It was a tough decision whether or not to go to Isla del Sol, on Lake Titicaca. The weather seemed to be mostly bad. We watched some rain storms from our luxurious accommodation in Copacabana, and then heard them continue on the windows for most of the night. Would we really decide to get on a boat in the morning and head for the north end of the island? Where we would then risk hiking 4 hours back to the south end to stay the night – in questionable rain gear (one year of travel has really put a dent in the waterproof-ness of our jackets)? Well, the answer had to be yes.
Riding straight into the storm
After leaving the south port of the island, the captain asked everyone riding on top of the boat to get down below, as he was pretty sure it would start raining. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes after restarting our journey it started to come down hard. We disembarked in Challapampa, and ran for cover in a crowded restaurant. The general chatter was concerning the weather, and when the next boat left to return to the south port… Luckily, after about 30 minutes, the skies started to clear. Another 30 minutes of hiking and we were stunned at our change in fortune – blue skies and beautiful clouds.
The sky starts to clear in Challapampa
At the halfway point on Isla del SolNevado Illampu in the Cordillera Real shows itself from our hostel in YumaniThe sunset from Las Velas – one of the best pizzas we’ve had in South AmericaMoonrise over Lake Titicaca
We stayed in this incredible place in Copacabana, Bolivia, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. I’m not sure I’ve ever stayed somewhere more interesting – it was too bad we only got one night.
Looking out from the top floor bedroom – small fireplace to the rightLooking up from the top floor bedroomThe top floor – with awesome, custom oval bed (plus duvet)The first floor bedroom
Things haven’t improved a lot since we arrived in La Paz. For one, the weather has been horrible – raining and cold. And the altitude has just been kicking ass against Sheena and I – sigh, what’s new? But during those rare times when we felt healthy enough to go for a walk, and it wasn’t coming down in buckets, La Paz has impressed me (can’t say if Sheena feels the same). The way the city has been constructed, cascading down canyon walls, is hard to comprehend. The very new, and very popular cable car system has been a nice way to get above the rooftops and see the cityscape. It’s a place I imagine that I would enjoy quite a bit, if it was slightly lower in elevation and a little bit warmer.
La Paz, El Alto, Progress Connects Us – The north cable car lineUrban jumble
“Decide if pregnancy motherhood is an option in your life, and when you do it, that it’s your right. Decide to protect yourself, and decide how you do it as well.”Those wheelbarrows are full of food – food that I’m not willing to tryIn South America there is a store for everything
People from Cochabamba are called cochabambinos, which I find hilarious as it reminds me of The Sand Lot. They’re lucky enough to live in a great city – one of those medium sized South American cities that not too many backpackers visit. It reminds me of Manizales, Colombia, or maybe Salta, Argentina. Perhaps that’s just the cable car talking though… I still can’t believe how popular these things are down here.
Always nice clouds at elevation
We’re back up at elevation, having climbed about 2,000 meters in one of the shortest flights imaginable. I mean, I guess all they really had to do was reach cruising altitude and then land the thing – which they did pretty haphazardly. We had enough time to chug our drink and eat our cookies before returning everything to their upright position.
The Cristo de la Concordia is larger than Rio’s, but why isn’t it as famous?
This stop is really just to gather our high altitude legs, before heading further north to La Paz. With 11 months under our belts, it’s hard to believe everything is ending (relatively) soon – my Calendar’s four week look-ahead shows California, USA. But it’s not done yet and we’re feeling very happy that we’re within sight of familiar territory (Arequipa, Peru is only 20 hours by bus; Arica, Chile only 10 hours). Here’s looking forward to the fresh juices and papa rellenas in Arequipa’s central market!
Here are a few more photos for your viewing pleasure. Scenery on Day 1 seemed to be mostly high plateau rolling hills. It was pastoral with beautiful clouds.
Day 2 and 3 were almost exclusively about lagoons, and strange looking ones at that. Islands of salt and borax dotted multi-colored bodies of water on the high plateau. Mountains with melting color completed the surreal landscapes.
And the last day was focused on the huge expanse of the Uyuni Salt Flat. As the sun rose, the flat seemed more like a desert, or a giant frozen lake, than anything else.
If you’re in Bolivia, you’re supposed to go to Uyuni to see the world’s largest salt flat. If you go to Uyuni, you’re supposed to do a 3 or 4-day tour in an SUV that not only goes across the flats but also through the region’s beautiful, high-altitude scenery. It’s just the way it is, and nearly every tourist succumbs to the pressure of spending a wad of cash on these jeep tours, yours truly included.
Jhon and his “jeep”, a Nissan Patrol.
Craig did the tour from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile seven years ago, so we were looking to do it a little differently this time around. We decided to go from Tupiza (just a couple of hours across the border from Argentina), which would take 4 days/3 nights instead of the 3 days/2 nights that most other tours consisted of. It cost a bit more (1,300 Bs, about $185 USD, plus 211 Bs, or $30 USD, in added fees), but we’re nearing the end of our trip here and the rest of Bolivia should be relatively cheap, so… why not?! Everybody else was doing it.
Day 1 – Getting to know you
We shared our jeep with the driver, Jhon (not a misspelling), the cook, Hilda, and a couple from Munich, Maria and Felix. We’d heard of some horror stories of terrible camaraderie on tours, which we were hoping to avoid. Being stuck in a small, confined space for hours at a time with people you don’t like hardly sounds fun, right? Luckily, Maria and Felix, as well as Jhon and Hilda, turned out to be great people, which was a huge blessing later on in the trip, as you will see.
Throughout the day, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the tour (booked through La Torre in Tupiza). Jhon spoke only Spanish (English-speaking guides cost extra, so we translated for the Germans), but was very informative and helpful. Hilda gave us delicious food, which we’ve heard is not always the case on these tours. Accommodation was basic (no showers, shared dorm rooms), but clean and comfortable.
The only downside to that first day was going from 2,975 m (9,760 ft) to 4,855 m (15,928 ft), our highest point of the day. Craig became decommissioned for a few hours as he struggled to regain his equanimity, despite chewing industriously on the local remedy around here, coca leaves. In fact, everybody was feeling a little out-of-sorts that night, since we were sleeping at 4,150 m (13,615 ft), and I liberally dispersed my supply of acetazolamide around to good effect. In case you’re not aware, the safe thing to do is to ascend at less than 400 m per day–we were doing more than triple that. Altitude sickness is like being really drunk (dizzy, not in control of your body, stupid) and hungover (nauseous, fatigued, headache-y) at the same time. It’s no fun and is surprising how deeply it can affect you. I’m constantly taken aback by how awful you can feel just from being a few thousand more feet in the air.
The Sillar, which is all eroded landscape. We think it’ll look like Bryce Canyon in a few millenia.
Bolivia means llamas! Lots and lots of llamas. Jhon said that families in the altiplano owned about 1,000 llamas each.Laguna Morejón, our first high-altitude lake, with Volcan Uturuncu behind it. At 15,928 ft (higher than Mt. Rainier!), Craig was really feeling the altitude at this point, and didn’t even get out of the jeep.
Accommodation our first night, plus our jeep, all loaded up.
Day 2 – Onwards and upwards
We all felt immensely better the next day (thank goodness for modern medicine), and enjoyed our second day a lot. We saw many animals, including vicuñas, llamas (both from the camelid family, with long necks and an ability to survive desert conditions), chinchillas (which look like rabbits with long tails), flamingos, and an Andean fox (who came right up to the jeep and stared at us; Jhon said it had obviously been given food by previous jeeps, a VERY BAD practice which we, of course, did not continue, but we nonetheless enjoyed getting some close-up pictures of it). Seeing wildlife has got to be one of my favorite things about traveling. Even though I’ve probably seen about ten thousand llamas so far (not really “wildlife”, I suppose), it just doesn’t get old. Vicuñas, especially, are super cute and I just want to cuddle their funny bodies, which have fat, round trunks, but long, skinny necks and limbs.
Lodging that night was again quite basic, and VERY cold. Still, I wrapped up in the wool blankets and fell asleep quickly, not knowing that the longest night of my life was still ahead of me.
Laguna Kollpa and lots of flamingos. The white in the background is borax, which is harvested and shipped to Chile.
The Desierto de Dali, so named because of its melting clocks.
Vicuñas!
Andean fox!
Laguna Verde, which I remember being more green in person. The green is from certain minerals, including arsenic, that are continually mixed up by the wind. In fact, NASA tested the Mars Rover on Volcan Licancabur in the background due to its Martian-like qualities: low air pressure, high winds, extreme temperatures, rocky terrain.
Hot springs!
Geysers!
The part where most of the smoke was coming out made such a loud, hissing sound; as if a jet was taking off. It was fascinating to see all the bubbling pools of liquid or mud.
Laguna Colorado, made red by algae. Lots of flamingos here, too, but you can’t make them out from this vantage point.
Day 3 – The lost day
I woke up at about 1:00am with stomach cramps and stumbled to the bathroom. I’ve had food poisoning before, of course, but I’d never experienced anything like this. They call it traveler’s diarrhea, and despite ten months of traveling, I hadn’t had even a twinge. But I hadn’t reckoned with Bolivia. In the movies, travelers in India accidentally drink the water and then, several hours later, turn green, sweat buckets, and spend hours locked in the bathroom. Now I know those movies aren’t an exaggeration; if anything, they don’t even begin to depict the full misery. By the time Felix and Maria woke up, at about 6:30am, I was a hunched-over, shell of a person. I’d gone to the bathroom countless times, and felt emptied out from both ends, like a wet rag wrung completely dry. I’ve always been the one with the iron stomach, so my ordeal was especially foreign and vicious.
Craig was the epitome of perfect, sympathetic boyfriend and took very good care of me. He hardly slept all night as well, he was so concerned for my welfare. Jhon told us we only had two options: 1) continue with the tour as planned or 2) he could take us to Uyuni that night, after going through the usual third-day activites (it wouldn’t be fair to the Germans otherwise), and we would miss the salt flats part of the tour the next day, which is admittedly the highlight. It was obvious this second choice was not ideal, for anybody. I said, “Let’s see how I feel.”
This is where the sympathy and kindness of our fellow travelers really came to light. You could tell Jhon was worried about being able to make the drive to Uyuni and somehow get gas late at night, but he never pressured us either way. He stopped at a health clinic for me to get some drugs. The Germans were compassionate and told us they would go along with whatever we decided. Jhon even remarked that not all travelers would be as kind as they were; not taking too much time at viewpoints, insisting that I sit up front in the more comfortable seat (along with Craig), buying me a Coke since I was refusing to drink the rehydration salt formula, which tasted terrible. We really were fortunate in our fellow travelers, and I’m so thankful.
The first hour didn’t go so well–Jhon had to bring the jeep to a screeching halt for me to be sick out the door–but the rest of the day was comparatively better. I spent most of it in a fog in the jeep, sleeping or trying to calm my roiling stomach. Craig and the others agreed that the third day wasn’t the best day in terms of scenery, so at least whatever gut bacteria I’d contracted was considerate enough to flare up on the least exciting day.
We stayed at a “salt hotel” that night, which was made of bricks of salt, and had salt liberally sprinkled on the floors. They even had (unimpressive) chandeliers made out of salt. I could have cared less about all that, though, because they had HOT SHOWERS, and I nearly cried in relief. Having diarrhea all night just does that to you.
The Stone Tree, made of petrified lava foam.Our dusty jeep. I’m in there somewhere, trying not to die.
Laguna Hedionda, where flamingos are more adapted to human presence and don’t fly off if you get close.
Day 4 – The Salt Flats!
We woke up at 4:30am the next day, in order to get out onto the salt flats for the sunrise. I felt like I’d been reborn; it was amazing what antibiotics, Tylenol, and Benadryl can do. For the first time in over 24 hours I felt hungry, and I cautiously ate some crackers as we sped across the flat expanse of the Salar.
The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world, at about 12,500 km² (4,826 squared miles), and is at 3,650 m above sea level (11,975 ft). We were hoping that, by arriving in Bolivia in December, we’d catch part of the rainy season, when parts of the Salar are covered by a thin sheet of water, creating a beautiful mirror-effect. Alas, we didn’t get to see this, but it was still impressive and beautiful.
Of course, what everybody really wants to do on the Salar is take hilarious perspective pictures. It’s so white and flat that it gives the camera nothing to focus on but the subjects, despite differences in distance from the camera. It’s hard to explain, but not hard to show, so enjoy the last photos from our epic jeep tour!
View from Isla Incahuasi, a volcanic outcropping from the dried sea bed that became the Salar.
Sunrise kiss.
La salida del sol.
I’ve always wanted a pocket Craig.
Hahaha, classic!I’m always on Craig’s mind.Craig should also get a pocket Sheena.
We ended our six-week sojourn in Argentina with a few days in very small towns near the border with Bolivia. It was sad to leave our road-trip buddies, Johnny and Ellen, who could have been horrible company for four days in a small car, but ended up being totally awesome people. Whew! We heard of some road trip horror stories, so I’m glad we dodged a bullet there.
Craig wasn’t very enthusiastic about our fourth road-trip day, but I LOVED the cactus forest we passed through. You can’t really make it out in our pictures, but in the distance, there was a huge expanse of densely packed cacti. Yeah!!
Our next stop after resting for a day in Salta was Humahuaca, a very small town at 2,940 m (9,645 ft). Luckily, this time we had fewer problems with the altitude and Craig experienced only some mild headaches, while I was left with just a bit of fun constipation. Considering how sick we’ve felt at times on this trip due to altitude, I feel like we were let off pretty easy. Another bullet dodged.
Meadows surrounding the lookout for Sierras del Hornocal.
Humahuaca had a very Andean feel; they had llama empanadas and a much more indigenous population. Such a different experience than further south near Buenos Aires, where almost everybody looks European, but it still feels familiar for us since we’ve been through Andean Peru and Ecuador. Women in skirts and sweaters, men with ponchos and huge gaucho (cowboy) hats, snippets of Quechua… I can’t say I exactly missed this Andean feel (and I’d better get used to it now we’re in Bolivia), but it’s kind of nice to feel like you’re in familiar territory.
The highlight of of our time in Humahuaca was a trip out to the Sierras del Hornocal, a breathtaking rock formation about a 45 minutes’ drive from town. It can easily be done with a rental car, but since we didn’t have one at our disposal, we hired a truck to take us there. When it came, we were told we’d have to sit in the truck bed, since the cab would be full.
Me and my new hat. Oh and that spectacular rock formation in the background.
“Well, we get to pay less, right?” we asked indignantly. I have no problem with riding in the back of trucks anymore; nobody wears seat belts anyway and you just kind of hope everything will work out fine and you won’t end up squished on the side of a dirt road, but paying a lower price just makes sense. After sorting out the money issue (we saved about $4 USD by sitting in the back, woohoo!), we headed out. I can’t really describe the Hornocal–it was insanely beautiful–so just enjoy these pictures that Craig took. I wish we had left town about two hours before sunset so we could have gotten better light, but it was still worth all the trouble.
Sierras del Hornocal.
We then decided to head to the little town of Iruya, a rough three-hour drive over a 4,000 m (13,000 ft) pass called Abra del Cóndor, which had no condors, but was quite beautiful. Our guidebook describes it as “one of Argentina’s most amazing drives”, but… it was all right (maybe I’m jaded). Still, Iruya was a really cute town, despite none of its restaurants (none!!) opening for dinner until after 8pm. One of the joys of traveling that I won’t miss.
Abra del Cóndor. No condors.
One day, we took a hike to San Isidro, an even smaller town 8km away. We heard it’s the only indigenous community in Northern Argentina that allows visitors (information not verified), but to be honest, Iruya didn’t feel all that much different. Craig and I also don’t feel like the trek itself is worth it after a certain point. Once you’ve followed the river bed to the end of the canyon in which Iruya is situated, and then turn left for about another kilometer or two, the views become uninspiring and mundane after that. So I’d just say turn around there, or explore the other side of the canyon; San Isidro is a long, dusty haul and even if I hadn’t slipped on a rock and fallen into the river, I probably still wouldn’t recommend hiking the whole way out there!
Iruya. We stayed at Hostel Asunta, which was great and extremely cheap.
On the entire 16km hike, we had company in the form of Rolf, the stray dog (I named him). About 10 minutes into the trek, he found a dead, dried out carcass of something or other and proceeded to rub himself into it. So our dog-for-the-day then smelled awful for the rest of the trek, which was a considerably long time. Next time you entice a stray dog to follow you for seven hours, make sure he stays away from dead things.
Just a boy and his (smelly) dog, taking a lunchtime rest.Hiking to San Isidro.
By the time we made it back to Iruya, Rolf looked pretty beat. We were impressed with his stamina; and with all the running around he did, I’m sure he traveled at least twice as much distance as we did. We rewarded his loyalty with some of our packed sandwiches, and he seemed happy enough.
Rolf waiting patiently with us while my boots dry out after a dunking in the river.
The border crossing into Bolivia was relatively uneventful, and I’m happy to say we crossed over with only about 37 Argentine peso ($3.70 USD), since the exchange rate is really terrible here. Nobody wants Argentine pesos, not even Argentines, and especially not any of its bordering countries.
So here we are… about to embark on a grand Bolivian adventure–the last country of our trip. Only six weeks left until we take a flight back to the U.S., where I will gorge myself on fake cheese and Ruffles. But there’s a lot to do in the meantime (including spending Christmas with a Bolivian family), so we’d better get to it!
The fourth, and final day of our road trip was probably the shortest, and least exciting. We crossed the mountains from Cachi to Salta, spending the most time along a super straight section of road called the Recta de Tin-Tin, constructed on top of an ancient pre-Incan road. The hundred year-old cactus and surrounding flat landscape had us thinking about Wilie E Coyote and Roadrunner.
Leaving Cachi and the Valle CalchaquiRecta de Tin-Tin
The Wongenbergs 