Travels through South America

Day One – Tupiza

At 8.30 in the morning we set off to meet the four people we would be spending the next four days in a jeep with. We arrived at the office to see a mix of people waiting -UK-based New Zealanders Sharn and Duncan, British couple Phil and Chloe, Swiss couple Andreja and Benny and Swiss Peter, all between the ages of 26 and 45. So far, so good. Any combination of those seven seemed fine. Then, in burst Lacey, a young blonde American with a voice about a decibel above the average. ‘Please god, no!’ I prayed to myself.

A nerve-racking five minutes later and I discovered our fate. Lacey, Sharn and Duncan (chief) were in our car. I feared it would be a hellish trip but as time wore on with laughs abounding, I found that by dinnertime I had become a fan of the exuberant Lacey and had to berate myself for jumping to conclusions. Lacey and I soon became partners in crime and she figures prominently in the photos below!

We set off from Tupiza along a dry river bed then turned off to climb the sttep road that twisted higher and higher up into the mountains. Our first stop was was t a viewpoint called El Sillar, 4200m above sea level. I was breathless with awe at the range of colours I saw in the rocks below – black, reds, greens, yellows, oranges, pinks. This was the highest I had yet been and knowing that we would climb further and see even more wonders was hard to compute.

We hopped back in the car and after climbing a little further evened out on to a plain populated with llama, the occasional cow and even more occasional cholita. The road then dipped down to a small remote valley with about ten houses, isolated and inhospitable. The houses looked only large enough to encompass two rooms yet we were told that whole families of up to ten people could be living inside. The vegetation is sparse and the only water would come from the near-dry river that ran through the settlement.

Later on, we arrived at a small outpost that feeds water to the nearby gold and copper mine. As I sat peacefully on my own, two llamas decided to mate noisily infront of me. The female seemed far less enamoured than the male, spitting, braying and generally doing her best to escape before the deed was done.

We drove on through more impressive scenery and I was awestruck by the immensity of the unpopulated landscape. As dusk began to fall we arrived in our homestay for the night in a small altiplano village at the base of a towering snow-capped mountain. Dinner in the village was an enjoyable affair with typical traveller chat and good hearty food prepared by our traveling cook: vegetable soup followed by home made llama burgers, a very slushy potato puree and caramelised onions.

Bedtime was a much more sombre affair. The lodgings were basic as to be expected but I hadn’t quite banked on the night time temperaures of -10 degrees celsius! I barely slept as I felt entombed in my hired sleeping bag under countless blankets.

Day Two

Our wake up call came at 5.00am and, following a swift breakfast, we set off on the road again. Our first port of call was a bona fide altiplano ghost town. A former mining town, Pueblo Fantasma lies at 4,800m above sea level. Once rich from mining gold and copper, the town is now a bleak reminder of the exhaustion of natural resources that has affected much of Bolivia in the last century.

Legend has it that, one night, a cholita named Maria Pichu Pichu came down from the mountain to knock on the door of each house in the village. As each door opened, the inhabitants within promptly dropped dead… I think I hold more credence in the other story that tells of how the copper and gold ran out and the townsfolk decided they couldn’t justify living in the harsh conditions and moved to another village 50km away.

After another cople of hours driving we hit 4,990m and stopped to stretch whilst admiring the beautiful views of yet more snow-capped mountains above a white fringed borax lake.

We then entered the national park, created about six years to preserve the natural wonders within. Our first stop within the park was at another borax lake teeming with flamingoes. I felt a bit of an ignoramus not realising that flamingoes existed outside of Africa and was giddy with delight at seeing them up close in such an impressive setting.

Another hour or so in the jeep through martian landcapes and we arrived at a true highlight – the thermal pool. Words cannot express how luxuriously splendid it felt to wallow in hot water in such a setting. The views were incredible, with minerals causing different colours in the lake behind us.

After another satisfying lunch we set off through deserts and mountains that changed from red to pink to snow streaked with greys to yellow grasses. From desert to desert scattered with tiny rocks, past dormant volcanoes, streaked with sulphur.

Onwards we went, past the Laguna Blanca and on to the impressive Laguna Verde. Laguna Verde (Green Lake) is actually more of a virulent aqua marine. It lies at the base of a volcano that forms part of the Bolivia-Chile border and which also contains a similar smaller lake in its crater. The colour is caused by the combination of sulphur, copper and arsenic but is only actually green in the afternoon when the wind has created enough waves to turn the water green.

Our final stop for the day was at the incredible active geysers that lie at 4,850m above sea level. Bubbling cauldrons spewed black, grey and brown mud and smoke holes blew billowing gusts of steam up into the atmosphere.

We continued a forty minutes to a set of custom built houses near Lago Colorado where we were to spend yet another freezing night. The copious amounts of dulce de leche I consumed at tea-time helped boost my flagging energy temporarily until I exerienced a huge sugar crash. The previous sleepless night had finally taken its toll and I felt like I could barely sit upright, let alone engage in conversation. Time for bed and thankfully, sleep did come.

Day Three

Our first port of call after a slightly more civilised starting time was Lago Colorado. The lake is beautiful, its deep red colour caused by algae and the tiny microscopic creatures that the visiting flamingoes feed on. Approximately 40,000 flamingoes visit this lake each year and the sight of them in the early morning light on this beautiful lake was breathtaking.

On towards the Atacama desert – yes, the Chileans were generous enough to leave Bolivia a tiny piece of it when they commandeered the area for its nitrate deposits, thereby removing Bolivia of a good source of income and, more importantly, its coastline. I’d never been in proper desert before and was fascinated by the oscillating horizon. We stopped by an unusual formation called El Arbol de Piedras (stone tree).

Continuing our journey, we passed more borax lakes with stately paddling flamingoes and yet more volcanoes until we reached our first active one, Ollague. From there we crossed the trainline linking Bolivia and the Chilean coast, a gift from Chile as recompense for Atacama.

Our final run was to our last abode on the trip – a kitsch hotel with beds made of salt just ten minutes from the famous Salar de Uyuni.

Day Four

I think after 1,300 words I should best let the photos do the talking for this part. Suffice to say, I have never seen anything like these salt flats.

Conclusion

Impressive, incredible and definitely worth visiting. The cook stealing my alarm clock was a blot on an otherwise blemish free landscape.