Top Sights Bolivia

Uyuni Salt Flats

Uyuni Salt Flats
If you’re planning on heading to Bolivia then i’m sure a salt flats tour is already on your list of things to do. Driving across the salt flats or standing on one of the islands for sunrise is a truly unforgettable experience. If you’ve got the time we’d definitely advise that you do a 3 day salt flat tour with a border cross to/from Chile. Whilst the salt flats are great there is so much great scenery in the area that you really shouldn’t miss. The Bolivian altiplano with its sapphire lakes, smoking volcanoes, flamingos and llamas in droves are equally as picturesque as the flats. It’s cold, the air is thin, the ride is bumpy and uncomfortable and we’d see it all again in a heartbeat.

The White City: Sucre
Sucre, the Bolivian capital city is definitely the nicest in the country. If you just woke up there one day you’d be surprised to find out you weren’t in a particularly beautiful Spanish city. The city received huge amounts of money when nearby Potosi was still producing silver and as such the entire town center is a UNESCO world heritage sight. Apart from the fact that the people are friendly and the food is good there are plenty of things to do in Sucre to keep you occupied. There is a chocolate factory, jurassic park and cemetery. A lot of backpackers choose Sucre as a place to stop and learn Spanish for a few weeks due to its inexpensive prices.

El Cerro Rico: Potosi
The mountain that looms above the mining town of Potosi once produced most of the silver for the Spanish Crown. Whilst the silver has now been mostly mined out, the “mountain that eats men” is still the single largest employer in the city. If you fancy it, tours can easily be arranged all over town. If you don’t fancy going into the mines Potosi is still worth visiting. As one of the highest cities in the world the air can be quite thin but don’t let this put you off. The old Spanish mint, now a museum, offers excellent guided tours explaining the history of the city. There is also plenty of opportunity to tuck into Llama in virtually every restaurant.

Death Road: La Paz
If you’re seeking adrenaline then Death Road is a must do. Even if you’re not an adrenaline junkie then death road is still a great day out, easily arranged from La Paz. The views as you shoot down what used to be the most dangerous road on the planet are breathtaking. If you’re used to mountain biking then this is not a particularly technical descent, I found the biggest distraction was the view. If you decide to do the road, then the only company we’d recommend is Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking. Whilst they’re the most expensive, you’ll get great bikes and the guides take you through every stage of the descent. At the end there’s the opportunity to do a zip line and visit an animal rescue centre with excellent hot showers.

The Pampas: Rurrenabaque
The Bolivian pampas are a quick 40 minute flight from La Paz, followed by a 3 hour bus and boat ride to get to your tour operators lodge. The amount of wildlife in the pampas is truly amazing. Whilst we were there we saw five species of monkey as well as caiman, turtles capybara, hundreds of species of birds, piranha and pink river dolphins to name a few. If you want to get some photos of amazing animals then the pampas is definitely the place to go. We spent three days drifting the rivers in our boat in brilliant sunshine taking hundreds of photos, stopping only to swim with the dolphins and catch some piranha for dinner.

Lake Titicaca
The world’s “highest navigable lake” straddles the border of Bolivia and Peru. Whilst we found the towns around the edge of the lake to be fairly forgettable, Titicaca itself is beautiful. On the Bolivian side a trip across to Isla del Sol is the highlight. The small slow boats take quite a while to reach the island, but you can sit on the top deck and enjoy the sun. The island has a collection of incan ruins and there’s a pleasant hike you can do from one end to the other if you feel the need to stretch your legs. Don’t forget to eat some trout, available from every restaurant, cafe, house and street vendor…

The Bolivian border
The border between Chile and Bolivia at Laguna Verde is an experience that we thoroughly enjoyed. Driving up out of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, you will arrive at a small concrete building in the middle of nowhere. It’s made all the more fun by the road barrier to stop you sneaking into Bolivia, as there’s unguarded open altiplano for miles all around the border post. As long as you’re not suffering from the altitude too badly you’ll find this is one of the more unique ways you’ll ever change countries. A short drive from here is Laguna Verde. At 4,300m with a towering volcano, flamingos and llamas it’s the best welcome to Bolivia.

Behind the Scenes with The Ducks

Because a lot of work goes into these little Ducks!

Atacama Desert

Atacama Desert

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

The Four Ramblers

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni: The Bolivian Salt Flats

So spending 3 days bouncing around in a four wheel drive may not sound appealing to most but if you’re travelling in South America it’s likely the Bolivian Salt Flats are on your “must see” list. For us this was certainly the case.

When we mentioned temperatures of -25 degrees and no showers to Sam, who usually travels with a 3 star minimum, we were worried he would be on the first plane home but even he’d admit roughing it was worth it.

From San Pedro we boarded a mini bus and made our way to the Chilean boarder. Although there was a bit of a wait, as all the tours leave at a similar hour in the morning, crossing it was a breeze. But once we crossed we fully appreciated just how much snow had fallen in the desert…and so did our driver who was willing the van up every slope, wheels spinning away. We made it to the Bolivian border…that’s if you can really call a few huts a boarder crossing.

 

It really is as remote as it looks and for many of us this stop was also our first use of the “Baño naturale” that we would become very familiar with over the next few days. After our friend Victoria enquired as to the location of the bathroom, the guard pointed to the vast expanse of snow around.

Passports stamped, next job was to transfer all our baggage to the 4WDs…

Thanks to Victoria for the picture!

Then before we had chance to catch our breath, and at over 4,000m we really needed to, we were on our way with our excellent driver Jorge (Hor-hey) at the wheel. In a convoy of three we sped across the flats leaving a dust trail behind.

During the 3 days the scenery was breath-taking and changed dramatically from sandy desert to of course salt…lots of salt.

We toured the many lakes, from frozen to Flamingo filled…

Only stopping briefly to warm up in a thermal spring…

We admired mountains and rock formations…

And gawped at geysers and boiling mud…

We watched the sunrise over the salt flats and admired the cacti…

We traversed train tracks…

And like many before us we spent hours playing with our cameras on the Salt Flats…

 

We finished up at the train cemetery; a truly fascinating place to explore…it brings out the kid in everyone…

 

The food along the way was beautifully prepared and presented by our drivers…

And the accommodation and facilities were basic but beautiful in their own way…

It’s fair to say we spent every second of driving with our faces pressed against the windows barely blinking and we made some good friends along the way.

We knew we would be roughing it but after 3 days our hearts sank a little as we pulled into the town of Uyuni and we realised the trip was over. Though the prospect of a warm shower and central heating was pretty appealing…

Preparing for your trip

We had heard some horror stories about some of the companies that operate on this route, so on our arrival in San Pedro we careful researched the companies. With a few recommendations we settled on Cordillera.

This blog post isn’t meant as a plug for their company but we were happy with our experience and would recommend them. They are not the cheapest but you get what you pay for. Our drivers were safe, a lot of fun and looked after our every need. But even though with paying a little more for quality and safety here’s what to expect…

Cold weather – we cant emphasise this enough! Although it may not be the case all year round bring lots of layers, as our nights got really cold! You may not appreciate these layers until you are trying to sleep in minus 25 degrees with no central heating. We slept in about 3 layers with blankets piled high and we rented the extra optional sleeping bags!

Basic accommodation – with no showers for at least the first night! When booking with Cordillera you are pre-warned of this fact. Also this was not a problem for us as the last thing we wanted to do with freezing temperatures was take off our layers! The second night is spent in a salt hotel, were the bricks are made of salt and the floor is scattered with the stuff. I had to stop myself asking for some salt with dinner…

Basic food – it was plentiful but basic. Vegetarian options were the meals minus the meat but you serve yourself so you can fill up on the veg and carbs We stocked up on lots of snacks and really appreciated these as we bumped along in 4WDs.

Altitude sickness – our experience wasn’t as bad as some stories had made out but at nearly 5,000m on the first night the chances are some of you are going to suffer from it a little. Iain got his headache before bed whereas I got mine when I woke up the next morning. Stock up on some painkillers and cocoa leaves before you leave San Pedro and force yourselves to drink water as much as possible. If you wake up in the night, drink some more!!

You will be Vamos-ed! – with a lot of ground to cover expect shouts of “Vamos!” or ‘Lets go!” at regular intervals. The drivers were happy to stop and pull over for any photo opportunity but also need to keep to their schedule. We never felt rushed and our group began shouting “vamos’ ourselves to much hilarity…we blame it on the altitude.

Sunburn! – You are at altitude so despite it being very cold, wear some sun cream, especially when on the white sun reflecting salt flats! Or like Sam expect to be called “Ruby Lips” for the next week!

But most of all enjoy! It really is worth it!

 

The Ducks in Dry Places: Atacama y Salar de Uyuni

Atacama Desert

Atacama

Salar de Uyuni

The Four Ramblers

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Cycling and Sandboarding in Valley de La Muerte

Having spent one of our days in San Pedro touring the Moon Valley we decided to get a little more energetic for our remaining two days. We had heard the Valley de La Muerte was worth a visit so on the first day, spurred on by the boys enthusiasm I committed to an afternoon of sandboarding.

As I stood at the foot of the sanddune and looked at the height regret started to sink in. As I reached the peak, puffed from exertion and altitude, vertigo kicked in and the prospect of fixing my feet to the board filled me with panic. You can see from the pictures below that some of us were more confident than others…

Yet after watching Iain and Sam go first and after some spurring on from our instructor I took the plunge.

I look about as confident in this picture as I felt at the time. Though after the first run and the first few falls I really started to enjoy it! Even if I was a little uncoordinated and tried to take out those walking up the sand dune…that’s me on my arse…

It’s fair to say I never looked quite as elegant as this pro, who made it look so easy…

But on the flipside I didn’t fall quite as spectacularly as the boys did either…

And nor did I end up with teeth full of sand…

To finish off the afternoon…as if sandy teeth and acing ankles weren’t enough…we were treated to a couple of pisco sours and were once again whisked off to watch the sunset at Moon Valley. The drinks and the view were well earned and made a perfect end to the day!

We choose to go sandboarding with Inca Tours, who are located on the main square in San Pedro, and we can’t recommend them highly enough. Unlike other companies they provide you with an instructor, instead of just dropping you off with the sandboards and picking you up a few hours later, and you get a short video of your best runs and falls thrown in for good measure.

Having been amazed at the beauty of Valley de La Muerte on the previous day, on day two we decided cycle there once more and explore further. The cycle to the valley is a pretty flat tarmacked road…

But once you’re in the valley the scenery really speaks for itself…

Surprisingly for a desert there was a lot of sand flying around in the wind, so my wardrobe had to be adapted accordingly…

But don’t let that put you off, as the scenery really was amazing! Words do not do it justice so here are a few more photos…

The cycle to the valley was about 30mins and the entire return journey was about 3 hours. Rent a bike and give it a go!

Walking the Moon: San Pedro de Atacama

Our night bus from La Serena saw us rolling into San Pedro de Atacama at about 9 in the morning. As we awoke and peered through the curtains for our first glimpse of the desert, we were all a bit bemused. The Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on the planet was covered in snow. This rare event occurred two days before and due to the low temperatures there was plenty around to play with. Sam had survived his first overnight bus despite a brief spike of fear when he found out he was sitting in front of a 10 month old baby.

San Pedro de Atacama sits at around 2,400 metres on the Bolivian and Argentine borders. This tiny little town sits on an oasis and is one of the biggest traveller hubs in Chile. The town has a dizzying number of natural wonders within easy reach and it’s proximity to Bolivia makes it a popular stop for backpackers heading out on to the Bolivian Altiplano.

From the moment you get off the bus, you get the impression of the old American wild west. The setting of the tiny town is on an oasis, with small single story buildings and one long main street. There are plenty of horses wandering around and numerous rustic drinking establishments. The only thing missing was a gun duel…yet the whole effect was somewhat ruined by the snow…

The whole town is set up for tourism. Tours operators, hostels, hotels, restaurants and tourist shops are found all down the main street. Most importantly there are plenty of places to buy those supplies for your trip in to Bolivia. San Pedro might be rustic by Chilean standards but compared to the three day salt flat tour it’s luxury.

Tours and excursions can be arranged all over town and we quickly set up our expedition to El Valle de la Luna. Moon valley is well named as the landscape is surreal. The whole valley is a national park and there are wardens to make sure you don’t walk (or sandboard) on the giant sand dunes. All that perfect sand is incredibly tempting but the lack of human marks really does make it a stunning view.

We spent 3 hours travelling around the valley running down our camera batteries before heading up to the cliffs that overlook it for sunset. As the sun sets the shadows and colours change all across the valley. After the sun has set you get the incredible colours all along the mountains that form the Chilean – Bolivian border.

Whilst it was warm in the sun, the moment it set the temperature dropped sharply. We bundled back in our bus and headed back to the hostel. Like most of Chile, the hostel of course had no central heating. Our fears were calmed when a wheelbarrow full of wood was rolled out, lit and everyone cosied up around it. Plentiful Piscolas (pisco and cola) definitely helped as well.

The next day we’d booked on for a stargazing expedition. Even just standing in the lit streets of San Pedro the nights sky is stunning with the full sweep of our galaxy clear to the eye. We’d managed to be in San Pedro when there was no moon (intentional of course) so the spectacular sky was even more visible. We’d be viewing the stars from a spot just outside of town. Upon arriving we were served some of the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had by the worlds most enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide. Over the next two hours we looked through the two powerful telescopes at nebula, white dwarves, star clusters, the rings of Saturn and even other galaxies.

Tune in to see how we got on on the Bolivian Salt Flats…