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Lying around six miles from the town of Uyuni and right on the edge of the Salar salt flat, Colchani is a tiny village where the local families live a wretched existence extracting and working the salt.

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The tiny, destitute little village of Colchani was one of the places I stopped off at when travelling around Bolivia.  This godforsaken place sits completely lost out in the absolute middle of nowhere. The one and only way to survive here is by working the salt. At one of the houses in the village I learned how this white gold is processed and prepared. After first being dried on a flat surface over a fire, the large grains are then milled and the salt placed in bags. Everything is done by hand here. The work involved is hard and laborious, and the fact that it also pays very badly is plain to see.  In the end, and though I'd asked myself "Why stop here?" on first arriving, I did find it very moving learning about the unbelievable lives the few people who live here lead. And then it was time to get back on the road, leave them to their wretched daily existence, and head on to the wonders of Salar.

Lying around six miles from the town of Uyuni and right on the edge of the Salar salt flat, Colchani is a tiny village where the local families live a wretched existence extracting and working the salt.

Colchani Holidays

Visit Colchani

Colchani: How to get there?

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Colchani: What to see nearby?