Lagoons, mummies, and Salt

Bolivian Wilderness part 4

I will not bore you with the exact details of the day. Basically we are really, I mean really, in the middle of nowhere. There are no real roads, no real towns, just nature so far. It is beautiful and I can not take enough of it in.

 

We visited a chain of four lagoons. They were each pretty and unique in their own way.

 

My favorite was a lagoon at the edge of the "big city"! This was a tiny little place that sat in the middle of nowhere and we kept calling it the big city like New York! 

 

Our guide got s laugh out of that. The lagoon had so many flamingos hanging out singing to each other. I guess I never thought about what sound a flamingo makes.

 

The most beautiful is when they fly over the water! The funny thing is that this lagoons was called the smelly lagoon because of all the sulfur in the water. 

Next we passed by an active volcano still steaming.

 

We made out stop in front off it where massive rocks reached out of the ground. My first thought? Which do I climb first?

 

Wilson drove over some crazy bumpy roads but was amazing at managing them. We arrived on a flat are that extended for awhile with mountains in the background. We stopped and they said we would have lunch. Let's just say these two are awesome. They noticed we love being outside and in the middle of nowhere! So there we sat eating amazing food in the middle of nature! This trip is amazing!

 

A long and rocky drive later we arrived in San Juan... Aka the creepiest place I have ever witnessed. Ruth led us up into a small museum.  Here we learned about the way of life in the past and how the harvest quinoa. She also described how long ago they buried people in little rock huts with their belongings when they died. This would allow them to use them in the afterlife.

We went for a stroll through the cemetery. She pointed out the rock building and it was kinda cool. I took a picture and thought very little of it.

Then we saw a bit bigger one. She told us we were allowed to look inside. Obviously I didn't expect to see anything. To my huge surprise there was the skeletal remains sitting there!!!!

 

What the heck! Seriously?! Stone hut after stone hut I was greeted by creepy mummies sitting in their tombs. Ok not mummies,  I could have reached out and touched anything I wanted. No one was there to guard or care what we did. So bizarre. My mom had nightmares about them at night as well.

 

Another long drive and as the sun was getting lower we got our first glimpse of the salt flats. Holy crap this is a massive flat land of salt. I mean massive. Not a little. A lot!

We finished the night taking a few photos as the sun set. The guide got out some chairs and some delicious Bolivia wine and we toasted to another fabulous day!