The South American Odyssey

A 147-day adventure by The Craze for Travelling Read more

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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Stone formations near Arbol de Piedra
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
There were many other stone formations near the Stone Tree. Despite it being very windy, sunny and cold, we decided to walk around and have a look. Each one of them was more stunning than the other. The effects of the erosion by the desert sand were clearly visible giving the stones some extremely interesting shapes.
After walking around the area, we had our breakfast in the vehicle before returning back to the Laguna Colorado.Read more
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Laguna Colorado (Red Lake)
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Here we go... Our lady luck helping us make the right decision at the right time.
The lake Colorado that had looked normal in the morning was jet red by now. It was a stunning view nothing like anything either of us had seen before. There were quite many flamingos in the lake.Read more
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The red of Laguna Colorado
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
What beautiful shades of red. The white of the salt mixed with the red of the algae makes it a very beautiful location. An awesome sight to the eyes.
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Laguna Colorado bofedales
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
We drove all the way down to the shore of the lake. There were bofedales (wetlands) near the shore with tufts of hard grass between the marsh area. There were quite many flamingos also. There were some vicuñas near the shore as well.Read more
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Laguna Colorado from the viewpoint
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
From a slightly higher perspective, the lake looks even more dramatic
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Vicuñas near Laguna Colorado
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌙 25 °C
Despite knowing that the Solar de Mañana is best visited early in the morning, we decided to go there anyway and then decide if we should return to it the next morning.
From the lake, the road started increasing in altitude as we started ascending into the mountain again.
We saw heards of Vicuñas on the way. There was also a viewpoint up in the mountains for Laguna Colorado.Read more
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Solar de Mañana
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Solar de Mañana is a geyser basin (4880m) - a collection of bubbling sulfur pools and a geyser. Its a volcanically active region with a lot of of fumeroles, mud pools and a psuedo geyser.
Traveler Sulphur effect visible on ground
10/19/17Reply
Traveler Never seen residual snow like this as it is neither solid,nor flat rather all conical
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yes.😊
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yrp.. It was due to the strong winds
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Solar de Mañana mud pots
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
There were boiling and bubbling mud pools of various colors. There was sulfur along the edges of the pools. One can also smell the sulphur in the steam being released from the pools.
Traveler All MUD ponds of different colours ie green,black,brown etc etc.
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yep. True
10/19/17Reply
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Solar de Mañana geyser
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
There also is a psuedo geyser in the region. Its not really a geyser but the steam below the ground forcing out a bit of water in the air for a few cms in the air.
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Play in the fumeroles
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
It was a cool experience walking through the stram of the fumerole. One can smell sulfur and also feel the droplets of water on the face. Its like walking in warm clouds 😁
Traveler Just reminds me of Iceland experiences.......
10/19/17Reply
Traveler Sauna bath free of cost
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Exactly
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling 😉😉
10/19/17Reply
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Booking at Termas de Polques
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
We had looked up on the maps that there were places to stay for the night near Termas de Polques. So we decided to book a place for us and then continue further to the Laguna Verde which was supposed to be the last place along that route South (near the Chile border) before we would start traveling East.
Termas de Polques is a small village (4-5 huts). There are hot springs on the shore of the lake Chalviri where one can go for a hot bath.
We found out that all the 4 huts there host people but 3 of them were fully booked. So we confirmed to the lady at the 4th place that we would be sleeping there for the night and continued further.Read more
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Salvador Dali's Desert
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
A bit further from the Lake Chalviri is the Salvador Dali's Desert, so called since the landscape looks exactly like one of desert painting by Dali.
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Laguna Blanca (White Lake)
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
By 4:15 pm, we reached Laguna Blanca. A white lake filled with Borax. There was no path to get near the lake so we drove on to Laguna Verde.
Traveler Borax,the medicinal thing??
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yes. Its the same one
10/19/17Reply
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Laguna Verde (Green Lake)
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Laguna Verde or the Green Lake is at 4400 mts above sea level and is coloured green by Arsenic, Lead, Copper and other heavy metals. The perfectly conical volcano Lincacabur (5960m) forms a beautiful backdrop to the stunning green color of the lake. The green color only appears when it's windy.
Guess what!! We had luck on our side again.. It was extremely windy and we could see the beautiful green color of the lake reflected by the late evening rays of the sun.
It was aaammaaazzzinggg!!Read more
Traveler All deadly elements at one place.Is not a health hazardous place?
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Maybe. But I think the elements are in traces so its not that dangerous
10/19/17Reply
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Laguna Verde geology
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
The were some interesting while lines on the surface of the green lake. When we went down, these turned out to be heavy metals like Arsenic etc forming a foam on the lake surface. The foam was collecting on the lake shore and then blowing in the strong wind like snow flakes.
Most probably because of the poisonous nature of the water, there were no flamingos or any other birds in this lake.
Another interesting geological feature of this area was a huge number of big and small lava bombs all coated by fossilized corals.
So, most probably, many eons ago a volcano had exploded in this region throwing lava bombs all over the place. Eventually, the area became a part of a shallow ocean and corals formed over these bombs. Many millions of years later due to the uplift of this area, the combination was exposed to the air again. The exposure to the strong winds eroded the fossilized corals leaving parts of them behind on the lava bombs. Its a very interesting indicator of the geology of this area.Read more
Traveler Are they not using this metal commercially as I do not see any captive unit around?
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling No. There was no mining here
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Laguna Blanca up close
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
From Laguna Verde, it was also possible to reach Laguna Blanca up close. The laguna Verde is a bit lower so the water from the Laguna Blanca flows into it. The water of the Laguna Blanca was smooth to the touch due to the borax deposit in it. There were birds in this lake indicating ot was not toxic.
After that we returned back to Termas de Polques.Read more
Traveler No plantation so rare /(less oxygen )/
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yeah.. Iys very high altitude. Same as Ladakh
10/19/17Reply
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Termas de Polques (Thermal Springs)
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
As soon as we got our place to sleep, we went to the hot springs for a bath. It was an amazing experience with the cold beautiful surroundings, a salt lake behind and warm water of the spring to soothe the body.Read more
TravelerHow cool is that!!!!
10/18/17Reply
The Craze for TravellingWarm actually 😉😉 Yep.. It was a very cool experience
10/18/17Reply
Traveler Hot sulphur or salt water Spring?
10/19/17Reply
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Termas de Polques lodgings
October 11, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Here also we got a separate room from the groups which we didn't have to share with anyone. The dinner too was simple made up of vegetables soup and pasta with tomato sauce.
Traveler Hey ,hot soup in plastic bucket? Should have told them that polymers react with hot liquids & should avoid this .😁😄😄
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling No worries dad. Its a metal bucket😉
10/19/17Reply
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Up in the high altitude plateau
October 12, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
The road continued climbing thereafter as we kept gaining altitude. Eventually, it evened out a large plateau area with deep canyon carved into the flat surface.
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Canyon Bofedales
October 12, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
All these high altitude canyons had some form of streams passing through making it a wetland inside with tufts of grass alternating with water and quicksand. They look beautiful but can be very dangerous if walked upon. The bofedales (wetlands) were a perfect grazing ground for groups of Alpacas and Llamas.Read more
Traveler Must be using these animals initially for milk requirement & later for mutton?
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yep. True
10/19/17Reply
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Bofedales everywhere
October 12, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Pretty soon the wetlands spread out everywhere even outside of the canyons and were almost like a big flat grazing plateau for the llamas and Alpacas.
Traveler Are these Liamas or Alpacas grazing the fields
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yes. That's right. Its like goats and sheeps in Europe
10/19/17Reply
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Moving East of Sud Lipez
October 12, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
This day we started on our journey East of the National Park. The initial path was along the Laguna Chalviri to the salt plains of Chalviri.
Traveler Eureka ,Eureka,there are two vehicles at the far end. How is this salt formation?Is it is rock salt or sea water salt or some other phenomenon ?
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling It wad the deposit from the sea that covered this area millions of years ago
10/19/17Reply
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Quetana Chico
October 12, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌬 21 °C
Soon we reached Quetena Chico. We had been told that we could find gasoline here, which we did. After filling in another 20L, we set off again.
A minor stop in one of the streams to clean up the tyres 😉Read more
Traveler How many INR for 20 litres?
10/19/17Reply
Traveler Car Ki to waat laga rahe Ho.
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Ha ha ha... We paid good money for this only
10/19/17Reply
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The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Towards Laguna Celeste Road
October 12, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
We continued on Eastwards across a stream till the road diverged and we took the Laguna Celeste road.
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Laguna Celeste road
October 12, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
The road this side turned from being a dirt track to one covered with sharp multi layered stones. The going was quite tough and we were normally driving at around 10-15 kms/hr.
Traveler Crazy guys,you means to say you are enjoying this road.Infact you are getting punishment for your karmas.Sheepishly you have changed this punishment in to pleasure.😜😜
10/19/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Of course we are. It was such a scenic road
10/19/17Reply
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