The scenery is nothing short of spectacular on the altiplano. The altitude hovers around the 4,500m level, and we travelled along dirt roads to various sights, including several lagoons all coloured by different minerals. Some of the highlights were Laguna Verde beneath the Licancabur volcano, coloured green partly by the arsenic in the water, and Laguna Colorada, coloured white through the borax in the water, and red through the algae. These lagoons are populated with a variety of flamingoes, and really are some of the most beautiful sights you could hope to see. The contrasting blue of the sky with the clouds streaking across makes everything so dynamic, and the added breathlessness due to mild altitude sickness only adds to the experience.
We also saw the Arbol de Piedra on day one before heading off to our hotel, the rock tree stands around 7m high, and was carved by wind blown sand over time.
Viscacha - a rabbit/chinchilla type animal
Our hotel was literally in the middle of nowhere, called the desert hotel they were not wrong when they named it. It looked great on approach, although it was a little disconcerting when you turned the corner and discovered that the back half of the hotel was still a building site. They are expending, and appearances are not high on their list of things to make good! How they manage to provide hot running water, electricity (albeit only for a few hours a day), hot edible food and a degree of comfort from this location is quite astounding, although unfortunately the altitude hovering around the 4,400m mark meant that sleep was a little unsettled.
The next day we travelled along the chain of lagoons going deeper into Bolivia from the Chilean border, passing Laguna Honda, Laguna Chiarkota, Laguna Hedionda & Laguna Canapa. More flamingoes, more incredible scenery, and just more of everything. The scale of everything is vast, and at times it did feel as if we were the only people there.
A highlight of day 2 was crossing the tracks of the train from where it travels to Antofagasta in Chile. The trains carry mostly minerals and ore from places such as Potosi. Seeing it from a distance made it look like something out of the Wild West, with the single telephone/electricity wires travelling alongside the tracks, and nothing else to see for miles around. We had lunch sitting by the tracks (and playing on the tracks - very naughty), but when given the opportunity to take pictures of desolate tracks like these you really can't say no. Another train came through which we saw up close this time, the clouds of black smoke and the noise made it all the more real, lots of fun.
That night we stayed in the hotel of stone, in a tiny town called San Pedro de Quemez. On the way there we passed fields of Quinoa, a major export, and the omnipresent packs of llamas and vicuña, they have little fear of the cars, and would come very close. San Pedro was celebrating carnaval, as most of South America seems to have been doing for the past couple of weeks. There was a big fiesta going on in the town, with everyone wearing national dress. We went out for a wander to watch, but almost felt like we were intruding, the town is so small, and despite the hotel they don't seem to get many visitors.
Quinoa
Fiesta San Pedro de Quemez style
Our last day was the big one, the Salar de Uyuni. I had been looking forward to this since we had decided to swing through Bolivia, having had such a great time last time. We were lucky enough to see the edges of the Salar under water, as it is the end of the rainy season here. The reflections were stunning, without sunglasses you would have real trouble very quickly - the scenery is literally dazzling. Still at over 3,600m above sea level, the Salar is the worlds largest salt flat, at about 4,000 square miles (around the combined size of the states of Rhode Island and Delaware in the US).
We visited Incahuasi, an Island that appears like a mirage from the salt flats, covered in Cacti and providing panoramic views. The Salar is ringed by mountains and volcanoes, and at a distance they seem to melt into the horizon.
Lunch involved the obligatory crazy pictures, although we were having some camera trouble unfortunately so didn't manage to capture quite what we had wanted to. The heat of the sun is very intense when exposed on the Salar, there is nowhere to hide. The salt is split into almost hexagonal structures on the surface, something about how it crystallises. Seeing these irregular hexagonal shapes formed in nature and stretching out as far as the eye can see adds another level to the awe that this place inspires.
On leaving the Salar we made one final stop at the Cementerio de Trenes, or Train Cemetery. This collection of old trains from the 1930's when the mining industry suffered a partial collapse, is a couple of km outside of Uyuni itself, and has been made into part sightseeing destination, and part playground.
One thing I had been looking forward to was going back to visit the Minuteman for pizza and cookies in Uyuni. An American who moved to Bolivia many years ago, he makes some of the best pizza and cookies around. Unfortunately the lurgy struck, and food was far from what I wanted. I sent Andy down there (as he does love a pizza), and he made friends with the minuteman himself while trying a llama pizza. He did bring me back several cookies to be enjoyed over the next few days, so all was redeemed! Andy had told him that I had visited 10 years ago and raved about the food, and the minuteman said he was looking forward to seeing us both again when we came back to Uyuni in another 10 years with our children... All joking aside, it is a truly incredible piece of the world to visit, and I can't believe I've been lucky enough to visit twice. If the opportunity to visit again ever comes up, I will certainly not be turning it down!
One more llama - so cute!
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