Laura's Bolivia Trip

A bit late, but better now than never! I spent two weeks in Chile and Bolivia at the end of October and into November working on taking out and servicing seismometers that we have down there for a project.  I flew out on a Monday morning, spent a day and a half travelling, and made it to La Paz, Bolivia at around 5am on Wednesday.  By that point it didn't matter that it was the crack of dawn, since I had lost all concept of time anyway! I flew partway or all the way with Doug (professor), Susana (student interpreter), and Heather (student). My advisor, Mike, was already at the hotel, and soon Heather's advisor from Florida showed up.  We met up with our second interpreter, shopped, got our equipment together, and left town by Thursday.

The route down to Chile

It's a two day drive to get to our first site, Uturuncu volcano. We stopped off in Uyuni on the way, which was quite touristy- there is a large salt flat nearby that draws people from far.

Area map of Uturuncu volcano

Our primary goal at Uturuncu was to collect the data that our dataloggers had been collecting for the last 6 months or so, and to then remove them to be shipped back to the US. There are a few logistics to this (which I didn't have to deal with, luckily) because a) the equipment can only be in the country for a limited time due to import laws, and any equipment that came into the country but does not leave will be charged for since we might have sold them, and b) we are using equipment from PASSCAL and, well, they want it all back.  This isn't always possible, not because we sell it, but because they get stolen.

Our first trip to a station, on what must've been Thursday evening, was my first experience with stolen equipment We tried for about an hour to find our station by following the GPS, but on my handheld the point was incorrect (there had previously been a station nearby that had been stolen so they moved it when they put in a new one... but something hadn't translated right with my GPS).  When Mike finally decided where it should be, except for the fact that there weren't solar panels anymore, we started to dig.  And kept digging around.  Remember, at this point it was the highest elevation I'd been at, so while I did quite well with the altitude, it was more tiring than usual. This is the result of our work:

Hoping that maybe there's something left

Where the seismometer used to be

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Over the course of the study, Bolivia had a number of stations stolen.  Being down there, I noticed a very distinct difference between Bolivia and Chile in terms of wealth/development.  I preferred Bolivia in a lot of ways, but when you come across some solar panels and batteries that can give you electricity, well... I don't blame them for taking it.  It's a hassle for us and can cost us money, but why should they really care? They have much bigger fish to fry than studying seismic waves.

While at Uturuncu, we stayed in a small village called Quetena.  Where we stayed, there is a woman who would make us breakfast and dinner if we supplied the food (we usually made sure there was enough that her family could take some too, if they wanted).  She and her kids came around trying to sell little trinkets that they had made, and Heather bought some for her daughter. They are very nice people, with coarse skin and wonderful smiles. 

The Hostal Quetena. We stayed in the building you can see at the very left of the image.

Inside the Hostal Quetena

The place is simple, but nothing less that you might need.  The 

girls shared a bedroom and the boys another. We had a kitchen, a bathroom with running water, and even more consistent electricity than previous trips had.  Throughout the entirety of the trip, people do not put toilet paper into the toilets as that can clog them and cause real issues.  Instead, you just toss it into the garbage bin nearby.  It stands out as different, but not a big deal. Especially since many of the septic  systems here in Fairbanks request little to no toilet paper go into them.  

Many murals painted across the walls

In general there is graffiti and artwork everywhere in Bolivia and Chile.  At the hostel, we were graced with partially completed murals on most of the walls.  It seems like it was a family project and showcased all of the unique animals that this region has to offer, from flamignos to vicunas and many more. 

This region, the altiplano, is very dry. When there is rainfall, though, they tend to collect into basins.  These basins have no outlet and as the water evaporates, concentrations of salts get so high that they have to solidify out of solution.  This leaves salt flats, or salars, dotting the landscape.  We went near, but never saw, the famous Salar de Uyuni. But we did see a number of smaller ones. 

One of many salars

But more impressive are the volcanoes! Its like nothing I have ever seen! The alteration and volcanic rocks were like colors airbrushed onto the landscape.  They were shades of browns to reds to whites. All gently flowing from one to the next.  Cinder cones all over, indicating that it's a very volcanically active region.  

This is the view from the highest of the Uturuncu sites, at around 16,700 feet above sea level

 The area is so dry that our tracks last a long time.  Many times we were able to figure out exactly how to get to the site by following our old tracks.  This is helpful for us, but also helpful for anyone else who might want a hint on where our stations are.

More of that airbrushed coloring:

The view was just amazing as we drove around.

In Bolivia, we broke into three ground and spent a day (not including the first, unsuccessful station) taking down stations.  After that, most of us left, leaving behind Heather and Steve to take down a couple more, organize all of the materials, and ship it off.  Mike, Doug, Susana, and I took off to Chile for the next leg of the journey.

A warm welcome

We stopped off in San Pedro de Atacama and Antofagasta on our way to Lazufre, getting more groceries and materials on the way.  Perhaps the San Pedro part felt more like a vacation and less like work.  Perhaps.

We walked around town on the day that we arrived.  It was lovely and warm, and provided us with a great view of the moon.  Oh yeah, at that VOLCANO! 

The day that we arrived was elections.  This meant that while we could go to dinner, we could not buy any alcohol until some time in the evening.  So we ended up going to a few places for appetizers before heading for dinner and drinks (mostly Pisco sours).  This is one of the places we ate at, which was quite comfortable.  We could tell that the alcohol ban was going to be lifted soon when they started to set 3 rows of long tables with all sorts of fine glasses. With how many seats and how fancy it was, we supposed there must be some sort of celebration going on that night.  As we walked the streets after dinner, there were people chanting and banging drums.  I have no idea if it was a protest or a celebration, but I wouldn't be surprised by either, as they really like their protests down there.

We stayed in what felt like a resort.  Pool and all.  This is me relaxing before we continued on our way to Antofagasta.

Antofagasta wasn't very nice the first time we went through.  It was overcast and cool, and mostly just kinda smelled bad.  But there was some interesting graffiti and artwork:

A typical scene

Fun artwork in Antofagasta

And the drive the next day was beautiful.

This is a random statue that comes out of the desert, in the middle of nowhere. Doug claims theres a whole body underneath, but we all know he's full of hot air.

Driving over another salar.

Mike and Doug, checking out the great view.

Lazufre is a region of active uplift (as is Uturuncu) between the volcanos Lastarria and Cordon del Azufre.... hence Lazufre. It is right on the border with Argentina, and there is nothing at the border there other than a sign and the end of the dirt road.  But the tracks continue right on through.

Our goal at Lazufre was just to collect the data (the stations will be taken down next spring, and I will very likely be heading up one of the teams to do that). There were no stolen stations at this location, which either tells you something about the economic level, or the remoteness of the site. It was beautiful, though.  And the day that we came from Antofagasta (sea level) we rose up to 17, 150 feet above sea level.

Panorama from our highest site

The truck and numerous lava flows and cinder cones behind it

Mike collecting some data from the GPS site

We stopped by the fumeroles.  We had to hold our breath, but it made for some very nice pictures. The guy in the photo is Gonzalo.  He was one of our drivers, but he's also studying geology at the university.

We stayed at might be best described as an abandoned work site.  Seems like people must of lived there, since there is a kitchen and showers.  But those have long since stopped working.  Now it is just a structure to block us from the wind.  We hooked up a generator for light, and hauled in propane and stoves to cook.  Our bathroom was an outhouse that was missing a door, along with half of two of its walls. We propped one back up when we got there.  It wouldn't be so bad if the missing was didn't point straight at the door where our drivers were sleeping.  But it was overall an extremely beautiful area.  The lake had flamingos in it, too, although I couldn't capture them on my camera.

Our extraordinary view from camp

The outhouse

The outhouse

Eating dinner outside the building we slept in

An interesting juxtaposition of hygiene and not

The work there went very smoothly, only taking us a day and a half of work, and we headed back to Antofagasta to fly out the next day. This time Antofagasta was a different creature.  Beautiful, sunny skies. Warm.  And there was a holiday going on with markets and festivities.  We walked around the town to find dinner and explore.

Mike, Doug, Gonzalo, and Hector walking around town

Doug, Susana, Hector, and Gonzalo walking by some more artwork

We initially flew south to Santiago before heading back north and home!

The view from the plane on the way to Santiago

It felt nice to be back! 

It felt nice to be home. Even if she just wanted me for a lift to campus.

And then I had to catch up in my school work. But things are back in order now and I only have another week before finals.  It seems to be a calm before the storm, but it might just be that the last two weeks of the semester are the easiest.  Either way, I'm enjoying having the time to write this!