天空之鏡 Mirror of Sky (二)

上回曾說過到天空之鏡的最好時間是十二月至二月的雨季，當然誰也不想雨季旅行，所以二月應該是最多人選擇的。

在玻利維亞到天空之鏡必須住到Uyuni這個小鎮，這個小鎮事實沒什麼好玩，旅客都是為鹽湖而來。

而到鹽湖確實需要報團，就算你自己有四驅車，估計你也不會想讓它在鹽上跑!

鎮上有很多旅行社，報團的話，有以下選擇:

1)三日兩夜團(約B900), 會遊遍從Uyuni到智利邊境所有景點，包括鹽湖，火山，很多的湖和紅鶴。可以回到Uyuni,也可以選擇結束時過境智利。

我們沒有參加三天團，因為路程很遠，路也很顛簸，我們寧願多花時間在鹽湖。

特別一提，參加三天團是看不到鹽湖日出日落的，因為只有第一天約一兩個小時在鹽湖!

2)一日團

一日團也分多種---星空加日出(0200-0800);日間團(1000-1700);全日加日落(1100-2000);日落加星空(1600-2200)。

一日團其中一點要特別注意的是，大部份旅行社都是不拼團的。有些開宗明義告訴你必須包車，你自己可以想辦法拼車，反正一天包車是B900。另一種是他們會用張貼紙張方式替你找拼車，如果一台車坐滿7個人，價格由B130-200不等，但如果找不到7個人，只能每人多湊錢，總數還是以7個人總費用算，或只能取消。

只有少數旅行社聲明自己一定成團，我們參加的OASIS就是其中之一。所以報團時一定要問清楚。

一天團的行程一般會先到附近的火車墳場，然後再到一個小市場購物和看鹽湖之眼。接下來的行程就分兩種，較便宜的只在鹽湖較近區域徘徊，至於停車點可能還是會因司機而異。收費貴一點的應該有寫明會到一個島，這個仙人掌島路途比較遠，而相對在鹽湖上開車的時間也較長，停車點較偏遠，人更少。

走得遠點的團停的地方較少人到，湖面更平坦，感覺好一些!

我們第二次參加便宜一點的團，的確是到不同的停車點，但司機居然把車停在一個沒什麼水的地方讓我們看日落!幸好我堅持讓他再找一個有水的地方…雖然最後的地點還是沒有第一天好，湖面經很多車走過，留下了輪胎痕，但總算勉強可接受，大家要注意了!

日落很美，我覺得日落是必須的。日出我一般起不來，不考慮…

所有旅行社都會盡量塞滿每輛車，一輛四驅車是坐七位旅客，以我們東方人的身形沒什麼問題，但踫上身材比較魁梧的可能會感到太逼，所以不介意多花錢的可以四至五人一車。

幾乎所有司機都不會說英語，要有英語司機，團費會貴很多，不過他們都挺老實，就告訴你不會說。如團內有人會說就可以幫忙翻譯一下，不過，否則問題也不太大，都是為了拍照，資訊性的材料自己先研讀一下就好了。

有些旅行社會提供水靴，但有些沒有。報團要問清楚，沒有水靴的記得自己帶拖鞋。我不建議赤腳，因為湖面雖然看起來很平坦，鹽的結晶其實很鋒利。而且鹽水濃度超高，如腳上有傷口的一定要有水靴。

水其實很淺，要拍漂亮的倒影相，相機要貼地，拍照的人站遠點再用鏡頭拉近，這樣效果更好!不過，朋友們，小心別讓相機沾到鹽水，這可以致命!!

祝旅途愉快!

By: Jo

In the last blog, we mentioned that the best time to visit the salt flat is between Dec to Feb during the rainy season.  Most people don't want to travel in the rainy season, so, Feb is quite popular.

To visit the salt flat from Bolivia, you need to live in the little town of Uyuni.  There is nothing much to do here other than going to the salt flat...

You do need to join a tour.  Even if you have a jeep, I guess you don't want to run it on salt!

There are many tour agencies in the town.  The options include:

1) 3D2N tours (around B900) will take you to all sites from Uyuni till the Chile border, including the salt flat, volcanoes, many lakes and to see the flamingos.  You can return to Uyuni or cross the border to Chile at the end.

We did not join the 3D2N tour because it is too much time and the roads are quite bad.  We chose to focus on the salt flat.

Special note, you don't get to see sunrise or sunset at the salt flat in the 3D2N tour because the itinerary only include 1-2 hours on the salt flat on the first day.

2)1 Day tour

There are many 1 day tours --- Starlight + sunrise (0200-0800), day time tour (1000-1700), one day+sunset tour (1100-2000), and sunset+starlight(1600-2200).

For 1 day tour, the most important thing to note is that, most tour agencies require you to charter the whole jeep.  Some will tell you about that upfront and you can find your own partners, and the total cost is B900 for one day.  Some others will help to post tour forms outside to find partners to fill up the jeeps.  A full jeep takes 7 tourists, price for these tours range from B130-200.  However, if they cannot find 7 people, each will have to pay more to make up the price of 7 in total, or it will be cancelled. 

only very few agencies guarantee that they will go even if there are fewer people.  Oasis is one of them.

So, you need to make sure you understand how it works.

For one day tours, they first go to the train cemetery, and then they will take you to a market to shop and then see the eyes of the salt flat.  Afterwards, the routes differ.  For cheaper tours, they travel less distance and only stay near the edge.  The stopping places depends entirely on the driver.  For the more expensive tours, they should specify that the island is included.  This island full of cactus is much further away, and thus the jeep travels longer on the salt flat.  The spots they stop tend to be further out and with fewer tourists.

I think the longer tour feels better as the location we went were more remote and have fewer tourists.

We went for a cheaper tour on the second because they stop at different locations.  However, our driver stopped somewhere with very little water for the sunset.  I insisted that he should take us somewhere else.  Although the final location was ok, still not as good as the first day, because that spot has been run by too many jeeps and there were car tracks on the flat. 

The sunset is brilliant, don’t miss it!

Nearly all tour agencies will try to fill up the jeep with 7 people.  We are not big persons, so works ok for us. However, if you are big, you may feel that 7 people in the jeep is a bit crowded.  If you don’t mind paying more, 4-5 people in a jeep is very comfortable.

Nearly all drivers don’t speak English, the tours will be a lot more expensive with English speaking driver.  But, at least they are all very honest about it.  If there is someone in the tour that speaks both Spanish and English, they can help translating.  Otherwise, it is still no big deal, not much talking is required, you can do your own research about the salt lake.

Some tours provide boots for you to walk on the salt flat, some don’t.  You should ask when you join the tour.  If they do not provide boots, you should bring your flip flops.  I do not recommend walking bare footed because the salt crystals is very sharp although it looks perfectly flat.  The salt water is very saturated, if you have a wound on your foot, go with boots.

There is only a few cm of water, if you want to take good pictures of the reflections, you need to place your camera close to the ground, stand further away and use your camera to zoom in!  However, be aware not to let your camera get in touch with salt water, it is devastating!

Enjoy Uyuni!!!

By: Jo