It turns out possible to walk in heaven living on Earth. It is enough to go to the south of a small country of Bolivia, to one of the most extraordinary deserts of the world – Uyuni. When looking at pictures of tourists who had been there you can’t help asking: “Are you sure it isn’t Photoshop-made?”
Huge territory
located at the height of almost 4
km above sea level that occupies over 10 000 square
kilometers is nothing else but flat lake Uyuni. When here, you don’t entirely
get at first what have this enormous expanse arose from. It doesn’t really look
like sand and it is way too weird for snow that doesn’t melt under above-zero
temperature… So when your sight fails you should rely on other senses, in this
case – on taste. You only need to try what’s beneath your feet without any misgiving
and everything becomes clear at once – it is bog-standard salt.
On the outside
the place falls a long way short of common conception of a lake. But if a time
machine could have sent us about 40 thousand years back an ordinary water file
called Minchin would have burst upon our views. After a lapse of centuries it
got separated into already familiar salt depositary Uyuni, another similar one
– Salar de Coipasa as well as into two completely “normal” lakes with
interesting names Uru Uru and Poopó.
But only the
first one managed to achieve global notoriety. To a certain extent huge
dimensions of the “dry” reservoir, which made it the biggest salt lake on the
whole planet, attributed to that. As a rule, walking “cruises” along Uyuni don’t
take place in fine weather (customary for all kinds of journeys), but in a
season when the sky is fully covered with storm clouds. It lasts from May till
November. In this period all the salt is flooded with around 30 cm thick water layer,
which produces an effect of an immense mirror that reflects in great detail
clouds drifting high above. An unusual illusion becomes a background for unique
pictures that are the main goal of the majority of trips.
“Spilt salt
doesn’t spell quarrels, it spells additional income” – that’s how inhabitants
of the vicinity decided to “rearrange” the meaning of the proverb and created
exotic hotels in the lakeside villages. All furniture from sleeping
accommodation to stools is made of huge blocks of the mineral. Moderate fare
within limits of 20 to 30 dollars – and you ensure yourself an overnight in a
salty hotel. Notices are diligently hung in every room and in all the corridors
with the only significant request from the establishment’s administration:
“Don’t lick anything!”
Inspired by
amazing pictures and delighted recalls of the unique place, everyone is trying
to get to Uyuni in rainy season. But should mother-nature refuse to flood
everything with water by the time you arrive, there is no point in accusing
yourself of bad luck and the weather of being unfavorable. Dry “climate” will
offer a chance to admire other distinctives of the lake, particularly its
wonderful fauna and flora. Domesticated alpacas walking around are the main live
stock species in nearby villages and they like to wander to the desert to
relish moss that grows here. Being accustomed to people they don’t mind posing
to cameras.
While it is better to watch flocks of long-legged flamingos from a
distance – one false step and timid birds will take wings to create a pink
cloud over salty expanse. Aside from them, among to feathered tribe, two
extremes are seen here: massive ostriches and tiny hummingbirds. As to
vegetable world, wet climate and specific ground do not constitute favorable
conditions for diverse flora forms, instead, local many-meters-high cacti that
surround the desert with a thorny fence can compete even with enormous Mexican
ones.
Watching mining
of the thing we daily consume is also possible in Uyuni. Utilization of local
salt reserves, that constitute about 10 billion tons, has been on for a couple
of centuries thus bringing in additional money to state treasury. But some
fifty years ago “digging” was far more sweeping and as a reminder about that
period an open-air museum called train cemetery is situated three kilometers
away from the lake. When in 1950s active mineral mining decreased drastically,
employees of the railway abandoned all transportation equipment here for it to
turn into another local place of interest with time. It was Bolivian
authorities who initiated “reformatting” of old rail-tracked cars into an
exhibition, when they started implementing a development program of such an
extraordinary region in 2006.
Eastern cities are hard to imagine without a huge number of the commercial places. It is in the genes of the local citizens to sell and buy regardless their age and status. Despite the fact that Istanbul is semi-European city, the metropolis has prominent oriental features. So as to know exactly where to go and what to buy, OUTLOOK talks about the most spectacular markets after returning from Istanbul.
Today we are inviting you for a walk in the oldest neighbourhood in the city of Lisbon, the famous Alfama, an emblematic quarter we often see in the movies and works of popular culture when it comes to the Portuguese capital.
What season can be better than warm months to conquer summits, overcome seas and climb on the rocks? People often make great efforts to enjoy the comfort through the whole lifetime. But sometimes our soul needs some romance, so OUTLOOK presents seven unique canyons.
Each of us wants to escape rush of a city from time to time and lie low somewhere far from everything and anything. And it better be a place where one can listen to whisper of waves, feel light breeze and forever make friends with inimitably loud silence that muffles every disturbing thought…
In the world there are two Cartagenas. In both, their inhabitants speak Spanish, love bullfighting, and in the evenings they go to the beach to skip the mojito and breathe the salty wind. But only in one of them a rhythm of hot salsa, placers of emeralds and pearls can burst into a languid city walk, and bright, hot beauties can cross the road. And this is Colombia!
Iceland is a ‘country of ice and fire’, ‘country of thousand rivers and lakes’, countless waterfalls and geysers. There, like in a fairy tale, again and again, you feel like pinching yourself to check if you are dreaming or does it all really exist…
Spiegelgasse is originated from German collocation ‘Mirror street’ or ‘Mirror alley’. However, it is not the biggest and the most important street in Zurich. Moreover, it is vice versa, incredibly short and narrow… Well, being situated in the quiet nooks of the old city in such a way that no tourists could see it.
Many city dwellers are irritated by cats, dogs or even pigeons in the streets. Attempts of zoo-advocates to save them from attacks of people and from starvation are mainly ineffective. But there are wonderful cities in this world where people perfectly coexist with deer, peacocks and cattle…
Land-art is not simply the landscape design but also the whole direction in art which in thee 21-st century considered one of the most important when only lazy people do not speak about the ‘green technologies’ and environment. The names of stars of such an activity have sturdily come into the speech of the tutors, critics, and connoisseurs, especially they outline Patrick Dougherti.
Despite many pessimistic forecasts of urbanists of the 20th century, on-street trammanaged to stand up competition withsubways, cars and other means of public transport, and even found a second wind in modern city. The beginning of the 21stcentury, with its incredible technologies will surely become history as an era of "tram renaissance".
Canary Islands are not only the sea, beaches and cocktails. They are also the charred history of this part of the earth, the fire-breathing vents and salt mines. Especially hot temper among the rest of the islands, the land of Lanzarote is famous. Earlier on this land, volcanic eruptions occurred with an enviable regularity. Now, here tourists go to see the power of fire and magma and even look into the "underworld".
With the onset of summer, many of us ever and again cast a glance at the calendar, waiting for annual leave. And since summer vacation to a greater extent is linked to the relaxation by the water, we usually associate it with beaches – desirable destinations that can be very different.
Croatia is dubbed the pearl of the Adriatic coast. This country in the south of Central Europe recently became a member of the European Union. Now its beauty sites are much visited: every year more than 10 million tourists come to enjoy it, that is even more than population of the country. Let’s find out what attracts travellers so much.
Going to the Comoros a tourist wants to see pure exotic and immediately gets into an oasis of wildlife. "Moonlight" tenderness implicit in Arabic interpretation of the name "Comore" ("moon"), was taken from the neighbouring Madagascar, initially claimed to be called "Comoros".
Many travelers just don’t want to go into all the troubles to get an American visa for some two weeks of holidays. But having glanced at pictures of Puerto Rican Mosquito Bay they’ll change their minds instantly. Dark sea slick, silence… when suddenly mysterious green glow from the depth extends the darkness to shock the public on the shore.
Each state has its own official symbols: flag, coat of arms and anthem. But in addition to the traditional "identification mark" there are symbols chosen by people, for instance, a favourite bird. It is about them OUTLOOK expands below. To register the people's love by document, in 1960 in Tokyo at the International Conference on the Protection of Birds was created the concept of "national bird".
Amazon River – the river that not only South America but our entire planet cannot be imagined without – seems to have been explored length and breadth. But somehow every year scientists find out something about it they’ve never thought of before. We tried to gather most interesting and least-known facts about it in our feature.
...The virtuoso chisel inhaled the heat of a living soul in a cold stone block and created a khachkar - an inspired narrative about the spiritual search and longing for a lost paradise, unhurriedly unfolding tenacious rings of ancient mysteries in the curls of mystical ornaments.
In recent years Georgia has rightly become very popular touristic spot on world map. Probably, everybody will find something for oneself in this proud mountainous state: amazing nature, delicious food, devote and cordial friends and much, much more. Outlook try to visit it as often as possible and share all kinds of interesting stuff with you. Today we’ll tell about a marvelous Sataplia Reserve.
If you spent half a day enjoying chips with mayonnaise, herring, eel and cheese; your imagination managed to find solutions for all the riddles of the universe while waiting for hours in endless queue to the Rijksmuseum; and within a couple of hours you were almost knocked down on the road thrice, it means, no doubt, you were spending that day in Amsterdam.
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