BOLIVIA
SALAR
DE UYUNI
This salt desert is more
than 12.000 km2 (around 20% biggest than Jamaica!!!), it was an immense lake that licked up the tops of the
high mountains of the zone. To the edges the layer of salt it is deep around 30 centimeters, but in the center more than 8 meters; the salar is perfectly white and perfectly plain, apart the hexagonal forms
inside the salt. In the dry period, the immense expanse of salt creates an
amazing landscape, when you cross it you have the impression to be suspended between the clouds; during the
rainy season the immense lowland is covered by the water that in some points can
reach 1 mt deep forming some lakes that reflect to the perfection the blue sky of the plateau. The salar contains around 75 islands disseminated of cactus that grow of around
1 centimeter a year, some are tall 10 meters; the biggest island is the Isla de los Pescadores that contains hundreds of cactus. The Salar is source of maintenance for
great part of the inhabitants of the zone hocked in the production of salt that after being picked (19.700 tons
per year) is refined 
; other amazing use of salt is that building: the
material is broken in regular blocks for being used for the manufacture of buildings like the
Hoteles de Sal in the middle of the Salar. Just the excessive exploitation of the Salar has been the cause of the revolt of the preceding days
of my visit that has caused between the other things the closing of the hotel of salt that in the future will be
probably destroyed.
An article about the Uyuni civic strike
On
Oct. 21 2001, the Bolivian government shut down tourist access to the Uyuni Salt
Flats as a strike by local residents in Potoś department continued.
Residents had seized control of the access routes to the region on Oct. 17 to
protest two tourist hotels made from blocks of salt, which they say contaminate
the local environment. The protesters are also demanding government investment
in a local highway, and transfer of the assets of the former state-run railroad,
now privatized, to municipal control. The
strike trapped some 200 tourists in the area for two days; they left Uyuni on
foot late on Oct. 19 and reached the city of Potoś in buses with
a police escort on Oct. 20.
[Los Tiempos (Cochabamba) 10/19/01; Hoy (NY) 10/22/01]