14.10.2004

One of the many lagoons on the Altiplano Click here to see more photos!

Our guide had already warned us the night before that we would have to cover long distances and therefore spend most of the next day in the jeep. But even with the warning we had not expected it to be that long…
The first stop was at a cave, which actually was not very impressive at all. It rather looked like a with plaster artistically decorated room. The sight of that cave was followed by our first huge distance we had to cover on that day. We passed scrubby landscapes in a wide valley, even got to cross another road (of course not paved!) and went across another salt pan - which was not quite as salty - before we got to a military base where there were a few bored soldiers who had to check our passports. They really could not do much else than that because the way it looked there was not much there; they did not even seem to have a vehicle in this lonely part of the Altiplano.
From there we had to cross a lava field which originated from the volcano Tunupa nearby. This volcano is right at the border and parts of it belong to Chile, other parts to Bolivia. It is supposed to be the only active volcano in Bolivia. We had a short stop there, too, for the smokers basically to join the volcano J . But we also needed to change seats in the cramped jeep! Leaving the lava field behind we passed some more dry, sometimes salty plains before reaching the first of the six lagoons of that day. Finally we got the chance to walk around for a while. There were a lot of creatures to be seen, living in these harsh conditions. For one there was the fox - el zorro in Spanish - who was waiting for the leftovers of the tour groups that all stopped there for a lunch break. The next thing we saw was the edge of the lagoon that had turned pink, for there were hundreds of Flamingos wading in its waters. Besides that there were some ducks and seagull-like birds around, too, and in the far distance there were quite a few Vicuñas.
After lunch we basically just drove by all these other lagoons. We got to see more and more Flamingos and the very different colours of the lagoons. The route got worse from one lagoon to the next and whoever was sitting in the back row of our jeep was busy watching his head, since the roof of the jeep was quite low there… Finally we reached another sight, the stone tree or "Arbol de piedra". It was just another quick photo-stop…but the "tree" really is amazing! The wind has formed this huge stone in a way that now it really looks like a tree trunk with a crown. But very soon we kept on going in our beloved jeep up to Laguna Colorada which was where we would spend the night. We both had been looking forward to finally leave the car and enjoy the view and atmosphere of this incredibly red coloured lagoon with its hundreds of flamingos. But then our guide ordered us all straight back into the car after we had paid the National Park fee. We had to keep moving?!? We did not understand a thing anymore…There it was before our eyes - a beautiful red lagoon! - and we should not have any time at all to enjoy it?! After a discussion with our guide he finally gave us a chance to get off the car and have a little walk without being stuck behind the tinted windows.
That night we spent high up on the Altiplano in a kind of shed with air blowing through many tiny holes between windows and the door, and so it was a freezing cold night! But there was no other accommodation available in the area.
Altogether it had been a beautiful day, but with far too less time to enjoy all these wonderful places we had passed.