Next day, we continued our journey through the national park called Reserva Nacional Educardo Avaroa, but normally, I just considered it was part of the so-called Salar de Uyuni region.
Hitting the road again. I never felt bored during the trip as the scenery was so fascinating. And I was lucky to group in with some fantastic travellers who were very lively and creative.
The handsome vicunas on the road.
A quaint town on the road.
I like the contrast of the colours.
A smoky volcano, Volcan Ollague(5865m). Can you see the smoke at the left hand corner of the volcano?
It is definitely another planet?!
After seeing all the volcanos and the strange landscape, we were heading towards the 4 lakes districts where was the breeding grounds of 3 species South American Flamingos.
When I first saw the flamingos hanging around the blue lake, with a backdrop of beautiful mountains, I could not believe what I saw was true.
The graceful pink flamingos.
A heavan-like feel.
A different species of flamingos, note their beaks.
Further south, after crossing the 4 lakes district, we came to the arid and windy Siloli desert where stand the many strange looking rock.
The most famous one, Arbol de Peidra (means tree rock). I think it is similar to the Queen Head in Taiwan.
Another angle.
A stapler.
A robot.
The side of a big bear.
Salar de Uyuni, some 40,000years ago, it was a lake. The Tunupa volcano stands between the perfect blue and white.
After visiting all the wonderful places in South America, this trip in the Salar de Uyuni and the region around is still my favourite among all the places. I felt so lucky that I could finally enter Bolivia and had such an incredible experience.
Salar de Uyuni is the largest and the highest salt lake in the world(over 3600m),to visit it, the town of Uyuni is the gateway and you can find plenty of travel agencies organzing 3days or 5days trip.
The quiet little town, Uyuni.
Once got off the 10hours bus ride from La Paz to Uyuni, all the tourists were surrounded by people from the travel agency. After some bargainings, I got a deal of 85USD(per person) for a 3days trip with 4WD and all the accomondation and food were included(it was really cheap, but the price was actually around the middle range of all trip).
A few hours later, a group of 6 people has already jumped on the 4WD and set off for our first location of the trip, the cemetery of trains.
Illams on the road to the Salar.
The abandoned lonely train under the super cremy sky.
Rail without the end.
This is life!
The salt lake is the source of salt products in Bolivia. So we could see many salt domes, a few trucks and workers there.
Then the salt will be processed in the little factory near by.
The final products (the salt under the little child) will be transported to other cities in Bolivia. However, because there are quite a few salt lakes in South America, so the demand of export is not high. The salt products in Bolivia are mainly for domestic consumption.
Our 4WD.
Driving on the salt lake was a wonderful experience. As we saw nothing except the blue sky and the big piece of white salt.
The little kid wanted to be a salt lake worker also.
The salt hostel, everything was made by salt.
Deep inside the salt lake, there is the amazing Incahuasi (means Inca House) or named Isla del Pescade (mean fish island). It is a coral island thousands years ago . But now it is raised over the land and covered with giant cactii which has been living for over hundreds of years.
This hugh cactus has been living over a thousand years!
A coral cave on the island.
Lunch between the island and the salt lake. But because of the strong sun and the reflection effect of the salt crust, even though I put on sun block, I was still burnt.
Human being is so trivial.
I questioned myself,"Is it the earth or another planet?"
Talking about Amazon, people may only think about Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. However, 20hours north from La Paz, descending from 4000m to 0m, you can find Rurrenabaque, where is the gateway town of Amazon. You can find many jungle and pampa trips with bargain prices there. And the qualities of those trips are really worth much more than what you pay.
I joined a trip for 2 days and 1 night in Madidi National Park, where is about 3hours by boat from Rurrenabaque.
With the wind blowing over the river, the boat trip was very comfortable.
Once we arrived, we were welcomed by tens of butterflies.
Our guide is the local resident of a jungle village, so he has specific affection towards the nature. Because of he, we had a very enjoyable trip. The tree behinds him has special medical value and it is already over 80years old.
The jungle monster? Actually, the mask was a gift from our guide. He made it with all the natural materials in the jungle.
The jungle trip was mainly about knowing the medical plants and insects in the forest. And to my surprise, really all the plants in the jungle can be used for curing different illness, like stomache, headache, insect bites and some tree truck can even produce source of water.
Of course, there are also plants that serve like soft drugs and some are poisonous.
Our guide could even use this to make accessory for me.
This tree made all my hair standing.......and it can move a few iche each year...
It can move with these "legs".
This is the gigantic root of a 100years old tree. Please note the smile of our guide, he enjoyed every moment in the jungle.
This butterfly disguised very well in the jungle.
A beautiful river where we swam, but there were loads of mosquitoes waiting for us on the coast.
A super huge ant.
Home of termites.
We even played Tazan game!
Once eaten this poisionous colourful mashroom, you will find the world "more beautiful".
This small fruit can act as a soap.
Except medical purposes, the plants in the jungle can also serve as comestic for women.
You will see the effect of this magical plant in our Queen of Amazon later.
And her clothes.
Our Queen was appearing...
Our handsome Queen of Amazon - Katyanna.
We had a wonderful day time walk with our guide. At night, we also set off for a walk to find insects which usually only come out at dark.
Before the trip, I thought Amazon jungle should be very hot, many animals and I would get many mosquitoes. Actually, I found that with the shadow of the canopy, I had a very cool sleep at night (even a little bit cold) and I didn't get any bites in the jungle (though I put enough insect repellent). Moreover, it is usually very difficult to encounter the animals which live in the jungle as they are afraid of the presence of human beings. I only met one guy who was super lucky to see a puma from the riverside.
