The second day of our tour started a little before 6 a.m. I went outside to take some sunrise photos, then we ate a quick, simple breakfast, and got underway before 7. We knew there would be a lot of driving through barren landscapes, punctuated with stops to see volcanos and lagoons.
We made our first pit stop in the town of San Juan, where they were selling many varieties of quinoa, or products derived from quinoa. They even had examples of the quinoa plant.
After another hour, we stopped at train tracks in the Salar de Chiguana, a much smaller salt flat south of the Salar de Uyuni. By now, we could see the Ollagüe volcano looming in the distance. Jafet told us that the border between Bolivia and Chile runs through the volcano. We climbed around on the tracks and took some photos, then resumed driving.
Around 10 a.m. we reached a mirador (viewpoint or lookout) with fantastic views of Ollagüe, which looked like a large black mountain with streaks of light gray ash running down several sides. We could see steam coming from a vent on one side.
Next, we visited the first over several lagoons inhabited by Andean flamingos: Laguna Cañapa. The lagoon is ringed with salt and minerals, and surrounded by bofedales, a type of wetland found in the Andes. In the bofedales, we saw a two kinds of plants. One is a large yellow grassy plant, that reminded us of images of Rohan as depicted in the Lord of the Rings movies. The other was more of a very short yellow lichen, which Jafet said served to filter the water.
It was amazing to see all the flamingos, and a source of wonder: how did these isolated groups come to be so high up and thrive here? Besides the flamingos, we also saw some small birds, one of which was called k’uli k’uli in Quechua.
Around lunchtime we arrived at Laguna Hedionda. The water was a much lighter blue-green, and the landscape featured thola, a scrubby, shrubby dark green plant, in addition to the bofedales. Jafet said that this lagoon is often stinky in the mornings, but it seemed fine by the time we arrived.
The comedor where we ate lunch had enormous big windows offering fantastic views of the lagoon and the nearby mountains. But there were a lot of tour groups coming through, so there was some pressure for us to finish eating and clear out for other people.
Most of the lagoons had limits, which we respected, to protect the delicate plants around the lagoon, though we noticed some tourists getting much, much closer. But Laguna Hedionda seemed to offer the closest views of the flamingos, and I was able to get some halfway decent photos using my long lens.
Jafet skipped the Laguna Qhorina, which he said is orange colored because of ochre, and continued on to Laguna Honda. This one was much smaller, and much lighter color. There was a borax cap in places, and few flamingos.
After this, we entered the Siloli (or Ciloli) Desert, a very dry and dusty area. There were beautiful brown mountains on the horizon, that seemed painted with white and red. There was also a mountain that seemed to have an eye, which Jafet said was called Kh’uzaña.
By 3 p.m. we reached a place Jafet called viscachitas. It reminded us of Elephant Rocks State Park back in Missouri. Lots of brown rock formations to climb, taking us high above the desert floor. Among these rocks we ran into several viscachas, a species of rabbit with a long squirrel-like tail and sleepy-looking eyes.
After this, we entered the Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve, where we were going to see several more attractions that evening and then next morning. This is the most expensive entry fee of the tour — 150 Bs for foreigners, and 30 Bs for Bolivians. We had been using the Bolivian consular birth certificates we obtained years ago for the kids so we could pay the reduced price for them, but at this stop, the soldier collecting the fees gave us a lot of trouble. He said that the birth certificates weren’t sufficient, that the kids needed carnets, which are the national Bolivian ID card. It seems that in recent years, kids have begun getting carnets around the time they enter school. Yoli insisted, though, and eventually he relented. But this particular encounter got us thinking later that perhaps we should try to obtain carnets while we were in Bolivia. I’ll write more about that failed effort later.
Two more attractions remained today. First, we visited the Arbol de Piedra, or tree of rock, an amazing wind-carved formation in the desert. I thought it was impressive, but the kids didn’t really pay much attention to it. Instead they had fun scrambling up other huge formations close by.
Finally, a little before 5 p.m., we reached Laguna Colorada. This immense lagoon is often featured in pictures of the tour. Much of the water is a bright red color because of algae, while the other part is more of a dark blue. A sign for tourists explained that the colors vary throughout the day ranging from brown to intense red, but the best colors are caused when the wind stirs it up, usually between 2:30 and 6:30 p.m.
Like the other lagoons, there are salt and mineral formations around the edges, and even forming islands. The side of the lagoon where we arrived was covered in large black volcanic-looking rocks, before giving way to the bofedales.
And of course the lagoon was full of Andean flamingos. I got only a few good pictures here, since the flamingos were generally much further away than they had been at earlier lagoons. But the color of the water definitely heightens the visual possibilities.
At the end of the day, we finally reached the “rustic” hotel. For a few weeks, I had been wondering what this would be like. It was a simple, older building with a single comedor, a bunch of rooms, and one shared bathroom.
Lights and power were only available for a few hours at night, so it came in handy that Joseph and I brought our own headlamps. In a way, the dearth of electricity was good. There’s not much light pollution out here, and the stars are very bright — except, of course, we were here during a full moon, so the moon‘s light kept us from the full star experience.
Blogs and promotional material suggest you bring or rent sleeping bags, since the desert can get near freezing during winter nights, and this hotel is not heated or well insulated. The Salty Desert people told us this would be taken care of, and the beds did seem to have more than enough blankets and covers to keep us warm. (But the old, misshapen mattresses plus the weight of all the blankets made my hips hurt, so I didn’t sleep well)
We ate a simple dinner, and to our surprise, each tour group was given a bottle of Bolivian wine. Of course, in our group, only Yoli and I were of age to drink. This caught me slightly off-guard. I wanted to try the wine, but I also worried, because though I was probably nearly acclimatized, still, extreme altitude can greatly magnify the negative effects of alcohol. After a struggle to uncork it, Yoli and I each had a glass. We should have tried to find a way to bring the leftover wine with us, but ultimately we just left it on the table for others to enjoy.
Unfortunately, some people must have been carried away to excess. Not long after dinner, we found that the bathroom, which was already rustic and unpleasant, had been fouled. Vomit in one sink, plus disgusting messes all over two of three toilets, leaving only one usable: the one without a seat. And unfortunately the bathroom was not cleaned that night or the next morning.
We tried to go to bed as early as possible, because we had an extra-early wake-up call for the third and final day of the tour.