Advertisement
Published: December 3rd 2005
Llama at Laguna Colorada
A Lllama enjoying the view across Laguna Colarada.Back into Bolivia and the Journey to Tupiza
When we crossed from Argentina to into the Bolivian border town of Villazon, we were hit by the all to familiar smell of Coca leaves, they were everywhere and everyone was chewing. The sheer number of bags of leaves on sale made us wonder if a large quantity wasn’t destined for the other side of the border.
We soon found the bus station and purchased an onward ticket to Tupiza, as we had an hour to spare it seemed like a good time for lunch. We found a place close to the bus station where we were served a good meal by Bolivian standards. The tiny proprietor took a real warming to us and asked us lots of questions about South Africa and when it came to leaving gave us each a big kiss. It was a really sweet welcome back to a country, which we had truly enjoyed visiting a month previously.
The bus journey however revealed Bolivia’s less pleasant side as nearly all the seats in the bus had been double sold. Fortunately we boarded the bus early and managed to secure our assigned seats but others were not
Cowgirl Nicola
Riding through the spectacular scenary around Tupiza so lucky. For the first half of the journey Nicola was seated next a small boy and a dog (A splitting image of the Simpson’s Dog, “Santa’s Little Helper”) that were squeezed into the window seat and clouds of dust materialised each time the boy or Nicola patted the Dog. Nicola was quite content to share her seat with a dog but when the Dog and Boy disembarked about halfway through our journey she was very unimpressed when two girls decided to try and share the seat next to her and ended up on part of her own seat as well.
When we arrived in Tupiza it appeared that business was slow as we were accosted by a very large number of different touts trying to get us to stay in their hotels. We knew where we wanted to stay but it still took a lot of convincing to get people to let us go our chosen way. After checking-in to the Hotel Mitru, we organised two days of horse riding through the associated agency and then went to find some dinner.
Explosion in the Kitchen
We chose a pizza restaurant, which sounded like it had some sort
Wind in the Willows
Spectacular scenary around Tupiza of Italian connection. While we were eating there was a loud explosion and the waitress who had served us our food grabbed her young child and started running for the door. This was interpreted as a sign to leave, for Nicola and the couple from the table opposite who all ran out the door. I, for some reason, was compelled to find out what it was and stood near the door. The proprietor ran into the kitchen and dealt with whatever the problem was and then called us back. At the end of the meal the proprietor made multiple errors in both our bill and that of the other couple and then tried giving us incorrect change. His complete lack of remorse indicated to us that this was just a ploy to make more money.
Horse Riding
The next morning was the start of our 2-day horse-riding trip, which Nicola was very much looking forward to as she loves horses and riding and does not get to do it very often. We met up with our horse-riding guide, Richard, and went on a long walk to where the horses were tied up. When we got to the horses we
Break from the Ache
Taking a break from jolting and the hard and uncomfortable saddles. found the same couple from the restaurant were also going riding so we decided to ride together. The couple, Doris and Oliver (D & O), were Swiss and spoke both good English and Spanish.
Nicola was given a very large white horse with speckles, Pinta, and I got a medium sized Bay called Bayou. Doris’s horse was by far the largest and Oliver was given a black horse, which insisted on being in front. With a grand total of one-hour horse riding experience my technique consisted of merely holding on and hoping not to fall off. Having a smaller horse than the others meant that I spent most of my time trotting to keep up and I felt like my insides were being continually mashed to a pulp. The guides noticed this and got me to move onto Nicola’s horse and Nicola moved onto the guide’s very beautiful horse, which had a tendency for bucking. With Pinta’s larger stride I spent less time trotting and began to work on improving my technique.
Oliver on the other hand was having a lot of trouble with his horse as each time another horse tried passing it would get really agro,
Cowboy Carl
Carl while still on Pinta he also had a tendency to move sideways at any pace faster than a walk, which must have been very uncomfortable for Oliver. When his horse tried kicking the guide’s horse as he passed to lead the ride the guides finally decided that maybe it wasn’t the best horse for him and Oliver was assigned a tiny horse, which had trouble keeping up with the group.
Nicola on the other hand had a big job on her hands trying to control her wild stallion and the guides moved her onto my original horse Bayou. After all this horse-trading we finally settled into the ride for the day. Though Nicola was frustrated as Bayou did not go as fast as the previous horse and his saddle was very uncomfortable. These horses were nowhere near as well behaved as the ones we had ridden in Brazil.
The terrain through which rode was very beautiful and we visited some great locations such as the Inca Canyon and Door of Hell. With a bit of practice I began to master trotting so that I preferred it to walking. Galloping however was something I really did not enjoy as I could not control
Llama
The Altiplano Llamas all had these tassles in their ears. the horse as I needed all my strength just to hold on. Galloping was also giving me back pain as I was totally out of sync with the horse and kept thudding into the saddle with each stride.
After about 7 hours of horse riding we arrived at our Refugio for the night. It was set in a very beautiful part of the river valley up which we had been riding with big red, grey and yellow mountains as a backdrop, a great location for a sunset. There we met an American, Loring, who had spent two weeks in Paraguay, we had not missed much he assured us.
The children of the family who run the Refugio decided to that the lounge area where we were resting was a good place to play a game, which involved a lot of giggling and screaming. When one of the children hit a particularly high screaming note I snapped and shouted, “Silencio!” They merely ignored me and continued screaming and giggling so Loring picked them up and carried them outside. This approach worked for a short while but they soon returned and we had to put up with them until they
Mr and Mrs Fixit
Gerhardo gets inside the bonnet while Issabella cleans the fuel filter. tired and went to bed.
We requested an early start to the next day as it had been unbearably hot the previous day and the light is better in the morning, but when we went outside to saddle up the guides were nowhere to be found. We thought this was to do with the fiesta they had attended the previous night but it turned out that one of the horses had escaped in the night and they had had to go catch it. By the time they finally caught the horse and we had saddled up it was already scorching. Nicola and Doris thought that it would be good idea to change horses as Doris wanted to go slower and Nicola wanted to go faster. However this did not match the guide’s plans and they left Doris on her horse and gave Nicola Oliver’s mad black horse called Laguno, who went very fast but sideways.
Loring decided to join up with us, which was nice from a social point of view but presented a problem for me because Loring liked galloping and each time he set off our horses would follow him, much to Nicola’s delight. Loring galloped
Macchu Picchu Boliviana
Pre-Inca ruins in the Altiplano for far longer than we had the previous day so I found it really back breaking. The longer gallops also gave Doris’s giant horse enough time to get to top speed, quite something to see. Doris did not enjoy it all that much (This was also her second time on a horse). After a couple of good gallops Nicola decided it was time to move back to Bayou (despite his very uncomfortable saddle) as Laguno was very head strong and combined with his sideways gait was a recipe for extreme fatigue.
We stopped in the same spot as the previous day for lunch where our guides met up with some chicas (girls). Our guides told us we would be needing to rest for more than two hours as the horses were tired and then proceeded to give the girls rides on our horses! We were not impressed as we needed to get back early to organise our Altiplano trip for the next day so we insisted on leaving earlier.
As D & O’s guide was being more stubborn we split up and Nicola, our guide and I continued down a spectacular river valley towards La Torre, a finger
like protrusion of rock. I was starting to feel a lot more confident and was even prepared to do a little galloping in the riverbed where it was much softer. After La Torre we followed some old railway tracks passing through a tunnel in the mountains until we stopped for a final rest in view of Tupiza.
Pinta goes Bananas
After the rest we decided that as we were so close to home we should have a last gallop, Nicola went off first and I was followed quite close behind. Suddenly I felt my horse accelerate and then veer off the track we had been following and into a field towards a river. It was far faster than we had gone at any point before and I could only see this ending in pain, I pulled really hard on the rains and managed to steer Pinta away from the river and back towards the road but had no success in reducing the speed. The road however was cut into the mountain so we were now heading straight towards a solid wall. I dug my feet into the stirrups and pulled with all my strength on the rains and Pinta
Enjoying the view
Climbing up here was several times easier than climbing down. stopped, SHARP! I was completely off balance and my momentum carried me off the horse and onto the ground, with one foot still in the stirrup. I had only enough time to pull my foot free before Pinta took off again.
Richard set off to try catch him and still shaken I began following as my saddlebag had come loose and was dragging alongside the horse. It wasn’t long before I found the mangled remains of my camera tripod; I was really pleased the camera was on my back in the daypack. Richard caught Pinta and decided it was best if I rode Nicola’s horse and she rode Laguno again as Pinta was now very upset and he had to ride him. It turned out the saddlebag had not been properly attached and had been hitting her on the bum, frightening her. As we rode back and the adrenaline in my veins dissipated I realised how lucky I had been to only suffer a few cuts and scratches. Always wear a helmet!
Altiplano Tour
The Spanish Interview
When we got back to the hotel we had a swim and a shower to remove a very thick layer of
Laguna Celeste
Laguna Celeste with Volcan Uturuncu (6008m) in the background. dust and then settled down for a drink next to the pool. Beers come in 970ml bottles so I had quite a job finishing mine.
D & O were booked on 5-day Altiplano tour with a French couple while we were booked on a 4-day tour both starting the next day. We had really wanted to do a 5-day tour as it is the only way to visit Laguna Celeste, unfortunately the French couple had specified they only wanted 4 people in their jeep (they can take 6). D & O were happy to have 6 so we spoke to the tour operator to see if she could convince the French couple to change their mind.
D & O joined us at the pool and I was still working on finishing my giant beer when the French couple (Marc and Cecile) came to discuss things with D & O. We all spoke in Spanish as this was our only common language and Oliver introduced us to the French. We explained that we were keen to go on a 5-day tour but if it was not possible we would make another plan. The conversation pushed the limits of our
Flamingo Flight
FLamingos flying over Laguna Celeste Spanish but seemed to do the trick as the French agreed to have 6 provided everyone was happy to take turns with where they sat in the Jeep, which of course was no issue for us.
The next morning we met Gerhardo our driver and Isabella our cook. During our trip Gerhardo was to impress us with his excellent driving while Isabella impressed us with her ability to talk without pause from dawn till dusk (thankfully Gerhardo was on the receiving end of Isabella’s verbal diarrhoea). The first day of the tour involved a big gain in altitude and for the rest of the tour we stayed between 3800m and 5000m above sea level. We had to work very hard on keeping up on the Spanish conversation but felt that it was a great opportunity to improve. The others were very patient with our relatively basic Spanish and were happy to help us when we struggled.
On route we stopped for lunch in an area where there was a huge herd of Llamas. Oliver challenged everyone to get picture of a Llama’s face, we felt a bit like cheats when we pulled out our big lens and the
challenge became pretty simple.
We spent that night in a pretty village near some very jagged mountains and climbed one of the surrounding hills to take in the sunset. From the top we could see for miles and apart from the village and the road on which we had travelled there was no evidence of human activity, we were in the dead centre of nowhere.
That night we popped two bottles of Argentinean wine we had bought in Cafayate and enjoyed a hearty meal prepared by Isabella. While we were relaxing the 4-day tour group we would have been with arrived, they were really loud and brash so we were very pleased to be with our group.
Laguna Celeste
The next day we left the “main” 4-day track and headed south to Laguna Celeste. Our group was really starting to gel well together and we spent a good part of the journey singing songs from TV themes of our childhoods. On route we stopped at some pre-Inca ruins, which Gerhardo sold as the Bolivian Macchu Picchu (indeed it looked like a mini Macchu Picchu although we were the only people there). The only inhabitants of the village
Cards by Candle light
The traditional pre-dinner card game. now are a group of Viscachas (rabbit like creatures with long tails) and we tried our best to get close to them but with no luck. It was fun climbing around the ruins discovering things for ourselves without having to worry about getting in the way of officialdom and other people’s photos.
Laguna Celeste is located at the foot of Volcan Uturuncu (6008m) and has a blue green colour, a white rim and a few flocks of resident flamingos. Here we took the first of several hundred flamingo photos before we found a sheltered beach where the sun had warmed the sand where we relaxed and took in the view. Once we left our warm beach the wind really picked up and we were really cold by the time we got back into our jeep and continued on our way.
When we arrived in the village of Quetena Chico (which is bigger than the village of Quetena Grande) we found that most of the refugios had been booked out and we had to visit about 4 before we found one with space for our group. That night we taught everyone how to play “Shithead”, a card game we
had learnt while in Ecuador. I had a good bash at explaining the rules in Spanish but it was quite a strain and need a large number of hand gestures and the occasional breakdown into English. From then on playing Shithead while waiting for dinner became something of a ritual.
Lagunas Blanca, Verde and Colorada
The next day we really packed in the sights and for me was the highlight of our Altiplano trip. It was really cold when we got going in the morning and we crossed a number of frozen streams, which Gerhardo as usual handled without any issues. First of the major sites was Kollpa Laguna, a medium sized chalk filled lagoon that was home to a very large number of flamingos. Next we visited the Salar de Chalviri, a huge flat chalk covered plain which must have been great to drive on and then the hot springs at Aguas Calientes. We did not stop for long at these springs as the next lake, Laguna Blanca also had hot springs and a far more spectacular setting. On route to Laguna Blanca we passed through the Dali Desert, which looks exactly like the landscape of Dali’s painting
Early Morning Freeze
Crossing a frozen river in the early morning with all the melting clocks.
Laguna Blanca is very near the Chilean border, which is demarcated by the giant Volcan Licancabur. Parts of Laguna Blanca were frozen but on one side there is a hot spring with a rudimentary shelter. We stripped down for a much needed soaking while Isabella prepared lunch. There was quite a bit of algae floating in the hot spring, which Nicola kept trying to clear from the area where she was sitting but there was always more to take its place. While we were there a group of French cyclists arrived at the hot spring. This was the first time we had encountered another group while at one of the sights and it seemed a rude intrusion into our isolation.
After lunch we left the hot springs to the French cyclists and headed towards Laguna Verde (green lake). Gerhardo must have decided that we needed some exercise as he stopped the jeep some distance from the Laguna so we could walk the remaining mile. Laguna Verde is very green and the only lagoon without flamingos as its water is toxic. Apparently the Laguna only takes on the bright green colour when the wind
blows so you have to time your visit around noon when the winds tend to be the strongest.
After Laguna Verde we ascended to the highest point on our trip at just over 5000m, here we found some really interesting snow formations that had been created by the wind (These spiky corrugations are really difficult to describe so see the picture). We fooled about with these formations before moving on to Geisers Sol De Mañana.
The geysers were especially interesting as there were so many different colours of mud bubbling out the ground and the puffs of steam both made it much warmer than the surroundings and gave it a very mysterious look. There may be bigger geysers elsewhere in the world but this one had no barriers and no officials so you could get as close as you want to the bubbling fumaroles, I even managed to have my foot break through the surface and had my boot plunge into the mud. Nicola and I really enjoyed exploring this area and had fun taking photos of each other standing in the clouds of steam.
After standing in the sulphur-flavoured steam to the point of getting drenched,
Bath at Last!
After three days we finally got to soak our tired and dirty bodies in the hot spring waters of Laguna Blanca near the border with Chile we clambered back into the jeep and travelled on to Laguna Colorada. Laguna Colorada is a very large bright red lake with white chalk formations, a very large volcano and a population of more than 10,000 flamingos (three different species). Alone the lagoon is worth travelling for and it made a fitting finale to an amazing day.
That night was by far the coldest on our trip as we were still at a high altitude and Nicola even found herself pleased to be having soup.
North to the Salar
The next morning was a very difficult wake up as it was really cold and we had requested to leave a little early as there were quite a number of groups staying at Laguna Colorada and we wanted to get out before them.
Our first stop that day was at Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree) a cool wind eroded rock formation set in a very dry valley surrounded by a number of colourful volcanoes and then we went on to a rocky outcrop where you can see Viscachas (the rabbit like creatures). We tried our best to spot them but it was obviously too cold for them. Isabella
Laguna Verde Love
A completely unposed romantic moment at Laguna Verde. even tried enticing them to visit by offering food and calling to them but they still did not appear. Eventually we gave up Viscacha spotting and continued on to a set of small lagoons with very large populations of flamingos.
We stopped at Laguna Hedionda where the trail passed right next to the shore, here the flamingos where less frightened of people so we were able to get really close to them and take some really nice pictures. About a hundred shots later we got back into the jeep and continued on to our lunch spot where we could see the erupting Volcano Ollague and then it was on across the Salar De Chiguana to the town of San Juan. We had been running low on petrol as we had been hoping to buy some at Laguna Colorada but they had none, so we were very pleased to be able to buy some here.
After a very welcome cold beer courtesy of the French we continued on to the Salt Hotel next to the Salar De Uyuni. The walls, floor and furniture are all made from salt and both Nicola and I even tasted the walls. Hot showers
Snow Things
At 5000m we found these unusual wind formed snow sculptures. were also on offer at the price of around 50 US cents and after four days with only a dip in the hot springs to clean ourselves we were very happy to take them up on it. Dinner that night was Llama, very tasty, and the French also treated us to some wine and we provided some chocolate for dessert. As usual we played cards and Marc and I got involved in a never ending game somewhat like snap that kept us up long past the others got to bed.
Salt, Salt Glorious Salt
The next morning we had a 4am wake up call as we wanted to catch the sunrise over the Salar (salt lake). We were almost ready to go when Cecile started to have very severe stomach pains, they were so bad that she and Marc were considering staying behind. Fortunately they did not last long and we were able to set off only a little delayed. Driving out to the salt flats Gerhardo’s driving skills become very obvious as we left the other jeeps in our dust without even a sensation that we were pushing it.
Gerhardo had been hoping to watch the sunrise
Mud Mouse
The bubbling mud of the geysers frozen in time. from Isla Del Pescado but our delay meant that we had to stop a bit before. This was much better as there was no one anywhere near where we stopped and we could really get a feeling for the great spaces of the Salar. I pulled out the pieces of my broken tripod and set up to take some photos of the sunrise and within a short while we found ourselves taking all sorts of crazy photos as the sheer wonder of the place got to us. We also took a few fun silhouette photos before Gerhardo decided it was time to move onto the Isla Del Pescado.
Isla Del Pescado is a small island covered in very large and old cactuses, up to 1000 years old, with great views over the salt flats. It was the first place apart from the salt hotel with any sort of tourist infrastructure and even had a restaurant. We tried to ignore the buildings and went on a walk round the island. Some of the cactuses were more than 10m tall and near a meter in diameter and they looked impressive in the light of the morning sun. When we returned from
Sol de Mañana geyser
It was great visiting a Geyser with no barriers to impede our investigation. our walk Isabella served us a breakfast, which deviated from the normal bread and jams to include scrambled egg, a welcome change. At this point I realised how silly the fleece trousers I had been wearing were and went and changed, too late for all the photos we took.
After breakfast we went on a walk around the island. All that salt and space it went to our heads, soon Nicola was doing cartwheels and we ran round taking pictures of ourselves doing silly things; jumping in the air to catch our hats, throwing salt in the air to make snowfall, wearing salt and eating lots of it. Very thirsty from all the salt we completed our circuit of the island and got back in the jeep to head on to the town of Uyuni. On route we stopped at a place where there were breaks in the salty crust and you could find large crystals in the water below, the previous salt hotel (closed for environmental reasons) and an area where they mine the salt.
Farewell and on to Chile
In Uyuni we set up in a hotel with rude staff and while Carl slept I set
Steaming Nicky
Nicola enjoying the warmth of the Sol de Mañana geyser. off with D & O to find a way to get Chile. We had to visit a huge number of operators before we finally found someone willing to take us to Chile the next day. We spent a lot of time being sent from one operator to another as they did not offer this service (even though they advertised it on their windows) and the ones we needed to speak to were all closed for lunch. Eventually after a brief break we returned and found that none of the main companies could offer us a transfer the next day. Thankfully we found a guy in a tiny agency who said he could take us to San Pedro the next day. We paid and confirmed our journey as we did not wholly trust the guy and wanted to make sure he did not change his mind. Then we went to Immigration office to make sure we could leave the country as they do not stamp your passports at the border and D & O had visa problems. The Immigration guys were very nice and sorted us out with stamps for the correct date and via extensions for D & O.
Laguna Colorada
The amazingly cloured Laguna Colorada with Volcan Chijlla in the background. Even though D & O were heading to Chile with us, Cecile and Marc were heading north so that night we had a farewell dinner at a restaurant run by an American with surprisingly good pizza for Bolivia.
The next morning we stocked up with food at the local market as we had opted to cater for ourselves on our 2-day transfer to San Pedro. We had another farewell lunch with Cecile and Marc, which ended up being in another Italian restaurant as it was the only one open / who had food left (they eat lunch fairly early and it was a Sunday). After some more good byes Cecile and Marc left us on the pavement outside our dodgy agency waiting for our jeep.
We had been a little worried about our operator for the transport to Chile so we were very relived when a nice new looking Land Cruiser turned up to pick us up. Our driver also picked up a customs official to hitch a ride to the border with us so we knew we would not have any trouble when we got there. We spent the night in a small village called Villa Mar
and continued on to the border very early the next morning where we had to wait some time before our bus arrived to take us on to San Pedro De Atacama in Chile. Obviously we played Shithead until it was time to leave.
We enjoyed our second visit to Bolivia immensely and have seen some truly wonderful sights, and one not so happy sight of Carl falling off a horse and his despair when his new tripod bought especially for the Altiplano trip was mangled when Pinta went bananas. We were a little sad to have to depart Bolivia, but we had had enough brown and needed to see some trees, and were very happy to be moving onto greener lands of middle Chile and Argentina.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.221s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 13; qc: 81; dbt: 0.0888s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
Mr Andy
non-member comment
Those salt flats are cool.
Very cool.