The wilds of Bolivia to the ease of Chile

Friends, family, we are in Chile! Our fourth country is a breath of fresh, warm, and well-oxygenated air, especially after our last week of high-altitude travel. From the moment we crossed the border into Chile, we knew we were somewhere totally different from what we have experienced over the past 70 days. I quickly realized that I had been in a state of hypervigilance since our stomach issues in Peru, determined not to let our kids get sick again. I was so accustomed to disinfecting everything we touched, peeling or cooking the hell out of everything we ate, and boiling every drop of unbottled water, that it all became second nature. Coming to Chile has relieved us of these duties and fears, and it has been absolutely wonderful.

But first, let me tell you about truly incredible Bolivian desert. From Sucre, we drove up to Potosí, a silver-mining town in the southwest of Bolivia at 13,400 ft. After a long, cold night, we drove to the Uyuni Salt Flats. The altitude and five hours of driving made Ginny and Lu very carsick, but seeing our wild hotel lifted all our moods. It was, and I'm not joking, made of salt. We couldn't even wheel in our suitcases because the ground was pebble-sized grains of salt.

We were all extremely pumped to be somewhere so bizarre and awesome. And yes, as Ginny wrote in Ginny's Globe, Baker did in fact lick the wall. It was not unexpected. The next morning we visited the Train Cemetery, which is a weird spot in the desert filled with old trains. Baker went bananas.

We also got our first view of just how flat this part of the desert is. It allows for these wild perspective shots, that were just too fun. I mean, how boss does Lu look? Lots more of these to come!

From there we drove onto the Uyuni Salt Flats, and wow wow wow it was amazing! They are so white and flat, and they go on forever. We got out of the truck and just walked. It was like we were on another planet. And, of course, we took a taste. Very salty indeed.

We had a fancy lunch on the flats, and then got to work on our salt flat photos! They were super fun.

After all that, we drove to Incahuasi ("Inca Home") Island. This is where the Incas would seek refuge while crossing the salt flats. It was formerly an island in the sea covering the salt flats, so it is covered with fossilized coral. Since the sea evaporated, giant cacti have taken over the island, creating this dichotomy between prior oceanic life and current desert life. I loved hiking to the top of the island and seeing the view of the endless white salt. It was a top-ten moment of the trip for sure.

From the salt flats, we headed through the Bolivian desert toward the Chilean border. There isn't really a "road" per se, it's more just a bunch of tracks in the sand that suggest ways to go. But the scenery was incredible, and we broke up the drive with stops so the kids could do some bouldering to burn energy.

Throughout the desert are these lagoons that seemingly pop up out of nowhere. They are full of salt and...flamingos! There are thousands of those beautiful pink birds just loving life in these lagoons. Here is a pic of them in the Stinky Lagoon (it's really sulphuric, hence the unflattering name):

We eventually arrived at our new hotel at 15,090 ft, which is about 1 km from the Chilean border, and is literally in the middle of nowhere. All the guests were following the same trajectory across the desert. The walls were volcanic stone, the beds were stone with a mattress on top, there was no heating, and the power and hot water shut off at 10 pm. The kids thought it was all so fun that I kept my screams inside.

The following (very chilly) morning, we headed into the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve to see a few more sights before crossing the border. We drove up to 16,040 ft to see the Red Lagoon. This is how Ginny felt about that:

But isn't the lagoon pretty? It's red like that because of the algae and minerals in the water. We descended a bit to see the Sol de Mañana geysers. These bad boys are bubbling volcanic lava at 600 to 1000 degrees celsius. We definitely held the kids hand tightly while walking around them.

From there we drove through the Salvador Dalí desert, which was named by a Lonely Planet author who drove through in the 1970s and commented that the desert looks right out of a Dalí painting. I get the author's point.

As our final activity in Bolivia, we had lunch at the Green Lagoon. The color of the lagoon absolutely took my breath away. Ginny saw it and yelled "it looks just like an alpine lake!" Such a PNW kid!

Finally, we drove to the Chilean border. Again, everyone was super nice at the border, and we suspect it's because of these three kids that keep following us around. From the moment we crossed into Chile, my shoulders started relaxing and my breaths deepened--and not just because we dropped 6,000 ft. Everything immediately just seemed...easier. The infrastructure made us feel more at home. Most importantly, Chile has the same water purification standards as the US and the EU. So we checked into our hotel in San Pedro de Atacama and were ready to party.

On our first day, we went to a local pottery studio and learned about pre-Incan hieroglyphs, and the kids made some cute clay corrals with Chilean animals inside. I love watching the kids do art, especially with their hands, because they get so calm and focused. They had so much fun getting super dirty and building their creations.

We found the most delicious empanada shop that I will dream about until the day I return, and the kids fell in love with Chilean pizza. We hiked to a waterfall along the Pilama River and swam in the bubbles. (When did Ginny get so big???)

Then we hiked into a canyon to access another waterfall. Lu just made me (dairy-free) pizzas and banana bread out of mud for an hour, and couldn't have been happier.

I was able to relax more and laugh and play without those huge worries on my back, and I'm really grateful for the time we had here. We are so sad that tonight was our last in the Atacama Desert, but we absolutely will be back. (And we'll be back to Santiago, Chile in 2 months to start our Patagonia adventure!) Tomorrow we are crossing into Argentina! (Victoria, prepare yourself for all the photos!!!)

Best of luck next week as kiddos start school again!! We can't really believe we are not there with you all, but we'll be thinking about you!

All my love,

Madeline