We set off from San Pedro to embark on our 4WD trip across the Andes into Bolivia not really knowing what to expect. First stop was our first border crossing so far in the trip...a little unsure how this was going to go down, not that we had anything to hide (we got rid of all the drugs and weapons in San Pedro ;)) but it is a still slightly nerve racking and intimidating process. Bolivians in uniform, standing around with their machine guns, stamping the passport with a little excess force. It all went fine of course, going as smoothly as a babies bottom, and as you can see, there wasn’t much of a “customs”, so we could have brought in the guns and drugs anyway… ah well – next time.
After the border formalities we were ready to jump into our car and head off as it was friggin cold man! The border is at about 3000m, between two snow capped volcanoes, so the wind was just blowing down the valley and hitting us in the face. VAMOS!
Slowly people who had just spent the past days coming south from Bolivia jumped out and other people got in to head north, until there were no cars left… this was our first main tour agency experience, and having heard horror stories about dodgy trips we were starting to think we got a raw deal. With quite a pretty big language barrier, standing around like fools not really understanding what was happening a dude starts telling us in Spanish to get into a car that was not even a 4WD.. hmm ok – Bolivia here we come! We needn’t have worried at this point (except some madness driving – 100+ks on a dodgy dirt road), we arrived at the first large salt lake for breakfast. After finding out our actual 4WD was still on its way south and wouldn’t be there until the afternoon, we had some breakfast and got to know the group. Our crew consisted of two cars with 10 people in total. Our car consisted of us, Vasiles, and a Dutch couple who had fairly good Spanish, so we were ok language wise.
We piled into this piece of shit Toyota Landcruiser (that had to stay either going or parked on a hill to roll start), and spent the morning driving around the area, which has three main beautiful salt lakes as well as a hot spring. Of course Doodles couldn't resist the opportunity for a swim. It seemed like a great plan at the time, nice and hot in the water but once out he and Vasiles were faced with a 30 knot ice wind that proceeded to freeze his titties off. These lakes are incredible to see, they are super shallow but Doodles was convinced they were deep enough to windsurf on… next trip hey doodles?
The first afternoon we had the choice of 2 different routes to take. The first meant we could stay in a nice 'warm' hostel where the temperature would only go down to 0 or staying in a hostel (which was at a higher altitude) where the temperature got down to -20. The second route meant that we could go see the giant rock which is shaped like a tree. The call was made (for some reason – when writing this we are shaking our heads in wonder the the groups decision) to head for the hostel, which is at about 4300m. Hindsight is a bitch. It was freezing. We literally wore every piece of clothing...Boos Boos using a sarong as a scarf. We were not prepared for these conditions at all. Bloody Vasiles had spent time in Patagonia before he came up, so had a nice comfy warm cold weather sleeping bag… bastard!
Boos Boos innocence is tainted forever after this night as the toilets were honestly the most disgusting thing ever experienced (worse than anything ever seen in a hospital) - they did not flush... after a night of about 25 people staying there they were not a pretty sight. She attempted to go as I was busting! But just ran out of there gagging for fresh air. Vasiles got a brilliant photo of them but we feel it is in everyone’s best interests too not put it up here.
While at this hostel we met a crazy Austrian couple that was riding their pushies the same way that we were driving and had been riding from Argentina all the way up for the last 4 months. There is probably nothing that makes you feel more like a slack bastard than someone riding the same way you are sitting on your ass in a car! It was tiring just sitting in the car driving over the sand and rock let alone riding a bike through it. This would be some of the hardest terrain to ride over – soft sand riddled with rocks, no water, and at about 4000m… great fun!
The next day we checked out some incredible (and stinky) geysers (and not the English geiser – the volcanic ones ). You could definitely bottle the white/grey mud and sell that stuff as a fancy face mud mask. On a side note – there was some incredible money making schemes devised on this trip… you wait and see!
Anyway, soon after this, our drivers told us that there was a road blockade (we weren’t sure how this was possible as there was not really any roads…) so instead of going to the famous Uyuni Salt Flats to sleep for the second night, we would make a detour for Uyuni town – which is built close to the salt lakes and was to be our final stop the following day anyway. We had heard many stories where the drivers make this excuse because they can’t be bothered to go there, so we were a little hesitant to believe them and a little pissed off that they were trying to pull this on us. There was not much that we could do so we went along with it. To avoid the blockade we had to take the 'back road'. It was pretty hilarious and a little concerning as the drivers got super lost, stopping every now and then, getting out conferring with each other looking at the mountains trying to get their bearings.
We finally made it to Uyuni in one piece checked into a hostel, a sweet sweet flushing toilet and a hot shower. A few days later we actually found out through a fellow traveler that there were actually road blockades and her 4WD along with several others were held captive for over 24hrs. The reason for the blockade was an American owned mine in the area had promised the Bolivian workers electricity and running water. The American miners have these luxuries, but the Bolivian miners and their families do not. We could understand their motivation but to hold captive carloads of people, throwing rocks not allowing them out of the car is a bit much. Thus in the end we were happy that the drivers took their long detour, as a cold 24hrs sleeping in the 4wd would have been shocking.
After our good night sleep we headed out to the Salt Flats, it is mind blowing, white saltiness for as far as the eye can see! The area is about 400 km2. With the white background it makes for some interesting photos... as there is no perspective of distance (insert digi SLR dreams here!). Someone who knew what they were doing could get some incredibly cool shots here. There are some islands in the middle of the flats, where 1000yr old giant cacti grow – and its absolutely incredible to sit on top of the islands and look as far as you can see at a totally blank white canvas. Incredible stuff!
We spent another night in Uyuni at a neonazi hostel where we weren’t allowed to put our bags on the bed, we could only have one 5 minute shower (they timed it if you were any longer they were there knocking on the door...maybe they should employ Bolivians in Brissie?) if we wanted another we had to pay, had to be back by 11pm, we could charge our camera batteries and phones but not computers or Ipods. Strange!
The next day we were pretty keen to get moving, the rest of Bolivia was calling, and so we jumped on a bus (no cama this time – there were still no chickens though… there was however an onion man who jumped on with a bag of fresh onions –Boos Boos LOVED it). Instant lesson learned on this trip: F*@k – Bolivan buses are DODGY and the drivers are insane. 5hrs of bumps, oniony fresh air and a few near rollovers, we arrived safe but slightly battered in Potosi, famed for its silver mines, which was once the most wealthy town in South America…
Peace and Love
Doodles and Boos Boos
