We arranged for a 3 day excursion into the South east of Bolivia to see some amazing sights. It started with an early start to get across the border and meet our guide and driver for the next 3 days (Omar and George). After a late breakfast in the “breakfast shack” (exactly what it says on the tin), we headed off to so see the White and Green lagoons. Both are right next to each other but the white one has its colour from natural borax, while the green one is toxic with arsenic, copper, lead, magnesium and sulphur. It was a beautiful site to start our Bolivian excursion.
One of our stops was the Polques hot springs where we got changed and jumped into straight into the hot pool @ 38oC. The girls also tried the cooler one (only 30oC) but soon came back to the hot pool. We could not stay too long as one, the sun was out in full force and two, the hot water whilst relaxing was also draining.
We got to see the world’s highest geysers, Sol de Mañana, which is at around 4960m elevation. Not as spectacular as the El Tatio ones in Chile, and definitely a lot smellier. There is a lot of sulphur in the area.. so wet fart steam clouds enveloped us! The geysers were also more boiling mud than hot water. Interestingly, El Tatio geysers at 4500m ASL boil around 85 degrees, and Sol de Mañana boil at 80 degrees due to the elevation.
The Atacama region is also famous for it flamingos, with 3 specific species: Andean (biggest), Chilean, and Jame’s (smallest). Maxine got to study some facts about them at the border, and was super excited to put her new found knowledge into practice when we got to the red lagoon (Laguna Colorada). She was able to correctly identify all three of them. The lagoon is red from the algae that thrives here and that attracts all the flamingos. It’s also this type of algae that gives the flamingoes feathers their pink colour.
Throughout the whole trip we saw lots of rock formations, many from old volcanic eruptions, that have been eroded by wind over thousands of years. The two most impressive ones were the stone trees, where the rocks do sort-of look like trees, and little lost Italy, where the upright rows of stone could be seen as reminiscent of terraced housing. Apparently it’s called lost Italy as during Dakar races, some Italian racers got lost in this area.
As we drove around the mountains, we stopped by a valley and walked up it. The bottom of the valley was filled with running water and plants. An Andean wetlands, one of the favourite places for Llamas to graze and also other animals like the Vizcacha (a wild hare that has a curly tail). We followed the water up the valley until we got to the Lago Catal or Black lagoon, where we managed to arrive just before sunset. Absolutely beautiful.
Whilst in Uyuni, we also stopped by the Train cemetery. It was started by an old town mayor to preserve some of the town’s history (it was a major railway town for the mining industry), but unfortunately most of the trains were stripped for parts, and cut up for scrap metal. So much history gone, especially since Mish noticed some very interesting and uncommon locomotive configurations. The one that stood out was the “Garratt” which has a double configuration of 4-8-2+2-8-4 (a set of wheels in front as usual, but also another set of powered wheels behind the fire box), also known as a Double mountain. It is one of the only locomotives that is pivoted in order to be able to go round the bends whilst pulling very heavy loads.
Bolivia is an amazing country, but is still developing, and that can be seen everywhere that is urbanised. Cuisine left much to be desired, but wow, the landscapes and natural beauty of this region forged by tectonic movement, the Andes mountains and natural resources is truly spectacular! The high altitude of the SE definitely was felt by both parents, and the extreme dryness affected all of us. So, we will be glad for a bit of a reprieve from both when we head to Easter Island next.
Comments
Post a Comment