La Paz

At over 3,800m of altitude, visiting La Paz can take literally take your breath away! Surrounded by mount Illimani and other incredibly high peaks, La Paz is messy, chaotic and dirty, but retains a few colonial areas and magic spots...

The Illimani and La Paz

The colonial centre

The witches' market

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An unmissable spot in La Paz is 'el mercado de las brujas', where all sorts of of magical herbs and tools are sold, including llama's foetuses for love potions...

Llama's foetuses hanging from the stall...

South Bolivia

Potosi

South Bolivia is an area of deep poverty, lots of gold mines, incredible colonial beauties and... no oxigen!

Beautiful Andean lanscapes make way to colonial towns, ofetn located at over 4,500 meters of altitude. Large gold and silver mines, once the biggest in the world, meant that Spain created some fine colonial towns, like Potosi, the biggest gold mine in history, and Sucre, the official (although not administrative  capital of Bolivia...

Potosi main square

The mines

Potosi was at one point the biggest gold and silver mine in the world, and most of the gold in Spain is from Potosi'. A trip at the mines, where miners still work in awful conditions, was a strong experience, especially as the lack of oxigen combines with fumes of all sorts...

With dynamite

At the mines

Coca for the miners (kinda...)

Gold and silver on this stone

Inside the mine, with arsenic dust

Sucre

'La ciudad blanca' is another fine colonial city, with a young vibe due to numerous universities...

El Salar de Uyuni

Crossing from Chile into Bolivia is an incredible 3-day trip crossing the Andes, the Atacama desert and finally the Uyuni salar. The landscapes are unbelievable, possibly the best sceneries I have ever seen

Here are a few of the many shots I took

The border

The lagoons just past the border

"Dali's desert"

The red lagoon

More lagoons...

More desert...

The salar

A salt plane of over 12,000 square kilometers (!!!), the Uyuni salar is one of the world's wonders. In January and February, the salar is completely flooded with rain water, creating a unique and incredible effect. Can you tell where the horizon is?