BootsnAll Travel Network



Flamingo-Land

1 December 2005 (Thursday) – Salar de Uyuni to Laguna Colorado, Bolivia

Today, we woke up early, 5+am, to get ready for the long drive to Laguna Colorado, almost 10 – 12 hours’ away.

This time, we were driving through pure desert, with red mountains on either side. The scenery did change occasionally, as we also came suddenly upon an area where there were huge, crooked, crazily eroded rocks on either side of the road. The rocks did not appear to be eroded by wind. And they seemed to have fallen out of the sky and landed all over this area suddenly. Our guide explained that this used to be a lake with a lot of rocks underwater. So, these rocks were eroded by water! Now, of course, everything is dry.

Lots of curious-looking free-standing rocks that used to be underwater

When I say ‘road’, there is actually no road, just tracks from past jeeps. Sometimes, there are several tracks going in different directions, and even the jeeps on this same tour would take different tracks. I guess, as this place is so wide and flat, many of the tracks would lead to the same place. The jeeps use another track to avoid being behind another jeep and get a lot of dust on their faces.

Yes, little Jaillo took to the driving seat for some parts

Some of the tracks were up mountains full of rocks and boulders. This, we really had to be on 4-wheel drive as the jeep bobbed and bobbed around in agony. We got off at one point to walk to make the jeep lighter. At other tracks, we passed through small patchs of salt pan. Now, this was a breeze… nice and smooth as the jeep sped through.

Salt pans were easier for driving

Railway to the Pacific Ocean

Breathtaking surreal scenery all around us

We came upon our first little lagoon – Laguna Canapa. Wow, it really felt surreal here. The lake, the mountains all around, the green spongy moss we were stepping on, and the hundreds and thousands of flamingoes nonchalantly drinking in the lake. It was such a peaceful gorgeous sight, so quiet, so picture-perfect. I felt as if this place is just figment of my imagination. We could only smile at each other, dumb-founded.

Flamingoes drinking in the lake

Lake Canapa

We hopped back on and continued to the next lake for our lunch. Not long later, we saw an oncoming jeep, one that started its journey from San Pedro de Atacama. Our guide slowed down on the sandy path and we were travelling slightly lop-sided for a while as he wanted to make way in the track for the other jeep. To our horror, the jeep was speeding towards us, and it looked like it was out-of-control on the sand and was about to crash into us!!!

And just then, it swerved away but not quite in time, as our two sides hit one another just as it pulled away. We were stunned!! Our driver stopped his jeep and hopped out. We expected the other driver to do the same, as in fact, we did have a crash, although it was not a head-long, serious crash. But we turned around to see the jeep still driving at the devil speed, kicking up tonnes of sand, and disappearing from our sight!! What the?? Why didn’t he stop??

Our exasperated driver reversed the jeep and gave chase. Woah, what was going on?? It was quite difficult and dangerous speeding through sand. I was afraid we might overturn if we hit some rocks. I guess, since we had just left Laguna Canapa, and the other jeep might also be obliged to stop there for his tourists, our guide took the chance to give chase as only if the evil jeep stopped, would we have a chance to catch up.

We spotted a trail of flying sand in the distance and when we neared the lake, true enough, the jeep stopped. Our driver drove right up to it and soon, got into an argument with the other driver. We checked the damage. A huge dent and broken tail-light. The same for the other truck. We asked the tourists on the other jeep, why didn’t their driver stop? And why didn’t they make their driver stop?? They told us their driver was blaming our driver. What?? Come on, we slowed down and were driving perched lop-sided to give space. But their driver sped right through, despite knowing there was another jeep nearby and even lost control, crashed into us and swerved all over the sand!

The other driver was a young chap. One look at him, I know he was full of shit. The argument ensued for quite a while and our driver angrily took down his license plate, saying that he knows this guy, he was always drunk in Uyuni. We departed, no fist fight, thank goodness. But gosh, here we were on the largest expanse of flat land in the entire world and another jeep crashed into us! No one would believe us!

We arrived at the next lake, Laguna Redonda. Our driver still gently told us something about it, keeping his temper down. We appreciated him for it. There were more flamingoes here, and the lake had some green minerals or algae, giving it a greenish look. After lunch, again, the Norwegian girls and I hunted for a place for toilet. This was our third time needing to pee and we did not drink any water during the ride, just whatever for breakfast. We were perplexed at our bladders’ inability to hold.

More flamingoes at Laguna Redonda

Mountains of all colours!

During the drive since morning, we had asked for some pee-breaks. Nowhere to hide. Just squat behind the jeep and pray no others come. We also had some breaks to take photos. At those places, as the other jeeps were there, we had to walk a little further to the bushes and er… shamelessly relieved ourselves. It was not just us, every other person from the other jeeps was also jumping off his or her jeep and hurrying off in various directions desperately.

A smoking Volcano Ollague

We stopped by two other scenic spots – one where we could see the active Volcan Ollague. Yes, it was sinisterly smoking away. The surrounding areas here had really beautiful red rocky outcrops with lots of holes. Enchanting. And yes, the Norwegians and I giggled as we tried to find suitable spots, away from everyone’s eyes. No such luck, there were jeeps everywhere. We could only hope those guys in the distance looked another way.

Another scenic viewpoint of Volcan Ollague

Up close...

The other photo spot was a huge red boulder (a smaller and less impressive verson of the Ayers Rock in Australia) that was just there out of nowhere. Our guide said we could see vizcachas here. I spotted one and beckoned everyone to come over to look. This is an animal that has long ears, looks like a rabbit and has a long tail. People around me asked me what it was. Vizcacha, I told them. But Simon kept insisting it was a rabbit. Gosh, I was a little pissed. Just because he had not heard of vizcachas before, and it is obviously not an English name, he refused to learn it and simply concluded it was a rabbit. I later found a spot and asked Simon to take a picture of me. When I got there to pose, I realised I was standing amongst toilet paper and even, a used sanitary napkin. Gross!

Huge red boulder standing in the middle of nowhere

Finally, the last stop of today before our hostel – Piedra de Arbol (Stone of Tree). We drove through more moonscape to come upon white rocky formations eroded by wind. As one of them looked like a tree – it had a wide top and a narrow base, like a tree trunk, this place was named as such. More photos and more peeing. Throughout this time, we were amazed that Josie had NOT gone once.

Piedra de Arbol (Stone of Tree)

More stunning rock formations

We reached Laguna Colorado at around 4pm after nearly 10 hours’ of driving. Wow, this was a massive lake, with red algae, giving it a very red colour in the far distance. Absolutely beautiful beautiful beautiful. We settled down in our very basic hostel. There was no running water. We had to use a scoop-thingie to take water from a huge bucket to flush down the toilet or wash up. Josie took a long, long, long time before deciding she would go ahead and use the toilet. Ah, finally!

We were now at 4,278m above sea level. Wow, this is once again a new record for me – the highest place I have ever stayed overnight at. As the wind was crazy, I put on my fleece and jacket, scarf, hat and gloves, and walked with Simon and Josie to the mirador to view the lake. I could not believe it. I was in 3 layers and still freezing cold, but Josie later took off her fleece and started walking in her spaghetti-straped top!!

Very difficult to climb at this altitude but we made it. While today had been a very long and at times boring day of driving, interspersed by scenic and peeing spots, this was truly the most fantastic view of today. The red colour glistened all around the massive lake, there were thousands and thousands of flamingoes everywhere, and huge glacier-like mounds of salt on the opposite side of the lake and lovely distant mountains, some perfectly conical like volcanoes.

We finally reached the viewing point

... and were astounded by the stunning view

... of the red Laguna Colorado

When we went down, we met the 3 Arctic explorers lumbering towards us, bundled up in the best technology Norway has to offer in protection from the cold. They too gasped at the sight of Josie who had just casually decided to put her thin flappy fleece jacket back on. We persuaded them it was really worth it to climb to the mirador and so, somewhat reluctantly, brrrr… they plodded on. People from cold countries seemed to be the ones who complain the most about the cold.

The English siblings and I decided to be brave and walk out to the red lake. Some of the ground was dry and hard. But some were soft mud. Tourists before us had left deep footprints as they struggled with the mud, but when we came upon this same mud, it was now nice and hard. At other times, we thought this was okay mud, but our boots sank right it. Very deceptive indeed. On the mud were also millions of flamingo footprints. There were round depressions all over, surrounded by white and yellow colours, remnants of different minerals. We considered and experimented and finally reached the lake and were able to observe the red ripples caused by the strong wind up close. When we left, we struggled some more through the horrid mud. We were walking like flamingoes at times, as we tried to quicken our footsteps before each step sank deeper into the soft mud. Yep, now we know exactly why the flamingoes walk like that.

Closer inspection of Laguna Colorado

Flamingo footprints on the soft coloured mud

That evening, as we played cards and considered our border-crossing tomorrow to Chile, I warned them not to bring any fruits. Then, Cathrine said she heard that even tea-bags were not allowed. Whoops. I had bought coca tea-bags. I know coca leaves, for sure, are not allowed. But I was hoping I could bring the coca tea-bags home. Now, if even tea-bags were not allowed, (much less coca tea-bags!) I would have to discard them before I leave tomorrow. Sheesh, I do not want to do that. I know I can buy coca tea-bags in San Pedro de Atacama as I had seen them there 3 years ago. But I did not want to throw these away and then, buy them in Chile at 3 times the price. For a challenge, I decided to smuggle them. I put them inside my sleeping bag. Hopefully tomorrow, I can keep a straight face and there are no dogs to sniff for the presence of coca tea-bags.

Wow, tonight, although there was no wind at all, I felt rather cold and put on my alpaca sweater (yes, it finally proved useful!) before going to sleep. However, the high altitude was not agreeing with me. Lots of rumbling in my tummy. Argh, this is NOT a good place to visit the toilet frequently.



Tags:

One Response to “Flamingo-Land”

  1. coca tea Says:

    You can buy coca tea at Ebay, Windsor from Bolivia is the best, I tried the Peruvians and they taste horrible and not as pure as the Bolivian. I ordered a box last week and arrived safe to my door.

    It is just Great!!!

  2. Posted from United States United States

Leave a Reply