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BOLIVIA

SALAR DE UYUNI, LAGUNA CELESTE AND TUPIZA (Sept - Nov 2004)   photos

From La Paz I went south to visit the most amazing place on Earth.  It takes 4 days by 4x4 jeep but it's worth it.  First there is the biggest salt flat on this planet, Salar de Uyuni. Incredibly white as far as one can see, and in the middle an island where the only vegetation consists of huge cactus.  We stayed in a hotel built from blocks of salt, beds, tables, chairs too.  Great!  2nd day- a valley of weired-shaped rocks, then lakes with flamingos, volcanoes, and Laguna Colorada, the most amazing sight of the day for me.  Thousands of flamingos, volcanoes around, and water red as blood!  Apparently caused by some microorganisms that live in it.

Day 3- geysers, boiling mud, hot steam shooting 30m into the sky.  Then hot springs, more volcanoes around.  Through the desert to Green Lake, where I camped 2 nights.  This lake is only green when its windy.  When the wind picks up in the morning is like someone spilled green paint and it spreads everywhere.  There is a great volcano right next to the lake, Licancabur 5900m.  It took some time to climb it, a steep walk but because of altitude quite hard. The view from the top was one of the best, lakes and volcanoes, some red, some yellow.

Another place I liked was a little town of Tupiza.  I walked the streets and nobody asked for money or tried to sell something I didn't need, a nice change.  I went horse riding for a day around Tupuiza, which surrounded by colorful rocky mountains, a great day but there was a price to pay - pain for the next few days ha ha.
From Tupiza I went to the official capital of Bolivia - Sucre, the white city.  Then Rurrenabaque, Bolivian jungle capital.  Went on a 3 day tour in the pampas.  Its a boat ride up and down a river full of wildlife, like alligators, turtles, dolphins, monkeys, and many, many birds.  The highlight for me was the anaconda catching.

After a short visit to Peru I returned to Bolivia, visited Salar de Uyuni but this time on foot.  I walked from a small village of Tunupac to Isla de Pescado, 30km on flat and blazingly white salt.  After spending a day exploring rarely visited island full of huge cactus, I went on walking to Isla Incahuasi.  It was far from boring: first an amazing sunset, then total darkness, followed by full Moon rising and distant lightning.  I arrived after midnight, camped out and returned by jeep to Uyuni.