Altiplano, Bolivia

15th September – 16th September 2017

Even though we were supposed to set off at 10.30, Browleo (our guide who was coming to the border with us) wasn’t at the hotel yet, so we had to wait for him. We set off around 10.45ish and set off to the Altiplano. Apparently the word altiplano just mean high piece of flat land, so we have technically been in high lands for a while now but this part had the particular name.

The whole journey we had to take to the Altiplano was off road, so it was a bumpy one. However, the first hour wasn’t too bad – it seemed quite smooth until we had our first toilet stop at around 12.

Our lunch stop for the day was at 1.20. Even though my group had lunch prepared and we had all eaten within half an hour, we had to wait for the other truck, who seemed to be preparing a four course lunch. We sat around and wandered for a bit while we waited; it was a good job the view was beautiful. We finally set back off at around 2.30 when the others were ready – we had to wait for them because Browleo was guiding both trucks to the border, so we had to stay together.

Less than an hour later, we stopped again at a place called the Valley of the Rocks. The valley was full of different formations which were made from petrified volcano lava and because of erosion over time, the formations have changed shape and have started to look like different things – so people think. Although it was debatable, we looked at the formations and there were discussion as to what they actually looked like.

On some of the rocks, there was a green plant growing on them. The plant was unusual because it doesn’t have any roots, it just grows on the surface of the rocks; it also only grows at 4000m, so we knew we were at least that high. The plant was really hard to touch and it can be used for medicinal purposes; it has a jelly substance that comes out of it which can be used for muscle and bone pain. The plant flowers in January and February and the locals can use this to make herbal tea.

After the short tour, we had time to play on the rocks – so much play time in the last few days! I did some climbing but not too much because I was in my flip flops – I was told that it was only a drive day, I didn’t know there would be any walking.

We got back in the truck and got ourselves comfy again, before we stopped again – it wasn’t worth getting comfy but I didn’t know we were stopping again.

We were told we had to get out and go for a walk – it isn’t quite the same on this truck because it is made to sound like a chore rather than an optional activity to do. We all went anyway and it was a nice walk but I just didn’t feel prepared because I wasn’t aware of the day’s activities. We walked up to Laguna Negra which was a pretty lake. It was very cold on the way though, there was even ice and snow on the ground – and I was in flip flops! We took some photos and climbed up some more rocks, before walking back to the truck.

That was our final stop for the day, before we drove to Villamar for our night’s stop. We got into the hostel type thing and were given our rooms; I was sharing with Sabrina and Sara and our room was tiny! It barely fit our three beds in.

Me and Sabrina were sat in our room and heard a knock, we opened the door and no one was there but we didn’t think anything of it. The next thing, there was another knock. We opened the door again and Jack was stood there telling us to come quick because Katie had locked herself in their bathroom – he came and got us before he even tried to help her! We went into their room, which was only next door so we figured that Katie was the first knock we heard. The door was well and truly locked shut and she couldn’t get out; it was funny at first but then I realised I would have hated that. More and more people could hear us laughing and had started to gather around the bathroom door, so I went to get help. I found David and Rianne who got the people from the hostel and went into her through the bathroom window. They passed her a pair of pliers and she was freed!

After Katie was freed and had calmed down, we went for a walk up the mountain because the sunset looked so beautiful. We almost missed the sunset but the views and colours were still very pretty. Up there, there was a plane wreck. Apparently the plane had crashed a few miles away but they moved the wreck to there.

We had dinner at 7.30 which was a nice vegetable soup with bread for starter and spaghetti Bolognese for main. Disappointingly, there wasn’t any dessert, but that was a good distraction for us to go to the truck and get our snacks/ decorate it for Sabrina’s birthday. We played a few rounds of cards before we left so that it wasn’t so obvious we were trying to duck out.

When we escaped, we ran to the truck to start on the balloons; David and Sara came with us to help because they were outside when we went out. We didn’t have very much to do but it seemed to take us a while and I was very paranoid she would catch on. We blew up the balloons and stuck them up, we made a sign and Katie made her a card.

When we went back, the boys said it was quite hard to keep her distracted and she had apparently tried looking for us in Katie’s room at one point but it was okay because she didn’t come to the truck. We played a few more rounds of cards before going to bed.

Because we were sharing with Sara, me and Sabrina decided not to set an alarm because we knew she would be up and wake up. I woke up a few times in the night because my bed was so lumpy from the springs, so every time I moved, I got a spring in my back so I was awake. The last time I woke up was around 4.20 and it seemed like only two minutes had passed before I heard Sara get up, so I didn’t check the time, I went back to sleep.

At 5.50, I heard Jack’s alarm got off next door (the walls really were that thin), so I woke up in a bit of a panic because breakfast was at 6, but we weren’t leaving until 7. I tried, but failed to wake Sabrina up, so went to the bathroom instead and when I came back, she was awake. I wished her a happy birthday and we got dressed before going to breakfast. After I had eaten (pancakes and dolce de leche with no plates – it was a very basic hostel), I went back to the room to get ready and pack up.

As I was getting ready, I thought it was strange that Katie had been to breakfast (Jack usually doesn’t, but she does) and I could hear them chatting through the wall like I could the night before. I left it a little longer and put by things on the truck (checking the decorations) and then at 6.40, I thought I better check on them. I knocked on the door and its lucky I did because I woke them up – Katie wasn’t happy because Jack was in charge of the alarm (which I heard in fairness) but he turned it off and didn’t tell her.

They were ready really quickly and we left just after 7. When Sabrina got on the truck, she was very happy with her decorations, so that was nice that our effort was worth something.

After about an hour of driving, we stopped off at Laguna Capina which was a lake full of borax. We didn’t have to walk or do much, other than jump off the truck and take some photos if we wanted to. Even though the sun was out, it was a lot colder than I expected, so I had to rock the trainers and alpaca socks look for a little longer than I wanted to.

We stopped again a little further down the road so that we could buy some tickets and carried on driving until we got to Laguna Colorada. It is called this because it was supposedly a colourful lake but there was a lot more of the red colour than any other; there is lots of phytoplankton in the lake which makes the red colour. There are also lots of flamingos in the lake, so when we got there, we had to creep forward all together so that we could get there together and get photos so that we don’t scare them off – flamingos have very sensitive hearing apparently. I got some good shots, but I was a little gutted I left my macro lens in the back locker, so couldn’t get the best shots possible.

After Laguna Colorada, we went to see some geysers. We stopped off near some geysers which were artificial – they had been drilled into the ground by people and we could see the natural ones in the distance. Browleo showed us that if you stand on the geyser, the hot air comes out a lot more, so we all had a go and it was hot on my foot.

We stopped for lunch after 1, at Laguna Chalvrie. It was Jack’s groups turn to do lunch today. They prepared sandwiches with ham and tomato and avocado which were tasty. We had to eat all of the food because no fresh food could be taken into Chile and we were going there in the afternoon. There were some very pretty hot springs there but we didn’t want to go in because it was freezing outside and didn’t want to be cold when we got out.

We left the lunch stop at around 2.40 and had around two and half hours to go apparently until we should have arrived at the border. We stopped a little bit further down the road and had chance to take some more photos; apparently the view was a view that looks like Salvador Dali’s paintings, even though he has never been to South America. I just took my photos out of the window.

The final stop of Bolivia was two more Lagunas: Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde. We didn’t get off the truck for Laguna Blanca, but we did at Laguna Verde. Laguna Verde is another toxic lake (like the rest) and it contains copper, magnesium and arsenic. It was a beautiful view, so we took some photos and enjoyed the view before getting on the truck again and continuing to the Bolivian Chile border at 4pm.

The Altiplano was a beautiful place with many pretty things to see. Although the roads were a nightmare to experience driving over and we were restrained to our seats by our seat belts, we did have many amazing views out of the windows and it is somewhere I could have spent a lot longer. It’s time for a new country for a couple of days.

To travel is to live, Katie x