Valle de las Animas, La Paz, Bolivia
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Backyard badlands
One does not simply walk into Mordor, but luckily, this similarly spiky landscape is a pretty easy amble from one of South America's great cities. The Valle de las Animas, or Valley of the Souls, towers just outside the eastern neighborhoods of La Paz, Bolivia, beckoning outdoorsy urbanites to explore its deep gorges and lofty overlooks. The valley's ethereal name comes from either the ghostly wailing sound that wind through the rocks makes, or from the shape of the formations, said to resemble crowds of lost spirits wandering the wilderness.
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