Thursday, November 10, 2005
November 10, 2005: The Road to Uyuni City
There are still frontiers left in the world. And I don't just mean scientific ones. Today we set out on a journey through Bolivia and traversed some of the most isolated territory that I have ever seen. By this, I mean that we were in territory with barely any roads, no signs, and definitely very few other travelers.
The dusty, bumpy, unpaved road.
Fording a river.
Aurelio was our driver during this part of our journey. He is the son of Macario who is our guide. It is important to have drivers from the local region. Many of the roads are unmarked and are little more than tire tracks in the desert.
We passed through many interesting and diverse examples of terrain. Here is an example of an interesting rock formation:
An interesting rock formation. This is the remnants of ashes and lava flows.
Nathalie explains some of the factors that formed the rock formations.
Here is a laguna that we passed.
Light agriculture was one of the few signs of civilization during this leg of our journey. The primary industries in this area seem to be light agriculture [raising llamas and sheep] or mining.
During this trip we stopped to take UV readings.
Lynn records data during the measurement.
Andy records our position through the use of a GPS unit.
As we drove, we started to come upon some small towns. The people in this region share a mixture of indigenous [Incan] influences and Spanish/European influences. This next image shows a monument at the entrance of a small town. According to Edmond, these monuments are placed at the entrances and exits of towns in these regions. They are copies of the Puerta del Sol in Tihuanaco. They are here to protect the "pueblos" (villages) and are still aligned with the sun as the original one.
A monument at the entrance of a town.
After a long day of driving, we pulled into Uyuni to spend the night. When we arrived, a local market was in full swing:
Local market in Uyuni City.
Many people in the market wear traditional clothing.
At Uyuni, the team fanned out to relax a bit after so many days exploring Lagunas Blanca and Colorada and our dusty day of driving.
The dusty, bumpy, unpaved road.
Fording a river.
Aurelio was our driver during this part of our journey. He is the son of Macario who is our guide. It is important to have drivers from the local region. Many of the roads are unmarked and are little more than tire tracks in the desert.
We passed through many interesting and diverse examples of terrain. Here is an example of an interesting rock formation:
An interesting rock formation. This is the remnants of ashes and lava flows.
Nathalie explains some of the factors that formed the rock formations.
Here is a laguna that we passed.
Light agriculture was one of the few signs of civilization during this leg of our journey. The primary industries in this area seem to be light agriculture [raising llamas and sheep] or mining.
During this trip we stopped to take UV readings.
Lynn records data during the measurement.
Andy records our position through the use of a GPS unit.
As we drove, we started to come upon some small towns. The people in this region share a mixture of indigenous [Incan] influences and Spanish/European influences. This next image shows a monument at the entrance of a small town. According to Edmond, these monuments are placed at the entrances and exits of towns in these regions. They are copies of the Puerta del Sol in Tihuanaco. They are here to protect the "pueblos" (villages) and are still aligned with the sun as the original one.
A monument at the entrance of a town.
After a long day of driving, we pulled into Uyuni to spend the night. When we arrived, a local market was in full swing:
Local market in Uyuni City.
Many people in the market wear traditional clothing.
At Uyuni, the team fanned out to relax a bit after so many days exploring Lagunas Blanca and Colorada and our dusty day of driving.
