Woah, now I’m torn if I still want to see Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia if most of the roads are like that. 

During two lengthy visits to Bolivia (1979 and 1984-85) I was never told of, much less visited, the Uyuni Salt Flats. 

They did not become a “tourist destination” until lithium became more than just a waste mineral.  As the world’s largest deposit of such it is likely worth tens of billions.  Of course, mineral wealth is nothing new for Bolivia, the site of the largest deposits of silver and tin ever discovered.  And one can only imagine what lies undiscovered in the largely unexplored, forbidding peaks and plains of the Andes.  Were I visiting Bolivia today a tour of Uyuni would be a ‘must’.

These days there is “safe transportation” available from La Paz both to both Uyuni and las Yungas.  In fact, the ‘new’ Yungas Road was completed in 2006, a project built over three decades by S. J. Groves and Sons of Syracuse, NY.  But, the ‘death road’ is still there, treacherous as ever, and used by local tradesmen and adventurers.