Rule #1: Don’t Lick the Walls
Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat near the top of the Andes in Bolivia, South America. With over 4,000 square miles it can be seen for space, and when it rains it turns the salt flat into the a shiny, flat mirror.
Because tourists needed a place to rest after spending time at the remote salt flats, a hotel was designed and
and opened in the 1990’s right in the middle of the salt flat. Lacking typical construction materials and seeing as salt was available in sufficiently large quantities, the hotel was made using large blocks of the stuff. Due to sanitary issuesrelated to location it was closed in 2002 and relocated.
A new hotel appropriately dubbed Palacio de Sal (palace of salt in Spanish) property opened in 2007 in a better location. About a million salt blocks were used to construct the hotel. Not only are the walls, floor and ceiling made of salt, but so are the beds, tables, chairs, staircases, sculptures and other ” target=”_blank”>furniture.
There are 30 guest rooms, which each come with a private bathroom, heating and air.
The hotel has a steam room, sauna, saltwater baths and golf course, and they are also made out of salt bricks. There’s also an onsite restaurant that features….wait for it….salt chicken.
There’s just one strictly upheld rule at the hotel – no wall-licking allowed to prevent degradation.
Of course, some guests just can’t contain themselves, and doing a quick Google search I found that one in particular licked every wall. Sorry Germaphobes, and hopefully it was just his room.
I’ve heard that salt water helps your skin retain moisture and reduce bloating, but I doubt the benefits remain when you’re simply touching it it sitting on a chair in the hotel.
Is the Palacio de Sal on your list of places you want to stay?
