For this “hike”, I had been mandated by the union as an assessment of the training of mountain leaders in the Bolivian Andes. However, it turns out that the place of this observation was in the Cordilliera Real, whose peaks culminate at more than 6000m. In addition, the nearest city, La Paz, is at a minimum altitude (it is in a very steep valley) of 3600m. It was obvious that leaving from my home, even living at 1000m, acclimatization would be difficult. This is why my colleague, whom I thank in passing, had looked for a way to be able to acclimatize us before climbing to such unusual altitudes for us. Thus, we reversed the common program, since normally, we visit the region after having worked for the assessment. In doing so, we could visit the north of Chile while acclimatizing for what came next.
The rest of the article describes my trip through the Atacama region and the Cordillera Real.
21.3 Calama – San Pedro de Atacama
After hours of travel (the Madrid – Santiago flight alone lasts 13 hours), we landed in Calama, on the second attempt. Indeed, while we were a few meters above the runway, a gust of wind unbalanced the airplane, and the pilot decided to take another turn.
On the way to San Pedro, we stopped at the edge of the Valle de la Muerte to have a good snack.
22.3 Laguna Miñiques, Laguna Miscanti, Piedras Rojas, Laguna Chaxas
On this first full day in Chile, we headed south along the Atacama Desert to climb to the different lagoons located on the heights. The color contrasts are striking, especially at Piedras Rojas. These are aptly named since we are in a very mineral environment of red rocks interspersed with salt lagoons, therefore white.
On the way back, not only did we cross the Tropic of Capricorn, but we stopped at the Parque Laguna Chaxas which is in the Atacama salt desert. It is very surprising to see that despite the hostile environment, animals manage to survive in this region. In the few bodies of water (brine, in fact), the Flamingos come to feed.
23.3 El Tatio, Vado Rio Putana, Cañon de Guatìn
On this day, we left early in the morning heading north, while it was still dark. The goal was to reach the Tatio Geysers before the sun illuminated the bottom of the caldera, because later, with the increase in temperature, the water vapor is much less visible. It is striking to put your hand on the ground in some places and feel the heat, as well as the gurgling of the underlying water.
For lunch, we stopped near the Geyser Blanco where the water coming out of the fissure gives the environment a multitude of colors. These colors come not only from the different minerals present in the water, but also from the microorganisms that manage to live in these hostile places.
On the way back, we stopped near the Rio Putana. Not far from this river are the remains of dwellings that had been used by the miners who went to collect sulfur at the Putana Volcano. When you think of the distance that the miners had to travel to reach the top of the volcano, it makes you wonder. Especially since the job must have been very unhealthy in these places. Sulfur was used for the purification of the copper ore.
Further on, we stopped again at the Cañon de Guatìn. In this canyon, we find many candle cacti, those that are older and are used for their wood.
24.3 Laguna Lejia, Talabre
On leaving San Pedro, we went to visit Laguna Lejia. This one has the particularity of being not far from the border with Argentina. It is surrounded by volcanoes including Pili, Simba and Lascàr.
On the way back to Talabre, and before dinner, we went to visit the petroglyphs of Talabre. The age of these petroglyphs is not clearly established, but they establish a regular attendance since ancient times. The engravings represent not only animals that can be found locally, either domestic or wild. We can mention flamingos, llamas and pumas. There are also schematic representations of shamans.
We spent the night in Talabre, at an altitude of 3200m.
25.3 Bolivia, Laguna Blanca, Laguna Verde, Laguna Chalviri, Sol de Mañana, Laguna Colorada, Villa Mar
It was a very long day, because first we had to cross the border with Bolivia. At the same time, there was no point in getting to customs too early, as they only opened at 9:00 in the morning. The surprise was that the customs officers refused to let our driver cross the border with his vehicle, despite a waiver signed by his rental company. So, we would theoretically have had to cross the 11.5 km of no-man’s land separating the two borders on foot, on a dusty track, while carrying our suitcases. Fortunately, an arrangement had been found.
On the Bolivian side, after completing the formalities, we set off to reach Villa Mar. The highlights encountered along this journey are certainly the Sol de Mañana with its mud geysers and the Laguna Colorada with its multitude of pink flamingos.
It was only after nightfall that we reached Villa Mar to spend the night there.
26.3 Piedra de la Copa del Mundo, Italia Perdida, Laguna Vinto, Laguna Negra, Uyuni, Salar de Uyuni, Tahua
After waking up and having breakfast, we set off to reach some curious rock formations not far away. It seems as if blocks of red rock have been placed there, in the middle of nowhere. Some of these rocks have unusual shapes, including the Copa del Mundo, which surprisingly resembles the football World Cup trophy. In this group of rocks there is also a place called Italia Perdida, in reference to an Italian cycle tourist who had settled there for a while before moving further.
Here we were also able to observe Viscachas, which are wild hares that live in these regions. In some ways, they surprisingly resemble our mountain hare. The big difference is the Viscachas’ big whiskers that make you think of a wise man meditating, because in the morning, they sunbathe by standing on their hind legs, with their front legs folded down.
A little further on, we went to visit a rather surprising place: the Laguna Negra, a body of water located in the middle of a field of rocks. In addition to the beauty of the landscape, you can meet many animals there, both wild and domestic. Among the wild species, you can easily see Tagua (coots colonizing the Andes). You can also see herds of Llamas. A fun tradition is to tie colored threads to the ears of the Llamas. The goal is to “color” the desert, because it is quite common for these colored threads to get stuck in the bushes.
The journey was not over yet: we had to cross the Salar de Uyuni. This “Salt Lake” has enormous dimensions: roughly 80 km wide and 100 km long. This crossing was a totally disconcerting experience for me. Firstly, because with such dimensions, we begin to become aware of the effect of the curvature of the earth’s surface. Indeed, what appears in the distance as islands are the mountains on the other bank. There are certainly a few islands (including the famous Incahuasi) but most of the “islands” that we see are peaks. Then, the crossing took us more than 4 hours. This duration is the result of the low speed imposed at times, because there were between 10 and 20 centimetres of brine in places. We really have the impression of not moving forward: we drove for hours and the mountains on the horizon did not seem to want to get any closer. This is why we arrived in Tahua when night had already fallen.
27.3 Tunupa, Salar de Uyuni, Colchani
On the way back from Tahua, we weren’t just going to cross the Salar de Uyuni again. No, we had to climb up the slopes of Tunupa for a bit.
This extinct volcano has a huge variety of colours near the old crater, making it a great destination for a climb. Here, we weren’t going to be able to climb to the top, but we went below, along a ridge.
On the way back to Coqueza, we crossed the Salar again in the other direction. We were able to witness a stunning spectacle: a sandstorm passing over the Salar.
28.3 La Paz
That day, we had taken an internal flight to take us from Uyuni to La Paz. Arriving in the economic capital of Bolivia, we were immediately thrown into the mix: lots of traffic, noise and pollution. It must be said that the car park is very old (some minibuses must date from the 60s-70s).
However, we took the yellow line cable car to go down to the city. Thus, we were able to see the city from the cabin while going to the meeting place near the Plaza Abaroa. There, we were able to appreciate Bolivian cuisine, and particularly the stone soup. This surprising potato soup is served in a bowl at the bottom of which is a white-hot stone. It is this stone that will transmit the heat to the soup. We were also able to taste Charque, llama meat.
After preparing our mountain gear, we were taken to a lodge near the Laguna Zongo. As we passed, we were able to catch a glimpse in the distance to Lake Titicaca.
Lake Zongo is an artificial lake whose water is clearly glacial: it is milky. This water contrasts sharply with the water that can be seen from afar as you climb, and from Lake Milluni, next to which there were mines. These silver and tin mines, as unfortunately too often, had the consequence of polluting the region with heavy metals.
Since the lodge is at an altitude of over 4700m, sleep was somewhat difficult to find.
29.3 Campo Zongo, Campo Alto Roca
From 4700m altitude we climbed to the high camp located at almost 5200m to spend a first night there. During the day, we climbed a little higher to go to the glacier. To go to the glacier, we each received a “popo-tubo”, a device designed to collect excrement in case of urgent need on the glacier. This prevents the glacier from being polluted.
Luckily, I did not get sick from the altitude: no headaches or nausea. But at these altitudes, the slightest effort takes on enormous proportions.
30.3 Campo Alto Roca, Campo Argentino
This last day at altitude consisted of climbing up to Campo Argentino. The name suggests the presence of a refuge. This is not the case: it is a relatively flat and not very crevassed area of the Huayna Potosi glacier. From this plateau, the normal route climbs a slope to reach a ridge and finally, the summit of Huayna Potosi.
On the same day, we then descended to Laguna Zongo from where we were taken back to La Paz where we spent two more nights before returning to Europe.
