From the Altiplano to Uyuni through the canyons

From the Altiplano to Uyuni through the canyons

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Italian Valley

Italian Valley

Activity: Cruz Andina

Day 70

Everyone reported having slept well. All of us have acclimatized well and none starts the day with a headache.

Today we see less lagunas and more rock formations. We start with the world cup rock – a massive formation that does look like the world cup… But it’s inside what is called the Italian valley. Two groups of weirdly shaped rock formations you can climb on. 

world cup
World Cup

It’s funny how you would think that a bunch of rocks would be boring, but the moment you throw a couple of people in and everyone is climbing on everything like little kids. We had a lot of fun.

Many rock formations had holes for funny pictures or looked like some form of shape. Finally it’s home to rodents which are as big as rabbit but look more like Chinchillas. Alexis and Jaoa managed to get good pictures of them.

Hole in the rock
Hole in the rock
Broken heart
Broken heart
Sort of Rabbit
Sort of Rabbit

After this childhood regression visit, we drove to see the Laguna Negra. It’s hidden inside high cliffs and the waterways feeding it are covering all the ways in with moss. We had a lot of lamas grazing there. 

Laguna Negra
Laguna Negra
Lama at laguna negra
Lama at laguna negra

On the way to our last night in the desert we stopped by a canyon and a bar in the middle of nowhere.

Canyon
Canyon

The bar was a surprise, they sell Bolivian beers, made with coca leaves, quinoa or cactus. It’s also the end of the mostly sandy and dusty part of the drive. All the drivers were using this spot and parking the tourist there, to pump up some air in the tires and quickly clean up the jeeps.

Bar in the middle of nowhere
Bar in the middle of nowhere

All this day we were between 3,600 and 3,800m in altitude. But we felt alright.

We had a lot of lamas and grazing pasture views – a very different landscape from the desserts, sands and shrubs of the previous day.

Lama crossing
Lama crossing

The hotel for the night is made of salt – our beds and walls are salt rocks. They are carvings on the walls. Diner surprises us with a very nice Bolivian wine that was very fruity. 

Salt hotel
Salt hotel

The only down side ? We didn’t get hot water for our shower that night, but our Brazilian mates did only they started showering about 1h30 after diner. I think everyone was showering at the same time – hence our lukewarm teeth grinding cat wash for today.

We are right at the edge of the salt flats, we can see them from the restaurant window.