Southwest Circuit, Bolivia

We just finished a four day trip around the Southwest of Bolivia. It was spectacular. This blog post will not do justice to how amazing the sites were, nor will most photos. You´ll have to see it for yourself one day. The first day was pretty, but paled in comparision to the next three. The highlight was ´El Sillar´ a giant canyon full of what looks like gigantic rows of stalagmites, though there is no cave ceiling to have helped form them.




The second day we saw four lagoons, known as the yellow, blue, white, and green lagoons. The yellow one wasn´t very yellow, but all are made colourful by various mineral deposits in the water (below is the green lagoon).

Along the way to the lagoons, we passed mountain ranges that look like watercolour paintings, as the mineral deposits within them are green, red, yellow, etc, and all mixed together. We also passed les Rocas de Dali which, along with the hills served as inspiration for Salvadore Dali´s paintings.




And at lunch that day, we bathed in a hot spring which was not only the perfect temperature, but was situated to allow the best view I have ever seen while bathing. The third day we saw the most striking coloured lagoon, the Laguna Coloroda, which is a vibrant red. This lagoon, along with the other five we saw that day, are all swarming with flamingos, and the occasions llamas and vicunas (a wild cousin of the llamma) pass by.

Today, we spent the morning at the Salar de Uyuni, the largest accessible salt flat in the world. It is massive. All you see is salt in every direction. We drove over it for two hundred kilometers. It looks kind of like a snow field, but with small polygonal crests throughout. It also is a great location to take trick photos. I wish you all could see it, and hopefully I can post photos of it when I get back (I will add one or two next time we get a computer with DVD access).