Now, How do I Become a Flamingo? Southwest Bolivia’s Laguna Circuit

Getting to this remote and mother-nature-intense part of the world was a great accomplishment for us.

Somehow (perhaps due to El Nino) the Andes of southern Bolivia and northern Chile received an unusually heavy snowfall in late May of 2017. It has happened in the past, one man told us that it had happened more than 40 years ago, but it’s so irregular that there are no regular snow plows.  The tourists coming to this region are left uninformed about when the passes will open and when the tours can commence. This seemed really crazy to Todd and I because there is so much money to be made by these tours…and….this region is surrounded by beautiful salt flats!!!!

We had originally hoped to embark on the Laguna Circuit May 21st but faced the music and decided to change our plans and try back later.  With a lot of luck, we finally started the route on June 30th. In between this time we stalked the border offices and their national Twitter account. We stocked up for the Laguna Route’s “400 kms without diesel or food” on two separate occasions. We did a massive round-about loop through Bolivia and came back to San Pedro de Atacama, and still had to wait an additional 8 days. During this time we explored the beautiful places in the San Pedro area. The El Tatio Geysers, Valle de la Luna, Valle de la Muerte, and Reserva Nacional los Flamencos (our first up close and personal viewing of these incredible birds).

Once we were told the border was open, with rough snow conditions, we got our passports out and headed to Bolivia. We were so excited that our plan finally got realized. The dirt and rock road at the border crossing had some snow and slush, tricky driving but, not impossible. Eventually we reached the first (side by side) lakes of the route, Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde. We were WOWed.

It looked better than the photos and felt much colder and dizzying (the altitude really affects you). We hadn’t really thought about how the snow and ice would change the scenery. We received the gift of impeccably defined mountains and lake edges, definitely worth the month wait. The colors of the lakes changed by the hour and the mineral rich hillsides of red, yellow, and brown perfectly complemented the pools of color.

I think we’re getting very used to being the only “campers” around. We picked the best spot in the valley for the night. Parked up on the highest viewpoint, so that we had both of the lakes in sight and were angled so we could watch the sun setting behind Volcan Licancabur.  Here she is as the colors changed throughout the evening.

The entire valley was still. It is an awe-inspiring experience to be in such a beautiful and remote place all by yourself.

To think about how much geologic power had to take place to form all the elevations and depressions. And then, the minerals working their way up to the surface to infuse the lakes with brilliance. Just getting started on this drive was difficult for me. It required a lot of patience and appreciation of time, because the border just wouldn’t open up. When we arrived that afternoon, I realized we had not waited in vain, that this spot on Earth could not be passed up. It’s a good thing I was so in love with the view because we were going to have quite a traveling adventure ahead of us to finish the Laguna Circuit.

After a beautiful first night and some exploring on foot around Laguna Blanca we were amp-ed and ready to tackle more tricky roads. The first order of business was to cross the river coming out of Laguna Blanca.  Check out the video.

At about 10AM we realized why the border had been closed for so long, 4 foot snow drifts. In some sections the snow had melted, but in other spots, there was just boggy tire tracks.  Lola has good tires, but they are not very big and she is a heavy girl. To cross or not to cross?

Todd has gotten very good at “walking the road” and instantly figuring out whether it’s a GO or NO GO. This was a GO! Thanks to the extremely arid conditions of the eastern side of this section of the Bolivian Andes, underneath the ice and water was compact, dry sand.

No problem! We began to intermittently see brown dry hillsides, sometimes littered with boulders. We saw evidence of an extremely dry valley. The sun was doing its job here, melting away the snow. Why were the Aduana officials so worried about the snow???

We ended our short drive that day at the Laguna Grande de Chalviri which has the perfectly warm waters of (104 F) Aguas Termales de Pulcara.

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More distant snow covered peaks, multicolored hillsides, salt precipitates, vicunas, gulls, yellow grasses, and an expansive lake. A great setting for a 50°F day and 15°F night (10°C to -10°C). In the mornings we certainly appreciated our awesome (newly-fixed) heater!

Day 3 on the Lagunas Circuit we decided to heed the warnings about the snow and took an alternate, more circuitous, route towards the next destination, Laguna Colorada.

The road was bumpy, as expected. Snow dotted the hillsides, but overall no worries about road conditions. We approached the laguna in early afternoon. This lake is red in color due to the high abundance of microscopic algae “flageladas (flagellates) Dunaliella salina”, one of the flamingo’s food sources.

So, the lake is usually pictured as being covered with thousands of flamingos. But we are here in the winter season and I had come to terms that there simply wouldn’t be any flamingos, because that’s just the way it goes sometimes. Well, I had the biggest surprise yet, several thousand big. There were several THOUSAND flamingos on this 60 square kilometer lake! I was surrounded by my spirit animal, I was truly shocked.

I decided back in the National Flamenco Reserve in San Pedro that the flamingo was my spirit animal, it makes perfect sense, really. It’s a very cautious animal that loves lakes, flies away if humans come too close to it, likes to eat constantly, can withstand bitterly cold temperatures, is graceful and colorful, and it is pink! I was so enthralled by their harsh living environments, group dynamics, feeding, and overall beauty; this bird has simply captivated me. Todd thinks I’m obsessed…maybe there’s some truth to it. But, don’t be surprised if I start wearing black and yellow lipstick and pink leggings.

 

Since the sun was shining and the birds were out, we grabbed some beers, peanuts, and chairs and carefully approached the lake shore.  We took a seat and to watch these pink beauties. We were lucky enough to stop at an old nesting spot along the lake shore.  It was an incredible show, lots of chattering, flying from one spot to another, and slow walking away from tourists who arrived in hoards on Land Cruiser tours, all eager for that perfect Instagram shot.

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I felt somewhat horrible that this ecologically sensitive place wasn’t cordoned off, but this is Bolivia, they have bigger problems to worry about right now – like corruption, heath care and industrialization. So, I took advantage of this rare opportunity and counted 8 unhatched flamingo eggs! There were also several young flamingos that didn’t make it, and many many feathers, among them bright pink feathers. It was really special to see the birds in their natural setting and observe their behavior. It’s a rare opportunity to see thousands of creatures of one variety (well perhaps up to 3 flamingo varieties), it paints a very different picture of what the animal’s behavior is.

Our camp spot for the night was freezing, but colorful. Again, all alone. Being this secluded gives us yet another reason why we love Lola so much. It would be hard to do this in a tent.

Such a magical lake called for a fancy dinner-nalesniki (the french stole the idea from the Polish and now the world calls them crepes. {Todd’s addition}). A new fancy-van or “glamping” favorite. We can now make cake oranges, pizza, and cheesecake too.

Day 4 started out with great hope, after Todd received advice that the route north was snow covered, but doable. We thought “Great, let’s give it a chance!” In retrospect, I say this was the scary-adrenaline-filled choice. The first rocky and washboarded 30 kms were OK, just spots of snow. Then it started getting serious.

One track, sometimes one side had water or mud, that was awesome! But for at least 50kms, the track was really just two snow-covered wheel paths. Lola definitely surpassed my expectations of her snowshoeing ability! When Todd looks back on the day, he says it was a great adventure. When I look back, I just hope the sweat that came off my hands, as I was steadying myself, will wash out the seat cover.

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Getting un-stuck in this environment would probably require a hefty winch… Usually we are a bit daring when we travel, but we push it because we know we can figure out how to get out.  We also know that we if we do get stuck that we can comfortably spend the night.  We don’t endanger ourselves or others and we have independently rescued ourselves out of every situation except two (once with the help of a local’s 2wd, featherweight Suzuki Sidekick and the other with the help of Roman’s Landcruiser). Here, it would have been impossible to turn around after leaving Laguna Colorada.  I was pretty pissed at the folks who told us the road was fine.  Perhaps coming south it was better, going north we had uphill sections which just added to my nervousness.

But day 4 wasn’t all scary.  Along the way there were zones that were mostly clear of snow and had some nice wildlife or rock outcrops. These were pretty neat because these beautiful sculptures suddenly popped out of nowhere.

As the day progressed, things got better but the wash boarded roads continued to be pretty bad (TOTALLY fine by me at this point).  At the end of the day, very unexpectedly, we found a beautiful spot for the night, Laguna Honda. Both of us would have just been happy with snow-less ground, but the laguna happened to be in reach after that treacherous day.  As the sun climbed in the morning, we watched as the 10 flamingos huddled together in the center of the laguna start to stir.  Opening one wing at a time, then switching legs, eventually putting both legs in the water and then begin walking around the laguna feeding.

Day 5, sadly our last day on the circuit, held yet another beautiful surprise, Laguna Hedionda (smelly lake).  But smelly lake was the most populated with flamingos!  This was an incredible place to observe the behavior of these beautiful birds.

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It is difficult to explain the emotion of seeing such an incredible place because I didn’t think such beauty possible.  But I think these videos will give you a sense of what it was like.

As we exited from the remote Lagunas we slowly began to drop in elevation…but don’t think that was easy!  First we had to pay a road-building toll.  They actually did do some work on this strech of road, but it needed a much more work.  Then we clambered over uneven road and big cobbles.

Given the chance, I would return to the Laguna Ruta in the blink of a flamingo’s eye.  This is THE reason to visit Bolivia.

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We visited the Lagunas Ruta in Bolivia July 1st- July 5th, 2017.