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April 1st, 2017

Day 13: 4WDing Through The Bolivian Wilderness

After a morning of bread with jam, ham, and cheese, we were on our way for the second day of our Bolivia tour. And it was a nice-weathered day for journeying through the country.

The first stop of the day was a site with dried up, petrified coral reefs from long, long ago. After spending a bit of time here, we moved on to the next location, an area with a great view of a far-off mountain and rocks around it. I know, a terrible description. Before long, we were back on the road to our lunch location, which was near beautiful Laguna Cañapa, a lake situated next to a volcano/mountain. And in this lake, there were tons of flamingos that were just chilling and eating. My first time (I think) seeing flamingos! The group spent time trying to take pictures of them but it was actually pretty difficult because they were so far away and my camera just could not zoom out that far. Eventually, everyone gave up and went to lunch, which included chicken, rice, and veggies. After lunch, we tried once again to capture flamingo pictures with some success. But the coolest part after lunch was the reflections in the lake! With the sun coming out from the clouds, the scene was perfect for taking the reflection photos that we weren’t able to get on the salt flats.

After shooting a ton of photos, we left and headed for the next flamingo lake, Laguna Hedionda. We spent a little bit of time here before going to yet another lake in the area. Oh, because I didn't mention it earlier, I just wanted to mention how driving today was absolutely crazy. A true 4WD experience! Going up mountains, driving on rocks and gravel roads, driving through water, etc. And on our way to the next location, the Stone Tree, the roads were completely gravel and dirt and was essentially a free for all. Before reaching the Stone Tree, we made a stop at some rocks that sheltered chinchillas. We had a heck of time feeding them cookies, chips, and veggies. Chinchillas are so chubby and they look like a mix between a rodent and a big bunny. Very funny looking things. Once we were at the Stone Tree, we looked around at the different rocks that were shaped by the wind and quickly moved back to the car because of the intense winds around the area.

With the intense pace at which we were visiting sites, we next stopped at the Laguna Colorada, a big red lake that was a home and sanctuary for three different types of flamingos. Here, we learned about the flamingos and the lake and how it gets its color. Before long, the wind again pushed us back into the car and we headed towards the entry point for the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve.

Once we had our tickets in hand, we drove a long while through the park until we got to the geysers and hit the area with bubbling mud. At 4900+ meters high, the temperature was super cold here and the wind was rough. We walked around and looked at the odd landscape there before retreating back to the car to escape the harsh conditions. During this stop at the geysers and drive, I noticed just how surreal the landscape was around us. The geysers were steaming enough to give an eerie feel to the area. Some clouds were in the sky and the sun was peeking out through the steam and clouds. Pretty cool. We eventually got back on the road as it was nearing time for dinner. The landscape on the drive was all red and orange with rocks and stuff everywhere. The initial thought in my head was how Mars-like the landscape looked. The big hills and mountains were something I'd expect to see on the surface of Mars. And the rocks and boulders scattered all over the place looked strangely similar to pictures I had seen of Mars before. A pretty unique thing to see and one I definitely wasn't expecting to see in a place like Bolivia.

When we finally arrived at our makeshift hotel for the night (a stone building with rooms with multiple beds that were sitting on bricks with floors and walls of cement with generator-powered electricity), most of the crew decided to brace the cold to go down to the hot springs nearby. But I decided that because I was cold and didn't really feel like being down in the hot spring (and because I had recently gone in Iceland), I would stick around the hotel and just chill out with my friend Rosie who also decided to avoid the cold. So we ended up just hanging out at the shelter and chatting as I tried to do a time-lapse of the clear and beautiful night sky. Once everyone was back, we had a dinner of sausage, mashed potatoes, and veggies with soup. And before long, a little bit of hanging out happened and it was time to end the long but productive day of Bolivia adventures. Last day down in this part of the country tomorrow!

5 Things I Learned Today:

1. The unpaved roads down in this part of Bolivia were essentially created from the 4WDs of all the different tour companies. Taking away tourism, there usually isn't much traffic or people in these areas. So really, this area is for tourism and tourism only.

2. No one really lives down here in southern Bolivia. It is barren and far away from many things.

3. The rainy season in Bolivia was delayed by around 20 days this year.

4. Flamingos take off like airplanes with the need for minimum speed for takeoff.