Volcanoes, Lagoons, Flamingos and Salt......

From Tupiza we were recommended by a number of travellers to take a 4WD trip to the SW corner of Bolivia.  Our hostel provided such a tour for 4 days, so we signed up and were good to go.  We were accompanied on the trip with 2 new friends Fredericka from Germany and Emily from Australia.  Our guide was a friendly Bolivian fellow called Segondino (or Second Deano as we liked to call him) and his wife Porfidia who did the cooking and it was fab.

On the first day we headed out into the mountains and canyons.  It was a long drive but we were rewarded with some magnificent scenery.

Canyon lands.

Us overlooking the Canyons.

Llamas on the Pampas.

Portfidia makes lunch ...

... and it tastes good.

Queuing up for sweets at the school tuck shop.

Big skies over the Pampas.

On the dusty road again !!

Viscatcha (or Chinchilla).

High pass with Salt Lake (laguna Blanca) in the background.

Laguna Blanca

Trying to blend in !!!

At the Salt lake.

Flamingos Feeding.

The most scenic hot tub in the world (no not the people !!)

Laguna Blanco, on the frontier with Chile (mountains behind are in Chile).

Anyone for a mud bath ?

At Laguna Colorado.

Amazing reflections in the lake.

Stone Tree.

Scenery like something from Star Wars.

More amazing colours.

Flamingos feeding.

The gang (hoping the volcano behind doesn't erupt !!).

The hotel where everything is made from salt !!

Dawn on the Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt lake).

Salt, Salt everywhere !!!!!!

Island in the centre of the salt lake.

Porfidia bakes me a lovely cake !!!

Loco Photos !!!!!!

Loco Photos !!!!

Jump !!!!

The biggest Chocolate bar in the world !!!!

Flying the Flag.

The Gang.

What a fantastic trip it was a real highlight so far.  Bolivia turned out to be a real surprise, some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seem and the Bolivians were so welcoming and friendly, we would have loved to stay and explore this amazing country some more.  However we had to move onto out next country - Argentina .......................................

Tupiza........a one horse town.

After La Paz we needed to head south toward the Argentine border.  Outside of La Paz there are no paved roads, the whole country is dirt track !!!!.  However there was a train to a small town called Tupiza, which is about 90k from the border.  Quite a long trip (12 hours) arriving at 4am.  We decided to do this and go for first class as it was so cheap.  Definately worth it as we got reclining seats, pillows, blankets, a couple of good movies and even an evening meal in the dining  car.  The scenery was also pretty good as we headed out into the desert.

Meat feast before the train.

All Aboard !

View from the train.

Tupiza is a sleepy little border town 90km from the border with Argentina.  It's real wild west country down here, with amazing Canyons and giant Cacti.   They ran some horse riding trips here, so we thought we'd give it a go.  Neither of us have much experience on horses but the animals seemed pretty tame and we were able to steer our mounts around ok (except when they decided they wanted to eat some grass !!!!).

Cow girl !!!

Not sure the horse is too happy!

Canyon of the Incas.

Interesting rock formations - Valle de los Machos

I also decided it was time for a hair cut.  I managed to find the only Jehovah Witness barber in South America, and once on the chair I was trapped and he could start the conversion process !!!!!

Barber with an evil glint in his eye !!!

Tupiza was also the area where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid commited the Aramayo Train robbery.  They were tracked down by the Bolivian Army to a remote mining town called St Vincente, where they were apparently shot (I think Sundance got away).  There was a small museum and cementary, so we decided to visit.

The Wild Bunch.

Last resting place of Butch Cassidy.

The Sundance kid.

Crazy Kids at St Vincente.

Tupiza

La Paz

After the tranquility of Copacabana and Lake Titicaca it was time to head to the Metropolis that is the Capital City of Bolivia : La Paz.

We were a bit apprehensive about the place:  crime, drugs and the Infamous San Pedro prison from the TV show "Banged up Abroad".

However we couldn't have been more wrong.  It was a fantastic city set in a set among huge snow capped mountains.  If we thought Cuzco was altitude we discovered La Paz was tough going very hilly and 3700M high !!

Entering The City of La Paz.

We stayed in a very comfortable Hostal in a central location and soon found out lots of cool things to do.

We spend a day in the City and went to visit the Coca museum (and how you make cocaine !!) and the witches market.  The market sold all manner of weird things including Llamas foetus' (used as a good luck gift amoung Quechans).

The Witches Market.

There was lots of adventurous activies to do around the city and no self respecting Member of the Corstorphine Adventure Activites Club could pass up the chance to Mountain Bike down the worlds most dangerous road.

The road from the Cumbre Pass 4700M descending down 64K on an old dirt road to the Jungle at Coroica at 1800M.

The road used to be very busy with traffic and the 1000M drop off at the edges was the result of many fatalities over the years, giving it the title of the "Worlds most Dangerous Road".  However these days the Bolivian authorities have been a new road for the main stream of traffic, and now the road is a mecca for thrill seeking tourists.

To be honest if you are fairly competent cyclist the road posed no problem.  The day we set off down the road it was a true scottish day foggy and raining, so unfortunatly the full effect of the massive drop offs were lost on us.  However by lunch we fog and rain lifted and we enjoyed some serious shredding down last jungle sections of the road.

 Ready to face death !!!!

Its down there somewhere !!!!

Safe after our brush with death !!!!!

The ride finished at an animal sanctuary which was great to see lots of rescued monkeys and parrots.

Parrots at the animal sanctuary.

Next day we took at trip upto Chacaltya Mountain, which is Bolivia's premier ski resort !!!.  Unfortunetly we were in the wrong season, but there was a few patches of snow to have a snowball fight in.  Due to global warming there Chacaltya glacier has dissapeared and the skiing all but gone.  It was really sad to see a once busy ski field become deralict.  We has a very slow hike up to the summit at 5400M.  I was definatly feeling a bit quesy on the way up but it was worth it for the views.

At Chacaltya Ski resort.

At the Summit.

Gillian at the summit.

Scotland and Brazil summit.

The Ski Resort.

Probably the closest I'll get to the slopes this season.

The last trip in La Paz was to the valley of the moon, which are some amazing limestone formations on the outskirts of the city.

Valley of the Moon.