My alarm went off way too soon. On 3 hours of sleep, I dragged my sorry ass out of bed, took a quick much-needed shower, and met with my tour company conveniently located in the lobby of the hostal. By 8:15, I was on my way. The tour cost $1200 Bs which is about $170 USD for 4 days including everything. I paid a little more to have less people in my vehicle (toyota landcruiser) and to have good food. This tour is essentially a 4-day , 4x4, site seeing tour through the SW Bolivia altiplano.
There were 8 of us in two vehicles and we conveniently divided up into a boys truck and a girls truck. My crew consisted of a kiwi around my age and 2 young ladies from Santa Fe, NM who were cool beyond their years, Isabel the cocinera and Fidel el guìa.
9:15 a.m. Quebrad de Palala
Our first visit was to the Quebrada de Palala, a spectacular rock formation on the outskirts of Tupiza, that was formed by rain and wind erosion. After another hour on the dusty road, we stopped in Sillar to snap a few pics. This part of the road was somewhat scenic, but that was over powered by hot and dusty. We stopped to take pics of llamas. The driver pulled over in a small abandoned town where we enjoyed our first good meal including chicken milanesa, eggplant milanesa, potatoes, carrot salad, and fruit. I have a good feeling about Isabel, our Quechuan cook!
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| Spectacularly interesting rock formations outside of Tupiza |
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| Photo du jour |
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| Llamas out to pasture |
As a group, we elected to drive 3 hours further to our lodgings for the evening in order to have a shorter day #2. We continued on stopping every hour or so to stretch our legs and take pics. Our last stop was in an abandoned silver mining town, San Antonio (4690). It was believed that the devil ruled this place because the villagers were plagued by illnesses which ultimately led to the abandonment of the town.
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| Abandoned mining town of San ANtonia; believed to be ruled by the devil |
After paying our National Park entrance fee to enter Eduardo Avaroa Reserva, we pulled into Quetana, our final stop. Unfortunately, since our cook was travelling with us, we did not get dinner until close to 10:00 pm. I ate cookies and drank coca tea and tried to wait patiently. I admired the stars and marvelled at how the big dipper is really large and upside down. Dinner was awesome! There was sometype of llama, veg, and tomato sauce type dish, mashed potatoes, and of course, soup.
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| Nice desert sunset |
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