- Horseback riding; 3 hrs, 5 hrs or full day:
Under the guidance of a Spanish speaking guide you will discover the amazing surroundings of Tupiza. On the full day tour you will receive a lunch box to take with you.
You will certainly get to see the cleft of Palmira and the rock formations of La Puerta del Diablo. Then you will ride through the Valle de los Machos where you will see rock formations with a phallic shape and through the Cañon del Inca.
If you choose the 5 hrs. tour you will also ride through the Cañon del Duende. On the full day tour some more places of interest will be visited additional as for instance El Angosto.
- Triathlon; the triathlon includes:
- Jeep Tour:
You will start with a visit to the Quebrada de Palala, one of the most beautiful places in the Chicheño Valley, a gorge in which various communities and touristy places are located. During the route you will see red, grey, blue and violet coloured mountains, without doubt a delight for the eye. Next you pass El Sillar, the soil and rocks in this region are eroded during millions of years, in this way shaping the multi coloured and jagged rocks known as for example Valle de la Luna. Then you pass La Poronga situated in San Miguel, one of the most important attractions in the region, a natural monument of 50 m high with a phallic shape. You continue the tour to the gorge El Angosto. In ancient times Tupiza was an immense lake and time passing the water found its escape for which reason you can enjoy this attraction. Nowadays the water of the Rio Tupiza flows through the gorge. In the rocky structure two tunnels are made, one for traffic and one for trains, resulting in an unequalled attraction during the rainy season.
Continuing the road through El Angosto you will arrive at the viewpoint Entre Ríos, where the rivers San Juan del Oro and Tupiza converge.
- Hike:
You will start your hike from the viewpoint Río up to arrive at La Torre, a 40 m high rock formation in the shape of a bull.
- Horseback riding:
You will start with a visit to the Quebrada de Palmira which is a large gorge where you can appreciate rock formations like La Puerta del Diablo. You will pass the Valle de los Machos where you will see rock formations with a phallic shape and finally you will visit the Cañon del Inca.
You can also choose to cover a part of the tour by bike instead of hiking!
- Jeep Tour; during this circuit you will get to see the same places of interest as during the triathlon, with the only difference that you will do the route in a 4WD.
- Tupiza - Salar de Uyuni - Uyuni; on the first day you will visit the Quebrada de Palala, a spectacular jagged rock formation, formed over many years by intense erosion. After this you will head on to the Sillar where you will enjoy the dramatic landscape before you continue to Nazarenito, a small gold mining community. Finally, you will arrive at San Antonio de Lipéz (4,260 m) where you will spend your first night. If you can stand the cold (-18/-20°), we recommend to go outside for a few minutes to appreciate the immense Milky Way above you. There is no light pollution here and the sky is truly breathtaking.
On the second day you will have to get up early as today is the longest day of the tour.
You will head through the abandoned ghost town of San Antonio, a village once famous for its wealth in gold. According to local legends the devil ruled here and forced the suffering villagers to flee...
After San Antonio you will pass Laguna Morejón and the area with the same name, with eroded volcanic rock formations. You will pass through the towns of Quetena Chico and Quetena Grande and arrive at Laguna Kolpa. Here raw material is extracted for making soap. Continuing through the Salar the Chalviri you will arrive at the hot springs for a swim and to have lunch.
Your next stops will be at the Lagunas Verde and Blanca, found at the foot of the Volcano Licancabur (5,868 m), which represents the border between Chile and Bolivia. For your interest: Laguna Verde´s rich green colour is caused by the high arsenic and magnesium content in the water.
You will stop in the Dalí Desert, a place with mountains of surrealistic colours, reminiscent of the works of Salvador Dalí and rock formations of petrified lava. Then you will arrive at the Sol de Mañana Geysers (5,000 m above sea level). This area is intensely volcanic and the temperature within the mud pools can reach up to 90°. From here you will head on to Huallajara where you will spend the second night.
The first attraction on the third is Laguna Colorada, where you will see flamingos. The lake is fairly shallow, and has interior islands of borax and ice and its red colour is caused by chlorine bacteriums and sediments in the water.
Heading on, you will pass through the Desierto de Silolí to visit the famous Arbol de Piedra, a tree-shaped rock formation, which has been eroded over the years by sand driven against its sides by the wind to form that distinctive shape. From here you will drive past a series of lagoons to arrive at Laguna Hedionda to have lunch. Here you will see flamingos, vicuñas and possibly even an Andean fox.
After lunch you will pass by Volcano Ollagüe, which is classed as semi-active, as its crater is constantly releasing smoke and continue through the Salar de Chiguana. From here you will head to Puerta Chuvica, where you will spend your last night of this expedition. Here, as in Huallajara, you can take a hot shower at a low cost.
On the last tour day you will cross the immense Salar de Uyuni; with 10,500 km², the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt plain in the world, stretching away in all directions as far as the eye can see. From here you can see Volcano Tunupa. The salt flats are made up of 11 separate layers with a thickness that ranges from 2 to 20 m. It is the biggest reserve of minerals such as lithium, magnesium, potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and borax in the world. It has 14 small islands, the most important are Incahuasi and Isla del Pescado. Leaving the salt flat you will visit Colchani, the village where the salt is processed. Here you can buy souvenirs, both made from salt and Alpaca wool, which are the two main industries in the area.
Finally you will reach Uyuni, where the train cemetery is located. Here you will see Bolivia´s first fleet of trains, powered by steam and now decommissioned.
- Tupiza - Salar de Uyuni - San Pedro;
on the first day you will visit the Quebrada de Palala, jagged red rock formations that look like medieval castles. After this you will head on to the Sillar where you will observe the change of vegetation from green dales into a wild-west landscape with dry altiplano grass. Then you will get to see the San Vincente region that is rich in minerals and the graves of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Around noon you will arrive in Atocha where you will have lunch. Atocha is the capital of the Nor Chichas province and is famous for it´s minerals. Then you will continue in the direction of the city of Uyuni. Half a km outside of town you will see the train cemetery.
You stay overnight will be in Jirira in a basic lodge.
On the second day you will depart around 6 to see the sunrise over the salt flat. After that you will get to see the salt mountains, the ojos de agua and the salt museum, that lies in the centre of the salt flat. Then you will visit Coquesa where you will see well conserved pre-inca mummies. Later on you can climb a viewpoint at Tunupa from where you can see the salt flats from a bigger height. Around midday you will go to Isla Incahuasi, where you will have lunch. You can walk over the island along the huge cacti and enjoy the beautiful landscape. Then the journey goes on to San Juan where you will spend the night.
On the third day you will have the chance to make some pictures of the local people of San Juan and then you will travel through the Salar de Chiguana, passing the semi-active Ollagüe Volcano, that marks the border between Chile and Bolivia. Further you will get to see five altiplano lagunes where you can see Andes flamingos. You will have lunch at one of the lagunes. Then you will drive through the Silolí desert and pass the Stone Tree and Laguna Colorada, the red lagoon, at an altitude of 4,300 m.
You will stay overnight in Huallajara where you will arrive between 5 and 6.
The last tour day will start very early. On the way you will see the Sol de Mañana geysers, hot springs, the Dalí Desert, Laguna Blanca, Licancabur Volcano and Laguna Verde. The tour ends after a drive through the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve, followed by the transfer from Hito Cajón to Chile.
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