To say the least, this two day adventure was “bumpy” and definitely left us “breathless”. We had an excellent guide and driver, but off roading for most of the day leaves you feeling rattled and exhausted especially when you going up and down in altitude all day…with the majority of the day being above 10,000 feet.

The first day started with a visit to the “train cemetery” which frankly was a windy, cold, worthless stop in my opinion, but I’ve figured out the Bolivians don’t have much to offer tourists outside the big cities other that the landscape views.

Heading toward the Chilean border, we drove past lots of Quinoa fields. The Bolivians are great exporters of 3 types …black, red, and white. They actually know how to cook it to make it taste good too! We saw lots of the four types of wildlife that roam free …. Bicunas, Apacha, Llama and
Auanaco (just like bicunas but has a black head). We stopped in a small mining town called San Cristobal which sits at the base of the 4th largest silver mine in the world. Beautiful church and clean, but otherwise boring.

For lunch, we stopped at a dilapidated, shack on the road side to eat what had been packed for us earlier. Most of these “packed lunches” are basic … chicken, potatoes or rice, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, orange or apple. Good food is not their claim to fame.🥴

Back on the “road” or should I say “dirt path”, we passed several lagoons and saw lots of flamingos. We are learning the different types…the solid Pink ones are Chilean (their babies are grey), the ones with Grey legs and Black tails are the Andean Flamingos, and the the James have red legs and black tail . James and Andean flamingos have deep-keeled bills and feed mainly on algae and diatoms. Chilean flamingos have shallow-keeled bills and feed on insects, aquatic invertebrates, and small fishes.

We were also approached by a large “rough, mangy” looking fox who wanted food. Very sad.

As the off roading became almost unbearable, we entered the volcanic region. There are over 2000 volcanoes in Bolivia, but only 11 active. We drove thru the Red Rock Valley and the huge rock formations were pretty cool. One cluster looked like a chicken …and another resembled a mama bear with a cub. Obviously, one has to use their imagination to see lots of formations that resemble an animal, person or object. Sorry, but my imagination was limited after the jostling I’d endured for hours. Oh, but it gets better….

Now in the desert, following no specific paths, and at an elevation of 15,000 feet, we are seriously trying to catch our breath, when over the horizon appears our lodging for the night…. Hotel Taka del Deserto, settled at an impressive 14,435 feet in the Andes mountains, Oios de Perdiz, Bolivia. The landscape of the Siloli desert with Laguna Colorada and Laguna Verde, the volcanic fumes of Sol de Manana, and the mountains in the background are the only things for miles away. It’s officially the highest hotel in the world and it’s is literally in the middle of nowhere! The wind is whipping and temperature is COLD (almost freezing point) but we try to keep a good attitude…and are grateful to at least get out of the vehicle. We’re told they turn the generator off at 10pm, but no worries, there’s plenty of blankets😫. AND, there’s oxygen in the lobby which you’ll probably need at this altitude.🤣 Need I say more,…thank God, we bought gloves and hats in the little town we passed this morning.

Dinner was actually good that evening (more quinoa), but the rest of the night I spent trying to breathe. I took 5 min of oxygen before I went to bed, I slept in my clothes, hat and gloves because my room was too cold to risk getting undressed… I think there were 4-5 blankets on my bed, but by 2 am, I was ready to wake up the lodge manager to get more oxygen. Using my bio feedback training (and dreading the thought of getting out from under the covers) I was able to make it until the generator came on the next morning around 6 …and I went straight to the lobby where they had a huge stove that heated up the entire room. Whoa… I had survived!!!! And the good news…Connie’s contacts did not freeze in their case with the small amount of liquid they were soaking in.

Driving back to our Salt Hotel (and looking forward to their excellent pizza in the bar on our return), we visited the Red Lagoon where we saw thousands of flamingos. Really beautiful sight! This lagoon is actually red because of the plankton it grows and it is full of white borax ice as well. 30-50,000 Chilean flamingos descend upon the lagoon during summertime to lay their eggs on the borax ice formations to protect them from the foxes. Beautiful, colorful sight!!!