We left the lush green mountains of Samaipata and headed for the high altitude desert of Tupiza, where we spent New Years and will begin a 4-day tour of the Uyuni salt flats and surrounding area. Along the way to Tupiza we spent a day in Potosi, the highest city in the world, standing at 13,000 ft! Tupiza is situated at 10,000 ft in the southwest corner of Bolivia and doesn't have much going on. All the restaurants and stores are identical, including the 6 "Italian" restaurants that all have the exact same menu and decor... At least it's really cheap here!
While waiting for our tour to leave, we
thoroughly explored the surrounding area on foot; hiking 20 miles in the 2 afternoons we spent here. No one walks here, directions are extremely poor, signs don't exist, and we got lost multiple times.
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| The desert town of Tupiza. |
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| Hiking through surrounding canyons. These were very interesting rock formations at the mouth of a canyon. |
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| Hiking through the slot canyons. Don't want to be here when it rains! |
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| These fins are part of a valley called Valle de Los Penes (Valley of Penises) due to a section where all the formations take on that look. They are extremely difficult to hike through! |
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| Happy New Year! From the rooftop of our hotel we watched fireworks go off all over the town and were invited to celebrate with the family who has owned the hotel for generations. They shared their traditions with us, which included Bindy drinks (all we know is they were strong) and to eat 1 grape for each month of the year and make a wish for each grape you eat. |
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