We were picked up around 8:00 by our tour company, Cordillera Traveller, and we were pleasantly surprised to find the majority of people on the trip were English, having spent so much of our time in previous locations being overrun by Germans. After clearing Chilean passport control, we made our way to the border. The Bolivian immigration wasn't quite as official as Chile, with it being a little shed like building 4500m above sea level and in the middle of the desert. It was fairly cold and you could feel a slight shortness of breath due to the altitude. After a basic breakfast and getting our passports stamped, we were sorted into groups of six and allocated a tour guide and 4x4. We were lucky to be in a group with three English girls, two of which could speak Spanish and could translate what our driver, Flavio, was saying as he didn't speak English, and a Brazilian guy. We then set off through the desert of Bolivia. After buying our national park tickets and carrying on our way, we arrived at our first stop, Laguna Blanco. This was a massive lake where the water displayed a perfect reflection of the sky above which was quite impressive. Our next stop was Laguna Verde, which apparently means green lake. And shortly after arriving you could see why. Our driver told us that the colour of the lake changes as the wind blows. When we arrived there was a small strip of water in the distance which was a green colour. We were then lucky enough to witness the whole lake gradually turn a bright turquoise colour as the wind picked up. This was quite a spectacle.
Our next stop was a little different. After a 45 minute bumpy ride through the desert, we arrived at a thermal spring which we were able to get into. It was like stepping into a hot bath, it was so nice, and the view was equally as good. After leaving the spring we made our way towards our first pit stop where we would be spending the night. En route, we stopped at some geysers, which were constantly steaming with a strong smell of sulphur. Luckily we didn't spend too long here. Between the geysers and our accommodation we were told we'd hit nearly 5000m above sea level, and you could definitely feel it. Thankfully the little hostel wasn't as high and we stopped for something to eat and a siesta before heading back out. Our last visit of the day was to a another lagoon. This one however had bright pink water with a large number of flamingos in it.
After this visit we returned to the hostel and settled down for the evening. This was spent eating and chatting to the other people in our group plus two other groups who were also doing the trip with the same company. No one seemed to sleep particularly well that night, mainly due to the altitude, which made the second day a little harder to deal with.
With everyone waiting for the sun to rise after a pretty horrendous nights sleep, we were fed and on our way by about 7:00. After about 15 minutes of driving, Flavio stopped the jeep and turned around, with none of us knowing why. After driving back and forth a few times he stopped and started shouting at an old woman who was wandering around a lake. After running towards our jeep she was invited in for a lift. It turns out she was looking for her llamas and Flavio had spotted them. So after dropping her off with her escaped animals we were back on our way. The rest of the day was mainly spent travelling through the mountains with the odd stop off at more lagoons to witness the flamingos.
Later that evening we arrived at our next accommodation, a hotel made of salt. We were given private rooms and there were hot showers so was already a better night. However there was sand and salt everywhere and it became apparent that Bolivia don't appear to agree with having locks on toilet doors, which sort of adds an unnecessary risk to going to the toilet. Once everyone was refreshed we ate. The dinner consisted of chips and a sort of steak. We were told if was beef, but we're still unsure now whether it really was or not. They also clearly forgot about Emily and another girl being vegetarian, so after asking, they were brought a fried egg each, which looked as appetising as the meat. The rest of the night was spend sharing stories from our trips and drinking wine, hoping that the alcohol would contribute towards a better night sleep. It did, sort of.
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