Wake-up call at 5:30am, departure 6am from the salt hotel South of the Salt-Flats… a bit rude, no shower but given it's -5°C and very unlikely to have hot water… not really important ;)
The 2 days will be a heavy travel days in our 4x4 jeep, driving from the South of the Uyuni flats down to the South tip of Bolivia, probably doing 600 km on dirt and rock roads (or no road at all), at 40-50 Km/h max… so spending 12-15 hours in the jeep.
However, for a second day in a row, sceneries seen will be unforgettable: blue & red lagoons surrounded by high mountains, flamingos, colorful volcanos, geothermic geysers at 5,000m high… this is a big "Nature" show-off!
DRIVE ACROSS THE ANDES
Rocks, dirt and 6,000m high volcanos, with white snowed-peaks in the background were the amazing environment to cross down this South Bolivia altiplano region. Riding on endless plateaux, or going through tough dirty paths, the adventure was just awesome, despite the hours in the jeep. And with Miguel, our driver, who was putting some various music, going from kitschy techno music of the 90s to very local Bolivian latino music… it was at the end very entertaining :)
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| The view for many hours… endless Andean plateaus and dirt |
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| View of a high snowy volcano peak, at the border of Boliva & North Chile |
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| Bolivian Andes plateaux and mountains overview |
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| It looks like a solid rock, but this is a plant! |
AMAZING LAGOONS
Many lagoons exists at those high altitudes, filled by rain water, mixing special mineral elements which can give them a specific color pending the time of day, wind, heat… I had no idea these kind of landscapes existed there, and this was awesome to discover.
There are birds and flamingos living on those lagoons, adding a great animal life touch, ambling in their intact, natural environment, where you could spend hours to stare at the surrounding and the slow life happening there.
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| Cañapa lagoon |
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| Cañapa lagoon and flamingos |
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| Cañapa lagoon and flamingos… and perfect still water |
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| Me and the lagoon |
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| White lagoon with some other flamingos |
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| White lagoons and its many flamingos! |
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| White lagoon overview |
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Lagoon colorada, or the red lagoon: I also see a reverse white eagle in the lake, do you see it?
+… altitude is 4,300m here, sleeping just on the side! |
HIGH PLATEAUX & THE STONE-TREE / ARBÓL DE PIEDRA
We were already "high" ;) since few weeks, but those 2 days, we kept crossing plateaux and lagoons at 4,000m high or more, where vegetations is almost non-existent. Very impressive to see a vast area without ANY plant… only rocks and dirt exist at 5,000m high.
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| 4x4 riding through the rocks and mountains |
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| Beautiful view of the "5 colors" mountains, from a 5,000m high desert plateau |
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| The Stone-Tree, standing at 4,500m high or more, lost in the middle of nothing |
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| The Stone-Tree rocks formations overview |
GEYSERS AND THERMIC BATHS
At the beginning of day 3, we are reaching Sol de Maniana region, which is a volcanic zone with geysers. Afterwards we traveled towards Polques hot springs where few of us can take a relaxing bath in a small pool of natural thermal water… awesome again.
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| Geothermic myst at a mountain top :) |
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| A geyser |
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| Geothermic activity at 5,000m high: impressive |
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| The Polques thermic baths |
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| Well, me in the baths… 7am, around 0°C outside at 4,700m high… it wakes up! |
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| View of the thermic baths area and surrounding |
BOLIVIA BORDER AND CROSSING TO CHILE
After all this great time in Bolivia, time to reach the end of this Andean tour. Reaching the border at 10am… we got stuck waiting for an hour, before the guards do a kind of celebration and speech for the Bolivian national day.
Well, for sure interesting to see and listen too (not really friendly comment on their Chilean neighbors, but I can understand given the sea-access land conflict), but as travelers kept arriving, it just created another hour of queuing mess… fun ;)
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| The border-crossing building, with Bolivian officers celebrating Bolivia's national day (August 6th) |
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| The official border line... |
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| The sudden line when officers stopped talking… of course, it could only be very messy… :P |
Wake-up call at 5:30am, departure 6am from the salt hotel South of the Salt-Flats… a bit rude, no shower but given it's -5°C and very unlikely to have hot water… not really important ;)
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