Album Altiplano from Gudrun

Progress behind a fence

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 06:02:37 +0000

Gudrun has posted:

Progress has only recently arrived in Julo village. Inset a detail of the the town hall (which boasts of a public telephone) and a village street.

HFF!

Fence- Altiplano style

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 06:40:25 +0000

Gudrun has posted:

Take a wire and fix any old rags to it. To create a gate take two posts and a bicycle tyre. To be seen in varations all over the Bolivian Altiplano:-)
HFF everybody!

The photo was taken near Nogachi village at ca. 4000m. Along the mountains in the background is the border to Chile.

Sajama farmhouse

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 04:24:43 +0000

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Farm (>4200m) in Sajama National Park. Aymara families in this area have been making a living from llama and alpaca herding for many centuries.
The mountain in the background is Cerro Quisi Quisini (5536m) on the border with Chile.

Tomarapi- Capilla Rosario

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:43:13 +0000

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Tomarapi (ca. 4200m), a small hamlet with a colonial church, lies at the foot of Bolivia's highest mountain, Nevado Sajama (6542m).

HWW!

Geiseres de Sajama (Termas Huallaqueri)

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 09:32:35 +0000

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A small geyser field at ca. 4300m in Sajama National Park and near the border to Chile shows that this area of the main Andean chain is still volcanically active.
The geysers are relatively easy to reach via a dirt track from Sajama village (4x4 strongly recommended).

Nevado Sajama

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 20:02:08 +0000

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Nevado Sajama (6542m) is Bolivia's highest mountain and one of the world's highest volcanoes. Situated in the centre of Sajama National Park it has Queñoa de Altura (polylepis tarapacana) growing on its slopes. This shrublike tree grows in heights of up to 5000m.
Sajama is a holy mountain for the indigenous Aymara people and recent research has found a 3000 years old network of lines etched into the ground which is 15 times the size of the Nazca lines. Sajama Lines

Sh*t happens

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Fri, 29 May 2015 10:47:26 +0000

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Accident at the foot of Bolivia's highest mountain, Nevado Sajama (6542m).
Since Bolivia lost the province of Antofagasta and its access to the sea in the late 19th century Guerra del Pacífico, most freight goes from La Paz along Ruta 4 to the border at Tambo Quemado/ Chungará and down to the Chilean port of Arica.
Bolivia still has a Navy (on Lake Titicaca) and annually celebrates Día del Mar. Negotiations with Chile about a corridor the the sea drag along but have never come to a result.

Carniceria buena

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 06:11:55 +0000

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Butcher's shop in Patacamaya

Cholita

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 05:20:27 +0000

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Seen in Patacamaya: Aymara woman going to market, inset more hat fashions;-)

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholita

The rise of the Cholita

Altiplano fashion

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 05:18:24 +0000

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NOT the Sunday Challenge:
Aymara woman at a market stall in Oruro. The bowler hats are always worn a size too small;-)

Abandoned

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 13:27:34 +0000

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In the late 19th century Uyuni used to be a train hub with railway lines to ports on the pacific coast, mostly for freight trains carrying minerals. Construction was planned and supervised by British engineers invited by the Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway companies. In the 1940s the lines fell into disuse and after the valuable copper parts were removed the locomotives were left to rust.

Cementerio de Trenes

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 07:39:04 +0000

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Washing day

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Wed, 27 May 2015 07:02:27 +0000

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A newly built salt storehouse (still lacking the stairs to the door) and a veteran truck used for drying laundry. See inset photos!

Veteran

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 05:47:59 +0000

Gudrun has posted:

www.ipernity.com/doc/523247/38356296

Battered, but still running

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sun, 10 May 2020 08:54:26 +0000

Gudrun has posted:

Colchani, Salar de Uyuni

Planet Incahuasi

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 07:15:07 +0000

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My first try at a little planet, inset the panorama it was made from. Shot from the top of Isla Incahuasi, an island in the middle of Uyuni salt flats.

www.photographymad.com/pages/view/little-planet-photos-5-simple-steps-to-making-panorama-worlds

Mein erster "Planeten"-Versuch, das Ursprungs-Panorama ist im PiP. Aufgenommen vom höchsten Punkt der Isla Incahuasi im Uyuni-Salzsee.

Isla Incahuasi (view full size!)

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Tue, 23 Aug 2016 04:50:23 +0000

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View from the top of Isla Incahuasi over Salar de Uyuni. The distant mountain is Volcán Tunupa.

Salar de Uyuni lies at 3660m and is the world's largest salt flat at 10.582 km². 30.000-42.000 years ago Salar de Uyuni was part of prehistoric Lake Minchin which slowly evaporated and left the Salar along with Lake Titicaca, Lago Poopó and Salar de Coipasa. Salar de Uyuni is covered with a salt crust of up to 30m thickness, underneath is a brine saturated with sodium chloride, lithium chloride, and magnesium chloride. Salar de Uyuni holds 43% of the world's lithium reserves.
Isla Incahuasi and the other "islands" are the tops of ancient volcanoes submerged during the era of Lake Minchin. They are covered by fossilized coral and stromatolites, giant cacti (trichocereus pasacana) grow on the islands.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni liegt auf 3660m Höhe und ist mit 10.582 km² der weltgrößte Salzsee. Er entstand vor ca. 30.000-42.000 Jahren aus dem prähistorischen Minchin-See, der langsam verdunstete und den Titcacasee, den Lago Poopó sowie Salar de Coipasa und Salar de Uyuni zurückließ.
Der Salar ist mit einer bis zu 30m dicken Salzschicht bedeckt, unter der sich eine in Wasser gesättigte Lösung von Sodiumchlorid, Lithuíumchlorid und Magnesiumchlorid befindet. Unter dem Salar de Uyuni finden sich 43% der weltweiten Lithiumvorkommen.
Isla Incahuasi und die anderen "Inseln" im Salar sind die Gipfel alter Vulkane, die vom Minchin - See überflutet wurden. Sie sind mit versteinerten Korallen und Stromatoliten bedeckt und mit riesigen Kakteen (trichocereus pasacana) bewachsen.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni (der englische Wiki-Artikel ist deutlich besser)

Salar de Uyuni

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 11:15:03 +0000

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Gruppe Ressoumission 2063

Indigenous people (Aymara, Quetchua) have for ages been living in small settlements on the shores of Salar de Uyuni, herding llamas and growing quinoa, making the most of the little water to make a precarious living.

Because Bolivia has an estimated 20% of the world's lithium reserves, a large part of it in the brine under the salt crust of Salar de Uyuni, lithium mining concessions have now been given to Russian and Chinese firms- with already disastrous results.
If this goes on indigenous people will have to leave their ancestral lands and the pristine landscape will be destroyed.

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/sep/03/lithium-mining-bolivia-salt-flats-indigenous-environment-ecosystem

Stone walls

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 07:59:17 +0000

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Near Tahua (3868m) on the shores of Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. This Aymara woman has gathered tola (Parastrephia lepidophylla), a resinous shrub of the Asteraceae family that grows in the Altiplano and that in the absence of trees is used for firewood. Young tola leaves are also used for brewing infusions (tea).

HWW!

Sunset on the Salar

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 05:55:30 +0000

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Sunset clouds over Salar de Uyuni with Volcán Tunapa in the distance. We had a toast with Bolivian wine for the occasion, but the first drop goes to Pachamama as an offering - the ritual is called ch'alla (see inset photo)