13-Day Photography Workshop in Bolivia

We start the second day of our photo tour with a mighty breakfast before driving to the red-roofed town of Copacabana, not far off the Peruvian borders. There we visit the main square, Plaza 2 de Febrero and the magnificent 16th Century Catholic church, Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana. We will stop here for approximately an hour to photograph the church's fantastic architecture and surrounding streets.  The city is surrounded by the sacred Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America. Naturally, this incredible water-body will be a major photography subject throughout the day. Titicaca is even believed to be the origin of the sun, moon and stars in Andean mythology. We will sleep overnight on the island of Isla del Sol, found around 15 minutes from the town of Copacabana. Isla Del Sol is a little island with ancient Inca trails and ruins, perfect for exploration! After check-in at our hotel, we will walk to the nearby shoreline to capture a dreamy sunset before turning in for the night. 

On your third day, be ready for an early wake-up call!  We will sail in the dark to what is known as ‘The First Temple’, or Pilko Kaina, which is an ancient Inca Ruins perfect for spectacular sunrise shots. We will strive to spend enough time here in the early morning for you to gain some fantastic new shots.  After returning to the hotel for breakfast and check-out, we explore the island itself and visit the village of Yumani to climb the ancient Inca steps, the Escalera del Inca. These lead to a sacred spring believed to prolong youth, making for another excellent photographic subject.  Once again, we will sail to the beautiful village of Challapampa where we will enjoy and photograph the beach and local culture. From there, we track along an old Inca trail to the labyrinth-like Chincana ruins known as La Roca Sagrada. This sacred rock and sacrificial monument is believed to be the birthplace of both the sun and the first Incas. We will then spend some time hiking along the trails, ever privy to outlandish fields of amaranth and quinoa, where native women work in their colourful gear. Those who choose not to walk can spend more time in the village and will then be taken by boat along the coastline to join the rest of the group. The boat will take us back to Copacabana, and we drive back to La Paz where we stay overnight again. No doubt we will stop on the way for enticing sunset photoshoots.

It is the fourth day of your photography workshop and so we will check out early and head to Oruro, or Uru Uru, midway between the two capitals, La Paz and Sucre. In this buzzing mining city, we may visit a cathedral boasting a special door that leads into an abandoned mine tunnel, so close that we can still smell the sulphur inside the building. Today, a small museum dedicated to Bolivian mining is attached to the cathedral.  We then abandon the bus in Oruro and head in different jeeps to the Tahua Salt Flats, also known as Salar de Uyuni, one of Bolivia’s main attractions. The overall travelling time is about 8 hours, so we highly recommend that guests rest during this part of the trip. The salt flats spread over the dried Lake Minchin and are the most extensive salt plain in the world, with billions of tons of salt displayed in natural hexagonal patterns. These illusory plains appear like infinite mirrors during the rainy season, making for spectacular pictures.  On the way from Oruro to Colchani, we stop at numerous viewpoints to capture the beautiful sunset over this desert-like landscape. Along the way, we may see rare species of Vicunas – their very fine and rare fur fibres became the objects of greedy merchants which endangered the species. However, they are now considered to be growing in numbers and have hopefully been saved from imminent extinction. The vicunas are one of the two wild camelids living in the Andes, the other being guanaco. Upon arrival in Colchani, we will enjoy some dinner before heading out in the night to shoot some breathtaking photos of the Milky Way over the reflecting salt flats. Prepare to be wowed! We will then stay overnight in Colchani. 

Despite a late night, we rise early today to photograph the dreamlike sunrise on the salt flats. Without a doubt, this morning shoot is sure to be one of the major highlights of your trip to Bolivia.  We will also visit a traditional, family-owned salt processing facility to get a better feel for why salt is so vital to the local area. Only a few kilometres from Colchani, we will also explore pyramids of salt piled up for processing, making for abstract urban photographs. We then head out again for the dry part of the flats, the Isla Pescado. These former islands are incredibly rocky with majestic cactuses, unusual fossil formations and herds of llamas. Here, we will enjoy a spot of lunch, with a side-serving of an afternoon photography session. In the evening, we will have another opportunity to photograph the Milky Way over the Salt Flats. Please note that Isla Incahuasi may not be accessible due to water increase on the flats so the itinerary may alter on the day. We may also visit the pyramids for sunset rather than in the morning. In the evening, you will be staying back at Colchani. 

Again, we make the most of our morning and take an early drive to the Chiguana Salt Flats. These flats rest at the altitude of 3,700 m, close to the borders of Chile. Once again, you are in for a fantastic time photographing these landscapes.  The vintage trains and rail tracks in the area make brilliant photographic subjects and, once again, we will likely spot wild and precious vicunas, thus adding a dose of wildlife to our day.  We will enjoy a short rest and lunch on the Laguna Canapa Lake before we continue to Lake Laguna Hedionda to catch photos of the migratory pink flamingos. Coupled with the lagoon itself, this landscape makes for some epic and exotic wildlife photography.  Later that day, we drive into the desert to our hotel. Here we will stay, our minds focused on sunset and sunrise shots. On the way, however, we will stop to catch another fascinating animal species, the viscachas, which are similar to wild rabbits, although with longer, curly tails.

Day 7, and straight after breakfast we drive to the spectacular rock formations of Arbol de Piedra, or the Stone Tree, which is a huge 7-metre rock, eroded over thousands of years into what resembles a frozen and isolated tree. We will stop for lunch at the visually striking Red Lagoon, otherwise known as the Laguna Colorada. The red colour of this shallow lake is caused by the red sediments and algae in the area and displays a fantastic contrast to the surrounding white borax islands. Borax, the white crystalline mineral of a boron compound, is widely used in the world.  On the lagoon, we will also see hundreds of flamingos, as well as rows of llamas on the banks. In other words, today feels like a Bolivian Safari, presenting excellent opportunities for wildlife photography.  In the evening, after we check-in to our new hotel, we will head out to capture sunset photography masterpieces over Laguna Colorada.

It is day 8, and so, by now, you should have amassed an incredible new album brimming with photographs from Bolivia. There's no stopping yet, however, as we rise in the middle of the night for an hour’s drive to capture sunrise from the colourful geothermal site, Sol De Manana, otherwise known as the Morning Sun geysers.  On our way back, we will make a stop in the Dali Desert. This barren and lunar landscape is sure to remind you of Salvador Dali’s surrealist paintings. We also have a short break at the Polques Thermal Springs for restroom access and shops. Next stop is the salty Laguna Verde or the Green Lagoon, comfortably situated under a cone volcano, surrounded by the black and rocky landscape. The colour of the water varies from turquoise to emerald green depending on the unpredictable winds stirring the surface. The tone originates from mineral components in the lagoon. At the end of a long day, we say our goodbyes to this fantastic natural park and head to a new hotel in Quetena Chico. Here, we will stay overnight. 

On day nine of our Bolivia photography adventure, we set out early to enjoy the sunset close to our hotel. After spending an hour or so photographing the rising sun, we will return to the hotel for breakfast and check-out. On our travels, we stop in a little ghost-town built by the Spanish during their colonisation period for the purpose of mining. The town was later abandoned, however. Today, we can see magnificent stone houses built against a staggeringly dramatic landscape. We will enjoy lunch at our next hotel, situated in the tiny village of San Pablo de Lipez, where we will also stay overnight. For those who wish to participate, we capture the sunset from the terrific cliffs of Castillo Quemado before we head back to our hotel for dinner and an early night.

Today, we will be witnessing the sunrise from the large Palacio Quemado government offices, a true cultural landmark of La Paz. Afterwards, we will take the morning slowly, focusing on sightseeing the local area.  After lunch, we will drive approximately 4 hours to reach the quiet town of Tupiza. We will make a breathtaking stop on the way at the pillar rock formations of El Sillar. Make sure to have your camera at the ready; the whole area of Tupiza and El Sillar feels very much like the setting of a Western, which provides our photos with the extra something of a different era. We enjoy dinner in Tupiza, as well as the enticing sunset that permeates across these dynamic mountain valleys.

After a hearty breakfast on day 11, we will head to one of the highest cities in the world, Potosi. Potosi was formerly also one of the wealthiest cities in South America given its abundance of silver deposits.  Potosi sits right under Mt Cerro Rico, or "The Rich Hill", and is still a mining city for several minerals—although silver has more or less dried up!  We will check into a historical hotel in Cayara where the desert landscape has surrendered to cultivated green fields. We drive to the famous Valle de las Rocas, or the Rock Valley, where we share the incredibly dramatic cliffs with rock climbers. Said climbers might even allow you to include them in your cool shots! There are plenty of areas without climbers as well, just in case you prefer the landscape as is. We stay at the Rock Valley until after sunset, before returning for dinner and overnight rest at our hotel.

On day 12—our penultimate day—we enjoy the sunrise from Cayara and tasty breakfast before we drive for about 2-3 hours to Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia. Sucre became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 and is often called the White City due to its white painted colonial style buildings and structures. The city lies at about 2,800m and is thus a relatively thin-aired and cool city with about 300,000 inhabitants. We explore the city and make sure to capture the sunset from a beautiful spot with a panoramic view of the whole city. We stay overnight in Sucre for our last night.

It is the final day of your epic photography tour of Bolivia. In the morning, you will spend some time comparing photographs and saying your final goodbyes. Afterward, you will make your way to the airport for your return flight home. Until next time, we hope you've had a fabulous time photographing Bolivia.