Bolivia Guide
The southern Altiplano
South of La Paz, the southern Altiplano – the high plateau that lies between the eastern and western chains of the Andes – stretches 800km to the Chilean and Argentine borders, a bleak, rolling plain, swept by unforgiving winds and illuminated by a harsh sunshine that seems to leach all colour from the earth without warming the rarefied air. Set at an average altitude of around 3700m, this starkly beautiful landscape is the image most frequently associated with Bolivia: a barren and treeless expanse whose arid steppes stretch to the horizon, where snowcapped mountains shimmer under deep-blue skies. With scant rainfall and infertile soils, the southern Altiplano supports only a sparse rural population: traversing its lonely expanse you'll see occasional clusters of huts in the distance whose adobe walls seem to merge into the brown earth. These are home to hardy Aymara communities, which scrape a marginal living by growing tubers and grains and herding llamas and alpacas, using survival techniques that have served them for centuries.
Highlights
1 Oruro Carnaval One of the most colourful and uproarious folkloric fiestas in all South America, featuring thousands of dancers in extravagant devil costumes.
2 Casa Real de la Moneda The monumental former royal mint in Potosí houses Bolivia's best museum, including some of the finest colonial religious art in the country.
3
Churches of Potosí
The legendary silver-mining city of Potosí has some of the most outstanding Spanish colonial churches in the Americas, including the stunning Iglesia de San Lorenzo de Carangas.
4 Cerro Rico A journey through the labyrinthine tunnels of the Cerro Rico mines above Potosí offers the chance to witness working conditions of incredible harshness, as well as the bizarre customs and beliefs that help the miners survive them.
5 Salar de Uyuni Perhaps Bolivia's most extraordinary landscape, featuring the world's biggest salt lake – a vast expanse of dazzling white surrounded by high mountain peaks.
6 Reserva de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa This remote and spectacular region of icebound volcanic peaks and mineral-stained lakes is home to a surprising array of wildlife, including great flocks of pink flamingos and herds of vicuñas.
7 Tarija Enjoy the wine from the world's highest vineyards in the self-styled Andalucía of Bolivia, a charming colonial town in a warm Andean valley that feels a world apart from the rest of the country.