Larry Memmott's Blog

This hotel was a real surprise.  I did not expect such comfort south of Uyuni. Jardines de Mallku Cueva is in Villa Mar, some x miles south of Uyuni and x miles northeast of the Sol de la Mañana “geyser” field.  That puts it about 90 minutes from Sol de la Mañana, so if you […]

This drive takes you south from Uyuni towards the colored lakes of Los Lipez.  Start out along Highway 5 from Uyuni.  Villa Mar is the location of the very pleasant Jardines de Mallku Cueva hotel, a great jumping off point for further explorations.  At x miles is the unmarked turnoff to the right to the […]

The Train Cemetery is not a train museum, even one with limited maintenance and development like the one in Putumayo.  No, the Train Cemetery in Uyuni is where trains end up after they die.  Don’t let that put you off, though, it’s a blast. The cemetery is an open air space with the remains of […]

The Salar is perhaps the premier tourist destination in Bolivia.  I’ve been there three times and I don’t think it gets old.  It does get cold. Most people use a tour agency and guide to explore the Salar, but I never have, so I can’t help with that side of things.  However, I can give […]

So, I finally broke down and got a Garmin Oregon 450.  This is not a review.  There are lots of reviews out there, anyway, and you can find all the details about the unit on the Garmin site.  Instead, my point here is just to mention its usefulness in the Bolivian context (or that of […]

The church in Jesus de Machaca looks quite different from other churches on the altiplano.  It also looks quite out of place for such a large and sumptuously decorated church to stand in such a small town in such an apparently poor region.  With its whitewashed facade and blocky look this church is an example of late renascence architecture.  German Ambassador […]

Tiwanaku is mandatory, even if you are in Bolivia for only a few days.  It is the premiere archaeological site in the country and provides an opportunity to learn about the longest lived empire in South America.  On the way to Tiwanaku, you can visit the first cathedral in Bolivia and the site of the founding of […]

Every corner of Bolivia has its own mysteries.  On the way back from Tarija, we decided to travel from Sucre to Oruro across the mountains, rather than circumnavigating them through Potosi, as is usual.  This is NOT a shortcut.  Though the route may look shorter on a map, the serpentine path and bad roads mean […]

One of the great things about Bolivia is that wherever you go, even if it is not where you wanted or intended to go, you will likely find excitement of some sort.  Twice now I have tried to find my way to Laguna Arkhata, nestled as it is in the upper folds of the skirt […]

  The Valle de las Animas, or Valley of Souls, is seriously misnamed.  It is not a “valley” but a region, and I for one fail to see why there is any reason to believe that the rock formations therein have any resemblance to “souls.”  After all, isn’t their lack of a physical form a […]