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There aren't enough superlatives to describe how beautiful the South West corner of the Bolivian Altiplano (high plane) is. Phenomenal and alien are the best I can do. It's a place where you can't take a bad photo and one which seems to have been dreamt up by an artist; which actually isn't too far from the truth as Dali painted a desert from his imagination and because it looked so much like one in the area it was named after him. The Salt Flats are the most famous but they are just one of the many amazing natural wonders in the area. This was one of the top highlights of our whole trip!
So on the 2nd Jan two jeeps set off from Tupiza Tours for our 4 day, 3 night tour of the Altiplano and the Salt Flats. We were in one jeep with a French couple (Antonio and Lys), a Swiss guy (David) and our driver/guide Freddie (Bolivian despite the Western name). In the other jeep was another driver, our chef and a Russian guy (Konstantin) who had paid for a private tour (at great expense) but who we would eat and share accommodation with us the whole trip.
We headed west out of Tupiza and started to climb up towards the Altiplano. We stopped to look back and saw the amazing jagged rocks in the valley below. Further on we passed close by where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are reported to be buried many years ago. On our first day we spent 10 hours in the jeep on dusty bumpy roads - the dust and the bumps would continue but the travel time reduced on subsequent days. We passed hundreds of llamas dressed up in cotton jewellery to distinguish who they belonged to - also a theme that would continue to the delight of Katy. But we also saw many other animals such as ostriches, vicuñas, birds and ducks. All decreased in numbers as we climbed and above 5,000 metres I think the only animal we saw was the vicuñas; god knows how they live in the desert, seemingly eating nothing off the dry ground. We also passed incredibly remote villages, which aren't served by buses. They survive by tending llamas, growing a very small amount of quinoa and mining copper. We ate lunch at a small village made from Adobe with straw roofs - it's amazing people live out here. After many more hours we stopped to see some Spanish ruins and then stopped at a lake at 4,855 metres. We didn't know it at the time but it was nothing compared to the lakes we would see on the other days. That night we stayed in a really small village - apparently a provincial capital - and all shared a room. Three little girls came to sing to us and then asked for money so on subsequent days we tried to avoid being sung at.
On the second day the scenery changed from stunning to otherworldly. Despite having painful stomach cramps, I (Simon) still really enjoyed it and the great medicine that I got from the French was a lifesaver as all the pharmacies in Tupiza had been closed before we left. Our guide, Freddie, liked to keep to his schedule to the point that he didn't want to stop to let me use the loo but on the positive side we always seemed to arrive at a place before anyone else. In the morning we stopped at 4 lakes which increased in beauty culminating in the fantastic turquoise, and toxic, Laguna Verde (verde = green). The previous three lakes were surrounded by a number of white chemicals which are harvested and get exported to make glass, shampoo, plates and probably much more. They also had flamingos feeding on the algae in the lakes. We were able to walk on the white stuff, borax, and see all the crystals that had formed. We then passed the Dali desert to get to Laguna Verde, near the Chilean border, before returning to the hot springs for a welcome bath and lunch. In the afternoon my stomach felt much better and the otherworldly sites continued with a trip to the geysers, where we saw bubbling mud and smelt the horrible eggy sulphur. I can't describe how amazingly cool it was. Two people, including Antonio, lost their hats in the geysers when the wind got strong. There were no barriers or any safety measures - in Europe you wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near it! The amazing sights of the day finished with one of the best - the Martian-looking red lake of Laguna Colorada (Colorada = many colours). It was incredibly windy and we watched the flamingos flying sideways or going like a bullet with the wind. That night we stayed in even more basic accommodation than the night before at a very cold altitude of 4,340 metres. Again we had no running water in the showers so the hot springs were the only wash we had had on the trip so far. We understand that there is a very posh hotel in the Altiplano and it was where they filmed the James Bond film the Quantum of Solace - so it's now called the James Bond Hotel.
I should point out that the Altiplano is anything but a flat plane; we ascended and descended many times over the days. At one point, on the second day, rising to 5,200 metres - a new record for us.
The third day took us back to Laguna Colorada for a different view. It was less red (but still stunning and very tranquil in the still morning) due to being early in the morning and therefore there being less sun and wind to excite the algae. The same is true for Laguna Verde so we were happy we had seen that at midday. We then drove on to an amazing rock formation, created by the wind, called Arbol Piedra, tree rock in Spanish, as it looks like one. Heading north we passed a beautiful mountain range that borders Chile, passed through a valley containing Chinchilla-like animals, Viscachas, before seeing another five lakes; stopping at the last four for more stunning photos and wildlife sightings. After lunch by the last lake (I should mention that the food was amazing on the trip considering the incredibly remote locations we were in) we visited an active volcano. We had been led to believe that we would see lots of smoke so were a bit disappointed to see just a small wisp of smoke. I realised that we were getting spoiled as an active volcano at any level is still cool. Heading further north we followed the train tracks which export the white minerals to Chile and the coast, which Bolivia lost in a war with them. We finished the day passing a small muddy salt flat, our first salt sighting, and finished at our salt hotel. It seemed like luxury to us, despite the hot shower we had promised being cold, but at least we had one and we had a private room too.
Our last day is what most people come to Bolivia for - the salt flats. We left our salt hotel at 5am to see the sun rise on the massive expanse of salt. It's 10,000 Km^2 and contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserve. It was so so cold on the flats in the morning and fresh snow had fallen on the mountain peaks over night. We drove on and stopped at an island in the middle of the salt flat. The island was covered in cacti and looked so strange in its setting but incredibly beautiful. Driving further east we found a spot away from the other jeeps and started taking what Freddie called 'Fotos Locos' (Crazy Photos). You can take funny perspective photos and after lots of trial and error and a lot of help we got some cool shots. The only disappointment was that our guide (or us) didn't bring any dinosaur toys which are fun and famous to use with the perspective. But it was amazing experience to see just a massive white expanse in all directions. We finished off the tour by visiting the first salt hotel and the cemetery of the trains outside of Uyuni. We then had 4 hours to kill in Uyuni before our journey towards Chile began. A French-Canadian (Raphael), who we had meet in Tupiza, joined us for this 1 day journey. This time, in Uyuni, made us glad that we had done the tour from Tupiza and had not spent New Year here. There had only been 6 jeeps leaving from Tupiza on the same day as us but we had seen over 60 in a single day coming the other way. We also saw, what we believed to be, guides forging rave reviews on colourful pieces of paper to be pinned on the tour offices walls - so we question some of their practices.
We finally left Uyuni in a jeep for Chile at 5:30pm staying the night in a tiny little town where Katy had to share a room with a German couple and I had to share one with 3 drivers. The reason for this was that the cold weather had forced tours to stay at lower altitudes so our place was packed. After 4 hours of more bumpy roads the next morning our driver dropped us at the Chilean border (the most beautiful we've ever seen) and after a wait we were on a Chilean bus. Our clothes were covered in 5 days of dust and after only one shower in the same time we were looking forward to civilisation. But a shower had to wait as clearing customs in the town of San Pedro de Atacama took 2 hours! Our longest wait by far - well I guess with economic development comes bureaucracy. Anyway we were into Chile; our 12th country.
Simon
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