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Published: March 11th 2006
Laguna Verde
This first stop, at Laguna Verde, with the three of us posing in from on Volcan Lincancabur.Well, yesterday I had a cheerful, upbeat entry about how well our trip from San Pedro, Chile, to Uyuni, Bolivia went. Fortunately, prior to posting, the power went out due to a thunderstorm, erasing my entire entry and forshadowing the rain clouds that were to overshadow our trip today. But enough of that; first, to good news (parents, no skipping ahead, I assure you we are all healthy and never in any real danger). We had a wonderful trip across the surreal desert landscape viewing green and red lakes filled with flamingos, passing oddly shaped rock formations, and seeing white salt all the way to the horizon, which I will now outline in potentially excruciating detail, as just thinking about our past trip has lifted my spirits. Sorry.
When last we spoke, our tours were books and we were preparing to head out for three days, crossing the Bolivian border on a 4x4 jeep tour. The majority of our preparation time was spent packing and getting dinner, one of our favorite pastimes mixed with one of our least favorite. After an otherwise uneventful night, we awoke early to head to our tour office, Cordillera Traveller, for an 8 am meeting
Hot Springs and Mountains
The green color of this lake was even better than Laguna Verde, plus it had hot springs! of our fellow travellers. The group consisted of us three, Dorthe and Clement from Switzerland, and Henry, who lives in Tokyo but grew up in Los Angeles. Our tour bus showed up and wisked us off to. . .a long wait at the customs office, as the agent seemed to have missed his alarm this morning. Regardless, I found that Henry was a huge college basketball fan, especially of his alma mater, Duke! His trivial knowledge far exceeded mine, but it was fun to live a little bit of March Madness from Chile. Anyway, we eventually headed up into the high Andes before reaching the the Bolivian border at 14,000 ft. The time taken for Bolivian customs was limited only by the speed that we could get out of the jeep and walk to the agent, but the thin air slowed the process considerably. Other than lathargic walking, however, everyone seemed in good spirits and not too worse for wear. A short breakfast later and we were off to our first stop, the aptly named Laguna Verde, with Volcan Lincancabur reflected in its surface. An amazing view, with the wind eventually whipping up a small portion of the lake and
Fake Geysers and Mudpots
Though the location was called Sol de Mañana Geisers, we were told explicitly that there were no geysers in Bolivia. So, these are mudpots only. really bringing out the green. Our next lake had flamingos, but they were far off in the distance and difficult to see. The hot springs, however, were very near by and we all enjoyed a soak, feet only, in the comfortable warm water. These were a far cry from the previous hot springs at El Tatio, which varied from scalding to cold. Much of the remainder of the day was occupied with transit. We crossed over a personal high point for all three of us at 16,500 ft and saw many Daliesque landscapes, until reaching our destination for the night, Laguna Colorada, a burnt red lake cover with flamingos. Or so we were told, as we first stopped off at our lodging for the night and had a basic lunch followed by a South American siesta, which we all needed as the effects of altitude seemed to drain everyone. By 5 pm, we were ready to go, as was our driver, and headed to the lake hoping for flamingos. Hope was not necessary, as the lake was coated with hundreds of flamingos of all three species (important for Sara´s bird count) including the rarest in the world, the Puna Flamingo.
Laguna Colorada
Wow, flamingos at 14,000 ft. Hundreds and hundreds. What a great sight, with the white and red contrast. We had Colorada all to ourselves and after Dorthe and I exhausted all possible picture opportunities, we headed back to our straw bale residence for dinner and some more interesting trivia from Henry. Once everyone else went to bed, I took advantage of the clear night skies to take star pictures at 10 pm. I then took advantage of my inability to sleep the whole night at high elevation, over 14,000 ft, to take more at 2 am once the moon dropped below the horizon. I have never seem more stars in my life. Oh, and maybe we were just lucky, but the horror stories of freezing indoor temperatures were, for at least one night, unfounded.
Apparently I wasn´t the only one lacking for sleep, as my fellow passengers showed similar symptoms of sleep deprivation. No matter, we all looked forward to the day ahead as we visited more lagoons filled with flamingos, a rock shaped like a tree, and vistas of an active volcano. Many pictures were taken, so I think I will let those speak for themselves as they can do a far better job than I. Shortly after reaching a rock formation that was appropriately called
Flamingos in Flight
The best view of the flamingos was as they flew, so here you go! the ¨Condor¨, we saw our first sign of true civilization in nearly two days, reaching, a small town where we had lunch. Our driver seemed in better spirits that the previous day because, after hours spent working underneath the car fixing some unspecified problem, he had taken up what seems to be the Bolivian pastime for motorists: honking. Sometimes at a donkey. Sometimes a llama. Frequently at other vehicles, oncoming or passing. And occasionally at absolutely nothing. Perhaps he was just helping us pass the time, as we found it quite entertaining and soon arrived at our last destination, the train graveyard at Uyuni. Most of the cars appeared to be engine cars, and all were in various states of decay due to the nearby salt flats. A short drive later and we were at our charming hostel which, though included in the tour for this night, retailed for a whopping $2.50 per night. Cheapest yet, and in the middle half of the hostels we have stayed at, with regard to quality. The three of us headed off to book a bus for the following night to La Paz, hoping that the stories we had heard about Bolivian buses were
The Night Sky
With the moon overhead, a 15 minute exposure gave great star trails. exaggerated. Dinner was served at a pleasant enough restaurant, though drinks were reserved for after the meal, which was becoming a theme for Bolivia. Hopefully, this trend will not continue. We were ready for night at a comparatively low elevation of 12,000 ft, and I got an excellent night´s sleep.
The following morning seemed a bit lazy, with everyone dragging themselves out of bed at 8 am for breakfast and packing. Henry was sticking around for a late night train and was kind enough to allow our bags to reside in his room for the night, so we were travelling light for a trip across the largest, highest, and flatest salt flats in the world, the Salar de Uyuni. With white and water below and bright blue above, sunglasses and sunscreen were a must. We were visiting in the wet season, so the flats were covered in either water or slushy salt, which requires the drivers to slow down considerable or risk a rapid deterioration in their vehicles. This unfortunately means skipping one of the more popular attraction, the Isla de Pescado, or Fish Island, which is known for its catcus and has no fish, from what I gather.
The Milky Way
As I said, more stars than I have ever seen. This is zoomed in on one section of the Milky Way. This means two stops: the mining operation and the salt hotel. Both were quite interesting, especially the hotel, which is made from salt blocks, salt mortar, and has salt furniture. Alas, a salt roof seems too have been beyond their engineering ability, but after we had gotten our fill of salt, Sara quite literally, we headed back to the ¨mainland¨and perused the local crafts included salt carved llamas carrying salt blocks, which neither Sara nor Jill could resist. After one last look at the salt hotel, we headed back to town and I tried to write a journal entry, unsuccessfully due to the afore mentioned power outage, which I am now re-writing. To relax, we all went outside to read and ran into our friend from the trip, Henry, and shared a plate of french fries while killing time before our 8 pm bus. At 7 pm, we headed over to the bus station and waited, and waited, and waited, until our 8 pm departure became a 9 pm departure. Our bus was somewhat souped up, with fat tires and high ground clearance. While that may sound cool I can assure it is not, as it is a prime indication
Arbol de Piedra. . .
Or tree of stone, which was an apt time. The background wasn´t half bad, either. of very bumpy and muddy ride. Paved roads are a luxury in Bolivia, as 95% of all road are gravel or worse, and we were stuck with worse for 6 hours. Little sleeping was accomplished until the last half of the 12 hour trip, by which time we were quite exhausted and quite successful. Needless to say, another long day in our travels (or travails, depending upon your point of view).
After our long bus ride, we checked into our lovely hostel, Arthy´s Guesthouse, which was kind enough to allow an early check-in so we could all take a well deserved shower. The staff is amazingly friendly and helpful, and we have decided to say for two nights to catch up on rest, relaxation, and reading. The only task required for today was a trip to book airlines to Rurrenbaque in the rainforest to see pink dolphins, among other animals, and to Santa Cruz so as to visit Amboro National Park. After our first experience with Bolivian roads, the flights seemed prudent, especially since the other roads in Bolivia are know for far worse than their ruts and mud, as Bolivia ranks third in the world for cocaine production.
Smoke in the Sky
Yet another active volcano, though it was across the border in Chile, not in Bolivia. Hopefully, we will skip all that, as we successfully booked tickets to fly from La Paz to Rurrenbaque and Rurrenbaque to Santa Cruz, as well as booking a tour of the pampas for the dolphins. Unfortunately, the tickets for flying from La Paz to Quito are sold out for March 23 to 26, so Sara and I will have to try some other way to make our Galapagos tour. We had a nice meal at 100% Natural, a vegetarian restaurant with beef, chicken, pork, and llama on the menu. Sara was able to get her soy burger, however, and we all left happy and full. After some final preparations for our tours and handing over the cash, we headed back to the hostel. Unfortunately, this was not without incident. The women in front of us at the tour agency had discovered that her bag had a large gash in it, so I was overly worried about my bag, which contained many valuables, including our recently acquired plane tickets. Unfortunately, this left me open to other forms of exploitation. After worrying all trip about a guanaco or llama spitting on me, it turned out that, as usual, humans should be the
The Condor
Which looked very much like a condor, surrounded by other odd formations. biggest concern. As we were walking through a crowded plaza in downtown, I felt a rather hefty wad of spit hit my arm, and as I turned around to see what had happened (perhaps yelling an unkind word at someone I now believe was not a part of it), I felt someone brush against my wallet and one person run ahead of me while another ran behind me. Before I knew what had happened, my wallet was gone, the thieves had disappeared, and I was left with spit on my arm. All together, an unpleasant experience. Fortunately, I carry a ¨fake¨wallet which contained the following: $10 US all in ones, 120 Bolivianos (about $15), an expired ATM card, expired driver´s license, Sara´s old student ID card, and a credit card to an account that no longer exists and was never activated in the first place. I´m sure it looks quite convincing but they will probably be disappointed in their haul. It seems that this is not uncommon in Bolivia, as friends from Switzerland (not those from our Uyuni tour, however) had their passports, camera, and money stolen in Uyuni. Since they had planned to cross back over to Chile, a
Salar de Uyuni
These piles of salt were being mined on the salt flats, loaded by shovel into trucks for processing. The piles are to aid in drying. trip to the Swiss embassy in La Paz was required, at a hefty cost of $400, not to mention the other valuables. But, as in our situation, there was no violence and they had little idea of what had happened until it was too late. Which, looking at the clock, it appears to be now. Signing off, Matt.
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Heather
non-member comment
Enjoyed your travel adventures!
Hi! I've just discovered your blog through Travelblogs.org. Your pictures and travel stories make me want to visit Bolivia! Thanks for sharing -- this is a great way to learn about a place I dream of visiting someday! Heather www.mom2momconnection.com Georgia, U.S.