The first glimpse of Laguna Colorada and its flamingos was in the midst of the stormy weather when we arrived. After a brief stop, we went on to find accommodation, planning to head back to the lake later in the day. Just an hour before sunset, the storm cleared, and the sun came out. We made it back to the lake for the last light of day, and saw hundreds of flamingos at dusk, before the sun ducked behind the mountains and turned the sky a fiery red. The next morning the wind was bitterly cold but the sun was shining [View Full Entry]

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After a delicious breakfast in San Juan, we headed out across Salar de Chiguana, which is smaller than salar di Uyuni. The Salar is surrounded by volcanoes, although I don't know if any of them are active. It was funny to have our driver point out to the three geologists in the vehicle that the mountains were volcanoes, and he even used hand gestures to show what an eruption looks like, in case we didn't understand what volcanoes were. We did stop on an old volcanic flow where there were views of Volcan Ollaguë. This is an active volcano on the [View Full Entry]

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My first glimpse of the Salar was just after twilight, on the bumpy road to Uyuni. Stretched across the horizon was a white band, glowing even under the crescent moon. When we drove out onto the Sara the next morning, it was s blindingly bright--I couldn't take my sunglasses off. We stopped to get out once the last bit of the road disappeared, and we were nearly surrounded by salt. When I stepped out of the 4WD, I expected it to be cold and wet, like snow (hey, I'm from the Great White North, after all), so it was strange to [View Full Entry]

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It was a long day to get from La Paz to Uyuni. I did most of my organizing and re-packing last night so I could go out for an early breakfast at my favourite café before our driver picked us up. Even with our earlier-than-usual start, it was still nearly 10am before we were out of the canyon and through El Alto, onto the open road. It was strange to go through the toll booth at Konani instead of skirting around it to get the road to Palluma. The drive to Oruro was relatively short from there. We were going to [View Full Entry]

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Not much is known about the pre-Incan civilization that lived along the ancient shores of Lake Titicaca, but they did leave behind an impressive city in Tiahuanaco. Even though much of it is still being excavated, and even more of it was pilfered by the Incas and later the Spanish for their own building, it is still an interesting site. The sun was hot on the day we went. It beat down on the earth, heating up the ruddy rocks that were used to build the temples and buildings over 1000 years ago. The largest site, Piramide de Akapana, is still [View Full Entry]

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The visit to Salla was just a quick one so we could see the area where a lot of geological work had already been done. After two nights there, we returned to the paved highway, and went south. This took us further away from La Paz. At Konani, we again turned toward the Cordillera Real, this time on a paved road that took us to Puchuni. On the horizon are the snowcapped mountains of the Cordillera. Puchuni is on the edge of a valley; it sits on the rim where the Altiplano drops off into a large valley full of gullies [View Full Entry]

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Our first foray"into the field" was the small village of Salla, almost due east of Patacamaya as the crow (or condor) flies. After a couple of days in La Paz to acclimatize, our driver picked us up and we headed out of the canyon and onto the Altiplano. My poor head still hadn't adjusted to the altitude, but the throbbing was considerably less when all I had to do was sit and look out the window. The wide open spaces of the Altiplano feel like they are higher than the rest of the world. I imagined that if I could get [View Full Entry]

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First Impressions Our plane landed at dawn, and once we were through customs and immigration, we stepped out of the airport to an incredible view of Huyana Potosi in the early morning light. I wasn't expecting the colours to be so rich--the blue, blue sky and the golden earth. The first views over the rim into the canyon where La Paz is were amazing. Driving down, I was impressed with how clean La Paz is, for a city. We checked into our hotel around 7:30am, and I spent the day in bed, recovering from the flight (see below) and dealing [View Full Entry]

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October of this year was a long month for me, and I needed a break. Money's been a bit tight these days, since I returned to University in September, but thanks to credit card points, I was able to book a flight to Vancouver over my Reading Break in November, and only pay the taxes and surcharges on the flight. November isn't necessarily the best time to visit Vancouver, as it tends to be wet and grey, but I just wanted some down-time, to hang out with my sister and her fiancé. We had nothing much planned--I was going to take [View Full Entry]

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Today I had to go to Heritage Park in Calgary for some research related to a volunteer position of mine. I've lived in Alberta all of my life, and I can't remember if I've been to Heritage Park before. If I have, it was about twenty years ago. Not that I haven't seen my share of 'living history' museums across the Canadian Prairies--if I have been to Heritage Park, I can't remember it because the memories are mixed in with memories of visiting other historic places, like Fort Walsh, Lower Fort Garry, Fort Whoop-Up and others. When I was growing up, [View Full Entry]

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