Four days and three nights in the Bolivian highlands - what a great journey! Certainly one of the most amazing trips I have ever done. Six of us tourists in a jeep, plus a driver/guide and a cook. Not overly much space, but enough. All the luggage (and the kitchen and spare fuel) on the roof of the jeep.
Starting from Tupiza up through a gorgeous valley, getting visually quite close to Bryce Canyon. Then further through the hills of the Altiplano, passing a few very remote villages completely built of adobe. Obviously not (yet) so much traveled by tourist, the villagers apparently did find our presence interesting and/or disturbing, sometimes. Many Llamas and Vicuñas (the Llamas slightly smaller siblings), beautiful hills. This is the supposedly "boring" day of the journey - I was already very much impressed. The first night in San Antonio de Lípez, at 4200m altitude, was a little difficult for all of us. Who did not suffer from nausea did at least have a headache and trouble catching his/her breath... I had the impression I did not sleep at all that night. We were impressed the "hostel" had electric light! The general standard is very low. Our cook impressed us - after an already very nice lunch - with a great dinner. Basic but tasty.
Second day - getting up at 5 am, well before sunrise. Breakfast did not really go down so well. Gorgeous night sky with innumerable stars out. Very cold morning. Had to push the jeep into operation - the spark-plugs were frozen in. Once on the jeep, watching sunrise over the hills and mountains was truly great. Stop at Fantasma, a mining town of the Spanish, which once housed more than 500 Spaniards and 1000 Indian slaves. Folklore has it the devil himself lived here for three years. But this is a different story I might tell an other time. After Fantasma, we climbed further up toward a beautiful pass, lightly covered in snow and making for some more gorgeous views. We came across two trucks blocking the road as they had broken down the night before. Not a nice spot to spend the night. Our guide changed a wheel of our jeep at the Laguna Morejon, from now on he would spend every minute not driving under the car. Incredible views - lagoons, flamingos, snow-capped mountains. Passing Laguna Kollpa and Laguna Blanca toward Laguna Verde. No flamingos here - no surprise, the green color is due to the high Arsenic content of the water... Then a nice hot bath in a thermal spring - at 4800m! More mountains and flamingos in the background. Even more - and totally different desert landscapes.... Then the Geisers Sol de Mañana at 5000m, no fences or security whatsoever - you just walk around, but a great sight! Very long day, 12 hours, mainly in the jeep! But the scenery makes you forget that.
Third day - getting up at 7am, quite relaxed start. Three hours at the Laguna Colorada since our driver removes the fuel from the slightly leaky tank, completeyly disassembles the tank, fixes it with help of a custom made piece (from his leather belt!), and assembles it again. He totally knows what he is doing... We have a slight leak in the oil system, too. Our driver is a little tense, starts chewing coca leaves. But the views on Laguna Colorada - totally stunning! Heaps of flamingos. Further through the highlands, lunch stop at the Arbol de Piedra, slightly extended as our driver keeps fixing parts of the jeep before they break down. Unfortunately one of our group feels nauseous again. The problem with the oil and the upset stomach make us detour toward slightly more civilized settlements.
Fourthy day - getting up at 7am again. First to Uyuni to sort out accomodation and find a resting place for the sick stomach. Then further on to the Salt Lake (the biggest and highest in the world, at 4000m). Unreal sight! Visiting the Salt Hotel - completely built from salt bricks. Nice. After lunch back to Uyuni. The town is not as bad as described in the travel guides...
We were very lucky with our jeep and driver - besides some little hick-ups, nothing serious. Other groups broke down in the middle of nowhere (there is a lot!), had to spend the night somewhere, wait for an replacement jeep for a day or so, or ran out of fuel and/or food and so on.
More pictures here!
