More Salar Photos

Llamas 

Fun Fact - The English word jerky (as in beef jerky) comes from the Quechuan word charqui (which means meat dried in the sun). In Bolivia and Peru charqui is eaten everywhere, especially llama charqui.

Laguna Hedionda

Sally (England) B (Peru) and Shola (Nigeria or America, depending on who he is talking to)

The majority of our three day trip was spent in the car. Traveling from spot to spot took anywhere from 40 minutes to 3 hours. When we weren't getting made fun of for being American or making fun of England, we would talk about the profound beauty of the passing landscape. 

The Red Lagoon

Red sediments and the pigmentation of the algae give the lagoon its red color. The white spots are clusters of borax. Most of the year the lagoon is full of flamingos that come to feed on the algae, (which makes the flamingos pink, duh!!!!).  There are not many people swimming here.

Flamingos in the Laguna Colorada

The photo was stolen form here -  Luca Galuzzi - www.galuzzi.it 

No one is swimming here either

Fish Island

Named by locals who say the island takes the shape of a fish from a distance.  Lots gigantic cacti, petrified coral rock and sun. We spent a few hours walking around the island while our guide made inappropriate comments about the shapes of various cacti.  The dictionary says you can use cacti or cactuses to pluralize cactus. I went with cacti because I like saying cacti. I think of George W. saying it in that little twang of his. Cacti. Just sounds right.

These cacti are thousands of years old

Laguna Verde

Laguna Verde or the Green Lagoon is a salt lagoon that sits at the foot of the volcano Licancabur. Its colour is caused by sediments that containing copper minerals.  A pretty consistent wind stirs up the sediments.

A three day salar trip is on every backpackers to do list while in Bolivia. The three day trip is well worth the hundred dollars (very cheap), even if you have no intention of taking goofy photos of yourself . In the end you will want to swear off cars and salt for a few months but that's ok.