Days 580-588: Bolivia
Bolivia was a pleasant surprise: otherworldly landscapes and interesting culture. Certainly worthy of the nickname Tibet of South America.
Yeah, it really is espectacular!
To get into Bolivia we took at 3-day overland trip from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to Uyuni, Bolivia. The guidebooks really make this trip sound horrendous, but it was one of the highlights of the trip so far. Our tourmates were a couple from Switzerland and a mature teenager from Germany and Valerio was our trusty Bolivian driver. First stop in Bolivia was the “border” which was just a building in the middle of nowhere.
Probably the most scenic border post we’ve crossed. That’s our trusty Landcruiser and travelling companions.
This trip took us through some stunning scenery! Lots of beatiful lakes reflecting awesome mountains and usually packed with flamingos.
Us and the highly-reflective Laguna Blanca.
The Geysers Sol de Mañana were really awesome. It was like the landscape was a large artist’s palette that was put on simmer. Pots of mud in every color and shade of grey just bubbling away. This was the highest point of the trip at almost 16,000′.
Steaming mud pots at the Geysers Sol de Mañana.
It was hard to resist jumping in for a mud bath.
Rivulets draining into the tomato soup colored Laguna Colorada.
Llama at Laguna Colorada with a borax “iceberg” in the background.
Most of the 3-day trip was at elevations exceeding 13,000′ (4,000m). But we had the benefit of coca tea! Tastes pretty good too.
Magic in a cup. Coca tea really helped out with the 14,000′ elevation of Laguna Colorada.
The “stone tree” and and some polychromatic mountains.
Another scenic Andean lake – Laguna Honda we think.
We stopped at Laguna Charcota to get a bit closer to some flamingos. Can an ornithologist help us out here. What the heck are flamingos doing up at 14,000′ in the cold Andes? Aren’t they supposed to be basking in the tropics somewhere? There were hordes of them! Laguna Charcota was neat from afar because of the green swath running around the lake. When we close to it, we figured out the green must be a mixture of algae, salt, and flamingo crap. It was mushy and stinky and our shoes got covered with it.
The far view of Laguna Charcota. You couldn’t smell it from here.
Hordes of gorgeous flamingos having a bite at Laguna Charcota. Looked like a lawn in Southern California.
Conehead plants at the lunch stop.
This is a zorro (fox), who was also hanging around the lunch spot.
Here is some of that tough, slow-growing moss that folks use for fuel. It completely envelopes rocks.
Herds of vicuña were everywhere. These guys are the wild relatives of the llama.
Bolivian rail through the Salar de Chiguana.
Our second night of the trip was something different. How many times are you going to stay in a hotel made entirely of salt? Okay, the bathroom and the roof weren’t made of salt, but everything else was! Walls, floors, tables, chairs, even the beds. Marc tasted it to make sure they weren’t pulling our leg.
Yeah, everything really is made of salt in the Hotel de Sal.
The Salar de Uyuni (salt pan) was really incredible. It is a pre-historic salt lake that dried out and got pushed up. The desolate, white pan just went on as far as the eye could see (except for the mountains and “islands”).
Really long shadows at sunrise on the Salar de Uyuni.
We had to give the pan a taste too. Yep, salty.
Neat salt cells.
We stopped for breakfast at one of the “islands” in the salt pan called Isla de los Pescadores (because it looks like a dead fish lying on salt pan from distance). The island was covered in huge cacti that are supposed to grow just 1cm per year. There were also a few shy vizcachas which looked like a yellow rabbit crossed with a squirrel.
Don’t touch the flowers! Pretty cactus flowers on the Isla de los Pescadores.
Kelly next to one of the taller cacti. This one had to be at least 1000 years old.
Our last stop of the tour was at the train graveyard in Uyuni. This was pretty much a junkyard for old steam locamotives covered in graffiti. The best part of Uyuni was pizza served up by a guy from Amherst, Mass. that was the best we have had on the continent.
Nerd graffiti in the train graveyard at Uyuni. Marc thinks Δt’ = Δt/[1-(v/c)^2]^1/2 would have been more appropriate for a train.
We can’t say enough about this overland trip. Loads of tour operators offered it and we’ve read horror stories for most of them. So we’re going to make an exception and mention that our tour company was Estrella del Sur, and they run a really great tour for $80 each.
We didn’t stick around Uyuni and caught the next bus to La Paz. We weren’t expecting much from the Bolivian bus system. But we were impressed by the look of our bus from the outside and the person that sold us the tickets assured us that all we had to do was “knock on the driver’s window and he’d pull over” if we had to go to the bathroom. When we got on the bus at 8pm, we discovered that it was a glorified chicken bus. In accordance with the Tibet of South America theme, it smelled like a yak and they provided yak-smelling blankets because it was going to be cold. The aisle was full of people the entire night and there was no way in hell we were going to be able to knock on the window. But we made it!
La Paz has loads of character. We loved the Aymara women’s clothing style. Can’t figure out how the bowler hats stay on. They usually had a colorful sack slung over their back that often contained a cute kid.
The hats were definitely no match for Marc’s elbow.
True to its name, La Paz was quite peaceful except for the street vendor selling bootleg music outside our hotel. Perhaps the thing we liked most about La Paz after four days of travel were the hot showers. There was a small church near our hotel that seemed to have a wedding every half hour. Loads of confetti and the occasional band and fireworks.
Our view out of the hotel room with a band and fireworks stopping traffic.
The Bolivian flag flying high in Plaza Pedro de Murillio.
Colorful Calle Jaen in La Paz has a bunch of nifty museums, including one dedicated to bemoaning their loss of their coast to Chile in the late 1800s.
La Paz is a great place to pick up cheap souvenirs. There are lots of really great shopping lanes and one area designated The Witches Market. This last place is really creapy with tons of dried out animals. If we smell one more dried llama fetus we’re gonna puke!
Nothing starts the morning off right like a cup of “Hornimans” tea and some coca leaves in your coffee, if you know what we’re saying.
Civil unrest is common in Bolivia. But in this case, President Evo Morales spoke at the rally. The cool, colorful checkerboard flag is the symbol of the indigenous people.
We headed to the town of Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Despite it not being an island, there is no way to get to Copa without crossing part of the lake or going through Peru.
We were sure we’d have to scuba dive to get our luggage out of the bus when this wimpy boat sank.
Who says Brazil has the only Copacabana?
Stations of the cross on a hilltop in Copa.
In Lake Titicaca is the legendary birthplace of the Inca sun god on Isla del Sol. We found the name ironic since we didn’t see the sun; it wasn’t too bright of us to visit during the rainy season. There were a few Inca ruins on the island, but they were obviously saving their best work for Peru.
Some of the Inca ruins at Isla del Sol.
How can it have taken us so long to finally see a dung beetle doing its thing?
Come on. An emerald green wasp! Do they get any cooler than that?
The Inca stairway at Isla del Sol.
We got a little worried that we might fail a drug test when we get home after drinking all that coca tea. So we looked it up on Google and had a bit of scare when the Google preview said that it would test positive for cocaine! Fortunately, we read the article and the effect only lasts 2-3 days. Phew!
Tags: Bolivia
Kelly & Marcus
December 9th, 2006 at 6:37 am
What a great way to start your morning….
Loved the Yellowstone type photos, amazing!
December 9th, 2006 at 8:14 am
I just got back and you are making me restless to go back to South America again.
Really cool pictures, as usual…
Enjoy Peru! And the ‘Paul Simon’ musical flutes, guitars etc.
December 9th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
I have several comments:
1. I too turn the wonders of the coca plant when I need a pick-me-up
2. Eveyone knows Laguna Honda is in Japan…
3. If you ever wonder why American’s are thought poorly of internationally, I give you the picture of Marc and Kelly licking the ground.
4. I am very disappointed in the unoriginality of the Bolivian Hotel owner…Hotel de Sal? Brilliant. I can almost imagine the brainstorming session that must have taken place to pick out that catchy and descriptive name.
5. Creepy, not creapy.
Nice post, great pictures.
El Guapo de Spoono
December 11th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Once again you continue to put me in “ah” with the unique style and beauty of your images as you travel our world:
1. You start with a banner picture introducing Bolivia
2. Followed by great scenes of the country
3. The relaxed pictures of yourselves, highlighting some uniquenesses
4. The unique image of your shadows at dawn (I get up at 10am on my trips)
(I still remember your foot prints left behind in the sand on a remote beach someplace in the world)
5. The breakfast fare for the country
6. The image icons of man’s search for spiritual understanding
7. Ending with the unique colorful bugs of the country.
Thanks for sharing and communicating in a speical style the sights, sounds, and smells of the world, as you travel it.
Prayin for you,
– Bob –
December 11th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Impressive nature shots.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:25 am
Okay, maybe you don’t have to worry about the drug test, but there are probably photos of you at the rally with Morales.
December 28th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
The nerd graffiti is missing a term…
Not nerdy enough.