On July 1st, 2016 Andy and Dani (hereby known as Dandy) quit their engineering jobs in Seattle, WA to get married and travel the world. This is their story.
The 5-day jeep tour through western Bolivia was indisputably
one of the highlights of the entire trip! Our journey began in Uyuni. As is the
case when we arrived in almost any new city, we began by being ripped off at
the airport for a $10, 5-min. taxi ride (yes, yes, you’re thinking – not
terrible from the airport: well, keep in mind that this equates to about their
average daily income – made in 5 minutes. Where can I find a job like that?!).
We then settled into the hotel and were instantly faced with a problem that
would plague our trip … It was FREEEEEZING! Not just outside, but inside too.
Arguably it was colder inside. We mentioned this to the hotel owner and he graciously
installed a giant propane heater, made for outdoor use, in our little room. Carbon monoxide poisoning
anyone? We were too afraid of going to sleep and not waking up that we turned
it off and gritted out the night in extra layers.
Uyuni's wonderful indoor heating and interesting tourist headgear
The next morning, after an appetizing stale breakfast, we
met our driver and guide, Luis Alberto, and his wife and the chef, Noemi. Although
Noemi was quite shy, we had a great time joking around and practicing our Spanish
with Luis (He did not speak any English). My conversations with him were mostly
him laughing at me – I’m not sure why. The first stop in our journey was the Railroad
Museum, which was really just a junkyard for old trains. We had a blast exploring
and playing on all the train shells – Andy for academic reasons, Brandon for
the unique graffiti, and Lisa and I because it was an adult playground! Before
leaving we attempted a jumping photo, the failed attempts were hilarious!
Train jumping. Luckily, my face-plant was just out of the camera's view. We also spared Lisa the embarrassment of posting the first series of photos - oh the terror of jumping off a 2-3 foot platform onto flat ground.
Turns out train graveyards are pretty cool!
After prying ourselves away from the least popular
attraction on the trip, we stopped at an artisan market (aka tourist trap)
where we stocked up on some warmer clothes before driving to the Salar de Uyuni
(famous salt flats in Bolivia)!!!! It was astounding – the texture of the salt,
the pure white color, the vastness, the flatness, none of us had ever seen
anything like it! While Naomi made lunch at the Hotel de Sal at the Dakar
Monument (Salt hotel at the Dakar car racing monument), we went out onto the
sand flats, played soccer, and attempted some play-on-depth photos. It turns
out these photos are much harder than we expected – fail.
Just a few of our salt flat photos. The "Flags of Many Nations" at the Dakar Monument did not include a US flag. Going out on a limb and assuming that our missing flag and the hassle at the border crossing are related...
After lunch, we drove through the endless expanse to Incahuasi (house of Inca) which was a small hill rising out of the salt flats populated with lots and lots of cacti and featuring an incredible view from the top! Did you know that there is such a thing as cactus wood?! Mind blown! Next stop was a deserted spot in the salt for picture fun! With all of his experience, Luis was quite the photographer, so we handed over our cameras and spent several hours coming up with creative hilarious photos and one epic video (not shown are the 5+ outtakes which were highly unsuccessful for various reasons). Our last stop for the night was another deserted location to watch the sun go down. So beautiful, but also very cold so while Andy, Brandon, and Lisa toughed it out, I hung with Luis and Noemi in the car and watched from the window. The hotel for the night was incredible! It was made entirely of salt! Unfortunately, we were doing the traditional route in reverse, so what we did not realize at the time was that this was a HUGE step up from the places we were slated to stay for the next 3-nights.
The vastness and the flatness
The textures (and views) at Incahuasi were stellar!
Oh hey! More staple salt flat tourist photos! (note: we still don't care that everyone does these, they're hilarious!)
Sunset on the salt flats was alien and ethereal.
On the 2nd day of the tour, we visited a bunch of names of places that would mean nothing to you – and honestly nothing to me anymore 10 months later as I write this post. The takeaway message is that Bolivia is astoundingly beautiful and diverse. We visited lagoons brimming with flamingos (my favorite of which being Laguna Colorado – not just for the name), crazy rock formations, and viewpoints for some incredible scenery. In the late afternoon, Andy’s health took a turn for the worse. After arriving at the hotel, he spent the rest of the evening in fitful fever induced sleep with stomach pains and a symptom we were very familiar with at this point: nausea.
Surprisingly, for such a desolate place, there is a ton of wildlife in the area. A viscacha is shown in the top left, flamingos in the top right, and llamas in the center (which are admittedly not wild - the ear tassels are a dead giveaway).
So many flamingos! Don't worry, there are more pictures of them below also 😊
Our lunch spot on the second day was awesome!
Laguna Colorado - one of the top highlights of the whole trip!
The next morning, Andy’s symptoms were worse, but he dragged himself away from the bathroom and we continued on our way. We stopped at a geyser area where Luis balanced a full bottle of water in a steam vent! Standing on top of the active hydrothermal area may have been the only time I was warm for the entire trip – well there and at the hot springs that we visited later in the day. We also stopped at several more small salt flats and lagunas, each unique from the rest. Unfortunately, as the day progressed, so did Andy’s symptoms. By the time we arrived at the town where we would spend the night, he was desperate for medical attention. Luckily, there was a small clinic in town. The doctor(??) administered a few intravenous shots, told Andy he was too skinny and had a weak stomach, and told me that I look like a model. He was pretty great. Overall, we were impressed by the knowledge and sterile equipment at the clinic (not that the clinic itself was sterile, but at least the needle was new). As a side note to this scary experience, it again highlighted our need to brush up on medical terms in Spanish. Besides gleaning that Andy had a stomach infection, his actually diagnosis and what shots were administered remains a mystery. Whatever the shots were, they worked because 4-hours of sleep later, Andy felt well enough to have some soup and get beat at cards before turning in for our coldest night on the tour. Andy’s fever at least served the purpose of making him feel warm while the rest of us froze.
The thermal activity was a nice surprise to see at 15,000+ft!
Just a couple of the countless other lagunas that we saw, along with a borax mine, emus, and a sick Andy, snug as a bug in a rug.
Andy’s recovery was nothing short of miraculous. The next day, we woke up at 4am and climbed Uturunku volcano up to 19,725 ft. Andy ascended the mountain like a champ, while Lisa made it to her typical 17,000 ft elevation and lost her breakfast (also like a champ). The true champion though was our 70-year old guide that has climbed the mountain over 600 times in the last 5-years (sometimes 2x/day) and whooped all of us. The human powered ascent was actually only about 2,200 feet of walking since we drove from about 14,000 to 17,594ft and climbed the rest of the way. The view from the top was spectacular and we all surprised ourselves at how manageable climbing to 20,000 ft is when you’ve been sleeping at or around 14,000 feet for the past couple weeks. Unfortunately, our guide chose to take the most direct route off the volcano. I will concede that sliding down an active landslide is faster, but is it safer? Back at the hotel before noon, we emptied our shoes of the sand we had accumulated, packed our stuff, and were on our way. During the drive, we played Cheers Governor with Luis, which was hilarious since he was especially bad at it. In the early evening, we arrived at Rio San Pablo where we stayed at Luis and Noemi’s house. We did some sink laundry, indulged in a veggie lasagna and wine, and went to bed early.
Even with two sick people, Uturunku proved to be an amazing day hike!
Our descent was quite terrifying and beautiful. Then we saw "sexy llamas" (vicuna) and ruins later in the day.
We woke up to cake the next morning! Noemi had baked a cake for Andy’s birthday! On the final leg of the trip, we explored Ciudad Encantada where a massive amount of sedimentary rock has eroded to form millions of spires and hidden caves. After a few more viewpoints and many many many MANY llamas, we arrived in the desert city of Tupiza. It had been a memorable trip, but shower-free since La Paz, we were more than ready for the comforts of city life! It’s not that our hotels didn’t have showers, it’s just that taking a shower with cold water when it’s in the 30’s at best was not an option.
Luis and Noemi's home and the incredible sedimentary formations at Ciudad Encantada.
