Day 14 - July 31,2017 La Paz, Bolivia

Our second hotel in La Paz costs the same as our last one before we headed out to Lake Titicaca. But it is significantly inferior both in facilities and service attitude. The room is dark and small, not the 5* it advertised. I couldn't see how the review rating can be so high. The only good thing was that breakfast was included.

We booked a guided tour to Tiwanaku today. It included pick up from hotel and lunch. Instead of the assigned time, the guide showed up 30 mins early. Fortunately, we were prepared to leave early. After driving around the city for almost an hour to pick up the rest of the group (we thought of this as a free city tour and a demonstration of the super driving skill of the bus driver in the chaotic morning traffics), the tour finally started. Tiwanaku is 2h drive west of La Paz on the road to Peru border and is the site of one of the most important civilizations in South America. The Tiwanaku lived from 200BC to 1200AD on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. They built temples and pyramids that were so advanced that archeologists today still haven't figured out their techniques. For example, they could make multiple 90 deg cuts in hard stones so precise that baffle experts. The stone slabs used to build their pyramids were so massive (100 tons) that we wonder how they were able to move it hundreds of km from far away mountains to this location. The most intriguing objects are the H blocks that function like our Lego blocks for building. We have watched this on History channel that suggested there was UFO technology. The H  blocks have precisely cut slots that are less than 90 deg resembling an inverted V. This technique made the interlocking blocks very secure. It is said that the Tiwanaku inspired the Inca civilization that followed.

Unfortunately, our guide didn't seem to know too much to answer our questions. All he did was just to regurgitate a bunch of numbers and facts in heavily accented "English". We learned more from reading the description on the signs.

The tour took most of the day till 4p. We were just dropped off near the main square. Fortunately Commander Wu knew his way back to the hotel through a maze of steep shopping streets and we rested till dinner time.

Yi started to have problems walking to restaurant in the evening. She seemed to have pinched nerves likely from the steep climb on the Sun Island yesterday. We could only hope that she could recover quickly after tonight's rest.

Day 10 - July 27, 2017 Uyuni, Bolivia

I don't recall having such basic accommodations from all of our travels (perhaps the one with the homestead at Lake Titicaca or the one at Mulu National Park in Borneo rivals this experience but not nearly as cold).  Last night, after entering into the national park, we were dropped off at a compound where aisles of buildings were built close to each other. The one we assigned had 30 beds in 6 rooms. Most of the rooms had 6 single beds but all the occupants were expected to share the only bathroom with two toilets and two small sinks with no hot water and no shower facilities. There was high anxiety on how to manage the washroom facilities next morning when everyone goes out to their different tours all at the same time. Worse still, there was no heat or heater provided. The night temperature was closed to -18C degrees. The blankets were heavy but provided little insulation. I slept with three jackets, socks and covered my head with a scarf. Even with all these extra layers of clothes and inside a sleeping bag, topped off with the blankets, I felt the cold. I don't think we felt this cold for a very long time, may be during one of those disaster camps we had in our youth when the weather turned sour and rain pouring in all day. The only place that provided some resemblance of warmth was in the dinning room which had a tiny wood stove burning during meal time. Despite these basic facilities, we thoroughly enjoyed the tour as we experienced so many unique sceneries, landscapes, rock formations, colorful lakes, and wild animals. Bolivia will definitely be discovered more by the world in the years to come when their infrastructure improves.

In order to beat the rush, I woke up at 4:10 am to use the washroom as breakfast was served at 5:00 am and we would leave the compound at 5:30 am. I did not sleep well at all. It was cold, uncomfortable and sleeping with other people, including two strangers. This was hardly the recipe to induce any good sleep for me.

The first stop was to see the geisers field Sol de Manana at an elevation of 5000m. It was quite amazing to see so many jeeps packed with eager tourists from all over the world to witness the wondrous geisers and bubbling mud right in front of your eyes. In fact, the area was very misty in the early morning before the sunrise, and you could easily step into one of these thermal vents with mud bubbles about to burst out. I don't think we could be this close to an active geiser in NA.

The next stop to a nearby hot spring was one of the highlights of this tour. It took considerable courage for us to change into our bathing suit, in subzero temperature with bare minimum facilities (no showers after the soak).  The lady change room consisted of three separate rooms with only a piece of clothes served as a door. It so crowded that people just change outside and ran into the hot spring. Thank goodness the hot spring was only a few steps away. It was heavenly to be able to soak in 33C hot water after feeling so cold for the last few days.

The Deli desert was not as impressive (it was hard to compare to the ultimate Sahara desert) but the landscapes were quite interesting and unique. The famous Spanish artist, Salvador Deli, was inspired by the landscapes in this area for many of his paintings.

We were totally at awe by the Valley of the Rock. The rock formations, the moss in the valley, the wild animals, and the peaceful Andean lake were absolutely beautiful. We wish we could spend more time there to absorb more of this wondrous sight, but we had to drive 5 hours back to Uyuni in order to make it to the flight to La Paz.

The airport at Uyuni was very basic, despite the fact that it is the gateway to many of the unique sites and a very popular destination for SA and European tourists.  There was no heat at the airport and they only had heaters in the waiting areas.  The flight left early because everyone had been accounted for. The flight attendants hand you a cookie and a tetra juicebox as you climb into to the airplane from the stairs. Quite an efficient way to take care of the snacks. The aeroview of La Paz was very impressive, especially at night where the valley and mountains were covered with lights, forming a spectacular view to impress tourists.

Reflections on the tour:
The specular sights were well worth the time and "suffering" from the lack of modern facilities. I can imagine that these services will be improved soon as more people no doubt want to visit these sights.

This trip was another loud reminder for us to travel while we still have the energy and health. This tour was incredibly demanding on your physical body and stretch your psychological comfort zone to the limit. It was also another testimony on how pampered we have been in NA where most of the new inventions and modern facilities were available for us. We need to take it as it comes and enjoy the moments, the good and the less ideal ones. The tour also provided an avenue for us to meet people all over the world and learned of some interesting facts of their country. It humbled us tremendously on how much people travel and how far they had been traveling to - we still have a long ways to go.

Day 9 - July 26, 2017 Uyuni, Bolivia

Breakfast was served at 7:00 am, with local fried bread that tasted delicious, along with scrambled eggs. Instant coffee, assorted teas, and yogurt drinks were served.

Our journey for the day started at 7:30 am.  We visited two caves that were accidentally discovered in 2003. The Galaxy cave contains some amazing fossilized seaweed and algae that are paper-thin and delicate. The other one is a burial ground for the ancient village people and contains a number of skulls and a mummy on site.

The next stop was called "rock army". Ancient fossilized gigantic coral reefs lined up for kilometers along the road resembling a gathering army. Their shapes were quite interesting.

We took some special effect pictures on the new rail road tracks to Chile. Afterward, the tour took us past one of the 4 active volcanoes in Bolivia today. The snow capped mountains and the desolate landscape were just amazing.

After, we stopped at one of the numerous high Andean lakes to see the flamingos. They like to congregate in these Andean lakes full of algae and minerals. We were told that three different kinds of flamingos come to the lake each year and locals identify them by the color on their legs and knees. They also built nests in the lake and hatch their eggs in December.

The road to the Rock Tree stone park was covered with thick layer of snow. We had to walk gingerly so as not to fall flat on our face or worse still, injured ourselves.  For some reason, my altitude sickness came into full force and I had to slowed down considerably
to adjust to the 4800 m altitude.

It costed 150B to enter into the national park where we stayed for one night with minimum facilities and the plan was to visit a number of fascinating sights there next day and then drive back to Uyuni around 5:30 pm, have dinner in town and take the flight to La Paz.

Day 8 - July 25, 2017 Uyuni, Bolivia

We started our 3D2N Uyuni Salt Flat tour today. We met the rest of the tour group in the tour company's office and after sorted out the luggage, we were grouped with a mother and her daughter from Montreal but immigrated from Nanjing 5 years ago. The family travels extensively to many developing countries and we were quite impressed. They were auditors before immigration and due to language barriers, decided to retired at tender age of 38 and travels whenever they can. What a life style!  The rest of the group members came from USA, UK, and Switzerland.

The first stop was the train cemetery for steam engines and railcars that had been abandoned after their mining declined. A new railroad had been built next to the old one and international goods and trades depend on it by the Bolivians.

The Salt Flat (Salar del Uyuni) was totally awesome from its sheer size (180km long and 70km wide, the largest in the world). The super white salt flat stretches as far as the eyes can see. We had our first lunch picnic style on the salt flat next to a historic hotel constructed entirely of salt blocks! Our first night accommodation was also in a cabin made with salt blocks, quite an experience. The lunch was very good - better than some we had in restaurants. We took many funny pictures on the salt flat, capitalized on the optical illusion effect on the flat.

The Fish Island was full of cacti that were thousands years old. We were lucky that we could actually climb the mountain on the island this time of the year because during the wet season, the bottom of the island would submerge in 1m of water and visitors can only admire it from afar.

Before we got to our hotel, we stopped on the salt flat to watch a spectacular sunset against a backdrop of mountains.

By the time we arrived at the salt brick hotel, it was completely dark and we were assigned to a two twin beds room.  Everything inside were made of salt - the tables and night tables.  The floor was also covered with loose salt like pebbles, making it difficult to put things down on the floor. The hot water was heated by solar energy and we're warned that it could get quite hot. At least there was hot water provided.  The funny thing was that the hot water was so hot but the cold water control was very poor making the shower either extreme hot or extreme cold, with no in between. Unfortunately, there was no heater inside the room. We felt really cold during the night as the temperature dropped to -15C degrees. 

Richard took the opportunity to examine the southern constellations and took some amazing pictures.  His fingers were almost frozen by the time he returned back to the room.