Nestled beneath my cosy flamingo print blanket, I heard Edgar padding toward our door. H knocked so loudly I still jumped! ‘Vamos chicos!’ Dix minutos!’ We upped an at-ed it and were soon all piled into the car to head off for another day of natural wonders….
Voila Bolivia’s proudest wonder ‘Laguna colorada’ The rust red water is truly this colour- the white at the centre of the lake are ice floes, because do not forget we are at high altitude….
Exploring the Arbol de piedra, or tree of stone through a lens
We marveled at the huge rock formations in the siloli desert
Snow capped mountain, glacial lake, and flamingos all in one go….our jaws were on the floor.
Miss our little photo-taking friendlies! We had too much fun on this trip!
Ha! Edgar was critting our photos:) Muy impressionante came out of his mouth quite a bit, so we were happy- and man does he get a kick out of his jumping photos! All this while our darling cook laid out a lunchtime feast for us!
Vicuna spotting!
And my first view of an active volcano – the plume of smoke to the far left of the mountain is evidence!
volcanic rock wave…
Just in case you needed proof:)
One of the first salars, or salt flats we were to cross…
the salt hotel that we stayed at was quite something – the walls, bed bases, tables, seats, even the decorations are all made from salt! It is incredible to think that the entire structure is made from this mineral.
It started pouring with rain – the storm we were avoiding earlier had caught up with us and it did not bode well for seeing the flats the next day. When the salar is covered with water it makes it incredibly difficult to navigate the little over 10000 square kilometre area! Beside the fact that saltwater is highly corrosive…so we held our breath hoping for it clear soon!
Saltwater spray….
Fortunately for us, we were able to get around perfectly well, thanks to our knowledgeable guide, his great sense of direction, and his drive to help his chico’s see the beauty of his country. We kept in close range of the other vehicles, in case of breakdowns and went cruising across these majestic white scapes….we did not experience a single breakdown on our trip, in fact Edgar had to stop to help others out every now and then. He looked after his vehicle like it was gold- amazing!
If only these photographs could convey how icy that layer of water was!
Sunrise on the Salar
Incahuasi Island in view – our breakfast stop – an entire island covered in ancient cacti on the Salar…
Edgar sticking his hands into one of the ‘eyes’ of the Salar – two open source point of the flats…
Edgar shows off some mean directing skills…
The trip ended in Uyuni, and aftre saying a choked up good-bye to our favourite Bolivian, we booked tickets for the overnight bus and decided to wile away the next six or so hours with wanderings through the small not-so-scenic town, and with a pitstop involving beer and pizza, before getting on the supposedly treacherous night bus up to La Paz…
A brewing storm and a train cemetery….mmmm
This trip left us completely enchanted with Bolivians and their exquisite country, and to top it off we made two awesome friends that live halfway across the world. Here to you finding Edgars on your travels! Our next lap begins in the mysterious city of La Paz…
xx
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such cool pictures!
Be honest, did you lick the walls in the salt hotel? You did, didn’t you?
HAHAHAHA I did! I climbed onto my bed to find a really high point in the hopes that no one had licked there before…pretty nasty anyway! No secrets here;) xxx
sad to say, the toothbrush pic was my fave
it made me laff
Hehehe..you would have laughed more if you saw the choreography involved:)