Most Amazing Views of Bolivia

Illimani Mountain and the Milluni Valley


Uyuni Flats



The Salar de Uyuni (spanish for Uyuni Flats) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 km2 (4,085 square miles). It took a 7 hour train from Oruro (3 hours from La Paz) to reach the city of Uyuni, and another 2-hour drive to the flats. Located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, it is 3,650 meters high. Some 40,000 years ago, the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake. When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Uyuni. Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. The Salar is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually. 

 





 Chacaltaya Mountain

 
It takes about an hour to climb up to the top, but the view is outstanding. The glacierial mountain of Chacaltaya is located near Lake Titicaca, with an elevation of 5421 m (17,785 feet). It's about 30 km from La Paz, near Huayna Potosí mountain, and it's one of the highest glaciers in South America. Although the glacier is over 18,000 years old, over 80% of it has melted since 1987 and it is expected to disappear by 2008. 




 Siloli Desert
 
Part of the National Reserve Eduardo Abaroa, the Siloli Desert is famous for its tree-like rock formations, specially the one known as the "Stone Tree", which was formed during the uprising of the Andes. 



Moon Valley
 
Located on the outskirts of La Paz, the Moon Valley (Valle de La Luna) is an incredible rock formation caused by erosion, giving the sensation to be in a real lunar landscape. They say it was once visited by Neil Armstrong himself. 




Red Lagoon
 
Not far from the Uyuni Flats, the beautiful Red Lagoon (Laguna Colorada) is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia, close to the border with Chile. The lake contains borax islands, whose white color contrasts nicely with the reddish color of its waters, caused by red sediments and pigmentation of some algae. 




 Frozen Lake


Not far from the Red Lagoon we found this unidentified frozen lake; absolutely beautiful.