps quickly showed up with more to follow.

You can bring alcohol, but since it dehydrates you and could contribute to altitude sickness, I did not risk it.

Until the last night…. I had two celebratory glasses of wine, as did most people in our group.

Cheap, yet drinkable, Bolivian wine.

Have you been on this tour?  Any other tips?

 

Comments

  1. I did the trip a couple of years ago, but after a bit of a think I’d add a couple of tips…

    Make sure you have a lot of memory for your memory cards. You will take A LOT of photos, especially on the salt plain. There’s also lots of adorable llamas and other wildlife to snap.

    Look beforehand at some of the funny photos people take playing with perspective on the sala, have a bit of a think about what you could do and maybe take along small some props like matchbox cars, toy soldiers etc.

    Head to Potosi afterwards where you can go down into active the Cerro Rico mine, play with dynamite etc.
    Will Jackson – The Bearded Wanderer recently posted..A few fun facts about Taiwan

  2. I went on the three-day tour, also in the winter (july), but I did take a shower ;-). In my tour you could take a shower everyday by paying a small fee.

    It’s still one of my best travel memories ever.

    I woud say that another tip (if you speak Spanish) is to become ‘friends’ with the driver. Our guy liked to chat and gave me a whole new perspective on Bolivia.

    Another thing: be prepared that things will not go your way. You had a flat tire, our jeep broke down, so we didn’t make it to one of the lakes (and one girl freaked out about that, said she would complain against the agency etc., but our driver was very frightened: he was sure he would loose his job, while it wasn’t his fault that the jeep was 20 years old or more… group pressure worked in our case, luckily her boyfriend had a bit more sense).

    I’m going to remember your tip about the batteries!

    • Lucky you with the showers :-) We only had the option of a shower our third night at the salt hotel. I chose not to take one because a guy in our group did and said it was pretty cold. I had baby wipes with me, so I figured that was good enough until I could get a warm shower.

      And that is a great tip about chatting up the driver. I was the one with the best Spanish in our group, and although our driver was young and not very talkative, he did answer any questions I asked about the country and its people.

      Thanks, Eugenie!
      Stephanie – The Travel Chica recently posted..Ambrosia: The Tarijeño Breakfast of Champions

  3. Hey — thanks for the heads up re: the cold! I am heading there in Sept and am looking around for info – to your post was very timely. Did your guide only speak Spanish? Or did he speak English? And which tour co did you use? Thanks!
    fran recently posted..The Wilds of the Northern Pantanal

    • I went with Tupiza Tours. They are considered the best, however, I get the feeling from seeing other tours along the way, that most of the companies there have upped their game now. Our driver only spoke Spanish, but you can pay extra for an English-speaking guide. The drivers and our cook were fantastic for the whole tour. They made sure we got up the earliest to get to the sites before the other groups showed up. My only issue with Tupiza Tours is that a woman working in their office was extremely rude to me (so rude that two people who witnessed it decided to go with other tour companies).
      Stephanie – The Travel Chica recently posted..Ambrosia: The Tarijeño Breakfast of Champions

      • Stephanie,

        Sometimes people respond to the red hair. Perhaps it was a reminder of a mother in law, or a cultural memory of the conquistadores. ect. ect. I was married to a red head; I saw the inexplicable reaction myself. Thanks for the info. :)

  6. I also loved the tour thru Salar de Uyuni. One tip, don’t get there for Easter, all the tours will be really full, so we basically waited an extra day in Uyuni, and I can tell you there is really nothing to do in Uyuni… well except to get drunk :)

    I went for the tour with six girls I had met earlier in various places in Bolivia (yes our jeep was quite packed), and we had such a good trip. One of my best memories from South America. But yes, extra memory cards, and getting to charge your camera will be tricky! Don’t even imagine getting your laptop charged. Oh and yes, it will be cold at night, really cold.

    Oh and sun screen (SPF 40+) and sun glasses for the salt flats, otherwise you will burn, and I mean in the literally!
    Jarmo recently posted..London 2012 Olympics – One Londoner’s Rant

  8. Great to hear you were with a good group. That’s awesome that everyone agreed to rotating seats. I remember one time I was in a van tour and somehow I got the last choice of seat on the van, and for the next 2 days I had no window – so while everyone else was taking photos out the window I was kind of leaning over some people to get shots… not so good.

    Though I’m a bit cold just thinking about it, it looks like an incredibly beautiful trip! Looking forward to seeing more photos.
    Mark Wiens recently posted..Sri Lankan Pol Sambol Recipe and Adventure

  9. Stephanie im so excited to read this and your upcoming posts and photos of this place! Definitely one of the top ten things I’d love to do in South America!

    By the way, no shower is better than freezing cold shower! Luckily women’s bodies rarely stink in the freezing cold! And I love those alpaca socks! I bought a couple of them in Peru last year and sported them on last Winter! Indeed a lot warmer than wool!
    Antoinette | love.antoinette recently posted..Penguin Sighting at the Nobbies

  11. Stephanie! So much fun to see your pictures. Love the socks :)

    After making the trip at the end of January, we felt super lucky: the rainy season hadn’t caused too much trouble yet, and the temperatures were a little warmer since it was summertime. Meg from LandingStanding just about died of the cold, though, when they went a little closer to March. 😉 Lucky for us, our jeep buddies had those disposable handwarmers packed (the little packets from football games) – they were awesome.

    I did experience one massive downpour while I was out with my DSLR far, far away from shelter (tip: pack and wear a water-proof coat if you’re going in the rainy season); fortunately, my jacket held up.

    After Bolivia, I ended up getting one of those Belkin mini-power strips; it plugs into a single socket and has three outlets and two USB charge points. I’d have packed that baby in a heartbeat.

    Great point about rotating seats; I’m so glad our group agreed to that as well.

    Can’t wait to see more pictures!
    Bethany ~ twoOregonians recently posted..Tawlet. A Masterful Lesson in Lebanese Cooking

    • I just told somebody they should bring those disposable handwarmers to put in their boots! Also a good call on the power strip… there are also many hostels I have stayed in and airports where I would have liked to have one those.

      Definitely a tough call deciding when to do this tour. You don’t want a downpour (or flooding like what happened in early March and closed the area down), but you can get a whole different experience that time of year.
      Stephanie – The Travel Chica recently posted..8 Fun, Amusing, and Odd Things from Tupiza to Uyuni

    • I used my own sleeping bag which is not rated for this cold but worked okay underneath the mounds of wool blankets on our beds. If I went any later into their winter though, I would have needed to rent a better sleeping bag from the tour agency.

      And yes, camera batteries all dying would have been my worst nightmare… and the tour operators do not warn you about this!
      Stephanie – The Travel Chica recently posted..8 Crazy Photos from the Incredible Salar de Uyuni

      • Could u recomend your agency? I’m going to Atacama and Uyuni next week. I really enjoy your tips and your post was very helpfull.

        Regards,
        Lissa

        • I went with Tupiza Tours. They had a very good safety record a couple of years ago. Always good to check reviews online though.

  19. We only did the one day tour – I thought it would be great to have one more day out there but not sure I could handle four. You saw some amazing scenery though!

  22. I am cold just reading this!! My fingers turn absolutely white — my own little way of freaking people out haha. I like the seat rotation rule. It is so absolutely fair. I’m not sure I would have survived this. You’re so adventurous!
    Abby recently posted..What it’s like to meet Celine Dion

  25. This would’ve been handy BEFORE I went to Uyuni 😛 I actually ended up shortening my trip to a one day trip and going back to Uyuni with some really awesome people I met that day. I know I missed out on some cooler parts of the Salar, but I adored the people I met and the places I had time to visit because of that decision. If I was to go back, I would definitely stress point #1 for solo travelers. I ended up with a group of entirely French people who spoke to each other only in their language so I felt like the odd one out. I would also add to choose your tour company wisely and if you’re traveling by bus from La Paz, choose your bus company wisely. My bus ride down to Uyuni was one of the most absurdly cold nights of my life! I have three pairs of those socks and I still get use out of them 3 years later!
    Ekua recently posted..Photo Essay: The Things I Loved About My San Francisco Summer

  27. Hi,

    Thanks for the tips…

    Just want to ask one thing, I was thinking about going there with my wife, we are both with 40 years, do you see a lot of people around that age? Every picture I saw people looked really young, wich makes me wonder if it is realy a tough trip…

    • Yep, totally agree that age isn’t a problem on this trip. You will be “roughing it” a bit as far as accommodations goes and sitting in a vehicle for long stretches. As long as you properly hydrate and don’t over-exert yourself at the high altitudes, you shouldn’t have any problem.

  28. Daniel, this isn’t my post, but I can tell you that when I was there, my group had a 50-year-old man in it who was travelling on his own. Nobody cares about age. In terms of difficulty, you spend a lot of the time in the jeep, getting out to look around for 10-20 minutes at a time, so you needn’t worry about it being tough either. Just take a lot of layers for the cold nights. It was one of my South America highlights and I definitely think you should do it!
    Arianwen recently posted..Wai-O-Tapu or Waimangu? Why not both?

  29. Nice post. I’d been examining frequently this blog exactly what fascinated! Very useful facts specifically the rest of the section :) I personally handle like facts a lot. I’m trying to get this specific information and facts for just a quite extensive period. Many thanks and best connected with fortune.

  30. Love this Post! I’m about to do this tour in two days so it was very helpful to stumble upon! These tips are going to come in very handy, especially the one about keeping your camera battery warm, thanks!

  31. I do accept as true with all of the ideas you’ve presented for your post.

    They are really convincing and will certainly work.
    Nonetheless, the posts are very brief for starters.
    May just you please lengthen them a little from next time?
    Thank you for the post.
    Cubase 8 Patch recently posted..Cubase 8 Patch

  32. Your post is 4 years old but still good to read !
    Heading for that destination in July 2016 and came upon your blog!

    I know July is winter over there and the only thing I hope is that snow does not close part of the road, I plan to get off in Chile 😉

  33. Thanks for an amazing article.

    Am not a camera guy, can I still go with a 8MP camera phone ? I know that a decent camera is a must. Thanks.

  34. Great Post.
    My partner and I are going to Santiago and then North. I have been wanting to go to the Salar de Uyuni but I was told that depending on the season, the flat could reflect or be dull. Have you experienced any of that? We are going next week May 8th.

    Thanks for the post!!

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