Bolivia and The Salt Flats

We made it out of Argentina and crossed into Bolivia at the little outpost town of Villazon. We needed to stay in La Quiaca, Argentina for a day so that we could allow the Bolivian Consulate to swindle us out of 2 weeks living expenses. It is clear that the relationship between the U.S. and Bolivia is not particularly strong. Evo Morales instituted a "reciprocity" fee for Americans just to enter the country ($135 per person). It is equal to the fee the U.S. charges Bolivians. Not only did we have to pay, but they mandate all kinds of photocopies of our important personal documents likes pictures, credit cards, Yellow Fever vaccinations, Bolivian hostel reservations, etc.

Once we managed to jump through all their hoops we walked across an ugly concrete bridge manned by armed guards into what is clearly another country. There is a big difference between Argentina and Bolivia. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. Only 10% of the roads are paved, illiteracy is high and many people still claim pure indigenous Quechuan blood. The country is the most rugged, highest in elevation, and the most isolated country in the hemisphere. It is called the "Tibet of the Americas."

We walked around Villazon for a few hours while we waited to go to Uyuni. Unfortunately, the best thing about the chaotic and dirty village is the train that takes travelers out of there. After 11 hours of the Expreso del Sur stopping and starting and shimmying we pulled into Uyuni at 1:30am. We wandered through the desolate town with a hundred other travelers searching for our forcibly reserved accommodations. We found ours and zonked out.

The next morning, just after rolling out of bed, the hostel manager accosted us to let us know that there were 2 more spots on a 3 day 4WD expedition into the Salar de Uyuni and southwest desert of Bolivia. It was leaving in 2 hours. We hummed and hawed about it until she dropped the price for us and before we knew it we were on our way. We were crammed into a sweet Toyota Landcruiser with 3 sisters from the Los Angelos area and 2 French guys. Our masterful driver and guide, Cornelio, drove us across barren and desolate landscapes, through creeks and mud, and around volcanic geysers and fumaroles.

The Salar de Uyuni covers 12,000 square kilometers. There are no roads across the flats. Each driver just drives across the white and open plain of salt. The locals harvest and process the salt for export as well as harvesting the salt for building material. Our first night's accomodations were in a building made mostly of salt. The walls were made of salt bricks with salt mortar. The tables and chairs were also made out of huge blocks of salt cut from the salt flats. We got really lucky with our tour. There were many other tourists we ran into along the way whose drivers were mean and unpleasent. Some said that they weren´t given enough food to eat, and just didn´t have a good experience. We had wonderful food and wonderful company all around. It couldn´t have been better.

On day two, we visited lagoons of various colors where flamingos causually walked their high step walk picking at whatever they could find. The landscape between the lagoons was barren desert surrounded by high volcanic mountains. We drove to a pass at 5,000 meters (15,000 feet). It was miles of sand speckled with marginal shrubbery, dust being kicked up by the truck in front of us, and an intense sun beating down on us. It was clear that Cornelio had little patience for being stuck behind other tours. We could relate to his driving after living up at Spruce Knob for years.

Some of us at The Mountain Institute tossed around a theory on driving the washboard and pothole ridden road of Spruce. The theory was the faster you drive over the holes and washboards, the smoother the ride. Cornelio proved this theory to be true time after time. Driving across the desert was like driving on a 15 lane highway, everyone always trying to pass everyone else. It was easily the closest we have ever come to being in an off road overland race. I loved it. On the third day we woke up before sunrise to see the sun come up over a landscape of boiling mud pits and steam funneling up into the sky from the ground.

All in all, it was another grand adventure. We arrived back in Uyuni early in the evening of the third day, found a cheap room costing us less that $6 US, and slept. We are now in the highest capital city in the world, La Paz. It is a high speed city, smelly and choatic, with markets that sell everything from fine street cuisine to baby llama fetuses. Weird.