After a mix of evening departure, double flight with associated transit wait, and time zone changes our arrival into La Paz was 1.30am.... yawn.
However the drive from the airport situated at over 4000m altitude to the city centre of 3600m was spectacular, seeing the lights of the city whilst travelling through largely deserted streets. And a light dusting of snow.
Immediately we noticed the strange sensation of difficulty in climbing one flight of stairs but sleep was a more pressing priority.
The view from our hotel room in the morning gave a 'wow' moment before we did some exploring.
We joined up with an organised walking tour which gave us a great overview of the central city area. Guided through a few market's, including a witches market and a love potion market.... before moving on to the main political square. One of the buildings in the square still sports bullet holes from a relatively recent (early 2000's) altercation between rival groups.
Great to get a feel for the city and the markets are amazing. Seeing the local, ladies in particular, in their traditional clothing and hearing the explanations was great.
Our first day was rounded off with our introductory meeting for the Intrepid Travel group tour we are doing in Bolivia. We are quite lucky as there is only 3 other travellers, with our guide advising this is very unusual but will effectively make for a private tour.
La Paz for a day
If you ever wondered what Caro is like when she's high, this was the day we found out! In hindsight yesterday's activities were too much... and we should have known as even a local on the flight in had warned us to have a relaxed first day. Yep, although we were all drugged up, altitude sickness had hit with Caro feeling very ill and spending the day sleeping 🤕... but thankfully felt much better by evening (Although disappointed to have lost a day).
I hadn't been affected too bad, headache and that strange exertion feeling excepted. So on I carried and joined the rest of our group as our guide Marisol, a La Paz native, took us to the nearby Moon Valley by local transport (itself an adventure).
Following our return to the city we had a trip from the valley back up to the airport level by the large cable car system. The cable car system was opened 2014 and is an efficient method of moving the population around.
Llama anyone?
The first travel day was reasonably big with 8 hours from La Paz to Uyuni town. Lots of interesting scenery, the first part with snow lying. Some large areas of construction evident close to La Paz as the population grows... although still looks like a large worksite with dirt roads and roadside street vendors.
The countryside has lots of farmland... but not as we know it! Crops grown, but not evident now in winter, include potatoes, quinoa and barley. Largely still worked by hand or horse, although tractors are used in some of the bigger places. No fences with local knowledge being boundaries. Thanks to the eating trends of the western countries quinoa has become a rather profitable crop to grow for export though it's a laborious harvest as all hand picked.
As trip progressed some livestock was evident. Sheep!.. but small flocks being tended by a person whilst they free range grazed. They are penned at night. Cattle, dairy produce in one area... once again small numbers and minimal mechanisation. Llamas also farmed on a free range basis.
After arriving in Uyuni we had an introductory walk around... very cold, preparing for next few days. Then dinner, what else but grilled Llama! (Noel had that not Caro.... they're too cute!!!!)
Do you want salt with that?
A morning load up of our mode of transport for the next 3 days, a Toyota Land cruiser which comfortably held the 6 of us plus driver along with roof rack of supplied duffel bags for our reduced luggage. The day was spent on the amazing Salar de Uyuni Salt Lake... a massive area visible from space, easily the world's largest. It was stunning !!!!! vistas under a blue sky, although a little cooler, over huge salt distances including a stop for some fun perspective shots and to an "island" covered in cactus; this place is phenomenal.
Feeling on top of the world!
We had early on visited the salt factory, a very basic hand method of crushing and bagging. The actual harvest still follows basic traditional methods, although tractors are used to form grader rows for hand collection. All by local communities.
The huge disappointment to us was being informed that the whole lake is threatened due to a strong push to allow harvesting of Lithium for battery use. This would not only destroy the whole lake as they dig the lot out, it would also contaminate areas surrounding the lake (due to chemicals used and by products of the process). Somewhat ironic given the environmental push for battery use!
Onward to our accommodation, made of salt bricks even our bed base was salt bricks, a more basic level ( ie no hot water or heating!!) but clean and lots of blankets supplied.
They did warn us it could be cold
This day was a lot of slow driving over totally metal tracks, or in some cases not even that. But a stunning day with a twist! Highest point reached was around 4600m as we traversed the Andean desert, running parallel with and close to the Chile border, before dropping in altitude slightly.
Passing some lagoons with Pink Flamingos was a highlight as well as the Red Lagoon the colour of which was caused by algae. It's also the biggest lake that the pink flamingos breed on: apparently there's thousands in residence over the breeding season....now there were still a few small groups generally ones with juveniles that haven't mastered the art of flying in time for the migration to warmer climates ....I bet they are a bit sad at this point!!!!
We dropped our bags at our next lodge and lunched there. This was very basic accommodation.... shared dormitory style, no heating, no hot water, 2 toilets to 36 people....
It was actually snowing now and very cold, as forecast. However it isn't that usual, and the locals surprisingly are not that used to the consequences. We headed off after lunch to continue the planned program (with a promise of a soak in hotsprings at 4500ish metres),
It soon became a bit of a concern that the snow drifts were building up, and our driver was picking a path through the area off the main trail. Then, we spotted another Landcruiser completely stuck in a drift. No way could we pull him out as they were that well bellied. Our driver assisted for a while with shovelling until Noel convinced our guide that perhaps we should leave them and ensure we could get back to the lodge and radio for assistance. That was the result luckily and an empty vehicle doubled back to rescue the occupants of the stuck one.
So the lodge soon filled as no vehicles could get further. A small fire in eating area helped a little, but it was an afternoon of tucked under blankets in full 5 layer clothing followed by an early night. The most disappointed was our guide Marisol, whereas the rest of us accepted it as a bit of excitement...
Gotta catch a ghost train....
Our final day of 4 wheel driving led us back to Uyuni, but first travelling out of the now snow landscapes from a very cold lodge. Impressive scenery continued including passing the Red Lagoon again, but on the other side.
Even the Llamas sought shelter
A number of stops, but even once out of the snow zone the wind was bitterly cold... ending up with 6 layers of merino, puffer jackets, windbreak jacket, double gloves.... a veritable Michelin Man ready to rob a bank with balaclava and sunglasses!
Our lunch stop was a National Park of a huge area of rocks, formations etc. Once again amazing scenery with the well practiced layer up, out of vehicle, walk around and reverse.
Final stop was at the train cemetery on the outskirts of Uyuni, many old trains were brought to the area ex other countries to work in the mining industry. Trucks took over, the railway became redundant and the trains all parked....to slowly rust away!
We headed to our hotel to utilise their hot water and prepare for our next leg... which will be our next post.
