Southern Bolivia is home to the world’s largest salt flats – the Salar de Uyuni. A salt flat is a "flat expanse of salt left by the evaporation of a lake." The Salar de Uyuni stretches over 4,674 square miles (larger than Lake Titicaca and nearly half the size of Lake Erie!). These salt flats are an amazing sight – nothing but white nearly as far as you can see in any direction!
Between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago Lago Minchin covered southern Bolivia. This lake eventually evaporated and the salt deposits were created. Additionally, with no outlet to the sea, minerals leached from the surrounding mountains have added to this vast expanse of white.
The Salar de Uyuni is located at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level. As a result, it can get pretty cold! Due to the frequent freezing and thawing process amazing hexagon shapes crack themselves into the thick layers of the salt.
Bolivia has been protective of this natural resource and only locals have rights to the salt and other minerals. The small town of Colchani borders the salt flats and the locals work by hand to extract 20,000 tons of salt annually (18,000 for human consumption, 2,000 for local livestock).
First, the salt is scraped off the wet surface and piled into cones.
These cones remain for several days allowing the water to drain out and pool on the surface of the flats.
Once the majority of the moisture has been removed, the salt cones are scooped onto a truck and taken into town for processing.
The entire process is done by hand using a process that has been used in Bolivia for hundreds of years.
But the salt flats aren't all work. . . the great expanse of white in every direction messes with distance and perspective. . .
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As we left the salt flats, a thought crossed my mind – a thought I’ve often had when overwhelmed by nature’s beauty. Imagine being the first group of people to wander into this area. These people had no foreknowledge of what they were going to see and no expectations. How overwhelming and amazing it must have been to discover a massive dry white lake! I try, as best I can, to look at the wonders of our planet with these same fresh eyes and to never lose that sense of amazement.
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