The Altiplano

I’ve just come out of three days in the high desert of the Bolivian Altiplano and I will never take running water for granted again!  All the books say that this journey is a crazy mess and you have to be prepared for the unexpected and they were all right. Here’s a picture of our 9 hour bus ride into the region turning into a 14 hour bus ride with a busted axel.  We all had a good time joking about who we were going to eat if the stranding went on long enough.  Here’s our jeep with the hood up because Shorlando, our guide, kept having to fill up the radiator along the way.   It proved to be tough enough to climb over volcanoes, around mineralized lagoons and through an amazing variety of terrains including, the salt flats.   We actually sat here and ate our lunch of grilled Vicuna (llama’s cousin) and quinoa (superfood that cooks like rice)  We also had a little fun with perspective on the flats and toilet paper.

Next, we trekked up an incredible coral island in the middle of the salts.

There were even coral caves to explore. Next, we happened upon drying salt lagoons and flamingos. All around us, the scenery was stunning.  That night we slept in a little village.  No water but the food was good.  By now, our group had become friendly enough to joke about how badly we were going to be smelling over the next few days. Here we all are having lunch the second day.  We fed the leftovers to some chinchillas hopping around the rocks. The second night found us in concrete bunkers with six beds to a room.  Not a restful night especially as we got up at 4:00am to see the sunrise over the volcanic geysers. It was a great trip but now that I’m in Chile, I’m really going to enjoy sleeping alone and having a toilet with running water.