Bolivia – From Laguna Colorada across the Altiplano
The first night in the highlands wasn’t particularly pleasant because of the thin air and the cold. But when we stood at Laguna Colorada after breakfast, all that was forgotten. The red lake was very impressive, from above too, of course. Laguna Colorada lies at around 4,278 metres; its red comes from sediments and a salt-loving alga, and the white islands in it are borax. It has been protected as a Ramsar wetland since 1990 and is one of the most important breeding grounds for three species of flamingo. Then we continued across the Altiplano, with many stops in an impressive landscape full of llamas and flamingos. In the evening we stayed near the Salar de Uyuni, so as to stand on the huge white salt lake right on time for sunrise the next morning. Here are the photos from our second day in Bolivia:
Colourful laundry on the mud wall after a cold first night in the highlands.Laguna Colorada lies at about 4278 metres, with grasses and orange-red water on the stony shore.In the orange-red water, coloured by sediments and a salt-loving alga, lie white islands of borax.Laguna Colorada, a Ramsar wetland since 1990: orange water, a grey expanse and a peak.Where the white crust ends, the orange water of Laguna Colorada begins.Through the passenger window: dust above the gravel track, snow-covered mountains behind.Several llamas stand on the snow-covered plain in front of a brown and white hill.On the left the hollowed rock on the pale plain, on the right the same stone close up.The gravel track runs along a smooth hill, a small snowy peak far away.Snowy peaks are reflected in the pale pink water of a lake on the Altiplano.A whitewashed house with a red roof and a satellite dish in front.A sun face in a diamond on the left, spirals in yellow, green and red on the right.A few flamingos on the white strip, turquoise water in front, a snowy peak behind.A flamingo stands in the shallow water, snow-covered mountains behind.Flamingos packed together in the shallows – a landscape full of llamas and flamingos.Scattered flamingos on the white expanse, a snow-covered mountain behind them.The drive twice: the vehicle in the dust on the left, the track at the side window on the right.Single bushes on the gravel plain, a brown mountain with patches of snow behind.Two summits above the grassy plain, snow mainly on the higher peak.Ribbed ground in front of a cone-shaped mountain on the Altiplano.A small cap of snow on the cone above the wide ochre plain.Rounded hills lie one behind the other under a pale, hazy sky.Dust drifts along in front of the hills, mountains with a patch of snow behind.Evening light twice: warm on the summits on the left, only the silhouette on the right.Sunset behind the mountains – tomorrow morning the Salar de Uyuni awaits.
