15 Feb 2025
I have been waiting to go to Uyuni for a number of years now and I finally got the chance to go via Chile. I booked with Viator just to be on the safe side and spent a little more but I was disappointed. If you take this tour please make sure you speak Spanish because they always say they speak a little English but I never heard a word of it since most of the group understood the driver, who is your guide and meal planner. The trip started early and we all got picked up on time. We arrived at the Chilean border and found 2 other similar mini buses waiting before us. The driver in Spanish said we had to wait for our turn crossing the border. We sat in the van with no updates and no movement. About 7:30 or so I see the driver setting up a table outside next to our van with breakfast. I asked why we were having breakfast outside when it was cold and he answered that the border only opened at 8am! I was shocked to hear this and everyone agreed that we would have preferred to sleep an hour more than sit around for an hour. The best part was when you finally go through and arrive at the Bolivian border. Once there, you are greeted with another border that only opens at 8:30! I am now tired of waiting around for my adventure to start and considering that this tour is practically daily, there’s not a better plan. Once you get your passport stamped, then you must wait for the 4*4 to arrive and drop off the other passengers and restart the tour with our new group. It took 2 hours + just to get the border crossing completely done. I won’t get started on details but the food didn’t leave anyone impressed especially on our first night where we served a soup and then a plate of cold pasta and Luke warm sauce. One of the the members was surprised that he was having an Italian meal in Bolivia. The sad thing is that we stayed there twice. I thought that we’d meet other travellers but your accommodations are in a non descript building and very basic. There are no other guests there. The good note is that you do get a good night’s rest because you are usually tired from the long day drive. You also needed to get up early so with no internet, people to see or go, once we are our dinner , we all just went to bed. I feel as if I paid too much for what I got and others made the same remark. I was also disappointed with the photos that our driver took because most of them were too far to distinguish us at Uyuni. I also should say that our driver was a nice guy and always had nice music on, but the driver on the return was not as friendly. I should also mention that you are constantly required to pay for a bathroom no matter where you are. I brought my own wipes because you will be forced at some point to go outside. Don’t bring more than 200-250 Bolivianos. Besides paying for your entrance ticket, there is no other place to spend your money except on toilets and a one stop souvenir shop that you will visit after you visit Uyuni. Do buy your souvenirs there especially since it’s cheaper than Chile and they have the same goods. I think we were all happy to go back to Chile and rest up and enjoy a meal after the holiday in Bolivia.