April 4, 2017
The landscape of southern Bolivia is diversely beautiful. There are marbled colored mountains, lagoons in all shades of the rainbow, volcanos and the Salar de Uyuni. In order visit all these remote locations, it’s easiest to book a tour since you need a guide to navigate and a good 4×4 off road vehicle. It’s an adventure tour so be prepared to embrace the unexpected. I booked the 4-day tour from Tupiza to Uyuni with Tupiza Tours.
The first day we traveled from Tupiza to San Antonio de Lipez. From Tupiza we climbed to the top of the beautiful Quebrada de Palapa to El Sillar, where landscape looks like the moon. We continued towards the Nazarenito mining areas and stopped in the colonial ruins of San Antonio Viejo or Ghost Town. There were also frequent llama sightings who look like they’re perpetually ready for carnival with the brightly colored tassels dancing from their ears.
We were supposed to stay in San Antonio de Lipez but never made it. We were about 30 min from the hotel at dusk. Since there had been so much rain, the river valley was flooded and the guides couldn’t find a safe place for us to cross as it got dark. The guides decided to turn us around and we found a remote farm who’s owner was kind enough to take us in for the night. Several other tour groups also arrived due to the same problem so there were about 30 of us staying at this family’s home. People slept in the barn and a few of us got cramped seats in the jeeps. It was a long cold night!
The next morning we successfully crossed the flood river and luckily none of the cars got stuck! The first lagoon of the day was Laguna Morejon Quetena where there’s hot springs that we jumped in for a leisurely soak. Throughout the day we saw turquoise lagoons and a pink lagoon with pink flamingos. We also passed the volcano Lincancabur which is a staggering 5960 meter. That night we slept at an elevation of 4,800 meters (15,750 ft). I developed one of the worst headaches of my life trying to sleep that night – altitude sickness hurts! The guide shared cocoa leaf tea which definitely helped alleviate the pain.
The third day was filled with more lagoons, volcanos and giant rock formations to climb on. The sweeping landscape changes dramatically from one area to another and the colors look as though they’ve been painted. The day ended at the train cemetery at the edge of the Salar de Uyuni where the rusted cars have been eaten away by the harsh salt over the years.
The last day started with a beautiful sunrise at the Salar de Uyuni. We lucked out and had blue skies and there were patches of water and areas of dry salt. The flooded salt bed creates this mirror that reflects the sky. It’s a fun place to jump around and play with photography. Our guide was an expert at playing with perspective and helping us shoot funny photos and videos.
