by Kate Barba with Gwyn Barba

When we left off our story we were watching a sunset near our salt hotel just to the south of Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world.  We will now continue our tour with Intrepid Travel which includes a driver and Julia, our guide/local friend/fixer.  We enjoy an occasional small group tour with a guide because we get more information about a place and culture than we might otherwise find.  It is also a lovely break from being “in charge” and having to plan every day!  Julia is a treasure: informative when appropriate, quiet between stops, and friendly with the kids.  She even taught us a new card game!  We hope to see her again someday.

Starting in Uyuni our small group was just our family and a young man from Japan named Kiyo.  He has been traveling for a year and periodically working remotely to pay for it.  He’s on his own and putting it together as he goes, which is very impressive to me.  I’m not that brave, but it seems to work for him.  Kiyo was very kind and fit in, both figuratively and literally.  When he left us to cross over into Chile we missed him but quickly filled his space with snacks.  But first we had many adventures together in the span of a few days!

Bolivia is a colorful place, but sometimes you have to look a little deeper to see the subtle changes to the landscape palette.  While driving on the Bolivian side of the Atacama desert, at first it looks like an endless brown.  Slowly you notice the reds, tans, oranges, blacks and grays of a volcanic landscape.  The colors shift and gleam as if from scales of an iridescent bronze dragon, and smoke curls from their nostrils/mountaintops.  It’s beautiful and slightly menacing because you know you could not survive there for long.

Occasionally green plants blanket the landscape in the form of moss mounds and tufts of grass, and so a few hearty animals do survive there.  The rest of us are tourists in our salt-crusted SUVs, fleeing south into this colorful desert from the blinding whiteness of the Uyuni Salt Flats.  We come for flamingoes, hot springs, and colorful lakes.  What we find is a landscape so alien it might as well be the moon…or Mars.

Altiplano

We started our long driving day through the Altiplano with a short stop for fun photos.  Train tracks ran straight and true through the landscape towards the Chilean border.  We headed south instead and followed Rte 701 at the foot of the volcanoes dominating the horizon.  A snack and baños stop led to an unexpected highlight of the day.  Pete and I savored llama sausage sandwiches while perched on a rocky outcropping and watching the smoke rise from a mildly erupting volcano.  Gwyn and Drew were happily exploring the weathered lava flow next to the road.  A moment for the memory books.

We turned off the main road and headed toward Laguna Canapa for our first look at flamingoes and then on to “Smelly Lake” for lunch with a hint of sulfur and a view of these beautiful birds.  Flamingoes thrive in these geothermal lakes, filtering out algae and small invertebrates with their highly specialized bills.  Three species live side by side here: the Chilean, Andean and the elusive James’s.  What a treat to see them outside the zoo!

After lunch our skilled driver took us off roading through the Siloli Desert.  Pete used to do this in Utah, so we weren’t TOO concerned when we slid around sandy corners and crawled through deeply pitted river beds…  We left the green behind and added a strong wind by the time we stopped at the Rock Tree.  Finally we reached Laguna Colorada, where the shallow mineral-rich water swirls red and white.  It was stunning and so we decided to go ahead with a short scenic walk despite the high winds.  Afterwards we settled into a small hostel for a nice dinner, a few rounds of cards, and an early bedtime.  There we met a sweet couple from London on their honeymoon.  Unfortunately they were suffering from food poisoning, so Dr. Pete and our huge med kit to the rescue!  I hope they are doing well….

The next morning we were up before dawn and drove into the Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa.  We wanted to see the bubbling mud and steaming fumaroles at sunrise to see them at their most dramatic.  We parked on the clearly thin ground, walked on unmarked paths, and witnessed the heat of the volcanic system first hand.  I’m not sure I’ve ever done anything more dangerous, but we went away unscathed, so it was ok?!?

From there we went to a more commercial hot springs location for a sunrise dip in the naturally warm water before breakfast.  Kiyo departed for the Chilean border and we began the long journey back to Uyuni town.  We stopped by Laguna Verde, but unfortunately for us it was clouded over.  It gave a mysterious and ghostly feeling though, so we weren’t too upset.  The clouds lifted for our drive through the “Dali” Desert which is said to have inspired Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory, the surreal “melting clock” painting.  We had a quick stop for lunch in a small mountain village, followed by a short rock climbing session in Italia Perdida.  These rocks were fun to scramble on and reminded us of Utah with its red rocks and natural bridges and windows.

Our final stop of the day was at the Uyuni Train Cemetery.  Over 100 abandoned train cars are rusting on the edge of town and they have become an attraction for tourists visiting the salt flats.  We actually went here before heading out several days ago, but late afternoon was much quieter and easier to get some fun photos.  

The next day was another long haul drive to Sucre, where we would finish our tour and hang out for over a week.  First though, Julia took us to her favorite lunch spot in the famous mining town of Potosi.  This mountain is one of the reasons for the Spanish conquest for precious metals in South America; it has been the home of the world’s largest silver deposit and has been an active mine for centuries!  Drew continued his search for the best churros and we enjoyed stretching our legs through the town’s historic center.

Sucre

We said our thanks and goodbyes to Julia in Sucre, the constitutional capital and “Heart of Bolivia”.  Our beautiful Airbnb was an excellent place to crash, sleep, and catch up on school and the chores of life.  We walked every day, enjoying the relatively low elevation of 9000ft.  We explored our small section of town and found many great restaurants, parks, markets, and shops.  Gwyn will tell you more about the shops later.  My favorite food find were the salteñas.  These juicy empanadas have a slightly sweeter pastry shell and I loved the versions found at El Patio. 

We did two tourist attractions in town.  The first was near our apartment and was a music and dance show called Origins.  The company of dancers gave a highly energetic show ranging from traditional ritual-style rhythm dancing to Spanish handkerchief fiesta dances.  The costumes and variety of styles from across all regions of Bolivia were very impressive!  It was educational and entertaining and worth a look if you like performance art. 

Our second outing was just outside the city at the Parque Cretacico in Cal Orcko, a dinosaur museum whose main attraction is mind blowing…with a bit of imagination.  The hillside next to the park is completely covered in thousands of dinosaur tracks.  Five main types of dinosaurs crossed paths at an ancient riverbank, but the site contains 12,000 footprints from 294 different species!  The footprints were buried and preserved, then tilted upward through the formation of the Andes before becoming exposed as part of a quarry operation.  It is the largest paleontological site in the world and truly impressive to see up close. 

Gwyn will tell you about our final task before we left Bolivia for Chile— shopping!

When we were in Sucre we decided to do some last minute shopping. The first shop that we went to was a handmade shop. It had scarves, hats, gloves, coats, and shoes. The coats were beautiful but too heavy to take home. I already had hats and gloves so there was no need to get those. The scarves were so pretty and colorful so I decided I would get a pink one. Mom got some shoes that were blue, black, brown and white.  

The next shop that we went to was a souvenir shop. It had bags, clothes, ornaments, and stuffed animals! Drew found a beautiful pencil case with all the colors of the rainbow on it. Dad found a llama ornament with lots of beautiful decorations. It was a great souvenir shop.

We had a couple of Bolivianos (cash) left so Mom and I did some last minute shopping in the airport. The first shop that we went into was a typical souvenir shop. The next shop was more up our alley, there were baskets, kitchen tools, water bottles, clothes, dog accessories, and purses. Mom found a beautiful bag with blues of all shades but it was too expensive, Dad found some small baskets but I didn’t like them. I found a bow tie and bandana for our future dog and they said I could get it!

Now we gotta go catch our fight. More shopping in the next county!          -Gwyn

Thanks for reading to the end.  Next up: ??? Maybe an update on our schedule, our packing, or how we plan???  Don’t forget to check out our past stories and subscribe for future articles as well.  Find us on Facebook and Instagram for bonus content!  Please note that any links or business names provided are for information only, we did not receive any compensation for our opinions or recommendations. As always, if you are planning a trip to any location we visit we are happy to provide more details and opinions, so feel free to contact us!