Bolivia Travel Guide

Bolivia OVERVIEW

Called the Tibet of America, Bolivia replaces yaks with llamas, snow-caped Himalayas with the formidable Andes, and Buddhist monasteries with Inca temples. And then there is an endless list of similarities: elevated far above sea level, dazzling with multiethnicity, serene, tranquil, and infinitely beautiful, to mention just a few. Nevertheless, should you think seeing one spares you the effort of discovering the other, there's one more comparison that Tibet unfortunately cannot qualify for.

Situated in the southern part of the limitless Altiplano, where the Andes are at their widest, Uyuni would probably be a negligible village not worth your while if it wasn't for Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat left by a dried up lake. In the summer you can wander among protruding crystal piles but when the winter season showers Uyuni with rain, the whole area turns into a gigantic reflective surface making you feel as if you are walking on the sky while in the distance, where there once used to be the horizon, pinkish flamingos are wading through the clouds.

If this is heaven, where is hell then? Just jump to the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve and there it is, with blood-red waters of Laguna Colorada, steam-gushing geysers, mud-spitting spots, and an emerald mirror of Laguna Verde reflecting the deceptively peaceful Licancabur presiding high over the devilish territory.

And that's just part of the Bolivian experience. Suspended between heaven and hell, you will find the sultry Amazon basin oozing with wildlife, colonial cities such as Potosi and Sucre, the magnetic pre-Inca site of El Fuerte de Samaipata, and a mind-boggling indigenous realm of art, cuisine, literature and music. Personally, we're in two minds about where we'd like to land if there's indeed life after death. What about you?