WEEKLY WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY DEPARTURES DURATION 4 DAYS

Tue / Thu: Tupiza - San Pablo de Lipez (Hotel Mitru)

Travel 90 minutes by paved road from the highlands to the valley. Crossing streams used for farming with willow and pepper trees up to Tupiza.

Day 1 Wed / Fri: Tupiza - San Pablo de Lipez (Tayka Volcanoes) (D, A, C)

After breakfast start the expedition into a vastness of artworks carved over millions of years by strong winds, the snow thaws, the alive and present in the expedition volcanic activity and also by poor seasonal rains. All these forms of erosion have created an almost alien scenario that we now have and that will leave us with the feeling of having crossed the end of the world. All routes are secondary, unpaved, very few bridges and sometimes cross-country.

Palala Gorge is responsible to present the variety of unlikely masterpieces of nature: a singular valley huge earthen walls and eroded rock falling vertically, presenting us from different heights and angles while climbing our 4X4 zigzag mountain to El Sillar. We take the time to stop at a few key points to imbibe the landscape.

continue for a brief stop at the crossing of the Winds, which will expose our humanity in this natural phenomenon of cross winds. Arrival at Hotel Tayka
Volcanoes, with private bathroom, hot water and space heating.
Accommodation in the afternoon we will go first to the nearby Body Khatun worthy geological formation traversed on a walk of ascension and descent to sunset Return to Hotel (D, A, C)

Day 2 Fri / Sat: San Pablo de Lipez - Tahoua (Tayka Sal) (D, A, C).

We get up early for the trip to Uyuni with a stop in San Cristobal, for appreciations from outside the stone church.
Today we have an unforgettable journey through 12,000 km ² of fantastic landscapes saltPrepare your camera ! The dazzling white mantle of the Salar de Uyuni resembles a huge glacier.
In winter ( dry season from May to October) , when the surface hardens, almost geometric figures formed by the salt particles agglomerated into polygons . In summer ( rainy season from November to February) the salt desert is transformed into a giant mirror that blends the purest sky of America.
We enter the salar by Colchani , where the salt factories .
Visit one of these, where we will receive an explanation of the salt family economy , governing village life based on a cooperative organization.
Once this check will enter the Salar where we stop in Salt mounds , from which depart for the Isla Incahuasi , tourist service center that has a path to climb to the summit becomes extraordinary 360 degree viewpoint and surprises by the number of giant cactus ( Echinopsis atacamensis ) that populate the island, which is also a sign of manifest similarly petrified volcanic lava rock above the rocks and its origin is the " Alga Azul" or Fossils Stromatolites , one of testimony oldest life on earth . Underwater bacteria that have formed have been developed in times Michín Lake ( 40,000 years ago) and Lake Tauka ( 11,000 years ago) that kept the whole island under water.
We will have a box lunch on the island and then to the dominant enfilaremos magical figure of Thunupa Volcano, whose skirts are Tahoua . Arrival to hotel Tayka Sal
Accommodation at the hotel.
Almost immediate Drive to the Coquesa , east , from where the climb starts at 4x4 to gain an appreciable rise in the Thunupa , from where the views are stunning from Monumental Salar .
Starting a brief walk to see the chullpar , ancient burial cave , where a local guide will explain the history of mummies.
Chantani return visit the Museum with its displays of ceramics, stone fanciful shapes resembling animals and their silent ancient mummies refer burials in these lands.
Return to the Hotel de Sal Tayka Red , with private bathroom, hot water and heating (Bx , C).

Day 3 Sat / Sun: Tahoua - Ojito Partridge (D, A, C)

Today we dedicate the unknown Salar Salar by tourism or Sensual . For the salt crust will go towards our 4X4 Ch'jini , little visited by tourists despite its unparalleled beauty .
Led by members ascend to the "cathedral " mound about 40 m high where are the ruins of Pukara stacked stones or community : residences , silos , viewpoints presume that this is a strong of an ancient civilization Tiwanacota followed .. the challenge of climbing to the very crest of the "cathedral" with simple but guaranteed safety means is an opportunity to distill adrenaline to have some of the most outstanding viewpoints of the world. Then visit the Cave Ch'jini resulting from an underwater geologic formation with calcareous bodies , due to the dissolution of calcium carbonate in contact with groundwater and rainwater formed in the stage prior to glaciation 16,000 years ago . The beauty and fragility of these geological formations have forced the community to organize the visit in small groups of no more than 5.

It is an intimate corner of the Salar Sensual, incomparably beautiful landscape, but also a spiritual presence that emanates from the stone buildings over a thousand years old, which makes us think about the way of life of the populations ancestral. Return to the car.

Then we have the privilege of crossing from north to south the most beautiful part of the White Desert, Salar Sensual, away from the usual tourist route, heading to the Bay of Islands Hoods dominated by the image of an environment setting Caltama Volcano unparalleled landscape. Abandon the Salar exiting Charagua, where we stop to visit their pens, of outstanding aesthetic, goats and disappeared by decreased rainfall. An hour of bumpy road we will reach the town of San Pedro Quemado de Quemes, where we leave the car to walk the short streets and buildings that have inspired the hotel Tayka Stone. Lunch at the Hotel de Piedra

In the afternoon we head corsage Cañapa, Hedionda, Chiarkota, Honda and Ramaditas gaps, in which large numbers of flamingos, the three species existing in the area, no longer be seen and photographed at will. Other birds, such as gulls and ducks Andean flamingos accompany these lagoons flanked by snowcapped volcanoes often occur when descending a green skirt (rough straw, and thola Yareta) to finish in ocher colors that the winds have been drawing in thousands, or in rare colors from borax and sulfur of these strange gaps.

Incursionaremos in desert sand and pebble surfaces of enormous extent, no roads, almost without direction. These deserts are fantastic owners whole palette of terracotta. Red, orange, ocher, bronze, brown and beige occur in every curve of the road, fighting the traveler's attention. Facing the most impressive of these palettes have raised the Tayka Desert, with private bathrooms, hot water and space heating. Accommodation (D, A, C)

Day 4 Sat / Mon: Birdseye - San Pedro de Atacama (D). Optional Uyuni (D, Bx)

Leave early in the morning to a first contact with the Wildlife Reserve Andina Eduardo Abaroa when visiting the Stone Tree . Then we will have a short visit to the Laguna Colorada to observe its large population of flamingos, the three existing species that roost in its icy water mirror. We head Geysers Morning Sun to catch him in his busiest time . This will be the highest point of the route , about 5000 meters.
noisy fumaroles and boiling pools where the earth appears in red , gray and scarlet pimples may be flown by us in their own shores.
The desert and salar Chalviri is another scenario that combines beautiful scenery of the white snow, desert ocher , blue water and white borax . In one corner we can take a bath in the Baths of Polques .
When we move away stage of the Ladies Desert Wind masterpiece and Andean peaks with perfect details in shapes and colors of rocks that have weathered the wind. And again, and as an excess, Laguna Verde , at the foot of the volcano Licancabur , one of the pearls of the Reserve.
The border crossing at 09:30 for transfer in shared and private transfer 12.00 for (extra cost ) to San Pedro de Atacama. Arrival and accommodation at the hotel. Free afternoon . (D )
End of our services in San Pedro de Atacama.
Optional Uyuni
Since the return to Laguna Verde Laguna Colorada. Reach her ​​at lunchtime , in time to see their water passes the wooden red blood red .
We say goodbye to the past llamas and vicuna , which have accompanied us on the tour from the beginning and will continue to seek suri or andean rhea, until the last moment , not always left spot .
Uyuni was first in Bolivia where a train whistle was heard. There the country's first railway line was laid in 1890 . Currently are the most important remains of railroad equipment (dating from 1890) , these can be seen in their arsenals , known as the " train cemetery " located 3 Km of the city of Uyuni on the railway service around , is a testament to the withdrawal of the trains in western Bolivia . Comprising twenty steam locomotives and wagons , Uyuni , one of the most important of its kind globally attractive .

End of our services in Uyuni.