Another planet The Salar de Uyuni is certainly one of the most incredible places, if not the most incredible place, I have been to on my trip... I completed my trip around Cafayate, seeing some Inca ruins at Quilmes, taking in more stunning landscapes and a few vineyard visits before getting back to Salta. From there I made a quick stop in Purmamarca, where I had the tastiest llama steak ever, before crossing into Bolivia. This whole area has some really incredible scenery, with multicolored mountains from the various types of minerals in the rocks, deserts with Daliesque rock formations, and then these salt flats, the remains of dried up lakes.
The tour I took headed out from Tupiza, 2 hours inside the Bolivian border for 4 days of bumping around in a jeep, getting around the various, lagunas, volcanos, flamingo colonies, geysers, and eventually the salar. It was painful at times, not least because of all the dust you breathe in as you shake about on the dirt tracks, but I definitely felt like I was seeing some of the most dramatic landscapes on the planet. I was doing the tour with a french girl, a german guy and a norwegian couple which worked out well. The Norwegians come from the most northern town on the planet where its dark for 3 months of the year, so it was interesting to hear about that.
The Salar de Uyuni really feels like you are on another planet. There is just white salt around you for as far as you can see, and the horizon is blurred in places where the salt flats are covered with water and the sky and the salt flats melt into one. Here and there you have an island covered in cactuses, one of the ones we saw is suppost to be 1200 years old. It is entirely surreal.
From Uyuni, I have made it up to Potosi, famous for the one of the biggest silver mines in the world, a huge source of wealth for the Spanish. The town was once bigger than London or Paris as people flocked form all over the world to get rich, and you can visit the mines. I did and they are horrendous, there is absolutely no concept of safety, and when I was inside I really felt like it was a silly thing to do, to take the risk of being inside, although admitedly it is extremely interesting to see what sort of conditions the people work in there. The dust inside make breathing extremely difficult, gas from dynamite explosions burn your throat, and you're always wondering if the thing is going to cave in. When I saw the light at the end of the tunnel as we made our way out, it really made my day. I'll put some pics of the mines up soon...
The Inca ruins at Quilmes
Looking across at the ruins
Choclo
Selling arts and crafts in the desert!
Los Tres Cruces
La Garganta del Diablo with its pink stone
Ecofriendly lawn mower!
Residential area in Salta...
Our guide Armando!
Sunset in Salta
Music in Purmamarca
Valle de los Siete Colores, Purmamarca
Colourful shopfront!
Wall painting in Humahuaca
Derelict rail line
Bus turned BBQ
Scary croc in Villazon!
End of the line
Parade in Tupiza
More parading in Tupiza to commemorate the loss of the sea access to Chile
An interesting little member in our horse riding group!
Cañon del Inca
Kids in Tupiza
Tupiza town square
Rescuing a truck!
Landscape near Tupiza
Power in the altiplano
Tiny village
Kids next to mud house...
Close up!
Barren
Looming storm
Flock of llamas
Hot spring
Laguna Verde
Sol de Manana Geysers
Laguna Colorado
More Laguna Colorado
National park keeper and his pet beguna!
El Arbol de Piedra
Flamingos
More flamingos...
Pit stop
Tornado across a salar
Military camp
Salt hotel
Tough navigating across the salar
Soaking upo the view with some emergency sunglasses!
Where's the horizon?
Just whiteness...
Isla del Pescado
1200 year old cactus
Only the Israelies would put a flag on their jeep...
You don't often get to stand on salt
Or in the clouds...
Only the top of 10m depth of salt...
Salt extraction...
Our excellent Tupiza Tour guides...
What 3$ gets you in Uyuni...
Dinner
People aren't very happy with Evo...
Road from Uyuni to Potosi...
The bus breaks down
Getting on the local bus
Casa de la Moneda in Potosi
Stormy Paraguay
2 comments:
Wow, ce sont de tres belles photos!
Au moins tu as l'air d'avoir du beau temps... pas comme en NZ.
Maryvonne et Paryvonne n'arretent pas de parler de ton Blog, un vrai succes!
Bon, tu m'envoies un petit email?
Great pictures and it almost makes me feel bad that as Bolivian that I am I don't know any of the places that you took pictures of. I would love to experience what you did, how did you get/set up the tour? email me with any info that you may have PLEASE since I will be on my way to Bolivia on September. My email is laricura2001@hotmail.com....Gracias!
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