Schlagwort-Archive: backpacking

Bolivia, World Trip 2018-19

Tupiza to Uyuni: A tour through breathtaking landscapes

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When I visited Bolivia in 2012, the Uyuni Tour was my absolute highlight – so I did not mind at all to do it again now 6 years later! This time we started from Tupiza and ended the tour in Uyuni whereas last time I had done Uyuni-San Pedro de Atacama. Starting in Tupiza added one day to the tour – a really cool day during which there were almost no other tour jeeps around. The tour took 3.5 days in total and led through some of the most amazing landscapes we’ve ever seen. We were with a fun couple from Switzerland and our driver-guide Clemente, with who we spent these awesome days driving around by jeep (there are no real roads).

The first day started with a drive to a pretty desert viewpoint. A bit similar to the landscapes we had seen around Tupiza already, but beautiful nevertheless.

 

We then continued to Ciudad de Itas – rock city. Easy to understand why it would be called like that! I’ve hardly ever seen such crazy shaped rocks before in my life. Walking around, we just felt like dwarfs! It’s crazy how wind and weather can create formations like these – at the same time we know they will disappear at one point; they are not for eternity.

 

What followed was a drive through more beautiful landscapes, passing by lamas, vicunas and picturesque lakes. We also visited a sort of mini-Machu Picchu along the way.

 

We slept in a little village in the middle of nowhere, that was made up just by some houses with the people living from farming and the tourists that are passing by. I cannot imagine living in such a remote place – sure, the surrounding landscapes are amazing, but there is just nothing around!

 

Next day was again a day filled with beautiful landscapes… and lots of animals! It started with visiting a lama farm, where hundreds of cute lamas were waiting for us to take photos of them. Haha, some of them were just really cute! And something unexpected – we ended up seeing some ostriches along the way!

 

And that was all before we reached lakes full of flamingos! There were lakes of all colours – green, white, red… and most of them were filled with groups of flamingos. It was so amazing to see these pretty birds from so closeby and Mathijs went crazy with the camera and our zoom-lens. Often, the mirror-effects of the mountains and flamingos together were just stunning!

 

In between, we passed by Dali desert, which I already knew from my first Uyuni Tour, and some geysirs of crazy colours that were sizzling or where mud was bubbling just right next to where we were walking. It’s nice that in a country like Bolivia you can get so close to such natural wonders, whereas in Europe for sure there would be (ugly) fences all over the place.

 

Best of all was Laguna Roja though, near the end of our day. This lake looked just so unnatural in colour, with its bright red parts and loads of pink flamingos feeding in there. Definitely one of our favourite spots of the whole Uyuni Tour!

 

What an awesome 2nd day of our tour! And there was of course still more to come… Namely some more crazy rock formations on the 3rd day to begin with. Unfortunately I felt a bit sick on that day, so wasn’t able to join in on all the climbing and exploring.

 

Later on, we visited Laguna Negra, a black lake in a very picturesque setting with loads of lamas around to pose for photos once again. It was another one of those special places, that we really enjoyed. During this tour, we just went from one amazing landscape to the next, but it was always something different again and again and every day had its surprises waiting for us.

 

A short photo stop was made at Canon de Anaconda, where a dark green river snakes through a canyon, looking like an anaconda from above.

 

We then went to the salt flats to watch sunset there, but it wasn’t really that special to be honest. The sunrise next day (our last day) on an island covered in cacti was way more special! However…we had to share it with hordes of tourists and this was the spot where I got the most annoyed during the whole tour. People just being completely respect-less, climbing past signs saying „no access“ and standing in the way of everyone’s photos and view. Arrrggghhh! So annoying. I preferred the first time I visited this island in 2012 during the day, when it was just as pretty, and I only remember my own tour group being around…

 

What followed, was the most well-known part of the Uyuni Tour: the part where you go out on the salt flats and take funny perspective pictures! While we certainly had some fun with these, it was also rather tricky with a DSLR, as the focus would kind of ruin the picture. But well, it was still amazing being out there on the white salt, nothing but white salt…

 

The last and final stop of our tour was the old train cemetery, basically an area where old trains are left to rot away which is quite scenic and you can take some more nice pictures. Similar to the cactus island though, this place was a bit too overrun by Insta-famous wannabes for our taste.

 

With that, our amazing 4 days had come to an end and our jeep spit us out into ugly Uyuni city, from where we took a bus across the border to San Pedro de Atacama next day… Bye bye, Bolivia! We would have wanted to stay longer, but the rain in some parts made us leave quicker. So I guess we’ll have to come back one day.

Bolivia, World Trip 2018-19

Wild West in Tupiza

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Our plan of following the sun seemed to be working: when we arrived in Tupiza after a very uncomfortable minibus ride (squeezed in the back with barely any legroom), the sun was shining and the mountains around town were glowing in a beautiful red. A good welcome! On our first full day, we decided to climb up Cerro de la Cruz for a view of the city. It was a bit of a walk along dusty roads first, but the climb itself took shorter than expected and brought us up to a beautiful viewpoint. Seriously, the views in all directions were just stunning!

Since it was getting hotter and hotter, we then took advantage of the free swimming pool in the partner hotel of where we stayed. It was not as nice and refreshing as expected, but a reasonably good way to relax a bit before we had to get some things done, like booking the Uyuni-Tour, getting our laundry done etc. Travel life! We also spontaneously decided to book a 3 h horse riding tour for the next morning, since the prices were really low and it seemed like a great way to see this desert landscape.

Good idea! Next morning, we headed off together with Ladina and Kevin from Switzerland, who should also be our Uyuni group as we found out. We first took a colectivo to the place where the horses are kept, and off we went! The first place we visited was Puerta del Diablo, the devil’s gate, an impressive rock formation where we briefly got off the horses to take some pictures.

We then passed by Valle de los Machos – some more funny looking rocks – to Cañon del Inca, a really cool canyon. But anyways – the whole trip so far had been amazing!! Riding horses in this kind of landscape feels exactly like the thing you should be doing. Sometimes we were going fast, and it felt a little bit like in a Western movie.

So when our guide asked if we didn’t want to extend the trip to 5 h and add Cañon del Duende, we didn’t hesitate for long… We took a route that connects the two canyons – actually quite a long ride, but very beautiful once again. Cañon del Duende itself can be explored better by foot, as it’s quite narrow in the end and you have to climb up and down some rocks to see it. It’s a really cool place with unreal rock formations!

I’m really glad we came all that way even if it meant a long ride back whereas our bones and muscles were starting to hurt and we were out of water since we had only planned on a 3 h ride. But… the landscape and the feeling of riding a horse in these kind of surroundings more than made up for it! Very much recommended.

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Bolivia, World Trip 2018-19

Potosí above and below earth

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Our bus ride from Sucre to Potosí was one of the most annoying and uncomfortable ones so far (next to the minibus to Toro Toro) and we arrived in the rain and got kicked out into a rain shower. The whole time during the bus ride, weather had been dry and sunny… We do realize that our bad luck with weather on this trip (starting in the Solomon Islands already) is influencing our mood, so we have decided to skip any places where the weather doesn’t look good going forward. Luckily, in Potosí the rain stopped quickly and we were treated to a nice and sunny afternoon. Originally, we had wanted to straight away do a tour of the mines that afternoon, but since our bus got delayed that wasn’t possible anymore. In the end, this was nice though since it gave us the chance to see Potosí – a cute little town that very positively surprised us! I’m not sure why this place is not recommended more. I think even if you don’t go on a tour to the mines, it’s worth a stop if you’re headed to Tupiza afterwards.

We especially liked the views from the cathedral – the typical Potosí picture you see on posters is taken from here I guess! You can see Cerro Rico, the mountain where the mines are located and the town stretching to all sides. Very well worth the entrance fee and breathtaking climb!

For Sunday morning, we had booked a tour of Potosí’s famous mines. Unfortunately/fortunately there are no miners working on Sundays, so you’re basically visiting empty mines. Unfortunately because it would have been interesting to see them at work and talk with them. Fortunately because it would have maybe felt a bit like a ‚human zoo‘. Anyways, it was what it was. We had a funny guy as a guide who had worked in the mines himself before. He first brought us to his place to get our protective clothes, helmets and headlamps, then we went to the miners market. Not really a market but more like a couple of hole-in-the-wall shops which all sold the same drinks, cookies, coca leaves…and dynamite! Yes, you read correctly. Potosí is the only place in the world where you can legally buy dynamite. We bought some, as well as some of the other stuff as presents for the miners, and off we went up Cerro Rico.

I was a bit anxious before visiting the mines about how the small tunnels would make me feel – and it’s definitely nothing for claustrophobic people! Straight away in the beginning we had to climb down a ladder into a small dark hole. The tour continued through tunnels of various heights, sometimes you really had to duck and squeeze (especially when going up or down a level), sometimes you could walk upright.

Along the way, we learned about the difficult life of the miners and all the health and safety risks they are taking. The life expectancy of a miner is 40-45 years only! I was shocked when by the end of the tour I asked our guide how old he was – 35! He looked like 50+ to me, having lost most of his teeth and having a hunchback. But no, this guy is only 4 years older than me, but looks like his best years are long gone by. And he even only worked in the mines for 5 years!

To ‚protect‘ themselves, the miners have built little statues on different places in the mines called ‚Tío‘ to who they bring some high percentage alcohol which gets poured over various body parts, coca leaves and a cigarette which they light and put in the statues‘ mouth. Doing so every now and then should help them make it safely out of the mine again.

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The most exciting and a little scary moment was when we got to try out the dynamite at one point of the tour. Beforehand, this idea sounded fun and cool, but after spending an hour or so squeezing through tunnels, I wasn’t so sure anymore… How stable are these tunnels really and what if something collapses? Waiting for the explosion, my heart was certainly beating faster and I was glad when of course after a loud ‚boom‘ everything was fine. I guess our guide knows what he is doing as a former miner and he brought us quite far away before the explosion. It gave us a good impression though, of the risks that these people are taking every day and what is completely normal for them…

All in all, the tour was very interesting and made me understand Bolivia better. Mining plays a big role in the country and there are often road blocks when miners are protesting for better working conditions. Now we know why.