Comments on: 7 things they don’t tell you about the Uyuni, Bolivia tours

By: Roni Weiss

Roni Weiss — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:30:27 +0000

Also, I had severe altitude sickness. Be ready to have coca leaves in your cheek at all times.

By: Roni Weiss

Roni Weiss — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:30:00 +0000

Also, I had severe altitude sickness. Be ready to have coca leaves in your cheek at all times.

By: Michael (ArtofBackpacking.com)

Michael (ArtofBackpacking.com) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:56:11 +0000

Glad it helped! Let me know how it all goes

By: wanderingtrader

wanderingtrader — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:22:34 +0000

LOVE THIS ARTICLE!! I was planning on visiting Bolivia this December.

By: El Cid Vacation

El Cid Vacation — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:51:08 +0000

Tip number 3 is the best. For trips, I always bring extra batteries along with the rechargable batteries I already have.

By: Michael Tieso

Michael Tieso — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:20:53 +0000

Thats very true. For most of our trip we had a really great group but we had to split groups because everyone else was going to Chile while we were going back to Uyuni. The second group all spoke in their language and didn't speak to us at all nore the driver. It made for a boring 8 hour trip back to Uyuni. Since we knew Spanish, we ended up talking to the driver as well while they didn't.

By: bolivia09

bolivia09 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:33:43 +0000

having said this we had an amazing time and loved every minute of it, some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen in my life!

By: bolivia09

bolivia09 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:32:31 +0000

Be warned, I did this tour ex-Uyuni and had a great time but we heard bad stories from those who came from Chile. You begin in San Pedro de Atacama and go up in altitude so fast that many people were sick for the whole three days of the trip (if you know you're bad with altitude sickness keep this in mind). Also, there were far fewer choices of tour groups going out of Chile and none had a great reputation.

Be warned, they say that the tour is guided, but it really isn't unless you can speak spanish and ask the driver. We were fortunate enough to do that, but otherwise they generally don't speak english and therefore can't explain anything to you!

The only other thing that can be hit and miss is the people you sit in the jeep with for three days. Sometimes it can be the best experience and sometimes it can be the worst. We asked and found out we were going with four young boys which we thought would be a lot of fun, but they turned out to be quite racist and insulting and sat in the front of the jeep and never offered to swap with us! Fortunately we could speak spanish and they couldn't so we chatted to our driver and his lovely wife, the cook, the entire trip and learnt a lot about the area and the park as they couldn't speak english very well.

By: Michael Tieso

Michael Tieso — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:09:21 +0000

Glad you enjoyed the article! Good call on the motion sickness pills. I did in fact get a little ill from the bumpy ride.

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:19:35 +0000

Yes. Yes yes yes, all of this is true! If you get back from your tour and plan to leave that night but haven't purchased a bus ticket back to La Paz already (or even if you have), chances are you are going to be stranded in town for an extra couple of days thanks to minimal buses leaving town and dozens and dozens of tourists wanting to leave as well…and there is literally NOTHING to do in the village of Uyuni.

Hot showers are not “hot-” if you're lucky they MIGHT end up being lukewarm but generally hot means cool, but not as icy as it would be without the heater. When I was on my trip there in July or August, it was -20 degrees celcius at night when we were out on the flats and I most certainly was not armed with anything but 2 very thin Alpaca sweaters! STAY WARM, stay dry and bring cash

(motion sickness pills wouldn't hurt either if your stomach doesn't take too kindly to driving in a jeep over jagged mountainous terrain for 10 hours a day)

Great points, dead-on, Bolivia is wonderful!