Flamingos are cool
The next day I was finally off on my final tour of Bolivia – the Uyuni salt flats and the southwestern part of Bolivia. We set off the first day – of us – to the salt flats. We first stopped in a little town called Colchani on the way where we went to a salt museum (where everything was made of salt). The town looked like a ghost town…I guess everyone who lives there mostly just processes salt but have another house in Uyuni (which is not all that of an attractive town). The highlight of the salt museum was a little baby llama they had there that was so cute and soft – I couldn’t stop touching him. In retaliation, he couldn’t stop eating my hair.
The salt flats were pretty amazing…I really can hardly do it justice to describe it, so check out the photos. Most areas (this time of year) are completely covered with a thin layer of water which create a perfect mirror, reflecting the entire open sky. I felt like we were in the clouds – there was nothing but the reflection of the sky for miles when the mountains would meet the horizon in the middle. Nothing lives in the salt flats. There is a hotel made of salt that we stopped at, though I’m not sure anyone stays there these days.
In the middle of the salt flat, we stopped at an island, called Fish Island (or something like that). The name is due to the shape of the island I guess. On this island are huge cactuses, some over 1000 years old and 10 meters (33 feet) high. This whole area used to be a huge lake that has since dried up, leaving behind all the salt. The interesting thing is that there are ancient coral rocks on the island, proof that the island wasn’t always an island.
The salt, as you can imagine, does quite a job on the vehicles that run the tours…the whole thing was covered in salt. They use their oldest jeeps that have vitually no electronics inside and have to wash them every day. After the salt flat we visited a train graveyard and crawled on hunks of rusting metal for a bit. We returned to Uyuni for the night, where we were put up in a hotel by the tour agency. This was the best darn hotel I had been in for a while with my own bathroom and at a warm 65.5 degrees in my room!
The next day we set off on the rest of our tour…we would arrive in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile the next afternoon, seeing soem amazing landscapes along the way. We started a little late and were now 5 altogether in the tour…a French couple, 2 Israeli girls and me.
We stopped in a few small towns during the morning and for lunch and in the afternoon we hit the Valley of Rocks, with a bunch of rock formations. The highlight was supposed to be this rock that looks like an eagle, but it turned out to be watching a German tourist try to get down from the eagle rock after perching it for a picture. As for rock formations, I’m rarely impressed with the coincidence of the effects of erosion.
After a while through the Valley of the Rocks we took a turn off the main road and continued off-roading the rest of the tour. We finally got to some lagoons and saw some flamingos. We drove through huge altiplano deserts – we would top over a hill and find ourselves in another huge desert valley, but really, it was impossible to tell how big it actually was until we drove the whole length. Climb over hill and repeat. It was amazing – beautiful, barren land, snow-topped mountains, vast rocky deserts, and an occasional lagoon.
We pulled into some place that is a tourist stop because some rock looks like a tree…big whoop. It was getting late and I knew if we didn’t get moving we would miss seeing the red color of the Laguna Colorada (Red Lagoon). Sure enough, we did. Luckily, we were staying at a refuge right on the edge of the lagoon, which would afford us a view in the morning.
The refuge was basic, basic, basic. Everyone stayed in dorms and there were no showers. We ate dinner and talked for a while before going to bed just before 9:30, the time when the generators were cut and all lights went out.
I just missed the sunrise over the Laguna Colorada…too bad. I must have been grabbing a breadroll from the breakfast area. We headed down to the lagoon and took some good photos of flamingos and I actually did get to see the red color of the lagoon (only at the edge because the sun was still very low and casting a glare off the water).
We continued on to Sol de Mañana (Morning Sun), a geyser field which was just amazing. This whole field just rose with sulphuric-smelling smoke. My favorite was the boiling mud holes. There was one hole releasing its gas to fiercely that it hurt my ears to stand by it. Another amazing place that you really just have to check out the pictures.
We stopped at a natural hot spring (not a fancy pool, just a hole in the ground with warm water). It was pretty cold so the girls decided not to dip in, but the one guy on our trip did…I’m sure it was warm but it wasn’t worth stripping down for. After that we headed to the Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon), which was really, really bright green. It’s due to the minerals in the lagoon and I guess it only gets green when it’s windy. I missed the explanation for this, but I’m guessing it’s because the wind creates a current in the water which mixes up all the minerals and makes it green. I don’t know. Check out the photos.
And that was the end of our tour. Our guide took us to a little refuge station along the Laguna Blanca (White Lagoon which is white due to the large amounts of borax) and dropped us off to wait for our ride into Chile. Our driver turned out to be the owner of the tour agency who drove us in his brand new SUV. We continued off-road to the Bolivian border (oh, I was sad to leave) and beyond. All of a sudden, our off-road road ended with a stop sign (how long has it been since I’ve seen one of those?) and connected with a lovely, seemingly new paved road. We were definitely in Chile.
Tags: Bolivia, Tag Index
Tania