Road to Bolivia

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Dear family and friends,

From the Atacama Desert we began climbing up towards Bolivia on the high plateau (Altiplano). Our destination was the Uyuni salt lake at 3700 m. To get there involved riding a 300 km stretch of dirt road. I knew from researching the Motorcycle Adventure Rider forums that this road is particularly demanding, but I had no idea that this would be the longest, most difficult road I've ever ridden two-up on a motorcycle.

First glimps of the volcanoes from Atacama Desert as we climb towards Bolivia

A dfferent perspective of the volcanic landscape

Our first stop was the mining town of Calama at 2500 m, where the tar ended. Calama is situated next to the world's largest open cut mine, a truly enormous hole in the ground that we were mildly interested seeing but would have delayed us an extra day. So the following morning we tackled the first 200 km section of the dirt road to the small mud-brick border town of Ollague. The road was full of corrugations and (worse for a motorcycle with 2 people) long stretches of soft deep sand or slippery gravel. It took us 6 hours to do this 200 km stretch. However, the scenery was breathtaking. The road climbed up though a landscape of remnant volcanoes, the slopes of which were covered with yellow flowers and some peaks still had snow on top. A steaming sulphurous fumarole coming out of the side of one of the volcanoes was a reminder that this is still a volcanically active area. Although we were physically and mentally exhausted, we didn't sleep well that night because of the altitude (3700 m).

First sign of plant life as we headed out of the Atacama Desert

The next morning we went though the border crossing (we had to yell and look around the empty buildings before someone finally appeared to stamp our documents). The road we'd been following headed away from the salt lake to distant towns. We needed to take a smaller track that led to the salt lake (118 km away). A German guy on a push-bike appeared at the border crossing and said the track was really bad – he'd just ridden it and had been managing only 20 km per day, and falling off lots of times. He wasn't joking – lots of deep sand with meandering wheel ruts. We spent much of the time in 1st and 2nd gear, going at walking or jogging speed with my feet dragging along the sand, ready to quickly kick the bike back upright if it began to overbalance. It took us 5 hours to travel the 118 km to the salt lake. Along the way we'd fallen off the bike 4 times in the deep sand (at low speed). Arriving at the edge of the salt lake in the late afternoon sun was magic, and we set off across the lake to an island 40 km away to spend the night.

Was the 300 km ride along rough dirt roads to get there worth it? Definitely. Would we do it again? Definitely not. Once is enough.

  

Volcanic landscape

Not extinct, just dormant!

As we climbed higher flowers appeared on the slopes of the volcanoes 

This mini black extinct volcano (only about 80 m high) caught our attention, and we noticed a red flush on the lower flanks...

The red flush was a red-flowering plant that grew only on the dark basalt rocks of the mini volcanow and nowhere else that we saw. The mini black volcano with its red plant was unique in the landscape - and a bit eerie - like stumbling across an alien lifeform.

Nice having the GPS when there are multiple tracks.

Ooops!  The worst part of falling over is getting all 250kg (bike and luggage) back upright, which at 3600 m leaves you breathless. 

The track occasionally crossed salt lakes, which were bliss to ride on.

There are no service stations in remote villages, so to get fuel you need to ask around to find someone who will sell you some. Luckily the owner of the mud brick guesthouse (building in the photo) where we spent the night sold us some fuel the next morning.

Most altiplano villages have heards of Llamas

Baby Llamas

The owner of a small guesthouse back in Calama insisted we park the bike in the hallway.