Bolivia: Exploring the South Lipez by Self-Drive (page 11 of 21)

I think throughout your whole travel journal, I’ll just keep saying... wow! It’s so beautiful! 🙂 I can’t even imagine how the reality must be even more wow!!!

What photos can’t capture is the vastness, the grandeur of the landscapes. You feel so small in this desert.

And as you can see, no dozens of camels, but llamas... not bad either. 😉

Hi Carmen, Thanks for all these beautiful images, and you’re right, a photo is just a little window—it doesn’t replace the panoramic view you get in person. Bernard.

Hi Guillaume,

Your photos are all more beautiful than the last. I’m blown away by this one—absolutely stunning!!!



"Blown away" is the perfect way to put it. We were truly mesmerized, like we were looking at a work of art.

This lagoon is my favorite. We saw some incredible ones, but the pastel colors here were just extraordinary.

In this photo, are the differences in shade in the foreground due to the cloudy sky, or is it natural 😮?

Those are the shadows from the clouds. When the shadow isn’t in the right spot, you just wait a bit—with the wind, the clouds move pretty quickly. A huge advantage of self-driving: you stop whenever you want and for as long as you like.😉

Like during our trip to Namibia and South Africa in 2018 (https://voyageforum.com/v.f?post=9055120;#9055120), clouds or a stormy sky often add something special to photos.

For the lagoons, the color often depends on the time of day and whether there’s wind. For Laguna Colorada, visiting early in the morning isn’t ideal. For us, the next morning, it had lost its vibrant color.

Anyway, it looks like you were still able to get pretty close to the llamas. How many centimeters away without getting spat on? Thanks, Carmen.

Yes, they let you get really close. Sometimes we were just 2-3 meters away. No need for a big zoom lens on this kind of trip—the animals are often quite nearby. Vicuñas are much more skittish, but that’s normal for a wild animal. Only once did I wish I had a zoom. We saw an animal I didn’t expect to see here... Anyway, we don’t have a photo, but it’ll stay etched in our memories.

Carmen

We saw an animal I never thought we'd see here... Anyway, we don’t have a souvenir photo, but it’ll stay etched in our minds.

Your lagoon photos are almost making me want to go there 😛 Don’t tell me you saw a puma!

Don't tell me you saw a Puna

That’s all we’d need to make us all jealous!! On the other side of the border, it’s definitely there, so we’ll start with a little trip over there. Alright, I’m going back to bed.

Yes, they let you get really close. Sometimes we were just 2-3 meters away. No need for a big zoom lens for this kind of trip—the animals are often pretty close. Vicuñas are very skittish, but that’s normal for a wild animal. Only once did I regret not having a zoom. We saw an animal I never thought we’d see here... Anyway, we don’t have a souvenir photo, but it’ll stay etched in our minds.

What a cliffhanger! Can’t wait for the next part!

Don’t tell me you saw a puma

No, unfortunately. :( There are quite a few in the Guadalupe area, though—or at least that’s what our host told us.

Okay, I'm going back to bed.

Uh, it's three in the afternoon. 😮

What a cliffhanger! Can't wait for the next part!

Gotta be patient, we saw it toward the end of our South Lipez road trip.

Continuation from 07.10.

Lunch at the restaurant La Taverne de l’Alliance Française was delicious. The steaks were rare, just how we asked for them. The little outdoor courtyard, with a few tables in the sun, was really pleasant.

Hi Ticapi,

We’re jumping into this travel journal midway through. The photos are gorgeous and the story is really interesting.

The Alliance Française restaurant is indeed delicious. Lunch (starter, soup, main course, dessert) for 60 bolivianos is an absolute gem! For long-term travelers, the restaurant also offers a fantastic cheese platter (with garlic bread—it’s enough for a whole meal!).

Thanks again for this journal!

On the road of our travels

Hello, I’ve been carefully reading about your amazing journey through the South Lipez and the Uyuni salt flats. My wife and I were thinking of doing the same trip with a rental vehicle. While looking for info on the forums, I came across your post! We’re leaving in mid-May and planning to do this tour in 10-12 days. That’s a bit less than you, so we’ll probably skip a few places you visited. I already requested a quote from Biz. They seem nice and professional, just like you mentioned. Since the free kilometers are limited, I was wondering how many you covered to help us plan our budget. Do you have a map with your itinerary marked on it? Finally, one last question—since we’ll have a bit less time than you, which places could we skip because they’re less exceptional or similar to others? Thanks for the info, and I’m looking forward to your next posts about this trip! Best regards, Vincent & Eden

Hello,

I already requested a quote from Biz. They seem nice and professional, as you mentioned. Since the free kilometers are limited, I wanted to know how many you covered to plan our budget.

We drove 2,243 km and had to pay a small extra fee for the kilometers beyond what was included. We took quite a few detours compared to the classic routes, so you could cover fewer kilometers.

Do you have a map with your itinerary traced on it?

No, I don’t have a map—I didn’t export them from Maps.me. The best thing is to install Maps.me on your phone and save the points of interest, passes, and potential overnight spots. If you can’t find certain places you’re interested in, I can give you the GPS coordinates. I spent hours scouting the places we wanted to visit, planning the route, etc. In short, it takes a lot of time, but you save time once you’re there. 🙂

Finally, last question: since we’ll have a bit less time than you, which places could be skipped because they’re less exceptional or similar to others?

That’s a tough question—we loved all our stops. But if I had to cut one night, it would be in Tupiza. We spent two nights there, mainly because of the presidential elections. The canyon and surroundings of Tupiza are nice but not extraordinary. The climate is great, but that’s where I’d remove a night.

I don’t know your travel style, so it’s hard to advise. If you’re not big on walking, you can easily make longer stops. As you’ve seen, we always had enough time to stop, admire the landscapes, walk...

If you’re not planning to climb any volcanoes, you can save days. Tunupa requires an extra day, and Uturuncu takes half a day. If we were to do it again, we wouldn’t stay in Quetena after climbing Uturuncu. We weren’t tired and could’ve easily kept going to sleep farther away. But I don’t know your fitness level, and several forum members struggled with altitude sickness. In that case, it’s hard to chain stops. Tunupa, with the altitude and elevation gain, isn’t for people who never hike. But maybe that’s not your case... For Uturuncu, the challenge is the altitude since there’s very little elevation gain. For us, Uturuncu was a breeze. 😉 We could’ve gone even higher and stayed longer. But we were well-acclimated—this often isn’t the case when coming from Tupiza.

Are you used to driving on dirt roads? If not, some might seem tough. But to reassure you, there’s no deep sand or roads where you have to lower the car wheel by wheel—most are in pretty good condition.

Another important point: if you don’t want to camp, it’s impossible to follow our itinerary. There’s no accommodation at Las Rocas, between Laguna Verde and Quetena (via Mina Horsu), on the Salar, or by the Rio Grande.

Don’t hesitate if you have more questions.

Carmen

We’re continuing this travel journal along the way. The photos are gorgeous and the story really interesting.

Thanks for your message—it made our day! 🙂

The Alliance Française restaurant is indeed delicious. The midday meal (starter, soup, main course, dessert) for 60 bolivianos is an absolute gem! For long-term travelers, the restaurant also offers a fantastic cheese platter (with garlic bread—it’s enough for a whole meal!).

By the end of our trip, we’d eaten at the Alliance Française three more times. This place is truly top-notch, and the value for money is excellent.

Carmen

Thanks for your reply. It’s clear—planning a trip like this takes a lot of time. Especially since we’re staying a month in Bolivia and have other adventures planned too :-) We often go trekking and have already planned to do 1 or 2 multi-day treks in Bolivia, as well as day hikes, including one of the volcanoes in the Lipez. We’ve driven on dirt roads in South Africa, Morocco, and New Zealand, but always in an SUV. This’ll be our first 4x4. But as you said, the roads are pretty easy, so we should be fine! When we travel, we prefer quality over quantity. We’re not necessarily aiming to hit all the hotspots in the South Lipez, but that’ll make choosing tough! We might already skip Tupiza. We won’t just stick to the main roads—we’re really keen to "get lost" in those stunning landscapes! We’d love to use your GPS coordinates to plan our route. Here’s my email: vincent.crelier@gmail.com Have a great day, and thanks again for the info! Vincent and Eden

Hi Vincent,

If it helps, here https://mapcarta.com/N3154441002 you can easily find the different lagoons and other points of interest.

You can clearly see Laguna Kara and our route between Laguna Hedionda and Laguna Colorada.

We’ve already driven on the tracks in South Africa, Morocco, and New Zealand, but always in an SUV.

What will be different for you are the river crossings. There are several, depending on the route you take. After that, a track is a track—even in Africa, some are like billiards tables, and others are much rougher.

But as you say, the tracks are pretty easy, and we should be fine!

Easy depends on where. Nothing too difficult, but that’s just our opinion. I don’t want to be responsible if you get stuck.😉

We might skip Tupiza already.

Completely skipping Tupiza is still a shame. The region between Quetena Chico and Tupiza is gorgeous. Laguna Celeste, Guadalupe with its amazing rock formations, the stretch before Rio Seco—these are stunning spots.

On our trips, we prefer quality over quantity.

That’s exactly why you need to allow plenty of time for the South Lipez.😉 We also prefer to do less, but better.

Carmen

14.10. Laguna Colorada – between Mina Horsu and Laguna Kollpa, night in the car

Breakfast is frugal—just tea and two pancakes each. We set off around 7:30 AM, but we don’t stop at the viewpoint on the other side of the lagoon since it’s lost its pretty orange hues. This morning, Laguna Colorada isn’t anything special. The track gently climbs in elevation, and we can see Laguna Colorada in the distance.

Our accommodation On the road... Distant view of Laguna Colorada

A vicuña

We arrived at Sol de Mañana (4,850 m) and had the place all to ourselves. It was a feast for the eyes, though a bit less so for the nose. The colors are stunning, but the sulfur smell is definitely there. We were glad we didn’t come too early—the steam from some fumaroles is clearly visible, the colors are more impressive with the sun, and the tour operators had already left. The Sol de Mañana site is mostly made up of fumaroles and mud "pots." We only saw two small geysers, with water jets barely a meter high.

The site isn’t very big, but we stayed for a good hour. Unlike Yellowstone in the U.S., here we could walk wherever we wanted. There are no walkways or barriers to protect visitors. In some spots, the ground is really hot and sometimes quite soft, but with a little caution, there’s no risk.

We left the site just as a tour operator arrived. We hadn’t even reached the hill when they were already leaving. Well, their clients barely had time to snap a few photos.

While driving along the different tracks near Sol de Mañana, you can find other spots with geothermal activity. We stop on the right, heading toward Laguna Chalviri, to walk around another site with mud "pots" and fumaroles. In some places, the geothermal activity seems to be exploited—we see a small plant and metal pipes running from certain geothermal sites. It makes you wonder who benefits from this activity, given how remote we are.







The track to Laguna Chalviri is in rough shape—endless corrugated sections. The descent toward the lagoon is stunning, and the view of the colorful mountains is just as breathtaking. Like yesterday, we think it’d be a real shame to drive this route in the opposite direction.



The view of Laguna Chalviri In the distance, you can see the Dali Desert and its famous rock formations.

We’d planned to walk along the lagoon, enjoy the Polques hot springs, and spend the night there. But the lodge we were interested in is fully booked. Plus, there are at least thirty people in the water and a good forty cars parked at the site. Most are coming from Chile or Tupiza and heading toward Uyuni. We’re so put off—the idea of taking a dip is completely gone, and we’d rather get away from this place, which feels way too touristy.

Laguna Chalviri



It’s only noon, so we’ve got plenty of time to reach Laguna Verde. We’d hoped for a decent track, but it’s badly damaged with more corrugated sections.

In the Dali Desert, we take a parallel track to avoid the corrugated road. Photo stops are frequent—the landscapes are incredible. I’m in the middle of taking a picture when a ranger from the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve stops next to us. He wants to check if everything’s okay and if we’re having any car trouble. It’s really kind of him to look out for us.

















The rest is here: https://voyageforum.com/v.f?post=9919629;a=9919629

Thank you so much, Carmen, I’m loving it. Bernard.

Thanks Bernard for your message.

I wanted to post the rest of that day, but when I try to upload the photos, the site crashes. Long story short, I just wasted a lot of time.

I’ll try again later.

No worries, Carmen, and definitely no rush. As they say in Switzerland: "No need to hurry"😉. Bernard.