Pinch of salt

This is the world's largest salf flat and is situated in southern Bolivia. I took the picture when I was there last October. Reaching the salt flats from Chile, involved climbing over the Altiplano at almost 5,200 metres and into this desolate area of Bolivia. The salt field is what remains of an ancient lake. It stretches for almost 5,000 square miles and is estimated to contain over 10 billion tons of salt. Some of this salt is mined. I visited a village where the people dig the salt from the ground, grind it and bag it up. They get just one US dollar per kilo. They also build with the salt. There are a couple of buildings on the plain which are built entirely from blocks of salt. The surroundings are very surreal, as the mountains around the salt flat and the islands within it appear to float on the horizon. You can drive for miles across before you can see the island you are heading for. People who drive across really have to know the flats, as people often get lost and stranded out here. In the picture, you can see two little black dots. These were two Germans who were motorbiking through South America.