Places in the countryside in South America
On the South side of the Salar de Uyuni lies the small village of Atulcha. It doesn’t have much more than a few houses but it does make an interesting stop on the tourist route of Uyuni and its surroundings. There is a simple museum about Quinoa, the grain of the Incas. The cycle of the plant, its many uses and the customs and traditions that come with it are explained by a local. Ask the man from the museum to bring you to the mummies of Atulcha, called the Qhatinchu Archeological Site. He’ll take you on a small walk outside the village across a small hill where there are a few caves with mummies that are in quite good shape!
Atulcha is not the only place around the Salar the Uyuni that has a salt hotel but this is a quite nice one. The walls, tables, benches, beds, etc are all cut out of blocks of salt. Luckily the mattresses are not made of salt and are nice and soft!
Atulcha is not the only place around the Salar the Uyuni that has a salt hotel but this is a quite nice one. The walls, tables, benches, beds, etc are all cut out of blocks of salt. Luckily the mattresses are not made of salt and are nice and soft!
Start whistling a Western tune, saddle a horse or just put on your hiking boots to discover the region around Tupiza. This is the area where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent the last period of their lives and also found their death. The classic movie might not be filmed here but the real-life story took place in the desert around Tupiza. You don’t need a lot of imagination to get into a Western vibe. The scenery is stunning with red rock formations, narrow canyons and cacti galore. You can easily get a local guide to show you around on a day trip on foot or by horse to show you some of the sites such as Valle de los Machos, Puerta del Diablo, El Cañión del Inca and El Cañión del Duende.
The state of Alagoas is not a very touristic state. For beaches people tend to go to Bahia or to beaches close to large cities so that they don’t have to travel too long.
Alagoas is covered with sugar cane plantations and the beaches are empty and pristine because of a reef just out in the sea. In the South of the state, at the São Francisco river, lies Penedo, a pleasant town and a colonial gem.
The only down side of Alagoas is that the sugar cane factories can smell like you are just driving behind a garbage truck but hey, without them there wouldn’t be cachaça for caipirinhas or sugar cane alcohol for half of the Brazilian cars!
Alagoas is covered with sugar cane plantations and the beaches are empty and pristine because of a reef just out in the sea. In the South of the state, at the São Francisco river, lies Penedo, a pleasant town and a colonial gem.
The only down side of Alagoas is that the sugar cane factories can smell like you are just driving behind a garbage truck but hey, without them there wouldn’t be cachaça for caipirinhas or sugar cane alcohol for half of the Brazilian cars!
This piece of road is the hidden gem of road trips in Ecuador. From the soft rolling hills surrounding Riobamba, it will lead you up into the mountains, through patched farmland and rugged villages. When the peaks turn hard and pointy, the road will cling to the mountainside, while winding its way to the pristine alpine lakes of Atillo at 3,500 m. From here it rolls down to the Amazon basin through the lush Sangay National Park, with spectacular views over the forest canopy and with waterfalls in the distance. This is the "real shit", so if you thought the touristy trip from Baños to Puyo was pretty, this rough journey will knock your socks off.