Southwest Bolivia, Day 65

Southwest Bolivia is simply stunning…

Christi and I are up and out early, exploring our surroundings as the sun rises and marveling at the length of our shadows. We eat a pretty limp breakfast of stale bread and then it’s back to the spectacular scenery: Salar Chiguana (a smaller version of the Salar de Uyuni, but with less salt) followed by Oliawi Mountain (which is spewing toxic gas from its western flank). We then take a short-cut across a borax pan to the incomparably beautiful Lake Canapa where flamingoes are pottering about in the shallow waters, indifferent to the human presence. We leave, just as the tourist convoy arrives, and lunch at nearby Lake Hedionda. Vicuñas graze along the water’s edge, while flamingoes feed relentlessly on brine shrimp. Fast fact: the oddly shaped beaks of flamingoes are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from shrimp and are used upside-down. Not a lot of people know that!

After lunch, the spectacular scenery just keeps on coming as we drive through the stunning desert of Siloli in the Eduardo Abaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve. One rock formation, in particular, Arbol de Piedra (a 22 feet tall stone tree carved by wind-blown sand) is probably the most photographed rock in the whole of Bolivia. Our last stop for the day is another jaw-dropping knockout (I’m running out of superlatives for this tour): Laguna Colorada, which is a brilliant red-colored lake (partly due to red algae and partly red clay sediment) interspersed with white borax deposits. Anyone with an interest in photography could easily spend a month in the Salar and the reserve.

The fun ends here, however. Our hostel for the night in this corner of Southwest Bolivia is truly grim. There is no heat and no showers and the toilets, well they leave a lot to be desired. Our spaghetti bolognaise dinner is terrible. Fortunately, there isn’t very much of it (although our Swiss companions thought the lack of food is a problem). Our dorm accommodation is frigid (it’s Fargo frigid). Christi wears four layers of clothing, hat, scarf, and gloves, and uses two sleeping bags plus extra blankets and she is still cold.