Photographs of Bolivia Photographs of Bolivia by George Steinmetzby George Steinmetz

for National Geographicfor National Geographic

The cloud-scraping plateau of the Andes is an otherworldly realm where flamingos lift off from a lagoon warmed by hot springs and colored carnelian

by algae.

Moonlight bathes Incahuasi Island,an outcropping of cacti and fossilized algae in the

Uyuni salt flat. A great lake covered this area 16,000 yearsago. When it dried up, it left a 4,000-square-mile basin of

salt, the world's largest such deposit.

To find new grazing, vicuñas dash acrossa corner of the Uyuni salt flat. Just three feet tall,

these animals produce wool so soft it wasreserved for Inca royalty. Hunted almost to extinction,

they're now protected and making a comeback.

Vehicles seem to float on ashimmering salt flat flooded by summer rains.

Winter's relentless sun vaporizes snowto create spiky forms called nieves penitentes

near the top of Pomerape Volcano, at 20,000 feet.Snow falls lightly at such extreme altitudes in thecold, dry climate along the Bolivia-Chile border.

Piles of salt, scraped by pickax fromthe deposit at Uyuni, await transport by truck to a

nearby processing plant. How much salt does this vast basin hold?Estimates range upward from ten billion tons.

Just one example of Bolivia's abundant mineral wealth,which includes tin, silver, zinc, and natural gas.

Rare puna flamingos make Laguna Coloradatheir main nesting ground. Also known as James’s

flamingos, the birds were thought extinct before a 1957expedition discovered this colony, which now includes

about 15,000 breeding pairs. During winter, when the airtemperature here at 14,000 feet above sea level sometimesplunges to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, birds flock to the

openings of the hot springs that keep Laguna Colorada warm.

On the Altiplano, wind erodes rockinto a modernist shape perched on a narrow base.

The shadow of Sajama at21,463 feet, Bolivia's highest peak just over the

rugged Chilean coast. Bolivia lost access to the sea in thelate 19th-century War of the Pacific, which embittered

relations between the two countries.

Reflecting the color of the sky,scalding mud pots spatter, hiss, and belch steam

stinking of sulfur at Sol de Mañana, or morning sun. Thisprimordial landscape lies just south of Laguna Colorada,

the red lagoon where flamingos thrive.

The paisley swirls of a wild grasscalled paja brava pattern the Altiplano beneath rare

thunderclouds. Few other plants can survive the extremes ofthis windswept region, where some spots get only ten inches

of rain a year.

Domesticated llamas spread acrossa spring-fed pasture at the edge of the Uyuni salt flat.

Such creatures have provided communities in theAltiplano with food, wool, and sturdy backs to bear burdens

since before the time of the Inca.

Before dawn a police squad preparesto head out on a search for cocaine labs. Small farms near

the rural town of Chimore have been battlegroundsin a controversial antidrug war backed by the U.S.

In the valley that cups La Paz,Bolivia's administrative capital, workers live

near the rim at about 13,000 feet, where the air is thin.Big businesses and wealthier residents settle more

comfortably down below.

Aymara women in traditionally styleduniforms clear weeds from a green at La Paz Golf Club.

They earn about $100 a month. Members,from among the city's elite, pay an initial fee of

$12,000, plus monthly dues, for the privilege of playing onone of the world's highest courses, at 11,000 feet.

Costumed for Carnival,performers wait their turn to join Oruro's holiday

parade, one of Latin America's largest suchcelebrations. Some 30,000 dancers and musicians swirl

through the old silver mining city on a two-and-a-half mileroute, entertaining a crowd of 400,000 from all over Bolivia

and beyond.