After an overnight bus ride from Tarija, we arrived in the world’s highest city Pototsi early morning. We slept a few hours in our hostel to catch our breaths and some lost sleep and then set about finding something to keep us out of mischief. We decided against a visit to the mines (formerly Pototsi’s primary source of income) and instead opted for a short hike to Los Ojos Del Diablo (the Devils eyes)…which are natural ot water springs. We had read that the walk would be no more than an hour each way and decided to attempt it at a leisurely pace as we had yet to acclimatise.
We caught a local minibus heading for Tarapaya where we were advised that there was a path leading to the springs. The ride took 30 minutes, although we initially missed our stop and ended up in Miraflores, some 2km past Tarapaya. Once we had found the sign to the springs, we set off very slowly uphill. After a few hundred meters we discovered that the major issue would not be the altitude but the heat, as we very soon found we were overdressed. The trail wound up and over neighbouring hills and after 30 minutes walking we started to doubt that we were on the correct parh. However we asked a couple of fellow walkers heading downhill who confirmed that the springs were not much further.
Rounding a further bend we found 2 large active waterholes with steam rising from them. A little downhill of these were 2 smallery man made rectangular pools, along with a splattering of cars and a hoard of locals who haad decided to drive up to the springs and enjoy the weekend sun. On closer inspection, we established that the water in the natural springs was far too hot to swim in and possibly warm enough to make a decent cup of tea, although the sulphur smell wasn’t for the faint hearted.
The water in the lower man made pools was piped from the natural springs above and was sufficiently & appeared that every man and his dog used them to clean their ý we both decided to give them a miss.
After a half hour we decided to head back downhill. Whilst doing so, we spotted a local swimming pool in nearby Tarapaya and figured it might be worth a dip before heading back to Pototsi. The afternoon sun was beginning to lose its heat so we were pleasantly surprised to find that it also used the piped warm water from the springs above but was minus the smell and laundry. After approximately an hour long swim we left and caught another bus back to Pototsi. In summary the Ojos Del Diablo were worth the visit but we would recommend doing so on a weekday and perhaps bringing your dirty laundry along with you.