Crossing the Altiplano

It was an early start today (19th August). The alarm went at 4.45am and Bolivia is an hour ahead of Peru making it feel like an even earlier start.

The first stop of the day was San Antonio, an old mining town which once housed more than 1000 people. When the minerals ran out the people moved to the new mines, with the last family leaving just over 100 years ago. The village was mostly destroyed when the people left as the workers had hidden gold and silver in the walls and now all that remains amongst the rubble is the cemetery, still visited, and lots of chinchillas!

This was the most chinchillas we have seen to date, with them waiting for the sun to fall on the ruins. As we (well I) tried to get photos of them they kept running away (as you might expect!) and pretty much all the photos I did get of them they appear extremely grumpy. I guess I was disturbing their sunbathing!

Finally, Stu convinced me I'd seen enough chinchillas (and they'd seen enough of me!) and we continued on, seeing several more ostriches running off at speed into the distance but there was more to today's trip than the wildlife. The scenery was also amazing.

So we entered the Andean Fauna National Reserve sitting in the south western corner of Bolivia. But before entering I made a new friend, a kitten with tassels put through her ears like the llamas! She walked along meowing so I bent over to give her a fuss (and to name her Snuffles). However it seems she wanted more than a fuss and promptly jumped up onto my leg and left dusty footprints all over my trousers!

The rock colours in the Reserve range from red to orange, blue to green and black to white depending on their mineral content. Today was mostly characterized by reds and oranges with the landscape making us feel like we were on Mars.

The land was also much drier here with the grass tussocks growing outward in circles in an attempt to find water making the landscape appear even more alien.

The next stop was Laguna Celeste, a 15 sq km  lake that is less than a metre deep! The lake was extraordinarily still making it look like a huge mirror.

After the lake we saw our first salt flat, Salar de Chalviri. This salt flat is a lot smaller than the one we will see tomorrow and only the top couple of millimetres is useable salt.

Before lunch Stu and I took a dip in a natural thermal bath on the edge of the salt flats. The water was lovely and hot and the view was fantastic!

After lunch we continued south to Laguna Verde which is twinned with Laguna Blanca and sits on the Bolivian-Argentinean-Chilean border. The lake was an extremely vibrant aquamarine which is caused by the high concentrations of lead and arsenic. The wind always blows here meaning this lake can remain liquid down to -21 C and due the toxic nature of the lake no-one has found out how deep it is!

Fortunately today was an unusually nice day. The wind wasn't too high making it a very pleasant stop.

However the signs of the incessant winds were obvious in the snow. It had formed into claw-like structures where the snow had partially melted under the hot sun during the day then refrozen with the winds gusting at night when the temperature regularly gets below -20 C!

The last stop of the day was Laguna Colorado a red lake gaining its colour from the algae. The lake is a popular feeding spot for flamingos. 

Unfortunately we arrived a little late (too many photo stops!) and the flamingos had already started to leave. Hopefully tomorrow we'll see more of them!

Just before 6pm, more than 12 hours after setting off we arrived at our hostel. Tonight we are in basic accommodation, no heating and limited electricity. Given it gets to -20 C outside we're in for a cold night tonight!