Where the Earth Still Feels Wild
Bolivia is not a country you simply visit. It’s a country you feel. It crackles under your boots in the high desert, glimmers blinding white beneath endless skies, whispers ancient stories through stone ruins, and echoes deep underground where silver once fueled an empire. Raw & traditional, naturally intense, and breathtakingly diverse, Bolivia is South America unplugged.
Join me, Martina, and the Gulliver Expeditions Team on a journey through landscapes that look like they belong on another planet. Let’s go!
Lake Titicaca, Copacabana & Isla del Sol – Where Myths Are Born
At nearly 3,812 meters above sea level, Lake Titicaca shimmers like a piece of sky fallen to Earth. Often called the highest navigable lake in the world, it stretches across the border between Bolivia and Peru, its deep blue waters framed by snowcapped Andean peaks.
Our Bolivian adventure begins in Copacabana — and no, not the one in Rio de Janeiro. Bolivia’s Copacabana is a laid-back lakeside town full of colorful boats, and a gentle, almost spiritual atmosphere. From here, we board a motorboat and glide across Lake Titicaca toward one of the most mythical places in the Andes.
On Isla del Sol, the Island of the Sun, time slows. There are no cars, no rush, only footsteps, wind, and the endless horizon. It’s believed to be the birthplace of the Inca civilization. According to legend, the sun god Inti sent the first Incas from this very island to found their empire. As you walk its ridgeline paths, it’s easy to understand why ancient cultures considered this place sacred. The island is scattered with traces of pre-Inca civilizations such as the Tiahuanacos.
One of the most intriguing sites is the Fuente del Inca, a small spring once believed to be a fountain of youth, said to grant long life to those who drank from it. Until 2015, this humble fountain was still a vital water source for locals, who climbed the steep trail daily with heavy containers.
La Paz & Valle de la Luna – The City That Defies Gravity
Cradled in a vast valley, La Paz doesn’t look like any other capital on Earth — and it isn’t. Sitting at over 3,600 meters, it is the highest administrative capital in the world, a frenzy of color and brick. And above all floats La Paz’s most iconic feature: a futuristic web of cable cars, the world’s highest and most extensive urban cable railway system. Ten different lines glide silently over rooftops and ravines, offering panoramic views that turn public transport into an unforgettable attraction.
A city tour reveals the beating heart of Bolivia:
- Mercado de las Brujas (Witches’ Market), where shamans sell herbs, amulets, and dried llama fetuses for rituals.
- Basilica of San Francisco, an imposing colonial landmark layered over Indigenous foundations.
- Murillo Square, flanked by the Government Palace and the cathedral, where politics, history, and daily life intersect.
Just outside the city lies a landscape so strange it once impressed the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong. Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) is a maze of spires, ridges, and craters carved by erosion into soft clay. Neil Armstrong himself reportedly said these bizarre formations reminded him of the lunar surface. Wandering its narrow paths feels like stepping into a sci-fi film set!
Tiwanaku – Echoes of a Lost Civilization
A short journey from La Paz brings you to one of South America’s most important and mysterious archaeological sites: Tiwanaku (Tiahuanacu)
This mysterious and advanced pre-Inca civilization flourished in the Andean highlands of Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca between 1580 BC and 1200 AD, expanding its influence to parts of Peru, Chile, and Argentina. Famous for its megalithic architecture (Kalasasaya, Puerta del Sol, Puma Punku), its advanced agriculture (potatoes, quinoa) and livestock farming, this culture had a complex worldview reflected in ceramics and textiles. Their disappearance remains one of the Andes’ greatest mysteries, possibly linked to dramatic climate changes.
Salar de Uyuni, Train Cemetery, Colchani – The Great White Nothing
Few places on Earth prepare you for the first sight of the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat on the planet. After passing the haunting Train Cemetery, where rusted steam locomotives from a long-dead mining boom sit abandoned in the desert wind, and the village of Colchani, where salt is still harvested by hand and even the souvenirs sparkle white, the landscape suddenly opens.
The Salar de Uyuni is a blinding white expanse stretching to every horizon. In the dry season, its cracked surface forms endless geometric patterns. In the wet season (from April), a thin layer of water transforms it into a natural mirror, reflecting clouds so perfectly that sky and ground vanish.
Play with perspective, take surreal photographs, and simply stand in silence, in view of probably one of the most magnificient sunsets on earth.
Incahuasi Island & the High Altiplano – Cacti in an Ocean of Salt
Far from the edges of the Salar rises a strange island — Incahuasi, a fossil-covered hill crowned with giant cacti that soar over ten meters high. Once part of an ancient sea, it is now a rocky oasis in an ocean of salt, with a 360-degree panorama of white infinity. There are no roads, no towns, no visible life — only sky, salt, and silence.
From here, the journey continues south into the altiplano, where the scenery shifts from salt to surreal. Laguna Cañapa, a colorful mineral-rich lake home to bright pink flamingos, appears like a painter’s accident. Snow-dusted peaks pierce the horizon. The air is thin. The beauty is brutal. Bolivia at its most dramatic.
Siloli Desert, Laguna Colorada, Sol de Mañana & Polques
Drive across the wind-sculpted Silolí Desert, with a stop at the famous “Stone Tree”, a lone rock eroded into a perfect sculpture. You’ll witness the fiery red waters of Laguna Colorada, where flamingos gather by the thousands, and feel the Earth breathe beneath your feet at the Sol de Mañana geysers. Before heading back to Uyuni, take a dip in the thermal springs of Polques, surrounded by volcanic peaks and absolute silence. It’s a final moment of grounding before returning to reality.
Cerro Rico & Potosí – Inside the “Rich Mountain”
Bolivia’s wonders are not only above ground. In Potosí, the infamous Cerro Rico — the “Rich Mountain” once fueled the Spanish Empire with unimaginable quantities of silver. It is said the mountain has claimed more lives than any battlefield.
On a guided mine tour, equipped with helmet, lamp, and protective clothing, you step into a labyrinth of tunnels where miners still work under brutally hard conditions. You learn about their rituals, their devotion to “El Tío,” the spirit of the underworld, their daily coca-leaf chewing and alcohol offerings, and the ever-present dynamite used to carve deeper into the mountain.
Outside the mines, Potosí’s history continues at the Casa de la Moneda, Bolivia’s National Mint.
Here, Spanish colonial silver coins were produced — the currency that dominated global trade during the reign of the Spanish Empire. The phrase “valer un potosí,” memorialized by Miguel de Cervantes, meaning “to be worth a fortune,” was born from this very city, Potosí.
Bolivia will Stay with You
In the colors of a sunset over the salt flats, in the memory of cold mountain air, in the smiles of people met along the road. Traveling through Bolivia with Gulliver Expeditions isn’t just about ticking off highlights — it’s about discovering how varied, surprising, and genuine this country is. Are you ready to explore?
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