Bolivia's Spectacular Southwest

At breathtaking altitudes between 3,800 and 5,000 metres near the frontier between Boliva and Chile are some of the strangest and most spectacular landscapes you'll ever see. The rich colours of minerals seep through the earth's surface while giant volcanoes line the horizon. Amidst this surreal landscape is world's largest salt lake, the Salar de Uyuni.

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At 4,700 metres above sea level, Laguna Colorada looks like thesurface of another planet. The pink colour comes from algae that are stirred up by the wind and sun during the day, and spread across the lake. A refuge near here offers a chilly night's accomodation for travellers on the road from the Chilean border to Uyuni.

Optical illusions abound on the incredible Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt lake. Created from the remnants of an inland sea that was shut off from the coast by geological movements, the Salar is a dazzling expanse of 10,000 km sq of pure salt. The two people apparently 'standing' on the hands of the girl in the foreground are simply another twenty metres behind her. You can find many better 'Uyuni optical illusions' on the internet.

The 'Stone Tree' in the high desert near the border between Bolivia and Chile is one of the artistically sculpted rock forms that are collectively known as the Bosque de Piedra ('Stone Forest'). Moulded by wind, dust and sun, against a background of sweeping shades of red and brown, the rocks appear uncannily like something out of a Salvador Dali dreamscape.

In the middle of the blinding salt of the Salar de Uyuni is an island -- Incahuasi (Inca's House, in Quechua) or Isla del Pescdo (Fish Island, in Spanish). The latter name is supposed to derive from the fact that the island is shaped somewhat like a fish. The giant cactus dotted across the island are up to 1,200 years old.

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