If you’ve ever been to the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia you know the true meaning of the term ‘salinas grandes’. So enormous is the Salar de Uyuni (the world’s largest salt flat) no one, not even at the Bolivian Tourist Board, feels the need to point out that it is, in fact, really quite large. It can, after all, be seen from the moon.
So it was with some scepticism that we drove over yet another mountain range towards one of Argentina’s largest salt flats, the Salinas Grande. Not withstanding the beautiful and dramatic hairpin bends of the Cuesta de Lipan on the drive to get there, arriving at the Salinas Grandes was still pretty spectacular. Set in a bowl ringed by mountains, the white of the salinas is almost luminous viewed from the 4170m mountain pass above it.
Snaking down the road towards the salinas we passed through yet more beautiful landscapes, and even saw a few of the rare vicuna camelids…
The Salinas grandes is still worked for salt. Today the majority of it is used for animal salt licks, but some salt continues to make its way onto the dinner plates of Argentinians, much as it has done for millennia.
Notes from Camelid Country 
When I was in Bolivia and saw the Uyuni salt flat, I had heard that all other salt flats were not as white or as awesome looking – but it seems like I should have made a point to see the Argentine salt flats as well! I particularly liked the photo of the car tires.
Well, it may not be Uyuni, but it still looks might impressive. Great photos.
Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
Lovely photos! We hope to visit this place during our hitch-hiking trip across South America next year!
If you like photography, we invite you to participate in the next edition of our Travel Photography competition. Every week we publish 3 winning shots on our website and write a nice bio with a link to the photographers’ blogs.
Find more details here: http://hitchhikershandbook.com/your-contributions/travel-photography/
Thanks, it is a fantastic place to visit, not much traffic for hitch-hiking though! It sounds like a very exciting trip you have planned. Will check out the photo competition. Best, Paul