[Music] "Jesus. A lot of open caskets. A lot of
open graves. If ever there were to be a place that was haunted, I think this would be it." We departed what remained
of the abandoned graveyard, and continued to climb Highway 21 onto the
Bolivian Altiplano to the outskirts of Uyuni. Originally a trading post at the crossroads of
a critical railway junction, connecting Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina at the turn of
the 20th century. And the relics of that bygone era live here at the Train Cemetery. [Music] Despite being the city's second
most popular attraction, we were long past the haunting hour for organized tours, and had the collection of rusting box cars and
locomotives all to ourselves. So we decided to have a quick spin around and take advantage of
the golden light of sunset for a few photos. [Music] "Good job!" Not to mention a quick drone flight. "Is it working?" "It's..." The doors' all jammed? See if it'll turn on." "Yeah." But as it turns out, trains aren't the
only things that come here to die. Our drone was on life support, and apparently wasn't
willing to wait for nature to take its course. [Music] "What happened?" "It wouldn't fly back here. And I caught it on
the other side of the train. It was just slamming itself into the ground. Up and down. It was going
bam! bam! And finally, just like, collapsed." "That's s***ide." "Huh?" "That's s***ide." "Yeah. The drone committed s***ide." [Music] Busted drone and tow, we bobbed and weaved
our way through the rusted remnants of the Train Cemetery. Over the tracks and into Uyuni,
where we would bob and weave our way through the ever-present street vendors, and soak up a
bit of local flavor before calling it a night. [Music]
0:04:59.560,1193:02:47.295
[Music] [Music] The next morning, after breakfast at the
Llama Cafe and a bit of reconnaissance work, we packed up for the Salt Flats, before
finally contending with one of Bolivia's most storied and ire-inspiring topics
in overlanding circles. The gas pump! [Music] [Music] Gas and diesel in Bolivia are heavily
subsidized by the government. For years, people from surrounding countries made a business
of illegally exporting fuel and reselling it. "Alright ,so that was six Bolivianos
per liter. Which is still under a dollar a liter. Which is a hell of a
lot more than the locals are paying, but... I mean ... All things considered,
it's not really all that expensive." "Yeah. And everything that I read, I'm... I'm actually surprised that A)
we were able to get it so quickly." "Uh huh. "And there was... Cuz generally speaking, I was reading that they wouldn't pay attention
to you. They would leave you just waiting." "Yeah. Well, there is nobody else here. So...
I mean so far, so good. Overcharged. Paying gringo prices, but... I mean... I mean...
It's either that, or we don't get gas." "Yeah." To help combat this black market fuel trade,
the government restricted sales to Bolivian residents with valid vehicle registration.
Making it exceedingly difficult, expensive, and sometimes, downright impossible
for foreigners to purchase fuel. [Music] Topped off and on the road, we made the short
ride to one of the few points of entry to the Salt Flats. Where we stopped briefly to mark our
territory, before queuing up behind the dozens of tour operators en route to the Salar
de Uyuni. The world's largest salt flat! Maps of this saline desert are nearly non-existent
and practically impossible to find. And due to the highly reflective nature of its blinding
surface, satellite images are near worthless. There are no roads, in the traditional sense on
the Salar. Just a few well-worn paths fanning out between the various points of interest. Such
as the Plaza de Banderas, and Isla Incahuasi, which serves as the crossroads for the
primary paths bisecting the salt flats. And while you might not think you would need
a map for this unobstructed lunar landscape, people have lost their
lives placing that same bet. The first stop on our self-guided
tour was the Ojos del Salar. "Wow!" Or the eyes of the salt flats. "Very wild!" Where the freshwater aquifers deep beneath the
meters thick salt crust bubble to the surface. "Very cool!" A good place to be mindful of where you
walk, and prep your motorcycle for the potentially devastating impact of one of
the world's most corrosive environments. "I actually had to go to a hardware store
this morning and ask them for WD-40. Um, they didn't know what WD-40 was, so I
asked if they had lubricante and they told me to go to the pharmacy.
so I think they misunderstood." While Chad applied copious amounts of
Flo Cuarenta, as the locals call it, to the Africa Twin, I used this opportunity
to press one of the guides for a little Intel. "Rose is trying to get some
info from one of the guides." With a bit of inside information, we set off
for the playa's most popular destination, the Plaza de Banderas or Plaza of
Flags. Home of the Insta-famous Dakar monument. And the Palacio
de Sal, the original Salt Hotel. "Look at that!" [Music] "Now you have to ride it." "See you!" "Take it easy, brother. Good to meet you!" After hanging out and taking pictures
with a group of Thai tourists, we decided to bust out the lube, in
an effort to resurrect the drone. "Well, using WD40 on a drone is probably ill
advised, but I mean, it's dead anyway. So..." To commemorate the epicness of the moment. [Music] [Music] But unfortunately, the
drone was having none of it. "We've lucked out with the timing!" "Definitely!" "Looking a lot less like uh the middle of
nowhere. and a lot more like Fort Lauderdale." So the epicness would just have to wait, until I
was done shopping for some protection of my own. "So this is the original Salt Hotel.
The OG. It is no longer a hotel, it's just kind of a uh,
kind of a dining hall now." "Yeah! look at this place!" 'Did somebody buy some new sunglasses?
Do they fit in your helmet?" "I think they're used, but they're new to me." "They're... They're pre-owned." At 3,650 meters, 12,000 feet above sea
level, UV exposure is up upwards of 120% greater than at sea level. Combined with
the highly reflective surface of the salt, snow blindness, or salt blindness,
is a real issue on the Salar. "Oh s**t! Yeah, you literally... You go
completely blind once you take your glasses off." And while Chad's Oakleys were up to the task. "Even with my Oakley's on, I still,
like... my eyes are sensitive to it." My $4 knockoffs, not so much. [Music] After soaking in the epicness of
the Salar's most popular hot spot, we set off with my certified pre-owned
knockoffs on our way to Inca Incahuasi. Approximately 60 roadless kilometers
away, in the heart of the Salt Flats. "Not really much in the way
of road signs out here." [Music] "Looks like we kind of need to be going off
in that direction. There's a big truck right there. It's impossible to get lost. All
it fails, we just aim for the volcano." [Music] With no real roads or points of reference, it's
almost impossible to plot a straight course, akin to a ship without a compass.
And as if that wasn't a enough, our sea of salt just so
happened to have a few potholes. "So apparently, these are the holes
you need to watch out for. They can end your ride. There's a few of them out here." The playa covering the prehistoric
lake once known as Lago Minchin, covers an astonishing 10,000 square kilometers,
or 3,900 square miles and measures approximately 130 kilometers, or 80 miles across. Making
it the largest Salt Flats on planet Earth. Approximately 100 times the size of the
famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. [Music] After putting down some miles across the
Earth's largest Saltine Cracker, we made it to the crossroads of Incahuasi. An ancient
volcanic island, inhabited by ten-meter-tall, thousand-year-old giant cacti, and one
of the most surreal spots in the world! "So this is Isla... I don't remember how to
pronounce it. This place is wacky-looking, man! Other worldly. Llook at this!" "Even out here in the Salt
Flats, you get chased by dogs!" [Music] "So apparently you have to register once
you arrive on the island. You have to uh, register your presence and get a
ticket, or something like that. Rose is. I don't know what Rose is doing. I think she's chasing dogs or something. Wow.
This is a wild wild place for sure." Salar de Uyuni's second most
popular tourist attraction sees only a fraction of the organized tour groups
that visit the accessible Plaza de Banderas. "Holy crap! That's cool!" "Oh man! This is absolutely wild! It's wild!" "Come on! Let's go up!" A steep and rugged path winds its
way through the millennia-old cacti, and razor-sharp coral-like rock, to an
amazing viewpoint above the playa. And just so happened to be one of
the only hikes I didn't hate. "I've never seen you this excited to hike before." "It just keeps going up and
it keeps getting better." "Well, I get to officially chalk up another one
of the wildest spots I've ever been to. This place is uh, it's hard to describe. It's very very cool
out here. Um, I mean the Salt Flat is what it is. It's a giant expanse of flat salt. Which I mean,
to be honest with you after the first 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 kilometers, you've kind of seen
it. But this island! This island that just kind of rises from the salt, with these giant cacti.
This is uh, this is really something different." [Music] After a tour of the island, Chad helped
render a bit of roadside assistance, before we suited back up and went in search
of accommodations for the night. Specifically, a cave on another island and while details
were sketchy, we had it on good authority that, should we manage to find it,
we would not be disappointed. [Music] [Music] We continued to pound salt North, in
the general direction of Volcan Tunupa. A long-dormant volcano that dominates the
skyline on the Northern flanks of the playa. [Music] On our way to explore a chain of small
islands, and the caves rumored to contain the mummies of those who called this arid
wilderness home, some 3,000 years ago. But caution must be exercised when approaching
the thin, outermost edges of the flats. As it is common for vehicles to break through, and get
stuck in a thick and unforgiving alkali mud. [Music] "What did you give me the thumbs-up for?" "I was just letting you know that he told me
to check it to make sure it wasn't muddy." "Yeah. Yeah." "So we're good. I'm going to
go see what's up this road." [Music] But luckily, we were well into the dry
season and able to explore the islands, and their copious nooks and
crannies, to our hearts content. "Nice! Alright, so this is kind of a cool spot,
but we got uh, we got word on a sheltered cave. That's about 3 kilometers away so, we're going
to go check that out, see how that looks. And uh, you know, if we like this better, we'll just
come back. Hell of a view though. 360° panorama. [Music]
0:23:57.880,1193:02:47.295
[Music] Utill finding the perfect Rock shelter...
in the mouth of a cave... on an uninhabited island... in the middle of an ancient lake...
surrounded by thousands of square miles of salt. Not a bad place to pitch our tent for
the night, and enjoy the sunset in the middle of the Salar de Uyuni. As far as campsites
go, this one is going to be hard to beat. [Music] [Music] [Music]
