Reset search
Luca LuLuca Lu
SatelliteEdit route
traveled in 43 countries Read more London, United Kingdom
  • South America
    Day 119

    All the flamingos in Bolivia

    May 26 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    We woke up at 6:45, miraculously not cold, but definitely out of breath. Vilma made pancakes for breakfast, a real treat!
    I haven't given enough credit to Vilma yet, but she was really great. She had to plan all the meals and cook for 6 people for 4 days. Every day, she'd wake up 2 hours before us to prepare lunch so that, when we stopped, she could heat it up and get everything ready in 10 minutes.
    She served different options each time, including a veggie one for Nick. The meals were tasty, and we were in awe of how effortlessly she pulled them off.
    Our first stop of the day was at 4,600m to see a desert, similar to the Salvador Dalí desert, where huge rocks dotted the sandy landscape, remenants of ancient eruptions.
    The Siloli volcano towered over the horizon, and the main attraction was a giant rock perched on a very narrow base, the Arbol de Pietra (tree of stone), looking very surreal.
    We then drove past a series of lagunas, all very interesting, all above 4,200m. The first one was called Laguna Honda, mostly frozen, with just a couple of flamingos. We walked down its hilly sides to test its icy waters - quickly realising it was too thin to hold anything larger than a skinny flamingo!
    The second laguna was Chiar Kkota, also known as the yellow lagoon, due to its high sulfur content. We spotted a viscacha running about and I spent some time photographing the crazy plants around.
    One plant looks like a thin coat of moss, growing on a round boulder. In reality, there's no boulder, and the plant grows a dense, woody structure, supporting its circular surface. Due to a lack of trees, it's used as fuel for stoves, and, as it burns so hot, it was even used in the furnaces of the mines! It only grows about 1cm a year, so the ones we saw were easily a few hundred years old!
    The next laguna was called Hedionda Grande. Its large population of flamingos used to be fed cereal, so the flamingos are accustomed to people, and didn't mind walking just a few meters away from us. We really enjoyed watching them up close: their beaks are so peculiar, filtering the water for their food.
    The final laguna was called Cañapa, which was surrounded by volcanos. We walked along its shore and looked at the flamingos flying by, really feeling like we'd seen all the flamingos in Bolivia (not complaining, we loved them!).
    The route then joined the road we'd driven a week before, crossing the border between Chile and Bolivia. We got to see Volcano Ollagüe again but, without the worry of having to cross the border, we had time to admire the fumaroles at its top.
    After having lunch under a dome with views of the volcano, we carried on with a long drive through the Chiguana salt flat, a huge plain of salt, giving us a taste of what was to come.
    After checking into our hostel, which was made of salt, we carried on driving to see the sunset in the Salar de Uyuni, the main attraction of the tour.
    Although often named after Uyuni, which is the nearest town, the salar (or salt flat) is originally named after the big volcano on its northern side, volcano Tunupa.
    We'd seen pictures and heard stories, but seeing it in person still left us in complete awe. Measuring over 10,000 square Km, and with salt up to 130 meters deep, the salar felt like another planet.
    The surface of the salt was hard, and I couldn't resist tasting it - salty! We had the best time running around and taking pictures, and Nico even whipped out some crisps and drinks, toasting to us and our adventures.
    We stayed until sunset, watching the sky turning red, and the stars glowing in the night sky.    Read more

  • South America
    Day 118

    The highest we've ever been (naturally)

    May 25 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌬 1 °C

    Our first night above 4,000m was definitely not a restful one. The place we were staying was very basic, without any heating or insulation. We slept in a sleeping bag, under three heavy blankets and a duvet. We woke up several times in the night, catching our breath and feeling dizzy.
    We started the day early, meeting Jem and Maima for breakfast at 7am (we agreed on nicknames to tell them apart!), envying their ability to cope with the altitude, and enjoyed getting to know each other over breakfast.
    We then started our drive, first along a frozen river bed, with numerous plants growing between the icy streams.
    Nico told us llamas graze here, however the llamas often used to fall into pools and get injured. Nowadays they're accompanied by a farmer, typically a woman, as the men work in the mines. In the night, they're shepherded into a pen, called the llama hotel.
    We visited one, and the owner kindly let us in to see the llamas, who stared at us gormlessly, while we all snapped pictures excitedly.
    We spent the rest of the morning driving south, stopping along the way by several lagoons. The first one, Laguna Hedionda, was a sulfuric lake, almost completely frozen. It had a few flamingos walking on its icy surface, and was thankfully not too smelly due to the cold.
    The second one, Kollpa Laguna, contained some nitrate compounds which were apparently used in the past as natural shampoo.
    We then drove through a white plain called Salar de Chalviri, resembling a salt flat, but in fact an accumulation of borax, a compound used in various industrial processes. It was used in the past for glazing pottery and, nowadays, it is used in a number of products from pesticides to glass.
    After the salar, we crossed a vast desert with towering rock formations, remenants of ancient volcano eruptions, called the Salvador Dalí desert, as the shapes of the rocks resemble his paintings.
    The final two lagoons we saw where right next to the Chilean border, Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde, underneath volcano Licancabur.
    Laguna Verde contains arsenic, copper and other minerals, giving it a distinct colour. When we reached it the sun was high, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. A strong, cold wind blew over the laguna, making its surface shimmer, but freezing us.
    Before lunch, we stopped at some hot springs at 4,300m. We swam in the pool overlooking the Salar de Chalviri, really enjoying its warm steaming waters and getting to feel our toes again!
    At lunch Nick checked his emails and found out he had been offered the Haematology job at King's - the best news of the week! We were both very happy and I was so proud of him for pulling it off while travelling!
    We then drove to the highest point of the tour, at 4,990m, to see a field of geysers, on the other side of the volcanoes as the Tatio geyser field we'd visited in Chile.
    Unlike Tatio, this field, called Sol de Mañana, didn't have water gushing from the ground, but many craters, some 4 to 5 metres wide, emitting large clouds of sulfuric steam. The place looked incredible, with strong wind blowing the thick steam, and mud bubbling deep inside the craters.
    The road leading to the field was covered in ice, sculpted by the wind and making the surrounding landscape look incredible.
    We finished the day at Laguna Colorada, probably the best of the lagunas we'd visited.
    At 4,400m, the laguna is just an average of 35cm deep, but a staggering 60 square kilometres.
    Its huge surface has an intense red colour due to the microorganisms living in the water. It has several borax islands, and is home to one of the largest flamingo populations in the world. Attracted by the abundant microorganisms, which colour their feathers pink, the flamingos nest on the borax. During summer, over 25,000 flamingos live on the laguna.
    There were probably a few hundred when we visited, as most had migrated to Chile to avoid the harsh winter. The older and the younger flamingos are either too tired or not experienced enough to migrate across the Andes, and are therefore found at Laguna Colorada all year round.
    We walked to the viewpoint and admired the lake, making our way back to the car just before sunset.
    After dinner, we played monopoly deal with the girls, and then attempted to sleep, though at 4,400m, it was easier said than done. Thankfully, that was the highest we'd spend the night, as we would start descending in the morning.    Read more

  • South America
    Day 117

    Into the Bolivian highlands

    May 24 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    After a few days of trying to get used to the altitude, it was finally time to embark on the 'Southwest circuit' tour of Bolivia, including the famous salt flats. After all, that's what we'd come to Uyuni for! We'd opted for a 4 day tour, departing from Tupiza.
    We weren't as acclimatised as we would've liked, but we were definitely doing better than when we'd first arrived in Uyuni. The first day of the tour was going to take us to 4,800 meters, so we were thankful we hadn't started straight from San Pedro, as many tours do!
    Just to spice the day up, Nick had been invited to do a job interview for a post in Haematology at Kings in London. He'd tried to rearrange the interview for a convenient time, but the only available slot was at 7:15am, the day the tour started. So, after waking up at 6:45am, putting on a totally creased shirt, Nick did his interview while I went to get one last breakfast api.
    Unlike the previous interview in Bariloche, he didn't have any time to practice. Nick took it as a bonus interview, given he'd applied so long ago and hadn't heard anything back, he assumed the post had been filled. I think I was more nervous about it than he was and, either way, we had no time to dwell on how it went, as the tour started at 8am!
    As we arrived at the tour agency, we saw a Bolivian man loading bags on top of a jeep. He was our guide Nico, from Tupiza, in his mid 40s, and with a wealth of knowledge ranging from cacti growth speed to local history.
    His wife Vilma joined us, she was going to be our cook during the tour. Finally, we met 2 young British girls on their gap year, both called Jemaima! Everyone got along well from the start. I took the role of translator, as only one of the girls spoke Spanish, but being Italian is still a bigger advantage than A-level Spanish!
    Our first stop was a viewpoint called La Silla, where we could see people working to collect gold in the valley. Nico explained to us that Tupiza relies on the mining industry to extract gold, silver and lead as their primary source of income. They also grow corn (as we'd tasted in our morning apis) and farm llamas for their meat and fur. Tourism is growing, but still second to mining.
    The region we were driving through was a highland (or altiplano) above 4,000m, rich in precious metals, and once part of what is now the Chilean Atacama region.
    Chile invaded the Atacama region at the end of the 1800s, depriving Bolivia of some of the richest mining areas and, most importantly, turning Bolivia into a land-locked country.
    To this day, Nico and many other Bolivians we've met have a clear resentment and dislike for Chile.
    We continued to a place called the Enchanted City, where volcanic stone sat on top of sandstone pillars, creating mesmerising patterns. Nico told us the area used to have a den of Andean Pumas but, as they kept eating the locals' llamas, they were scared off using fireworks.
    After a quick lunch whipped up by Vilma, we carried on, visiting a ghost town at 4,700m, near a large previously abandoned mine.
    The Spanish first decided to mine the area in the 1500s, bringing thousands of African slaves to work in the mines. Obviously and very sadly, they all died pretty quickly due to the altitude and harsh conditions. The Spanish then thought of enslaving the indigenous people and stole the minerals for years. The town was abandoned when an epidemic killed almost the entire population, forcing the Spanish to leave.
    Only 25 families of indigenous people remained who lived in the area for years, though the small gene pool gave rising to many genetic issues, and children were reported to be born deaf and malformed.
    Nowadays you can visit the remains of the buildings where the Spanish and the slaves used to live, where Andean viscachas (rodents from the chinchilla family, similar to rabbits) run around, oblivious of the terrible past of those ruins.
    Despite its terrible past, it was interesting to visit and learn about its history. We even tried to walk down one of the entrances to the mines, but gave up pretty quickly as it was so steep and dark, we worried we'd slip and join the fate of the many slaves who must have died there.
    After crossing the Passo de Marte at 4,880m, we started our descent to the tiny village of Quetena Chico, at 4,200m, where we spent our first night.    Read more

  • South America
    Day 116

    Horseriding through red canyons

    May 23 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    We only had one full day in Tupiza, and we decided to spend it visiting some canyons to the south of the town. We found a horseriding tour which had three options: a 3, a 5 and a 7 hour circuit. We opted for the 5 hour tour, as we have a nasty habit of overestimating our horseriding abilities.
    As we were getting ready at the ranch, our guide asked us if we could trot or gallop, so we had to quickly manage his expectations of what we meant by 'some experience'!
    Thankfully the horses were very well behaved, and, I do think we're starting to understand a little bit more how to hold the reigns.
    The tour took us through some amazing landscapes of red rocks, similar to the Valle de Arcoiris in Chile, but with much more vegetation, including some cacti towering 5 or 6 meters tall. Our first stop was at the Puerta del Diablo (Devil's door), a large opening in the middle of a giant ridge of red rock which cut across the valley.
    We rode further into the mountains, through a dry riverbed, past the Valle de los Machos and into the Cañon del Inca.
    Valle de los Machos (Valley of the Men) had some iconic rock formations, where large boulders shield the underlying rock from eroding, forming towers which look like a certain part of the male anatomy, giving rise to the name. Cañon del Inca was a narrow canyon which the Incas used to use to cross the mountains. We unmounted, exploring it on foot, and enjoyed climbing up it as far as we could.
    Once back on the horses we crossed a difficult sandy pass into another valley, where giant cacti and green rock formations kept us entertained.
    The final stop was the best, Cañon del Duende. Our guide told us a duende is a little devilish imp, which is said to roam the canyon at night, making scary noises.
    The canyon was stunning, with the stone carved by water and wind, creating arches and pinnacles in all directions. We walked far into the canyon, marvelling at how intricate the formations were.
    At that stage, we were very happy with the tour, and would have loved to call it a day. However, we still had to ride our horses back to Tupiza, and we were completely knackered! We promised ourselves that next time we'll stick to a shorter tour!    Read more

  • South America
    Day 115

    Tupiza

    May 22 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    We left Uyuni on a bus at the crack of dawn for Tupiza. We knew the bus experience wouldn't be as comfortable as in Chile, but were totally unprepared for how cold it was going to be.
    We wore jumpers, coats and hats, but made the mistake of only wearing normal trousers, and our legs got completely frozen. My phone said it was -7 degrees, but felt like -9.
    It was a couple of hours before the sun rose enough to warm us up, which we spent shivering in the biting cold, envying the locals bundled under their thick blankets.
    After what we dubbed 'the worst bus of the holiday', we finally arrived in Tupiza, and thankfully managed to check in early in our Airbnb.
    Despite being lower than Uyuni, at 2,900m, Tupiza still felt quite high, as we noticed walking around town breathing heavily.
    While Uyuni was dirty, felt oddly uncared for, and poor (considering the amount of tourist money pouring in all year), Tupiza was still obviously poor, but felt nicer. It felt like people took more pride and care of the town, and we really enjoyed how nice everyone was.
    We had a late breakfast at the main market, trying the local drink, api, a warm juice of purple and yellow corn mixed up (and a lot of sugar!). The lovely old lady who ran the food stall came to tell us how all the ingredients are all natural and healthy, as she also served us some deep fried empanadas called pastel (also delicious!).
    After resting up at home, we decided to catch the sunset at the nearest viewpoint, walking up to a peak, where a big white cross overlooks the town. We could hear kids playing instruments in the school playground, and the town seemed like it had a very active community.
    Dinner options were scarce, and nowhere near as inviting as our morning api. We grabbed some underwhelming food at a touristy place called Alamo, after dodging 3 or 4 pizza places which I took as a personal offence to my Italianness.    Read more

  • South America
    Day 114

    Acclimatising

    May 21 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    We woke up in Uyuni after a fairly bad nights sleep, due to the altitude. Our oxygen saturations, which should be above 95%, had dipped to 80% overnight. Even without any gadgets giving us oxygen stats, we knew we weren't feeling well. We were very tired and constantly out of breath, so we moved at glacial pace through the day.
    We'd booked to stay at a hotel made out of rock salt and, even though the salt bricks were cool and the bed was comfortable, the breakfast was absolutely dreadful. We attempted to have some, but decided to head out and grab something actually edible in town, finding a cute little place called the Llama Cafe.
    We got cash out, did some laundry and booked a bus for the morning after, since the train we originally planned to take didn't seem to exist.
    We managed to get a good pizza for dinner and had an early night, hoping we'd feel better the next day.    Read more

  • South America
    Day 113

    To Bolivia!

    May 20 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Sadly, after six days, it was time to leave San Pedro de Atacama. We really loved it, even after 4 months of travelling and seeing amazing things, it still left us speechless!
    After a whopping 70 days in Chile, and having travelled from south to north, it was time to move to the next country: Bolivia.
    Like most South American countries, we hardly knew anything about it, but we were excited to visit and learn more about it.
    Our first stop was the town of Uyuni, at 3,700m.
    We caught a 9am minibus (after almost missing it as we couldn't find a taxi) from Calama. As we added our names to the passenger list, we realised everyone else on the bus was Bolivian. We'd thought it was a tourist route, but it was packed with Bolivians returning from Chile for work, with people crammed in sitting on their bags in the middle isle.
    After about 3 hours, we reached the border at Ollagüe, a tiny village named after a big volcano, which is constantly spewing out smoke. The volcano towers over the landscape, half in Chile, half in Bolivia.
    When we'd first entered Chile, we'd been given a flimsy receipt called PDI. Unbeknownst to us, we had to keep until the day we left. Needless to say, I had mine and Nick had lost his. In his defence we weren't told it was important. The border guard was very strict and told Nick he needed the physical copy, and he needed to return to Calama to a police station to get a copy!
    I was stood in a parallel lane getting my passport stamped, and both our faces dropped. The officer I was talking to must have taken pity on us, or maybe he realised that there was no way to get back to Calama, and we would've died in the desert if they turned us away, so he overruled Nick's officer saying "we'll let you through just this once"! Thankfully, we managed to get our passports stamped, and we got out of there as fast as we could.
    Little did we know, the bus company had messed up some of their paperwork, and were told we weren't going to be allowed through anyway!
    The message was delivered in Spanish, and we couldn't fully understand what was going on: it sounded like we didn't have the right papers, but if we waited, maybe we could get through.
    We all bundled into another minivan and were driven halfway between the two border offices, in the middle of the desert, in front of volcano Ollagüe. We all stood there, while a group of teenagers started dancing to entertain the crowd. We would've been more worried, but everyone seemed to be pretty calm, and we figured at least we'd be in good company!
    After waiting for half an hour, they told us the Bolivian officers would let us through, so we went to the next check point, where we all got through easily.
    We then clambered into a people carrier and after about 3 more hours of bumpy dirt road, finally got to Uyuni.
    Our first impression of the town was underwhelming. For such an iconic tourist spot, the city was poor, dirty and our hotel looked like it'd been left half-built. We decided to not dwell too much on first impressions, and got an early night, hoping some rest would help us acclimatise.    Read more

  • South America
    Day 112

    Chilean rainbow mountains

    May 19 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    For our last day in Atacama we drove north to Valle Arcoiris (Rainbow Valley), famous for its colourful rocks.
    On the way we stopped to see some petroglyphs near a tiny village called Yerbas Buenas. We arrived around lunch time, the sun was high, and it was warm despite being at 3,500m. There was hardly any wind and no clouds, a lovely day for a walk in the desert!
    We were told some of the petroglyphs are thought to be almost 2,000 years old. The site used to be a crossing point for people following what eventually became the Inka road.
    The petroglyphs are carved into big red rocks and represent people, guanacos, and flamingos. They are surrounded by an arid plain, with the odd bush poking out. We found one tree, inexplicably taller than us, growing in dry soil, cracked by the scorching sun.
    It was fascinating to imagine people carving them so long ago - and we wondered what it must have been like to survive here back then.
    After Yerba Buenas we drove another 20 minutes on a dirt road (as usual!), criss-crossing a shallow river.
    Once we arrived in Valle del Arcoiris we were blown away by the vivid colours of the rocks. The predominant colours were green and red, with some ridges of white stone with tinges of purple. The red rocks had been carved by water into countless pinnacles, and we walked through some narrow valleys with vertical walls over 30 meters high.
    We drove as far into the valley as we could, stopping to walk about and see the rocks up close. At the last stop we ran into a guide who kindly offered us a couple of beers. We admired the surreal landscape around us with our beers, feeling so lucky to be visiting such amazing places!    Read more

  • South America
    Day 111

    Resting and stargazing

    May 18 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    After three days of intense exploring, we finally had a slower day in San Pedro. We wandered around the town in the morning, visiting the market stalls in the main Plaza - where there were lots of local artists selling all sorts of souvenirs.
    There are also lots of restaurants and cafes, making the town really enjoyable to walk around. The only downside was the dust but, considering we were in a desert, I can't complain too much about it!
    After lunch, we drove to the ruins of an indigenous fortress, just outside town.
    The indigenous name for a fortress is a 'Pukará', and there are many across South America, mostly in Ecuador and Peru, as it's thought there was more fighting going on there.
    Built on a steep, rocky hill, Pukará de Quitor (the one we visited) was built by the Atacameños (the people of the Atacama) to defend themselves against the Inka, and later the Spanish. As per so many of the indigenous communities we've encountered, they eventually lost, and there were statues at the viewpoint to commemorate the indigenous people who were killed.
    The views were great, we could see the whole of San Pedro, and even the Valle de Marte, which we'd visited when we first arrived.
    After relaxing at home some more, we cooked dinner and tried our best to stay up until our final adventure of the day - a stargazing experience, starting at 10:30pm - wild!
    The clear desert sky makes it a remarkable place to see the stars and, being in the Southern Hemisphere, much more of the Milky Way is visible.
    The tour had three sections: first we used a digital and an optical telescope to see the stars and the moon. The moon was nearly full and very bright, which meant we could admire its amazing craters, but it also meant we couldn't see as many stars as otherwise possible. The guide told us a lot about the physics of stars, nothing new for me, but always interesting.
    We then moved around a campfire and were given some warm drinks and snacks, while a guide told us about the indigenous Atacameños beliefs about the moon and stars.
    The Atacameños believed that mankind first lived only under the moon light. They call the moon Mama Quilla (Mother Moon). They thought that, when people died, their soul would travel up into the sky, through the Milky Way and cross into another world via the Southern Cross constellation. They believed their bodies went back to Earth, to feed animals and plants. Finally, their knowledge would go under the Earth into a pool, where new souls are formed, which is why new generations benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of their ancestors.
    Despite its lack of any scientific basis, we enjoyed hearing about the traditional beliefs just as much as hearing about the physics.
    Finally, for the third station, the guides took professional pictures of us (and of all the other tourists), under the stars. I also tried practicing with my own camera, and managed to take some of my best shots of the night sky.    Read more

  • South America
    Day 110

    Geysers and hot springs

    May 17 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 4 °C

    After two incredible days in Atacama, we somehow we managed to have a third, amazing day. We planned to see El Tatio, the third largest geyser field in the world, at 4,300m. This time though, we went prepared, and wore everything we could!
    The organised tours tend to depart extremely early, with a 4am start, so we were glad we had our own car, and could go a bit later. We still left around 8am as we'd read it's best to go in the morning, as the vapour from the geysers hangs in the cold mountain air for longer.
    The road was mostly unpaved, so I was glad to have had a fair amount of experience on these roads by now. Unlike two days earlier, the road had huge potholes, meaning I had to drive slowly, swerving across both lanes to avoid them and not total the car. Luckily for us, there was hardly anyone on the road, so the drive was actually fairly pleasant.
    The landscapes, as usual, were amazing. The road goes past some volcanoes, with cracked craters on one side, showing ripples of colourful rocks tumbling down their slopes.
    The geyser field was very big, it didn't have any single massive geyser, but many smaller ones, constantly spewing out boiling water and vapour. The colours around the geysers were incredible, from yellow, to orange and green. We normally don't see such bright colours in rocks, and we really enjoyed looking at the mesmerising patterns around the geysers.
    We spent about 3 hours walking around El Tatio and saw countless geysers. We were chuffed we managed to endure the cold and the altitude without feeling too bad either!
    On the way down, we had a quick packed lunch next to a flamingo lagoon (another one!). Further down, at 3,500m, we stopped at some hot springs called Termas de Puritama.
    Nestled in a red rock canyon, with cacti dotted around, the hot springs looked really inviting. We were initially concerned, as we were told the water was between 25 and 30 degrees which, considering the cold wind, we thought might not be warm enough. We don't know if the temperatures were actually higher, or perhaps our bodies were less demanding than expected, but we had a lovely time!
    There were 8 pools, all connected by waterfalls and a running stream of thermal water. We started from the bottom and made our way up, enjoying all the different pools, surrounded by reeds. By the end it was 6pm, everyone had left, and the staff told us time was up. We were having such a nice time we had stayed until sunset!
    We drove back into town, feeling refreshed yet tired after another long day.    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English