16.11.2007
Gilles - Four days on the Southwest Circuit The so-called “Salar de Uyuni” tour actually covers a much larger area than the Salar de Uyuni itself … On a four day tour, we only spent half a day in the Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt lake in the world. Truly, this is the highlight of the tour. But nevertheless, the other 3.5 days took us through absolutely amazing sceneries. To start the tour from Tupiza rather than Uyuni was an excellent choice. Tupiza is a nice city with beautiful surroundings whereas I found Uyuni simply depressing. Moreover, while traveling through the whole Southwest Circuit, we were alone, whereas we once saw up to 20 jeeps coming from Uyuni when we were further north. And last but not least the four day tour gave us a better opportunity to discover the southwest of Bolivia, even tough it is not enough! Choosing to go with Tupiza Tours turned out to be just right, even considering the technical problems we had. We were only four people in the jeep, making this trip comfortable. This is very critical, considering that over four days we spent 35 to 37 hours in the jeep. The driver and guide, Don Gerardo, was simply great, as was Julia, our cook, who had an incredible talent to prepare a fantastic meal lacking all the facilities of a regular kitchen. The first day was “Altiplano puro”: shortly after leaving Tupiza, we climbed up to 4.500 meters, and spent the day between 4.200 and 4.500 meters on the Altiplano. This is not a very spectacular experience after having spent 4 weeks in the south of Peru and more than 6 weeks in Bolivia, but the landscape is still impressive. The second and the third day were simply amazing, driving from one “Laguna” to another and from one desert to another: red deserts like the “Desierto de Dali”, where you find many Vicunas, some of the rarest and most gracious animals in the world; lakes of many colors like the Laguna Verde. The green color comes from the high concentration of lead, sulfur, arsenic and calcium carbonates, the background is dominated by the 5.960 meters high Volcan Licancabur. Another highlight is Laguna Colorada, a red and green and blue colored lake full of flamingoes, at more than 4.300 meters! If you suffer from “Sorojchi” or altitude sickness, you might have a difficult time: during the three first days, we never got below than 4.200 meters. We even went higher when we crossed two mountain passes: one at 4.855 meters, more than the Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, and the second one, a plateau slightly above 5.000 meters. Breathing at times is no longer something that comes natural but you do very consciously, a strange feeling! But of course, on the fourth day, you reach the highlight of the tour: the Salar de Uyuni! |