A journey across Bolivia’s Andean Plateau makes for a “downright psychedelic” experience, said Margo Pfeiff in the Los Angeles Times. One of the most “wondrous if unforgiving” regions in all of South America, the lofty desert plateau, also known as Altiplano, had long been a dream destination of mine. Because I’d heard horror stories about do-it-yourselfers suffering altitude sickness, dehydration, and vehicle breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, I chose the “cushier, safer” option of using an international outfitter, one that supplied accommodations, vehicles, guides, and even oxygen equipment.
Our group met up with a guide in a 16th-century silver-mining town before driving three hours to Salar de Uyuni—the largest salt flat in the world. We stayed on the flat’s edge in a tiny village where the stone walls and thatched roof of our 300-year-old cottage weren’t enough to block out the thunderous sound of llamas stampeding through the street the next morning. That day, we hiked up Tunupa, a volcano famous for its collection of mummies that have been preserved in place by the dry air since the last eruption 1,800 years ago. Afterward, we drove to the middle of the salt flat just before sunset, broke out some champagne, and “watched low pink rays glitter across the polygon-patterned crystallized plain.”
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