seeing the sights
Advance warning: today is just a big photo dump with some travel stories mixed in :)
It’s been another great couple of weeks in work, social life, and just navigating my new home in general two months in.
That said, the biggest highlights of recent have all been trips I’ve taken.
Let’s go in chronological order so we can start with my favorite destination, Salar de Uyuni.
The Salar, or Salt Flat, is the largest of its kind in the world. True to its name, it’s made up of pure, flat salt that stretches as far as the eye can see.
And it looks a little something like that!
With the sky in the background, it looks absolutely divine.
The Uyuni adventure
My time in Uyuni was spent with my good friend Joel from Ciudad de Refugio. He’d always wanted to take the 8-hour trip south from our home city to see the Salar, but when I mentioned I wanted to do it sometime, that gave him the extra reason he needed.
Together, we quickly planned a whirlwind trip that would include taking a bus ride overnight on a Friday, spending the day Saturday touring the salt flats, and turning right back around and heading home Saturday on another overnight bus.
No hotel costs, no missed work, and we even made it back for worship with our church service Sunday morning (we’re both part of the worship team!).
Elated to see what’s routinely ranked as one of the 50 most beautiful places in the world, Joel and I headed off for the uniqueness ahead of us in Uyuni.
Before we saw the main attraction, though, we killed some time in the early morning exploring the town around us.
The image on the left shows the town of Uyuni itself, the gateway to the Salar itself. It’s a humble town whose economy is propped up entirely by tourism, but it’s also got some unique culture and food you can’t find elsewhere.
In the center, I’m enjoying a highly health-conscious breakfast of bread and hot chocolate. On the right is our second breakfast, a heaping plate of chicharrón de llama. Yes, like that llama.
Llama meat quite surprised me in terms of how tender and tasty it was! Add quinoa, purple corn, and potatoes to the equation and that’s one of the best meals I’ve had in Bolivia. All for a little over a dollar, by the way.
The early part of the tour was spent learning about the history of the salt, visiting a “train cemetery” where old trains were parked next to an abandoned rail line, and more pre-Salar activities. It was a little windy in that third photo!
But then, it was time for what we all came to see:
Which, of course, was me officially becoming Bolivian. If this doesn’t earn me citizenship I don’t know what will!
Meanwhile, a rocky, cactus-covered island appeared in the middle of all the salt. It’s known as Incahuasi, or “home of the Inca” in Quechua, the language the Inca Empire used and one that’s still in use today by indigenous people here.
The cacti here have been in place for thousands of years, making them almost as old as the sacred traditions on the island. People would come here to practice religious acts, including sacrifices on that block I’m sitting on in the top-left photo.
I got a chance to practice my very, very novice photography skills, and in the two bottom-right photos, you can see the prospective picture I took followed by what it took for me to get it!
As cool as all these things were, though, nothing beats the photo that comes next.
The way we last saw the Salar is the way I’ll end this little story, although I’ve got many more misadventures I could tell.
If you’re at all interested in hearing about me: 1. helping Joel in a plot to get a Spanish girl’s number, 2. accidentally putting on a concert for a German couple, 3. making a Polish friend by translating a little, or 4. watching one of the weirdest movies I think I’ll ever watch, feel free to ask. You know where to reach me :)
Trek to Torotoro
Two weeks later, I embarked on a new journey with the same friend.
This past Friday was “feriado”, or a national holiday from work and school. Joel and I had to take advantage of the extra day, so we headed off for another big tourist spot in Bolivia, a national park called Torotoro.
The park is located in a small town which shares its name four and a half hours from my home city. We purchased a 2-for-1 travel packet that covered our transportation, meals, entrance to the park, and guided activities, and it turned out to be a great deal.
For me, our first day was the most exciting. My two highlights were a waterfall called El Vergel which has water so pure you’re encouraged to drink from it and what Torotoro is most famous for, its grandiose canyon.
Here’s the canyon with some equally incredible mountains in the background.
It was well worth the 900-step descent required to earn those two views, but at the same time, I felt every treacherous step! Torotoro is definitely more of an adventurer’s paradise than simply a chance to see natural beauty, and I enjoyed the physical challenge quite a bit.
Another exciting part of visiting Torotoro is the town itself, which Joel and I took the opportunity to explore during our one-night stay. It’s easy to traverse the whole of the place in about 30 minutes, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in intrigue.
We got to witness a fascinating local tradition which was true to the town’s name, as it centers around the important cultural institution and sport of bullfighting there (toro is Spanish for bull, by the way).
We also met made new friends from California and I got to connect with them for a while about Bolivian culture, how hard it is to get here from the States, and recommendations for what to do with a week or so in the country.
We really wanted to find a karaoke bar in town and spend the evening singing, but the only ones open were pretty empty and we decided to hang out in our hostal instead.
That gave us a chance to rest before a very early next morning, when we hopped up and headed out to another main attraction: the caverns.
I personally stayed back from the cavern experience as I wasn’t feeling well, but Joel really enjoyed it and brought back pictures!
Then it was time to see our final stop, a little bit outside of the park. Indigenous culture runs over in this area, and a famous locale with lots of indigenous history is Ciudad de Itas, or “city of stone” in a mix of Spanish and Quechua.
I felt well enough to give it a go and I was glad I did; it was no easy climb and descent but the views and the adventure were well worth it!
This was an underrated part of the trip in my opinion, and some of the rock formations were truly incredible to take in.
From there, we grabbed dinner in Torotoro one last time and headed home.
Despite the quick bout of sickness, it was a great experience and quite different from Uyuni a couple of weeks before.
It was a very different trip, and I’d say Uyuni was more beautiful and breathtaking, but Torotoro was well worth the time and money to explore.
In the meantime, more travel is on the horizon as I try and take advantage of the time I have here.
Next up is likely to be an international trip, so I’ll keep you posted if and when that happens!
Aside from travel, life is great here. I feel very much at home here and connected with my local communities, even more so than most cities in the US.
My grant work is progressing well, although it’s slowed a bit due to my having to focus on getting a new visa. It’ll allow me to stay through the end of the year, so it’s well worth it, but it’s been a pretty time-consuming process.
Next up, I should have more updates on just about all fronts. Until then!
Danny
