Atacama Desert + Salar de Uyuni + La Paz

May 20, 2025

Dear Friends, Family, and Fellow Travelers,

We arrived yesterday in Quito, Ecuador, after a very long day of travel beginning with a 2am wake up in La Paz and a layover in Lima.

Our twelve days in the Atacama Desert, Uyuni, and La Paz were action-packed, filled with non-stop adventure and loads of fun, though certainly not without some hiccups.

I typically don’t love writing my newsletters in a day-by-day format, but the current pacing of our trip lends itself to it. So, here we go…

Sara’s Thoughts and Recap

Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert in Northern Chile is the driest non-polar (i.e., not located in the Arctic or Antarctic) desert in the world, and at 8,000ft above sea level, can occasionally induce altitude sickness. It rains only about 50 millimeters per year here, which is about how much it rains in Seattle in an average 8-day period (yes, I looked this up). We chose to come here to enjoy the unique ecosystem and the diverse landscapes – salt flats, lagoons, valleys – and the stunning scenery.

May 7^th: We woke up bright and early in Santiago for our van to pick us up at 4am so that we could get to the airport for our 7am flight. It was probably too early, but it did give us a chance to chill in the lounge for a little while. Several of us slept on the plane, though not the littlest Schmidttlest, which meant the person sitting next to her (Dad) got no sleep either. We were picked up at the Calama airport by our driver, Alejandro, and our guide, Carolina, who were with us for the remainder of our time in Chile. As we drove closer to Atacama, the scenery changed and was absolutely astounding; everything I hoped it would be when we started planning our trip here. We passed a bunch of animals called guanacos, which I’d never heard of, but Jonah promptly began explaining to us. Thankfully, we were able to check into our accommodations, Hotel Cumbres, upon arrival (10:40am). As we were checking in, we learned that breakfast ended 10 minutes earlier. Not to be dissuaded – and in dire need of coffee – I dashed over to the restaurant to discover the only items remaining were a spread of pastries. Pastry lunch it was! In addition to my cappuccino, I gathered a large plate of red velvet muffins, donuts, and pies, and brought them to my hungry family. As we often do, we split into “Boys Room” and “Girls Room.” I had not realized this was going to be more of a small cabin situation rather than a traditional hotel, and so Calla and I were thrilled to see how much space we had. Plus, the bed was the largest I’d ever seen; maybe a California King? Probably even larger? Not that we needed the space since Calla was just going to snuggle all up with me, anyways, but it was luxurious nevertheless.

After taking a nice, long nap, we took the hotel shuttle around 3 PM to visit the town of San Pedro. San Pedro is a small village with buildings made out of adobe, catering primarily to a tourist crowd. We poked into little stores and at around 4:30pm decided to get some dinner and then head over for some ice cream. The ice cream shops around here are all owned by the same person and they have hyper local flavors such as “Rica-Rica Pisco Sour,” “Flor del Desierto,” and my new favorite, “Lucuma Manjar”. We headed back early since everyone was still a little bit sleepy to enjoy some relaxation time, where Calla watched an hour of PJ Masks and Superkitties in Spanish (educational!).

May 8^th:  We gave ourselves the morning off to recover from any lingering effects of travel and altitude. Thank goodness we did because Simon woke up complaining of feeling woozy. Heart racing, he came to breakfast, said he felt a little better after eating, and then promptly returned to his room for a 3-hour nap. The rest of us, thankfully, were not experiencing any issues due to the altitude change. While I stayed with the boys, Justin took Calla swimming, and we enjoyed a leisurely morning until Carolina and Alejandro picked us up at 2:30pm to take us to Moon Valley (Valle de la Luna). Surrounded by mountains, Moon Valley is a depressed areas Part of the Salt Mountain Range. Over the years, Moon Valley’s terrain has been altered by erosion, which resulted in jagged ridges, hollows, and mounds of gray. As such, giving the space a lunar appearance; i.e., “Moon Valley.” Indeed, walking through the valley feels like being on another planet. There are no plants, no animals. Only quiet scenery for miles in every direction. Our guide, Carolina, showed us many pieces of gypsum – calcium mixed with clay.

Next, we made a quick stop to see “The Three Marias” rock outcrop. There was also a rock in the shape of a capybara.

Then, we visited the Cueva de Sal (the Salt Cavern), which is located in the Salt Mountains and is covered by glossy white calcium sulphate. The bottom of the Cavern had the appearance of ice after a snowstorm, and I noticed the psychological impact of walking on soft ground that memory kept telling me was likely to be highly slippery. Simon and Calla wanted to lick the walls and had to settle for pouring some water of the rocks and sticking their fingers in it instead.

Finally, we drove to Mars Valley just in time to catch the sunset. I have never in my life seen such a spectacular, 360-degree sunset. For nearly 20 minutes, we watched the sky change in every direction, fading to spectacular pinks, purples, yellows, and oranges amidst the ever-darkening sky.

Unfortunately, at some point along our journey, one of our children accidentally scratched their father in the eye, likely leaving some sand (and/or glass) behind. Poor Justin was in such severe pain the rest of the day and could barely see. We arrived back at the hotel, still debating whether he should go to a doctor, after attempts at rinsing his eye made things no better. Finally, at 10:40pm, he knocked on my hotel room door to deliver Simon after deciding to go to the local medical clinic - (Jonah had already decamped for our room earlier in the evening). In that moment, I was very thankful that our hotel had these massive beds. Honestly, there was something kind of lovely about sharing a giant bed with all three of my children, though I would have obviously preferred to not have an injured husband.  

May 9^th: After breakfast we head out to the Salar de Atacama, Chile’s largest salt deposit. There, crusts of blackened salt contain large lithium reserves have opened up in several places to create small lagoons. We could see dozens of flamingos, as well as several plovers and lizards. Afterwords, we stopped briefly for a sandwich lunch down by a stream.

In between activities, Justin headed to the doctor as there wasn’t one on staff the previous evening when he visited the clinic. There, he was diagnosed with an eye infection and prescribed drops and 24 hours of rest. Unfortunately, that meant he couldn’t accompany us to our afternoon excursion to the Cejar Lagoon. Sitting amidst yet another stunning landscape in the Atacama Desert, the pale, resplendent blue waters allow for floating without sinking due to the high salt content. The lagoon wasn’t too crowded, and the four of us tentatively stuck our toes in the water and yikes! Freezing! Carolina tried to encourage us to go in further, but Calla immediately jumped out of the water and proclaimed she was done. Simon floated on his back for maybe 3 seconds, decided he was too cold, and also ran off. Justin would have gone right in without a second thought, but I am much more tentative about ice cold water. Finally, I launched myself backward and allowed myself to enjoy the sun on my face and the cool temperature of the water. Jonah was still debating whether he wanted to go in and eventually opted against it. The longer I stayed in the water, the more acclimated I became, but if I moved my body at all, I got cold again. Eventually I decided I had enough, and we headed back to the entrance to shower off and get changed. We marveled at the salt residue that was stuck to both Simon and me, but particularly Simon, who – despite his brief time in the water – somehow managed to be covered in salt crystals, including stuck on his face and hair.

Next, we stopped at Laguna Tebinquinche, another beautiful salty plain surrounding crystal blue waters. Finally, we drove to secluded spot next to a large tree for snacks. We all ate so much that no further dinner was required.

Meanwhile, in the background of this all we’d been dealing with trying to rid our room of a noxious sewage smell. Despite attempts by management, we eventually decided to change rooms. This meant that Justin and the boys needed to move, as well, since having our luggage spread across two rooms on opposite sides of the property was likely to be challenging,

Also, it is so, so dry here. Obviously, as this is the desert, but despite attempts to increase our fluid intake, we burned through a lot of Vaseline for chapped lips and hand cream for chapped hands, and my nails started breaking.

May 10^th: We enjoyed a quiet morning so that Justin could continue to heal and then went sandboarding in the Mars Valley. This was definitely not the sand boarding of our time in the Moroccan dunes, where we shared one board as we sailed down a tiny hill. Nope, this was a professional operation. Our guide, Diego, picked us up, and upon arrival in Mars Valley, we were all given boots, helmets, and boards. We also got a little lesson where we learned how to strap our boots into the boards (challenging!) and then we all had to carry our sand boards up a very steep hill. Calla and Simon struggled, vocally, so Diego took over carrying their boards. We got to the top of the dune, where we learned how to wax off the bottom of our boards to clean off all the sand so that they wouldn’t stick going down the hill. We all took a practice run on the small hill, and Diego said we were ready for the larger one. Uh, okay then. Diego gave us additional instruction, including to turn diagonally to balance out our speed. Justin went first, followed by Simon, who kept falling, unsuccessfully trying to stand up, and falling again. He then started to get silly and ended up just rolling partway down the hill. When it was my turn, I noticed that I was going much too fast and couldn’t figure out how to stop myself. Naturally, I wiped out and fell on my face. Jonah is delighted to have the footage on tape (see below), but I twisted my neck and it was pretty scary in the moment. Nonetheless, I sandboarded down the big hill twice more, though felt anxious the first go round following my bad fall. Jonah descended the large hill twice, and Calla decided to stick with the smaller hill, which was the right choice for her. I was really proud of her for managing everything so independently – strapping her own boots into the board and waxing it down. After his first run, Simon was really upset and went back to the car. Eventually, I coaxed him to try again, reminding him that doing something for the first time is hard and Diego could coast behind him the entire time. While he didn’t love it, Simon was willing to take another run down the big hill, and I was very proud of him for doing so. Calla eventually just ran down the hill since it was the only way to get back to the parking lot aside from sandboarding.

Since we were in Mars Valley, we got to see another incredible sunset, and it was really cool to end our day amidst the dunes. After sandboarding, we went out to a highly recommended place for empanadas and then split three tasty desserts with local flavors (rica rica and lemon cheesecake, dulce de leche and chañar cake, and a chocolate and raspberry tart). Everything was really great except ….

May 11^th: I awoke on Mother’s Day to a text from Justin informing me that Simon had food poisoning and was up all night sick. Damn that delicious ham and cheese empanada. I immediately went to check on him, and found a sad, crumpled up version of my middle child tucked into his covers. We decided that I would take Jonah and Calla to see the petroglyphs and Rainbow Valley and that if Simon was still feeling unwell, I’d stay back with him for our afternoon excursion to Puritama Hot Springs.

We started with the Yerbas Buenas petroglyphs, where you can see images of llamas, alpacas, and other animals etched into the stones. En route, we spotted several animals, included llamas, wild donkeys, and guancaos. The kids had fun drawing their own petroglyphs on the ground. Then we visited Rainbow Valley. The area was gorgeous, with diverse rock formations and a multitude of colors. Sadly, Calla deemed the site “not rainbow enough [because] there’s no purple.”

On the way back, we met Justin and Simon at a government office because we’d misplaced the tiny receipt that we hadn’t realized we needed to exit Chile. Fortunately, it was a quick errand to run, since we were on the clock to get our luggage packed before heading back out for the afternoon. Happily, Simon was feeling so much better, so around 3pm we all ventured out to the Puritama Hot Springs. I’m hit or miss on hot springs, but I actually really enjoyed these, particularly once we located the off the beaten path hottest pool. Simon and Calla had fun playing with all the seaweed that lined the floor. The area was spectacularly maintained, with a small waterfall linking one pool to the next with eight in total.

Afterwords, we were served our final tasty picnic with pisco sours.

Uyuni

Many people choose to combine a trip to the Atacama Desert with a visit to Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Flats), the world’s largest salt flats. A typical trip to Uyuni from Atacama involves crossing the Chilean/Bolivian border at Hito Cajones and slowly driving the 450 kilometers towards Uyuni across a couple of days on primarily unpaved roads, making several scenic stops along the way.

May 12^th: We were up bright and early for a 6:30am departure, so that we wouldn’t encounter long lines at the border. The border crossing is at an altitude of 4,690 meters, which is approximately 2,000 meters higher than San Pedro de Atacama. Justin began to feel the impact of the altitude change almost immediately, and while we were awaiting the opening of the border, I prepared electrolyte waters for all of us to sip slowly. As Justin was feeling faint and dizzy, he was given supplemental oxygen before leaving Chile. It was scary, and we kept checking on the kids to make sure they were ok, particularly since Simon was so sick the day before. Fortunately, Justin felt better after receiving the oxygen and taking a brief walk in the cool, crisp air.

We said goodbye to Carolina and hello to our new guide, Mauricio, and our two drivers, Rodrigo and Erlan as the plan was for our family to travel in 2 4x4 vehicles. Mau is well versed in mountain medicine and reassured us that he can help handle altitude related challenges. I think we hadn’t quite processed how much higher it would be at the border or how cold, and I was not pleased that I’d mailed back my warm hat, long underwear, and neck gaiter! One of the many challenges of planning such a long trip is that there is not always the time to do the kind of research I typically like to do when traveling, and while we’d felt prepared to go to altitude in Atacama, I admittedly overlooked the magnitude of the next leg of the trip.

At the border, we filled out our visa paperwork and provided the following documents: photocopies and originals of our passports, documentation of yellow fever vaccination, new passport photos, a recent bank statement, our itinerary, and a letter from our travel agencies. For the pleasure of receiving visas for our one-week trip to Bolivia, we also paid $800 in cash. After crossing the border, we had to stop and fill out yet another electronic form. This was definitely quite the visa process, but all went smoothly and we were finally in Bolivia.

Our first stop was the Laguna Verde. Upon arrival, Jonah started to complain that he wasn’t feeling well. We walked around for a few moments, and then headed back to our cars, at which point Mau received a radio from the other car that Jonah was throwing up. We made it to the Polques Thermal Baths, where the thermal waters reach approximately 95 degrees. Except Jonah, the rest of us went in as we thought it would help settle whatever budding altitude-related ailments might be brewing, plus my neck was still in pain from sandboarding. The water was relaxing, and the scenery was spectacular. We ate lunch near the hot springs, but poor Jonah was too sick and rested on the couch. The food was tasty; the kids ate platefuls of pasta alongside fried chicken and plantains. We were offered some red wine, which we turned down since we are oenophiles, not idiots, and big altitude shifts plus alcohol is a bad combination. We got back in the car where Calla complained she was still hungry despite eating three servings of pasta. She was also very miffed that Jonah was getting all the attention. Logic and reason failed to work, but we’d actually grabbed three bags of pasta “to go” despite not having forks in anticipation of this very moment.

Finally, we stopped at Laguna Colorado to see throngs of Andean flamingos. We thought it would be good to break up the long drive, and Jonah really enjoyed it despite the fact that he was feeling so miserable. We then headed straight for our hotel in Villamar, arriving approximately 12 hours after we left Atacama. During the long drive, I read and was amazed that I didn’t feel carsick despite the bumpiness of the road. Calla did her sticker book and snacked (“I wish there was more cookies!” she cried).

We checked into our hotel, rested, and tag teamed going to dinner while someone stayed behind with Jonah. We then learned that there was a doctor staying at the hotel. (We couldn’t quite figure out why, but I’m thinking partner of the manager? He wasn’t a guest.) The doctor gave Jonah supplemental oxygen and I did the good parent thing where I pretended I felt calm and confident about the whole thing while internally I was freaking out. I knew Jonah would be fine, but he just felt so awful and scared that it broke my heart. The doctor also gave Jonah an electrolyte solution to drink, and he got a good night sleep and woke feeling if not all better, significantly improved. Meanwhile, Calla woke me up around 3am needing to throw up. “I feel much better now!” she said and snuggled up beside me in bed. For those of you keeping count, that’s 3/3 kids vomiting within a 48-hour period. While I was surprised to find myself mostly resistant to the altitude change, I noticed both a headache as well as becoming more winded while walking.

I think this was the first point in the entire trip where I started to question some of my itinerary choices. (I have some regrets about how we managed our Morocco itinerary, but I didn’t experience them in the moment.) I underestimated the magnitude of the altitude change between Atacama and the Chile/Bolivian border and watching my family members struggle to adjust was hard. I knew that bringing kids to Uyuni was unusual, and after 10.5 months of straight travel, wondered whether this may have been a step too far. I let the thoughts go and allowed myself to refocus on enjoying our experience. Which, despite the very long travel day and the various sicknesses, was actually quite enjoyable. Fortunately, Mau was such a great guide, providing reassurance and engaging the kids at each stop. I keep telling myself that travel challenges build resilience and character, and at this point, we’d already cleared the highest elevation we’ll hit for the remainder of our trip.

May 13^th: Calla awoke at 6:50am singing “do do do” and got up to play with her toys. So… I suppose she was feeling much better. Jonah dragged himself to breakfast and ate a few bites, which was already a major improvement over the day before. We bumped into the doctor and thanked him profusely. After breakfast, we headed out to Uyuni, making several stops in between. First, we visited Lost Italy, named because the rock formations resemble the Colosseum. Next, we stopped at the Catal Lagoon where there were llamas everywhere. Finally, we visited Community of Villa Alota, where we saw a large swamp filled with ducks and flamingos.  

We visited a local quinoa museum/restaurant in the town of San Cristobal called Pueblos Magicos, where we were served a four-course lunch, including a delicious soup. At this point, Calla had barely eaten all day, which is unusual for her. I was pleased she ate some of the soup which, inevitably, came back up moments after we pulled out of the parking lot. (“That was….” I said. “Intense!” she finished.)

We continued driving towards Uyuni, stopping at the Train Graveyard. Uyuni was a transportation hub for South American trains in the late 1800’s, but the mining industry’s collapse several decades later resulted in abandoned trains left outside Uyuni. These trains were left to rot, and over time, the salty windy from the Salar de Uyuni corroded the metal, so now we are left with rusty remains of the trains. It was eerily peaceful wandering the Train Graveyard – there were even a couple of swings for the kids to play on. We also saw several scrap metal sculptures nearby that were erected during COVID.

Finally, we made it to Luna Salada, a hotel made largely of salt. The kids initially didn’t believe us when we said they could lick the walls, but Mau confirmed it and so they did. Soon after check in, I left for the spa to enjoy a hot stone salt massage. We ate dinner at the hotel and then headed back upstairs for bed.

May 14^th: Today was the day we’d been waiting for – the visit to the Uyuni Salt Flats! The Uyuni Salt Flats are the world’s biggest, stretching out approximately 13,000 kilometers of the Altiplano Mountain Range. When the surface is covered in water – as much of it was yesterday due to flooding last month – the Salt Flats essentially turn into a giant mirror. 

First we stopped at a small market to pick up a magnet, salts, and a new ear warmer for Calla since she’d left her winter hat in a random bathroom a couple days prior. She also wanted an inexpensive stuffed baby doll. We googled Bolivian baby girl names and landed on “Julietta” since it is so similar to her middle name, Juliet, except she insists on pronouncing it with a “J” instead of with an “H.” She then spent the next hour cooing at the new baby doll and marveling while she took her first steps. $5 well spent, I think!

Soon thereafter, we were cruising along the salt flats. Again, my eyes were playing tricks on me as it felt like we were driving along an icy road. 

So, the thing many people do in the Salt Flats is take fun photos playing with perspective. This works because of the flats’ vast and uniformly white surface. This tricks the eye into exaggerating distances and making the objects seem either larger or smaller than they are in reality. The salt flats are also seemingly endless – once we drove to our (water-free) location, we saw nobody else.  

Once we started taking photos, the kids got into it, generating many of their own ideas for set ups, as well.  We took a break for lunch, and while we assumed we’d be heading to a restaurant, we were surprised find a table set up for us in the middle of the salt flats, where we were served delicious food and wine. We also finally got to try llama meat, which somehow tasted exactly as I thought it would. We tried to take a few more photos. Calla was very insistent on her vision, and spent many tearful minutes barking orders at the rest of us. The photo came out well, so I suppose there was a method to her madness?

We stopped at one more location where you can select toys and pay for professional photos. We let the kids each choose one set up. At this point, we were all ready to head back to the hotel. The boys headed to the game room, which gave us space to pack up. Calla was exhausted, but kept insisting she wasn’t, so we compromised on lying down and listening to podcasts.

Mau picked us back up at 5pm so we could take a few more photos before the sunset and take advantage of the reflective surface. We all put on giant boots so we could head out onto the water-topped salt flats. It was getting cold, and the kids were less enthused about another round of photos. As a snack was being set up for us, we kept reminding them that they could go eat once we were done taking photos. They did, and then decided to pile back into the car while Justin and I took a few more photos and enjoyed yet another dazzling sunset; this time, with occasional fireworks!

Uyuni gets super cold at night, and despite bringing all my warmest items, it was not enough. Since Calla didn’t want to wear her boots, I stayed in the warm car with her until it was dark enough to stargaze. Here’s how it went:

Me: Calla, we can see Mars!

Calla: Wait, there’s s’mores?

Needless to say, she was uninterested in exiting the car. I enjoyed seeing a smattering of stars and constellations, including Orion and the Milky Way. We got back to our hotel around 8pm for a quick dinner, following which everyone was promptly shuttled off to bed.

Overall, I am so glad we decided to go to Uyuni. While the first day was challenging, our kids maintained positive attitudes and appreciated all the nature. Honestly, there is absolutely no way we could have pulled off this trip earlier in our year abroad. It’s remarkable to see how much the kids’ patience, stamina, and flexibility have improved over the months. The car rides were long, but the kids tolerated them. There were a lot of stops, but the kids enjoyed them. On our end, we’ve learned not to push too hard (kids want to stay in the car during the spectacular Uyuni sunset? Their loss!) and go with the flow, allowing the kids to take the lead whenever they can.

May 15^th: We were picked up from our hotel at 7:30 to catch our flight from Uyuni to La Paz. The Uyuni airport is very small, and thus ours was the only flight going out.

We checked into Colibri Eco Lodge, a glamping resort approximately 30 minutes outside La Paz. We are staying in a small house with calla lilies painted on the outside, which is always a fortuitous sign. We enjoyed the first stretch of downtime we’ve had in days and promptly handed over all of our salt-crusted laundry to David, the exceedingly helpful son of the lodge’s owner. Colibri offers a small, but tasty dinner menu, and we enjoyed several items at our table.

May 16^th: We ate breakfast overlooking the property and then had a family Spanish class with Lucero. Lucero kept the kids engaged with a variety of activities, including a multi-colored Jenga game. We practiced several key phrases, as well as brushed up on our letters, colors, fruits, and vegetables. With varying levels of Spanish and reading abilities, it was a bit of a challenge to keep everyone focused, but the kids got into it and did their best. At one point, Jonah confused the word “negro” with the word “nigiri,” which made me crack up.

Next, we enjoyed a cooking class, where we prepared quinoa soup with vegetables and chicken sajta de polla. Jonah took the lead on cooking the chicken, and it was delicious. We also had a peach cinnamon juice which reminded us of cider.

I think the pacing of the last week has definitely caught up with all of us, and we spent the afternoon exploring the rest of the property and relaxing. Elizabeth, one of the volunteers at Colibri, kindly painted watercolors with Calla

While our morning was incredibly fun and educational, the best thing that happened all day is that my best friend in New Jersey welcomed her second baby!

May 17^th: Today, we finally ventured into the city of La Paz. We had a quieter morning at Colibri, and were picked up by Alex at noon so that we could explore some of the city on our own before our tour. We ate lunch at a café, and then quickly tried to run as many errands as possible since we’ve been fairly isolated for a while and were in need of things like an ATM and a new camera memory card. We met up with Gonzalo at 2, and went to see Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley), which is named as such because in the 1970’s, Neil Armstrong came to visit Bolivia, saw this site, and said it looked just like the surface of the moon. Jonah did not think it looked like the moon, but I suggested that perhaps Mr. Armstrong was more of a subject matter expert. Then we drove back into the city and rode the cable car. Known as Mi Teleférico, it is the world’s longest and highest urban cable car system, connecting the city of La Paz with El Alto. We rode on two of the ten lines, and it was a nice way to see a bird’s eye view of the city.

We drove to a viewpoint, and then headed to the witches market, which is run by local witch doctors called Yatiri, who sell portions and medicinal plants. There were also a lot of dead llamas on display, which creeped me out and thrilled my children. We also poked into a few souvenir shops and picked up some t-shirts because llama puns are the best (“No Prob-Llama;” “Llama-Sutra;” “No Drama Llama”). Finally, we stopped at a highly regarded coffee shop, where I also picked up a couple of dulce de leche ricotta empanadas which tasted heavenly. We returned to our hotel in the evening to enjoy yet another tasty dinner c/o Colibri.

May 18^th: Happy 13^th birthday to our firstborn! I cannot believe we are officially the parents of a teenager. What a gift to have so much extra time with Jonah as he enters this new phase of life. Also, I managed to only cry once today. Justin has already written so many lovely things about Jonah below, and I echo all of his sentiments.

As we are delaying Jonah’s Bar Mitzvah until closer to his 14^th birthday, I wanted to plan something extra special to celebrate this big milestone. The company with whom we worked in Bolivia directed us to Senda Verde, a wildlife refuge in Coroico, Bolivia. What I had not realized was that this would involve a seven hour round trip drive over bumpy roads, but it was 100% worth it to see Jonah so happy. Senda Verda is the largest wildlife sanctuary in Bolivia, and they receive animals from all over the country. Upon arrival, we met with our guide, Carla, a biologist from Montana who is currently volunteering at Senda Verde. She gave us the grand tour, including providing information about where many of the animals came from and some of the atrocities they’d experienced while being kept illegally as pets. To Jonah’s delight, we saw three Andean Spectacle bears – 2 females and 1 male. Jonah has been on a quest to see every single one of the eight species of bears, and this was the last one on his list. I continue to propagate my absurd panda conspiracy theory to anyone who will listen (hot take: pandas are not real and are just people in costumes).

We also saw four jaguars, as well as two new to me species of animals: the margay, which is like a tiny leopard cat, as well as an agouti, which resembles a miniature capybara. We were told that it was already a senior, to which Simon replied, “It’s going to prom!” The sanctuary also housed several species of monkeys, including spider, squirrel, capuchin, and howler. I don’t think I’d ever heard howler monkeys before and we could not get over how loud they sounded – like the engine of an airplane taking off! The low, gruff sound did not at all match their appearance at all.

At one point while we were watching some of the monkeys, I had my head turned and felt one reach through the fence and touch my hand. At first I thought it was Calla until I realized she was nowhere near me. Next, we visited the mariposa dome, where we got to see a butterfly fly from its cocoon!

We ate lunch at the on site restaurant, and then the boys and I took a behind the scenes tour with Vicky, one of the founders, to see the baby spider monkeys. All in all, we were at Senda Verde for 4 ½ glorious hours. Calla really wanted to buy Jonah a stuffed Andean Spectacled bear for his birthday, and we were pleased to find a small crocheted one at the gift ship. 

Read more about Senda Verde here: https://sendaverde.org/

We returned to the hotel at 6:30pm and scrambled to finish packing in time for dinner. The Eco Lodge really went all out – when we headed down to the pavilion, they’d decorated with balloons, streamers, and a happy birthday sign. For dinner, we celebrated with steak, chicken, cheesy rice, quinoa with veggies, garden salad, and a delicious dulce de leche carrot cake for dessert. We went around the table and shared some of our favorite memories with Jonah over the past year, and it was a really nice way to end our time in Bolivia. Later that evening, Jonah - huge smile on his face - told me how happy he was and what a great day he’d had. On a trip like this, it can feel like overkill, constantly reminding the children to feel grateful for these incredible opportunities they are having, and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy to know how much Jonah is appreciating our efforts.

Justin’s Soapbox

Somedays I start to think that I might be getting too old for this kind of thing. Keeping this train rolling across Europe, Asia, Australia and now South America has been no easy task, even as the trip itself remains a remarkable gift that we've been able to enjoy. Dealing with unexpected physical maladies along the way remains an ever-present concern which crops up from time to time. And as it turned out, the tail end of our time in Chile and first few days in Bolivia managed to throw a few curveballs of this type my way.

Now I'm not going to name names even if Sara did, but a girl on this trip who I really, really like under basically any other circumstances managed to scratch my cornea with her little hand while we were playing a butterfly wings game while sitting together in a travel van. Suffice it to say at this point that she is sorry it happened and will be more careful around her father's eyes in the future. But yes, a scratched cornea - no fun! For the first few hours I thought I had sand in my eye but the pain kept getting worse despite my best efforts, so I ended up having to go to a small medical clinic in the middle of the night to have it looked at. They gave me more eyewash but by the next morning I was back there again getting prescribed antibiotics for swelling. The pain went away in a few days but my eye still has perpetual blurry vision, so this remains an issue I might need to look into yet again.

This was not an ideal time to be getting injured since we were about to travel by car over the border to Bolivia, which we did manage to do successfully but not without further trial. I'll admit that this next issue should not really be considered "unexpected", since altitude sickness is a known factor when traveling in this region and we had been aware of it. I suppose you might say it was unexpected that this known issue would actually turn out to be as much trouble as it did. 

Our drive from Atacama to the border took us up over an additional 1,000 feet, but since we had already been at a relatively high altitude I had thought I had already undergone a good deal of acclimation. I was wrong. (We also didn't take enough altitude sickness medication, which was likely a factor). Anyways, after about 20 minutes idling at our new altitude waiting to go through border customs, I started to feel quite woozy. This was a type of faintness I haven't really felt before, as it didn't really come with a major headache or any sort of loss of coordination (at least at these early stages), but just this growing sense that my consciousness was slooooowly but surely dimming. I have to admit, it got me pretty spooked. I was very lucky that the border station had a small nurses office with an oxygen tank, so I was able to present my case and get a few minutes of O2, which helped. I assume I'm not the only clueless tourist who has come through that checkpoint physically unprepared for the reality of being in the Andean heights.

If I'm gabbing on here about my own health scares, it's not for sympathy or because I think they're momentously important, but because they did give me a bit of a new perspective coming into Bolivia and the Uyuni area. Specifically, they made me question whether I was properly made for this new environment, whether I was meant to be here at all. It was a bit of a physical and mental trial for myself which felt a bit like the land was giving me a slap in the face saying "hey you, pay attention! This is no ordinary place! Give this land it's due!"

And indeed, the landscape throughout Atacama, Uyuni, and the areas surrounding La Paz, Bolivia have been breathtaking. I wish I could say the pictures speak for themselves, but this really was on occasion where my photography skills could only go so far in capturing the full scope of some of these landscapes and natural features. The Moon Valleys, the Mars Valley, the incomprehensibly cool visual effect of the salt flats (more on that later), the insanely colorful sunsets every night, they really are something that needed to be seen in person to take in the full scale. It seemed like we had to overcome a number of physical trials in order to have the privilege of seeing these sights, but it was absolutely worth it.

Another thing that will make you feel old is your son turning 13. Happy birthday Jonah! It's absolutely remarkable to have seen Jonah grow up this past year taking on new challenges and adventures. He's become a fantastic hiker, a flexible traveler, leveled up his already encyclopedic knowledge of the animal world, and continues to grow into his role as the older sibling, helping set the pace and tone for Simon and Calla. I'll never forget those Scuba dives we did together and seeing him floating under the ocean, holding his own in a new situation that required focus and bravery. I can't believe how much he's grown!

I'll admit that I know almost nothing about the city of La Paz before we arrived. In fact, I didn't even remember that it's not the official capital (that would be Sucre). So it was a wonderful surprise to spend time among the downtown areas, even if we only got one solid day inside the city. Our guide explained how the city is split roughly into two major neighborhoods, each of them on the opposite sloped of the massive valley that La Paz is located within. So the city’s geography is somewhat like a bowl, or a chute, with buildings scaling up the hills surrounding the downtown district.

We weren't able to explore La Paz quite as much as I would have liked, but this was in part due to the fact that our lodging at the Colibrí Eco Lodge, a few miles outside the city, was absolutely charming. Striking a great balance between rustic minimalism and cultured glamping, the space is a collection of buildings and tents alongside a steep valley hill near a number of flower farms. The view of the gorge that greeted us every morning was wonderful, and hammocks abounded, creating quite the incentive to want to stay there. Campfire marshmallows, Spanish and cooking classes, and some great home-cooked dinners were among the additional perks of this humble, colorful campsite. The sense of hospitality and closeness to the land we felt there created a fantastic atmosphere.

And speaking of atmosphere, we have to dive into the visual relationship between land and sky that we experienced in Bolivia. There were so many times when I looked around and basically said to myself, "Are you kidding me? This is real?"  Three stand out in particular. 

First was a sunset lookout point we traveled to in Atacama. We arrived just in time to behold the ~30 minute cycle of the sun going down and then seeing different colors rolling around in the clouds and distant mountains. This was one of those full 360-degree sunsets where everywhere you looked something amazing was popping out. I'm not exactly sure what the conditions were that made it so intense, but it was unforgettable.

Second was in the Moon Valley in Atacama when we went sandboarding. As the sun went down, the moon was hanging low in the sky over the uniquely shaped mountains, and we were standing on top of a giant dune with valleys all around us. Very moon-like indeed, but there were so many fantastical elements to the scene that it felt like a background matte painting in a sci-fi movie. Very cool.

Thirdly was the Uyuni Salt flat during sunset. For this, we were brought to the wet part of the flat where the reflections on the layer of water are amplified by the white salt beneath. If the Atacama sunset was like being in an oil painting, this was like being in a cosmic warp zone. And sadly it's the one where I think the camera did the least justice to the reality, because much of the effect of it is the surreal aspect of seeing everything reflected below and your brain trying to piece together what its seeing in real time. Christopher Nolan should shoot a scene out there. Photos really don’t communicate what’s being seen, so here’s a quick video montage:

I think I'll wrap it up on that high note. As of this writing my eye is slightly less blurry, I have not symptoms of altitude sickness, and nobody else in the family is currently vomiting, so that about covers it. We've just arrived in Quito, Ecuador and are preparing for the big trip to the Galapagos. Until then!

Jonah’s Musings

We are officially in our 2nd country in South America: Bolivia.  So far it has been pretty good, except for altitude sickness. The scenery has been absolutely beautiful here and we have seen so many cool animals. But to look at those amazing creatures, check out the video animals of the Andes on our channel.

One of my favorite experiences in Bolivia was going to a massive salt flat that looked like the Arctic. But the best thing about the salt flats was that we were able to take funny perspective photos that could make you look bigger or smaller. The best part of this was using a toy T-Rex, polar bear, and tiger. 

The other beautiful things here in the Andes were the mountains and the sunsets which always made the long drives beautiful and full of scenery.

We also went sand-boarding in the dunes of a desert we went to. It was hard to get the hang of and my mom even had a massive tumble, but to see that you'll have to check out the video. 

We also took Spanish lessons in the hotel we are staying in right now. We learned how to say so many things such as how to say your name. For me, it's “me llamo Jonah.”

The hotel we are staying in has these beautiful mountains all around us topped with lush grasses that make the view spectacular. 

But perhaps the best thing is that it's my birthday, and for it we went somewhere special. The Senda Verde animal rescue. This place was absolutely amazing. We saw so many animals such as jaguars, spectacled bears, monkeys, and much more you can check out the video to see them on our youtube channel!

Back at our hotel some of the people there set up a nice dinner with steak, chicken, and some creamy rice thing. It was all very delicious, everything from the orange juice to the dulce de leche carrot cake. 

Anyway, that's all for today!

Simon’s Reflection

In Atacama, we got empanadas and I got food poisoning from them. I threw up multiple times. It was a good empanada but it betrayed me.

We also tried sand boarding. It’s kind of like skiing but on sand. I liked it, mom almost broke her neck and I almost broke my leg. It was very difficult to walk up a giant hill of sand.  

We’ve seen lots of wildlife out here. My favorite was the Ria, which we saw on the road in Uyuni. This is kind of a funny story; we were just driving but then my brother Jonah started yelling “stop the car!!!” 

“What?” I said. 

“It’s a Ria! We have to get out now! Go back!” He said. I just shrugged and it felt like 30 minutes later (it was actually only 5 minutes) when they came back and told us they saw a Ria.

We also llamas down by a lakeside. They were just acting like llamas. I had never seen that many wild llamas up close. 

At the salt flats we did these funny photos. Calla held a spoon and it made mom and dad look like they were little, and on the spoon. They were actually further away so they just looked smaller. I also did a photo with my stuffed tiger and we made it look really big compared to me. Then Calla and me looked down on dad and it looked like he was really small. Taking these pictures was fun I guess, but it was difficult when it got colder at night.

We also roasted marshmallows at our hotel, which was really fun. I made them catch on fire, then blew them out so I wouldn't need wait 10 minutes for them to roast.

On Jonah's Birthday we drove to Senda Verde, a 3 hour drive that was very hard and I fell asleep. It was a conservation center that was a little like a zoo, but was mostly there to help rescued animals. We saw something I've been waiting to see for a long time: a Jaguar! I've really wanted to see one this whole trip. We also saw this incredibly cute kitty called a margay, with very big eyes. We also saw a giant spectacled bear. I don't want to talk about the spider monkey because they were the most terrifying things in my life.

Then it was Jonah's birthday, he turned 13. We had really good steak and carrot cake. It was exciting for him, and I am very happy for him. 

Calla’s Corner

Mommy: Ok, so we are going to talk first about the Atacama Desert. What do you want to tell everyone about your time there?

Calla: Uh, I wanted to talk about last week’s sandboarding. I liked to sandboard down the tiny hill. I was afraid to do the bigger hill. It was very fun doing the small hit. I really liked it so much. And I really wanted to tell you about this: Mommy had a great, great tumble when she got to the bottom. At first she was terrific! And Jonah wanted to make a video about it. I’m really sad that Mommy had a great tumble. She twisted her neck and it was very scary. I’m sorry about that great fall [gives Mommy a hug]. It was so actually not funny to laugh at her when she got that fall but Jonah was kind of happy about that fall and I did not like that. But, I can’t control him. So… after the great tumble we practiced until the day was done and we went back and it was nighttime.

Mommy: Thank you, Calla, for being so compassionate about my fall.

Calla: You’re welcome.

Mommy: Alright, talk to me about our visit to the Salar de Uyuni, the salt flats.

Calla: I liked when we did those pictures, and when we did those pictures I really liked so much about it that it was so silly! Like, we got to say hi to Mom like when Mom was a giant and we were in a bowl and, and it was a blast. And, I pretended to squish Dada because I was a giant and so was my brother, too, and he tried to stomp on Daddy.

Mommy: What else do you want to say about going to Uyuni?

Calla: It was super fun! When we went to the salt flats we had a long, long, long, super long drive there. We got to eat lunch and it was a blast-y. What we had for lunch was some fruit for dessert and we also had some little quinoa, I had chicken, and I ate it on the bone with my hands and I got to eat some rubbish.

Mommy: Rubbish is trash, Calla.

Calla: No, like … you know what I mean [chewing on the chicken bone].

Mommy: So finally, I want to hear about La Paz.

Calla: So, I like to rock in the hammock [in our cabin at Colibri Eco Lodge]. And here we are doing the blog now!

Mommy: What else do you want to say about La Paz?

Calla: So, I am going to have a bunch of time to spend time with you. I’m going to tell you what this is gonna be a time where I’m going to tell you about water color. I did water coloring at the Eco Lodge and I very much loved it. So, it was very good and nice so I loved it pretty much doing water coloring. It was kind of paint with it was water so it was a different type of paint. The person who [helped me] didn’t know I could paint something but I’m a good artist. 

When we had Jonah’s birthday party, we had a cake that was white and it had swirly things. And the place where we did it at we had a nice little birthday party where we had dinner. There was balloons I played with. And it was so much fun to play with the balloons. 

[There were also] ribbons hanging down from the ceiling and there was his name. It says, “Happy Birthday Jonah” with the 13 number on it so it was very good. I liked it very much. It was super fun. I couldn’t make a big deal of it because it makes me so shocked when we had dinner when we were done with dinner when we went back. I’m so proud of Jonah that was his birthday and also when was his birthday it was Mommy‘s happy day of her graduation of being a mother so I really loved it. [Ed note: She means anniversary of becoming a mother.]

 Mommy: That’s awesome Calla. Thank you so much!

See you in the Galapagos!

xo,

Sara, Justin, Jonah, Simon, and Calla