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Olympus OM-10 | Fuji Reala 100
Well, you can't plan for everything in Bolivia. About half a mile from Uyuni, with the town clearly in our sightlines, we ran out of gas. Ah, Angel. With good humor, Angel climbed to the top of the car to siphon gas out of one of the giant tanks while Mercedes, holding the tube at the car's tank just laughed and laughed.
Olympus OM-10 | Fuji Reala 100
Supposedly the "ojos", where the salt crust cracks open to reveal the water underneath is a weaker area and tourists are warned not to get too close. However, with the car parked nearby, it was hard to believe the area was unsafe. The depth of the water in the holes was amazing, as was the mysterious bubbling.
Olympus OM-10 | Fuji Reala 100
Our sweet cook, Mercedes.
Olympus Stylus Epic | Kodak 400CN
Even though the salt around the Isla del Pescado had seemed perfectly white, I found I could look at it without straining my eyes. The point where the cracks in the salt began was also the point when the flats became too bright too look at without sunglasses.
I love the cracks. They almost-but-not-quite form even shapes.
Olympus Stylus Epic | Kodak 400CN
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Olympus Stylus Epic |
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N/A |
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Kodak T400CN |
Olympus OM-10 | Fuji Reala 100
I find this photo really striking because it looks like the cacti are flipping the bird. Oh, and there's salt all over the ground.
Final day. We arrived at the Isla del Pescado just after sunrise, and after Mercedes bought our entrance tickets (why in the world are there entrance tickets?!) we started the ascent. It's no mountain and the altitude of 3600 meters was much better than the last two days, but it was still a slow climb for me. Coated in cacti, the small island provided a wonderful vantage point for gazing at the beautiful, harsh salt plains./div>
Olympus OM-10 | Fuji Reala 100
Flamencolandia. This was our lunch spot on the 3rd day, plenty of time to follow the flamingos around. Wish I'd brought a telephoto lens for better flamingo shots, but my desire for closeup animal shots conflicts with my desire for sweeping landscape shots.
Olympus OM-10 | Fuji Reala 100
We passed through a series of lesser colored lakes. Our cook Mercedes said that "honda" meant shallow but I cannot find proof of this, especially with "hondo" apparently meaning deep.
Olympus OM-10 | Fuji Reala 100
It's strange why this rock is singled out as being special...it doesn't REALLY look that much like a tree, and the surrounding desert is filled with dramatic wind-carved rock shapes. But, it's a classic photo.
Olympus OM-10 | Fuji Reala 100
On the other side of the hill was what seemed to be a continuation of Laguna Colorada, but it looked like a separate body of water. With the sun at our backs the water was more opaque, but still orangey brown rather than the brilliant red from the promotional pictures.
This was the first time we started really seeing flamingos in earnest...while they were visible at Laguna Verde it was a fairly small flock. Here we were entertained for a solid 30 minutes watching the flamingos walk through the colored water.