May 26th 2015
Surprise Mother Cluckers. It’s Pretty much Canadian Winter. I’m in my element!
That’s how we feel when we wake up to almost 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground, the red lagoon, blanketed in white. Im from Canada, I know snow, but not at the end of may on my father’s birthday and it’s not something any of us expected, including Andreas our driver. It normally only snows here in the heart of winter, July and August.
We eat an early breakfast, having forgotten to adjust our clocks to Bolivia time and therefore rising at 5 am instead of 6 am. I petition the group for a snow ball fight but in the bitter cold and the still falling snow the enthusiasm is limited, still Ceci comes out and throws a few at me. It’s more fun than any 26 year old should have playing with snow.
Eventually, after some hemming and hawing Andreas, herds us into the black SUV and says we’re going to try to get out of the valley now, before more snow falls and were trapped there with not enough food to feed us. Okay, now we’re a little worried.
As we pul out of our little hospedaje alongside the lake the worry gets worse as the wind in the valley is pulling the snow up off the ground and reducing visibility to next to nothing. This coupled with no real roads and very few signs of any kind make me start getting nervous. Andreas too, and it shows, but we keep on, and all 6 of us just hope this Bolivian man knows what he’s doing.
After an hour on the road and worsening conditions I’m starting to get legitimately scared, Ive driven in terrible weather before but the lack of real roads and complete white out conditions are giving me a very bad feeling especially after we lose the road.
Were all about to give up and try to find our way back to the lagoon and some shelter when we run into another jeep. In conditions like this being with another car is immensely safer and so, now together we decide to try one more time to make it out of the storm.
It takes a while and more than a few nervy moments but slowly we find our way up and out of the wind and back own to lower and much less snow covered ground. We’re taking a different route than sold to us and missing out on some sites but in that moment I’m too happy to be out safe to be much concerned about that, besides, the lagoons and the salt flats themselves were the big attractions and we’re not missing any of that.
As we descend down through a few tiny towns we pull up to the first stop on this new revised itinerary, massive fields of strange cliff like rocks surrounding us, once expelled by ancient volcanic erupts and landing in strange patterns all around us, these towering volcanic monoliths loom over us in the strangest way. As soon as Andreas stops the car I’m on my way and off exploring these otherworldly stone towers.
I run through the sandy valleys below the stone towards looking for ways up and in awe, for the first time in a long time I’m reminded of one of my favourite places in the world, Capadocia Turkey. Eventually we’re called back to the jeep to eat lunch among the huge pillars of rock, but as is always the case, given the choice between eating, or exploring an amazing place, I choose exploring skipping lunch and running off towards the edge of this, the smaller of the two boulder fields. It’s here I find my way up.
I clamber up the last of the stone rocks for an impressive view of the surrounding valley as my comrades eat lunch. I clamber upas high as I can safely make it considering I’m not a climber and eventually see a viscachas, a creature which looks like a rabbit, a squirrel, a kangaroo, and a porcupine all had a fun night together. It darts across the barren landscape but stops on a rock ledge just long enough for me to snap a photo or two.
Eventually I return to the truck and join up with Rob who used to be a very serious rock climber and so quickly puts me to shame scaling up some sheer surfaces that I could only dream of climbing. It’s another one of those things I really wish I’d learned more as a young man, because now, while I’m more comfortable than most on rocks, I’m still limited, and around boulders like this all I want to do is climb.
We hurry back to the car and pile in and then were off again, winding through the massive mountains of South Western Bolivia. The scenery is stunning as we weave along rough dirt roads passing by little lagoons, barren looking quinoa farms and tons of wildlife.
Eventually Andreas pulls up outside a little lagoons with pink flamingoes in the centre, a herd of llamas using the lagoon as a watering hole and snow capped mountains in the distance. It’s a beautiful place and as is always the case with any tour I wish we could spend a little more time there, but soon we’re back in the car and driving along the bottom of some rolling hills, mountains an ever present in the distance.
Before too long driving we encounter more llamas standing in knee deep water feeding along the side of the road. Because of the snow based delays we don’t have much time but snapping a few more photos we continue along the way towards a bathroom stop and a small but charming Bolivian town where we are welcomed warmly by all the locals including a long line of school kids waving happily at us, since this isn’t the normal route they don’t see all that many tourists and the excitement on their faces is palpable.
Eventually we leave the little town behind and continue driving through the incredible mountains and I break my own rule of never taking photos from the car about a thousand times. As we wind closer and closer to the snow capped peaks we eventually come to our last stop before sleeping that night, at a ghost town along a set of train tracks.
I’ve never been to a real ghost town or ‘Pueblo Fantasma’ and this one used to be a fairly significant transport hub for the train which used to run much more frequently transporting salt and other minerals to the coast, but that train now takes a different route and so the town has become nothing more than a hollow shell for tourists to marvel at. It’s sort of a shame as the town’s location is incredible, surrounded by some of the most impressive mountains yet.
We all take a wander through town and out along the train tracks enjoying the spectacular views before piling back into the SUV and continuing onwards edging closer and closer to the main attraction, the Uyuni salt flats.
After an hour or more in the car Andreas pulls up to a small building constructed out of stone and salt. Our home for the night, is one of many salt hostels in the region where the floors the tables and large sections of the wall are made of salt. It’s quite strange and surprisingly comfortable enough as we settle in for a decent dinner before heading out for a brief walk to check out the stars. They’re impressive but we all lack a good enough camera to truly capture the majesty of the night sky. Bethan did well enough to provide a glimpse though.
Returning to the small hostel which has bathrooms, electricity and paid hot showers (though I’m told they weren’t very hot) we head straight to bed, ready for a very early wake up to make it to Isla de Pescado in the Uyuni Salt flats before the sun rises. We are all exhausted, but in so many ways the exhaustion is overcome by the excitement for the coming day. Check back soon for the next entry.
