weltreise 2013: Bolivien- Altiplano

1.9.2013

After a night in a hostel in San Juan (try and find that on the map!!) we set out on a 300 km journey towards the Chilean border.

Coming back to the afore-mentioned snow, we had been informed that due to an unexpectedly heavy fall of snow, the border had been closed. However, this morning we learnt that although the "roads" were bad, the border had been re-opened and we could continue as planned.

It seems that Bolivia is a little like England - in the last few years it has been totally unprepared for the volume of snow which falls in one go (apart from the normal snowfall on the 4000+ m mountains). It is not equipped with winter tyres, adequate snow ploughs, grit, etc. to keep the roads clear. Therefore, like England, it is going to have to adapt to this aspect of global warming.

Wir verbrachten die Nacht in San Juan. Heute wollen wir nach Chile - es war bis gestern Abend unsicher ob wir die geplante Route fahren können- es hat für diese Jahreszeit ungewöhnlich - vorgestern stark geschneit- die Grenze war gestern noch geschlossen- heute aber zu unserem Glück wieder offen.

Leaving the hostel in San Juan

Abfahrt

Volcanic scenery, Siloli Desert - face in the rock

Vulkan mit Gesicht (Profil)

Smoking volcano. Bolivia is full of them - but no volcanic activity has occurred during the past several thousand years.

Aktiver Vulkan

Volcanic landscape

Erosionen im Vulkangestein

Flora (ghastly green)

Ca. 300 Jahre alte Pflanze (außen weich- innen holzartig- wird zum Heizen verwendet)

Siloli Desert - volcano
Siloliwüste

We drove past four lagoons, each with a substantial flamingo population

Flamingos und Lagunen in der Wüste

There are three flamingo species, Chilean, James and Andean

No-fly zone.??..
Flamingos halten sich nicht an das Schild

The Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree - Steinbaum), a volcanic rock formation

El Lago Colorado (Red Lagoon), at ca. 4,200 m

Rote Lagune

Again - the SNOW - if you didn't like this track, you just took a parallel route next to it to avoid the biggest snowdrifts
Das ist Schnee von gestern.

Going up.....almost 5,000m above sea level - and still alive and kicking without oxygen. Couldn't stop for long - the photographer was wobbly with his altitude ailments....

höchster Punkt unserer Reise (ca. 5000m)