Darcy here this time. I’m going to keep this post short and sweet and let the pictures do the talking. We spent four days travelling approximately 1200 km in a jeep high in the Andes having our hearts blown open by the magnificent beauty and diversity of the southwestern region of Bolivia.
On the first day we left Tupiza early in the morning and spent a very long day on bumpy, winding roads through mountains covered in massive cacti. There were breathtaking valleys and canyons. We enjoyed a spectacular sunset that night over high mountain lakes reflecting the pink sky. In the darkest of nights we entered the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve gasping as we viewed a most extraordinary night sky full of brilliant stars, crystal clear due to the thin atmosphere.
On the second day we visited lagoons of many colours: white, green and orange. We saw our first flamingos -truly a wonder to behold against the brilliant colours of the lagoons they flocked upon in great numbers. We savoured a soak in natural hot springs surrounded by a vast landscape.
We reached 5000 metres this day almost reaching the peaks of these massive mountains. We felt we could just scurry up to the top of some of the peaks, but of course there’s no way we’d get very far since we could hardly breath due to the low levels of oxygen. During the nights we would find ourselves waking up literally gasping for air! We also viewed geysers and pools of boiling mud.
Jonathan got a bit too close trying to capture the perfect photo and got sprayed by boiling mud! He says it only burned for a second. 😉
The third day we visited five different lagoons and saw many more flamingos.
We also enjoyed seeing more llamas (primarily domesticated), many vicuñas, viscachas, and Darwin’s Rhea. This was the day we saw strange rock formations such as the Árbol de Piedra. This was a much appreciated shorter day on the road since our driver knew that if we got to the Salt Hostel before the other tour groups, we’d have first dibs on the one hot shower found there, our first hot shower, first shower at all, actually, since leaving Tupiza three days before.
On the fourth day we were up before the sun and in our trusty Land-Cruiser-style jeep (but really a Nissan Patrol) on the road at 5:30am to catch the sunrise over the Salar de Uyuni.
The Salar is the world’s largest salt flat which covers an area of 10,582 square kilometers and is at an elevation of 3,656 meters. The surface of the salt flat is of course salt, about 2-3 meters of it.
Below that is 20 meters of brine which contains between 50-70% of the world’s lithium deposits. On the surface there is a mysterious pattern of mostly hexagonal shapes formed by the perfect cube crystals of salt.
We visited Isla Incahuasi, an island in the middle of the Salar that is formed of coral!
We thought it was volcanic, but nope, it’s made of coral and it’s covered in cacti, some as old as 1000 years!
Coral Island covered in ancient cacti in the middle of the Salar. Where’s a geologist when you need one?
This place is totally mysterious to me. I wished we had a geologist with us for this trip. Our tour ended after our final lunch after driving off the Salar and back towards Uyuni.
We had an amazing time and are so grateful for the services of Wilfredo,
our highly skilled and knowledgeable driver, and of Cicelia, our sweet and devoted cook who prepared delicious and nutritious food during our journey as well as providing an endless supply of Tango Mango lollipops, cookies, chocolate bars, sweet yogurt and Coca-Cola! She often woke at 3:30am to prepare food for our day
and on our first night, she served us dinner at 10:00pm! Thank you, Cicelia! For other travelers who might be booking a tour from Tupiza, we booked with Valle Hermosa, but because there weren’t enough people booked through Valle, we were put with a group from El Grano del Oro. We were very pleased with the tour and recommend this company without hesitation.
After these amazing four days we said goodbye to our group,
spent a few hours eating, and shopping and trying to find a free computer to use the internet in Uyuni and then took an overnight bus from Uyuni to La Paz -not a pleasant bus ride, our lungs more filled with dust than even on our four-day tour! But we arrived safe and sound in La Paz early in the morning, quickly found a good-enough hostel and hung out there for a few days to rest, explore and for me to catch up on my SelfDesign work. Now we are in Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca… and so until our next post…
Much love, gratitude and awe from us, D & J!
To Love What is Lovely and Will Not Last 