A morning hike around this lagoon introduced us to fighting giant coots
On our second day out of San Pedro we continued to work our way north along the southwestern edge of Bolivia. The roads were still rutted and rocky and there was too much driving relative to too little hiking, but the scenery was great, too.
A close-up of the “giant” coots out on their floating nests. Don’t mess with ’em!
At the same time, the human life could be confusing. We went into one tiny little village; just tiny, maybe a few dozen people living there. The Bolivian government had recently invested in building some new housing in this remote, isolated location and you could only wonder what life must be like in such a tiny, remote, isolated location.
The day included another great lunch out in the middle of nowhere. This was on a tiny lagoon with a big rock that bore a striking resemblance to Margaret Thatcher. Weird.
We’re here in what is supposed to be the end of the rainy season, but the rains failed pretty significantly. One result is that some of the quinoa fields are just devastated. From afar, quinoa fields in this part of Bolivia can be beautiful, big red squares in an otherwise colorless region. Without water, though, there were some really sad-looking plots. You can only imagine the impact it must have on local farmers who are already poor beyond most anything I can imagine.
A very sad quinoa field, devastated by the failure of rainy season rains
And speaking of impressive, we went out after dinner that night to view the stars. Danilo had a laser pointer to show us some of the constellations, after which for the first time I could easily identify the Southern Cross, the southern hemisphere’s answer to the Big Dipper and North Star. Orion, Castor & Pollux, Jupiter – we saw them all, along with billions and billions of other stars.
The trip brought us right to the very edge of the Uyuni Salt Flats; tomorrow we cross in for two days. I’ll just add in anticipation that the experience was amazing.
A great little hike around this high plane lagoon
Mark on said hike
We even saw a lion on the hike, or at least a striking resemblance to the Ritz-Carlton lion logo
During our time in Chile & this area of Bolivia we’ve seen a bunch of these great green plants that cling to rocks. They take many, many years to grow to this size and are now protected in both countries.
Our guide Danilo taking a break, with a great view across Bolivia
I got pretty high, too
Another little hike took us through some Scotland-esque bogs. Or at least what I’m guessing were Scotland-esque, as I’ve never actually been there. Oh, and the good news about these hikes? The extra little pressure from my knapsack seems to have completely cured the back & shoulder pain I’d been experiencing ever since Nasca, back in late February. Yay!
Not all quinoa fields were wiped out by the failure of the rainy season. These sheaths of quinoa had been harvested and were tied up waiting … for something. The colors give you a sense of what a ripe, healthy quinoa field looks like from a distance.
No more shipping containers, for now, at least. Our lodging for Night Two was this old rehabilitated traditional structure made of local rocks with some cactus wood as framing.
Our isolated lodging for Night Two
Sunset out on the edge of the Uyuni Salt Flats. Later that night we’d get a great tour of the clear southern night sky.