Mar 22 - Across Bolivia

Mar 22nd 2017 - Across Bolivia

Our second day in Bolivia we headed across the desert for another day of show stopping scenery. 

We passed 3 more beautiful lagoons before stopping at one called the Stinky Lagoon due to the sulphur but just beautiful and populated with huge flocks of flamingos.

From there we headed across country cutting between two mountains and through a rocky canyon which is perfect territory for the little Viscacha which we all wanted to see. The guide knowing this had brought some carrots which they love so within minutes we had these wild rabbit like animals taking carrots from our hands.

La Rocas...25Km of volcanic distruction
huge ravine on the other side of the stones

Our next stop was the Valle de La Rocas which was a huge 25km valley of sandstone rocks hurtled down here by the original massive volcanic eruption that formed all the other volcano’s and mountains in this area. The scale of it was just mesmerising and trying to imagine the power of the volcanic eruption that could create it was difficult.

Bolivians believe in Pachamama (Mother Earth) rather than a religion and so believe that things like the geysers are a sign that Pachamama is alive and eruptions are expressions of discontent etc. All of this mixed in with bits of catholisism from the Conquistador era.

No chance of a bus here !!

On to Vila Alota for a lunch stop and stretch which was a typical Bolivian mid country town. It was like stepping back 100 years into a spaghetti western Mexican border town with mud brick adobe houses and mud baked streets. Just needed some tumbleweed blowing through and we were done !!

Old village ghose town outside of Pulaca

From there on to Pulaca which had once been a very important town as it had been the end stop for the first railway line to be built near the salt flats. 

Prior to this, all the salt was brought out in bundles using llamas (horses can’t work at these altitudes but llamas are perfectly adjusted) so the arrival of the railway was a huge deal and made Pulaca a very important place.

Just like the spaghetti westerns

That was then and this is now and now it is another tumbleweed town with derelict railway carriages, lines, water fillers and a desolate feel. Steve of course loved it as his favourite thing is to photograph dereliction and wrecks !!

It did however have a bar which sold cactus and coca beer and remarkably it was actually open.

Coca leaves (the basic material for cocaine) are very much part of life in Bolivia. They even have ot in all the hotels.
They are chewed by the locals to help with altitude, they are made into teas mixed with aniseed and camomile and are widely sold in markets and shops. The USA as part of their crack down on drugs dictate how much Coca Bolivia can produce which is just enough for local usage. People here don’t understand why the west is so anti and are currently trying to negotiate with the USA for larger quotas but are unlikely to get them in case it encourages drug production as it did in Columbia. They are also trying to persuade western governments of the health benefits of Coca so they can export small quantities for medicinal purposes. Steve declined to have coca in any form preferring to suffer in silence (we wish !!)

Oh yes...yet another volcano.
Our volcano count is now in the hundreds

On from here through Volcano alley with stunning views of another live volcano Ollague to our next stop at San Juan for a most bizarre visit..........the necropolis.

The dryness ensured that remains had been
perfectly preserved for thousands of years.

Scare alert!  The indigenous people realised that the volcanic rock was hollow and then used these as places to bury their dead. Generations in layers within some of the rock formations. Due to the dryness & the altitude very little decays here and some of the mummies still had fabric intact. They believe in an afterlife so they were often buried with the tools of their trade along with foodstuff usually Quinoa.  All in all a very weird feeling looking in at these people from long ago..............

Hundreds of graves in the open with all
remains perfectly preserved...very ghoulish!!
All these are carved out of natural coral
which is used as a building material here

The local people have always made their living from Quinoa production & Llamas and nothing has changed for generations here. There are still acres & acres of Quinoa and Bolivia accounts for up to 46% of the world Quinoa production and most of the best quality as all their farming methods are organic. The only diffrence now is that after it is harvested & dried it is shipped to large processing plants before going onwards to be sold to the major export companies.

Our second high altitude hotel

We end today at San Pedro de Quemez which is close to the edge of the Salar de Uyuni salt flats. 

This is another of the community hotels and while very rustic was just charming and our rooms had lovely views over the little town.

The old town...result of Bolivias seemingly
many battle defeats

In this town is a little castle and the reason for this is they call it the Burnt Town and it commemorates the defeat of Bolivia in the Pacific Wars. The Chileans invaded here while the men were away fighting and destroyed the town and killed all the women and children. As the houses were all stone, it was the straw roofs that burned, so the remnants of the original town are clear to see even today.

The castle tower

By this time and at this altitude we were all exhausted, so one beer each and another communal dinner in a cozy little dining room and we were all out for the count. This part of the holiday is certainly regulating our alcohol intake big time !! 

A baby Llama (pronounced "yama"
Janette loves these so there will probably
be one on every day of the blog..

Mar 20 - Atacama Lakes & Mountains

Atacama 20 March 2017

Our last day in the Atacama desert was another 5.30am start as we headed over to the Laguna Verde. 

Laguna Verde

We arrived in a valley of rocks just as the sun was rising and the light on the rock formations was just beautiful if not bizarre. 

Weired geology

We arrived here thinking the Atacama Desert would be vast areas of sand dunes but have been completely suprised at the geology and variety we have seen in this area.

From there we headed on to the Laguna Verde which was just lovely and had lots of Tuca Tuca’s (like small beavers) in burrows round the lake. 













We headed round the lake for a walk and got back in time for Danielo to have got some breakfast ready, we sat the three of us in the sun with the place to ourselves and took in the scenery and the atmosphere. Just lovely.

Steve spotted a Viscacha in the rocks and managed to get a quick photo before it disappeared.

Vicuna racing - they always win !

After racing some Vicuna’s back across the desert (40km an hour – these animals can sure move) we drove back down another stunning road with Andean white peaks and volcano’s all the way. 








This is the main road from the Bolivian & Argentinian border and used by trucks heading from there & Paraguay to the coast for shipping or collection. 

It is a very dangerous road as many of the lorries have no safety checks and it is steep & winding dropping from 4600m to 2800m. There are several roadside shrines from fatal accidents and escape runaway tracks into sandbanks for failing brakes !

Back at the hotel, we had to start thinking about packing up again for the next day by which time Paul and Mandy were back too so we had a nice farewell Chile dinner with good wine and headed off to bed.

We have really loved Chile from its southern tip at Patagonia all the way up to its border with Bolivia at the Atacama. The Andes have been our constant backdrop with stunning scenery and the people have been just wonderful, kind and friendly at every turn.

Roads are very dangeous and there are many
shrines on the bends

4327m above sea level

Mar 21 - Onwards to Bolivia !

Onwards to Bolivia 21 March 2017

Border to Bolivia...
Hopefully there was someone on thje other side

This morning we left the hotel in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to cross the land border with Bolivia.

We drove into downtown and entered a tiny office where the border formalities for us leaving Chile were completed.  We then climbed back into the truck and drover another 20 minutes inside Chilean territory to the land border. 

Welcome to Bolivia...
we know the going is going to get tougher

We passed on the way near the border post a modern Chile customs building but when we asked why they did the formalities in town and not here at the border, our guy laughed and said its cold up here, there is nowhere to get food or drinks so they keep the office downtown !! You’ve got to love this place.

We pulled up in our truck on the Chilean side of the border barrier (which had seen better days) and completed the border formalities to enter Bolivia, slightly more relaxed and about 9 hours shorter than our last land border crossing between Chile and Argentina !

Expedition truck loaded   and we are off,
where, we are not quite sure.
Our suoer experienced drive on the roof.

Our Bolivian guide David and driver Serapio came over to meet us and we walked round to the Toyota Landcruiser 4WD that was to be our transport across Bolivia for the next week. Our luggage was lashed to the roof next to the drums of petrol (no gas stations on this route) and oxygen, in we climbed and off we set across the desert. It was to be 3 days before we saw a tarmac road again.

Bolivian view - like our truck and everything
we needed on the roof including petrol

Everyone had told us Bolivia was wilder, less developed than Chile but with absolutely stunning scenery and all we can say is they were not wrong. 

The White Lagoon

Our route after leaving the border area took us through a spectacular national park with beautiful lagoons surrounded by snow capped mountains and volcanoes. Tour first stop was the White Lagoon and then just 15 minutes later the beautiful Laguna Verde which is a stunning green colour which lights up in the sun.

The small number of expedition trucks leaving the
border...we would see very few again...

.

Expedition trucks meet at the border for some loose paperwork and off they go.  There are no roads so onlyh big beasts will do the job and over the next 3 days, we would see why as even tracks turn into 4wd challenges on occasion.

Not possible to overstate the scenery
that Bolivia immediately unfolds

From there it was on to a valley of sand on which were deposited huge rocks by one of the early volcanic eruptions. It is the most eerie and unusual landscape and they call it the Rocas Dali as it looks just like the background to many of Salvador Dali’s paintings

Our lunch stop was at the Aguas Termales de Polques which is a natural hot spring on the edge of a beautiful lagoon.

The colours are made by the algae that thrive on the salt water conditions and make for some stunning pictures.

Pink flamingos have made a home here...oh and of course one of the many hundreds of volcanoes.

Pink flamingo picture got Steve a "rollocking" as they
though he qas a pro photographer...clearly not !!

From there it was on to the just spectacular Laguna Colorado. This lagoon is completely red which against the snow capped mountains and the sand was just a most beautiful place. The red colour comes from algae and it is this algae that also attracts huge flocks of flamingo.

What a place !  Every corner we turned another spectacular or weird vista was in front of us.

Constant 97 degrees centigrade  mud...everywhere

Unlike everywhere else, lack of health and
safety allowed us tp get close to these
and we were actually in the mouth of a volcanoe

Next on the route was Arbol de Piedra a live volcano mouth with mud geysers. What we didn’t expect was to be walking around inside it  amongst them at nearly 4,800m with no restricted areas or warnings. 

The closest we got was “watch your step” slgn , it was just fantastic. 



Thank goodness health and safety hasn’t quite made it to the wilds of Bolivia just yet ! 










Bouncing across unmade desert roads strewn with boulders, we went from one stunning view to another climbing all the time. Our destination tonight was to a simple eco hotel high in the desert with nothing for miles around. 

First sight of the desert hotel ..
truley in the middle of nowhere

Is this the highest hotel in the world?  breathing
 and walking at this height for some was very difficult

Our first sight of it across the desert at the foot of a mountain was something else

We checked in to this rustic hotel entirely powered by solar and wind turbine where the electricity goes off at 10pm and you need to shower as soon as you arrive as the water gets cold once the sun goes down. It had a small restaurant where everyone eats a set meal together at 7pm but with the most fantastic view you could ever wish for. 

Steve had always had his eye on this
picture and the 200 yard  walk took
about 40 minutes after stopping
every 10 yeards

We went for a walk down from the hotel to take some photographs and realised on the way back up just how high we were. It took us 40 mins for a slight incline walk that would normally have taken 15 mins and when we got back to the hotel we couldn’t get our breath back at all.

The hotel is at the highest point yet for us 4,950m. It has an oxygen cylinder in reception.
So little oxygen here that Steve had misty eyes when he woke up in the morning.

From now on, there was to be some kind of price to be paid in order to see the beauty of Bolivia.....Paul on the other hand appeared tp be imune and bionic whilst the rest of us had lists of things going wrong. 

Off we went to bed to find that we just couldn’t sleep due to the altitude. Not only were we not hungry with a slight feeling of nausea but we couldn’t bend over to upack a case without our heads swimming. When you try to sleep all you can hear is your blood pounding in your ears and you can’t get a breath – This was to be our worst night yet.

Please dont leave us here !!

Mar 19 - Atacama Altiplano

Atacama 19 March

Alarms at 5am and a 5.30am departure with Danielo our guide. We were heading off for a 2 hour drive to sunrise at El Tatio Geysers.

The stars were unbelievable even with a partial moon and we got out a one of the high points to look. It was so weird as the constellations here are either completely different to ours or they are upside down !

Just before sunrise - these geysers are over 40m tall

The road climbed consistently and when we arrived we were at 4400m. The air was so thin and full of Sulphur but we could immediately see why sunrise was the time to go. 

A low blanket of steam covers the whole site -
about 10km2 in total with the two sites

The clouds of volcanic steam bursting into the cold atmosphere of the early dawn was just spectacular especially with the snowy Andes peaks as backdrop and we watched and photographed through the next 0m two hours as jets created a fog of steam punctuated by columns of steam sometimes 40m in the air.

Cant see a thing ....

The people walking though steam
show the scale of the geysers

The moment of sunrise - a breathtaking moment

We liked it so much,
we posed 2 pictures

So, to end a perfect morning,
breakfast on the glaziers after everyone had gone

 We were the only people left at the site and Danielo had brought some breakfast with him and the three of us sat drinking coffee watching the last of the vapour disappear as the sun warmed the temperature up and no more 
steam was visible. Just 

wonderful !

Long roads but never
without stunning scenary

Originally, the geothermal field was developed by a Italian company but due to mal-practice, there was an explosion and the remains of the plant and accommodation are still around.
This old pump remains in the middle of the filed.







We headed back down the stunning road which we had driven up in the dark with no idea what we were passing, stopping at a pretty wetlands area, but the mountains were the stars of the show. The road passed close to Licancabur, the live volcano and every corner we turned the view was more spectacular.

Vicuna and baby - seen on the way

Along the way, there was loads of wildlife and you could stop at every 

This volcano has the remains of 
a mine track going up into the crater where Sulphur was mined until President Pinochet closed it down.  This is at well over 5500m so we could not imagine how people could breath at this height although we were beginning to realise that here in South America, people had not just faced poverty but the nautural enemies of geology and climate to survive.

By the time we got back, the heat and the altitude was taking its toll. We headed off downtown for a Bolivian beer and a pizza before going off later in the evening to look at the stars with an astronomy guide. Steve who knows this subject well, was still feeling a bit rough from the altitude and we had opted for an early night and left Janette, Mandy and Paul to go star gazing. 

It was  great, they had a little astronomical dome and a good telescope with auto tracking. We started off just sitting outside looking at the night sky which was just stunning. The milky way was bright and dense and the clarity of the sky meant we could see things not visible in the UK with the naked eye, like Orion’s shield. 

With the telescope, we had a good look at the Pleiades and at the Omega Centuria star cluster which is only visible in the southern hemisphere. It was just incredible, over 2 million stars and looked just like a kaleidoscope through the telescope. Jupiter was the planet that was clearly visible and we could see its stripes clearly but not the spot as it was on the back side.  We also saw 3 of its moons clearly. All very impressive, the skies are crystal clear and the altitude and lack of any pollution made it just the best viewing conditions.

Its not for nothing that the largest telescopes in the world are sited at the Alma Observatory which is just outside San Pedro de Atacama and can be easily seen from the road into town.

Night viewing over, we headed back to the hotel. Paul and Mandy for a nightcap (again sensibly starting at 9.30) and Janette to bed for another 5.30am start.

Sulphur everywhere

Typical Bolivian Scenary

Ahh bless

Which way is it?

Wetlands area teeming with wildlife

Pink Flamingos - not uncommon in this country