Travelling the Altiplano

15/03/11 We took a jeep tour from Tupiza to Uyuni, its a bit of classic on the backpacker list but we were glad to have a vehicle with 4 wheel drive instead of a bus. Although the buses do it anyway and even the main routes are insane!!

Just out of Tupiza, El Sillar - The Saddle. Tupiza is Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid country. As soon as we hit the border Bolivia felt a little bit like the wild west. You can imagine the fugitives riding through this pass. Me gusta :)

Through the car window photography.

Hmmph. Even the 4x4 gets punctures.... 3 times?!!! Our car had definitely seen better days and a better tape collection. (Although we finally got some Dire Straits and Irene Cara). Oh and you may have noticed that our cook, Modesta (loving the novelty Cholita lady on the trip) doesnt mindshowing the boys how its done. Anna and Grace took great pleasure in this, until John pointed out that she was doing it wrong... BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Muchas Llamas.

There's an interesting story about a statue in Peru, which was commissioned by the Spanish but made by the Peruvians when they introduced Catholicism. They asked for a statue of the Virgin Mary with flames blazing around her head. However, crown of flames in Spanish is also Corona de Llamas, so what they got was a lady donned with a hat of woolly animals. Chortle chortle.

"La Cena!" - Dinner. This became a reoccuring joke from our cook.

One thing we really liked about this trip is that we got to stay in wee villages on the way. Car window photography again. Wonky, yes, but look at all the ladies with hats on!!!!

Room with a view. The landscape was surreal, flat barren desert, Llamas, Volcanos at 6008m?!

Hmm yes, the altitude. Turns out John and Grace arent so good at it. Spent our first night nauseas and dizzy. Boo. But Modesta did make us some crazy Maté with some kind of plant buds and coca leaves in it...

Desierto de Dali

Alright geeeezar.

Pueblo de Fantasma. Ghost Village. There were several ruins of mining villages through out a trip. This one however really told the story of the Spanish colonial times. The indigenous people were kept as slaves underground to mine for Gold, Silver or Sulphur and were only allowed out once a month. The Spanish who lived there were then said to have gone mad with money and gold and both the Spanish and locals died from disease or insanity. Que Loco!

On a lighter note!!! The ruins were full of these little guys. Chinchillas! Sweeeeet:)

Vicuñas. Said to be the finest wool around. Tell that to an Alpaca, or a Llama. Or a goat! Fight!!!!

Ouch. Errr hello, I think we have a 4000 limit!!! We kept on going to 5000m too, but thankfully we came down soon after.

The view was worth it though.

Flamingos! The Reserva Nacional Eduardo Avaroa is famous for its Lagunas and their plentiful Flamingos. Voila.

En Mas at Laguna Colorada. Pink Lake. Nominated for New 7 Wonders of the World too. (?)

Solo.

Oh and whack a train cemetary in as well. Bit of a strange place really and a boys playground. Apparently the trains are from all over the world.


Phew. Long post. Go have a cup of tea.