This area of Bolivia is amazing. Simply Amazing. If you have any doubts about going, then let us put your mind at ease… there are so many incredible experiences and photo opportunities that it is hard to take in all of them. You must go!
We wanted to start our 4D / 3N Bolivia private tour on Christmas day and corresponded with Cruz Andina by email to book. We emailed in English and they replied in Spanish (we used Google Translate). They did not take Credit Cards and so we agreed to pay them in Cash. The problem was that we only arrived in San Pedro de Atacama the previous night at 6pm. No problem, they said, we are open until 8pm. We were a bit nervous that they would be open until 8pm on Christmas Eve but we arrived at 6pm and all was fine.
We didn’t have time to acclimatise to the altitude before our trip. We had come from sea-level the previous day, to an overnight stay in San Pedro de Atacama (2,400 metres), before going to Bolivia (first day 4,600 metres and highest point 4,700 metres). We felt a touch groggy on our first day…
We were picked up at our hotel on Christmas morning and taken to the Chilean and Bolivian border (there are toilets at both border posts) where we cleared immigration and transferred to the 4wd vehicle of our English driver / guide, the marvellous Mijael. Mijael was very friendly, informative and a very good driver. We really enjoyed his company throughout the trip.
We were feeling the effects of the rapid rise in altitude, with a groggy head numbing feeling and general slowness of reaction. But anyway, we were in Bolivia and determined to enjoy the sights. And what fantastic sights there were… see photos
Tripadvisor doesn’t allow lengthy reviews but suffice to say we saw, incredible lagunas, a horizontal rainbow, thermal activity, lunchtime soak in hot pools, flamingos, weird rock formations, “fat rabbits” (aka Vizcacha, bird of prey, more amazing reflective lagunas, the railway line (with the single point of perspective photo), the weird and wonderful above ground coral formations, llamasand of course the amazing Uyuni Salt Flats.
MIjael had kept us entertained for the day and we nicknamed him “2 soups” after he devoured both of our soups for lunch when we said that we couldn’t eat them as well as the rest of the lunch.
If you are in San Pedro, we would highly recommend Cruz Andina for a 4 day / 3 night Bolivian trip. Of course, if you want a great English driver / guide too then Mijael is your man!