Bolivian Altiplano

This scene is an original illustration set in Bolivian Altiplano. It lies in the tropics, where the climate is cold desert — arid, with freezing winters.

White salt crust cracks into polygonal tiles across the foreground. A cluster of small adobe houses with tin roofs stands in the midground, and a caravan of llamas carrying bright woven packs crosses the left of the frame. Volcanic cones rise behind under a hard, thin-aired sky.

Why does a salt flat crack into polygons?

Polygonal salt tiles form where a shallow brine sheet evaporates faster than it is replenished — a closed basin with no outlet to the sea. Adobe walls with tin roofs answer a climate that is arid and cold at once: little rain to erode the earth, hard frost at night. Llamas as pack animals, not cattle, confirm the altitude. So does the sky, darkening toward the top of the frame.

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