October 6th 2015
We start early once again, waking up outside laguna colorada in time to have breakfast and hit the road before even the faintest glimmer of sunlight touches the dark and beautiful sky, still the incredible moon provides plenty of illumination. We’ve asked to spend the morning at the lagoon to watch the sunrise but the driver tells us we don’t have time to do so and still make it back to Uyuni for our night bus to La Paz. Besides I know our next stop will be an equally great place for sunrise.
We pull up to the geysers, the highest point of our tour at 4950 meters above sea level, just as the eery pre dawn light begins to flood the cloudy sky. Last time I was here it was mid afternoon and the geysers, while still impressive were much smaller than they are now.
We get out first at a single plume of thick steam, the only geyser in the entire field that is man made, a pilot project to see how much energy the geo thermic phenomenon could create. Its an impressive turret of steam and jumping through it ends up being a lot of fun, even if it leaves you smelling a little sketchy.
From here though we walk over to of the two main patches of natural geysers and immerse ourselves in the amazing turrets of steam and puddles of boiling and churning grey mud. The sounds of the molten earth boiling up towards the surface complete the scene as we carefully navigate our way through the narrow ridges allowing for the best views of the pools and geysers.
Again, the steam smells pretty sulphurous and awful, but with the sun only just beginning to peak over the horizon and almost 5000 meters above sea level, it’s cold enough that the warmth is worth the smell which you can see in the above pictures. As a few more groups arrive at this first set of geysers Sara Janosch and I decide to leave them behind heading towards the sunrise and the other major pass of steaming volcanic vents. The source of the geysers is easy enoughto see, towering over us with a summit height of more than 6000 meters, but it’s hard to look away from the steaming vents and the bubbling, singing mud.
As the sun keeps climbing and Sara and Janosch wander through the narrow trails between pools of molten earth and sulphuric steam the pictures only get more and more impressive, the golden rays of sun cutting through the foggy grey steam creating stunning silhouettes of both Sara and Janosch. I enjoyed getting these photos a lot so you’ll have to scroll through the big forms of them.
The car pulls up by this second patch of geysers completely full minus us and we hurry over to it, piling in to get to our next stop. Our driver whose been pretty relaxed on times over the last few days is a little stricter today, knowing the longer we take means the longer it takes us to get back to Uyuni. Still we’re all pretty excited for the next stop, the hot springs.
The hot springs are set at the edge of a steaming and shallow leak dotted with flamingoes and other birds and luckily we are one of the first cars to get there. I quickly go and pay everyone’s fee (6 bs per person) Though our guide later tells us it should be 3 Bs per person and 3 more if we need to use the bathroom. But it’s a 50 cent difference so no big deal, and we quickly change in the change room and slip into the warm water, letting all the fatigues and tensions of the rough road these past few days melt away into the warm mineral filled natural spring.
Our time up and all of us a lot more relaxed and happier we head onwards towards our final stop before we start heading back towards Uyuni. I have high expectations since last time around Laguna Verde was one of my favourite stops on the entire tour. The aqua marine glowing waters wowed me last time, it’s why as we pull up this time I’m utterly shocked to see a more or less normal looking lake, at least for Bolivian standards. Just to give you an idea here’s a picture from my first visit, and a picture from today.
Quite the difference huh? It’s one of the downsides of doing the tour from Uyuni, you get a better time for the geysers and hot springs, but the later in the day the better for Laguna Verde, where it only turns bright green when the wind stirs up the chemicals and algae in the water. Either way, even though it’s not really green, framed by volcanoes all around it’s still a damn beautiful lake.
I try to describe to all my friends just how green Laguna Verde can be as we get back in the SUV and head back towards Uyuni. This 4th day of the tour is a lot of driving, but the places your driving through almost make it bearable, and stories from Simon’s military past prove fascinating to kill some time.
Luckily we do make a few stops on the way, pulling off the road in yet another desert valley fringed by mountains, before also puling off the road to snap some more Llama pictures and also enjoy a rare glimpse of Rhea’s the south American equivalent of an emu.
We then get back in the car and keep driving until lunch time which we eat in a small village. Before lunch we meet some kids and I give them one of my super balls as a little gift to play with, causing much delight. Then, once we’re done lunch we figure out that there’s something quite wrong with one of the wheels of our car. So, while our driver goes to work to fix it we head down to the little river. I’m reading until I’m interrupted by something quite unexpected.
Given warning by the others I look to my left and see a huge pack of Lamas approaching quickly. I get up and follow them alongside the river until an angry Bolivian woman runs up and starts scolding us, as if we’ve chased the Lamas across the road and down the riverside. I try to explain I’ve only walked beside them but she wants to hear none of it, hurrying to catch up to her flock and bringing them back the way they’ve come.
Eventually our driver has fixed the car well enough to keep going and we drive on, stopping about an hour later at another massive collection of giant jagged rock formations that seem so entirely out of place in the middle of the desert. In this group there’s a bunch of ones that look like animals, see if you can find them in the pictures below. Here’s a hint: there’s a lion, a condor, a turtle and a tiger.
Our driver gives us a choice of driving on or walking through these giant rocks and we choose to walk, climbing up the sandy hill to the top of some of the formations, before climbing back down to the car and climbing in for the last few hours of the journey.
Our final stop before returning to Uyuni is a small town with a nice market and good popcorn and ice cream for sale, both of which we enjoy while talking to a friendly local man, and waiting for our Italian companion to finish her sit down coffee. I, with Simon’s help, take the chance to take a few stealthy photos of the Bolivian People around the town.
Finally our group is ready and we pile back into the car for the final hour or so back to Uyuni, where we arrive in time to grab a quick dinner before getting on our night bus with Millenia buses to La Paz which leaves at 8 o’clock and takes about 11 hours. Cama costs between 100-140 BS and Semi Cama should be between 70 and 90. The bus ends up being everything it promised to be, very comfortable and plenty warm, which is more than I expected from buses in Bolivia. One last photo from the road just outside Uyuni, a quintessential Bolivian image, ye old Lama crossing.
