After that rather interesting tour of the mines we headed for Uyuni. From there it was actually the best road we drove in all of Bolivia, beautiful smooth black pavement. Kind of ironic considering we were planning on doing the Laguna Route south of the salt flats, which we were expecting to be the absolute worst road we would ever take Gringa on. Which it pretty much was.
After loading up on groceries and gas we cruised into the Salar de Uyuni, the worlds largest salt flat at 3600 m. It was flat as flat, and blindingly white. A really cool experience.
Of course, we weren't alone. Plenty of tour jeeps around, but the deeper we went they all cut south and we had the place to ourselves.
Believe it or not, this was actually our LEAST awkward jumping picture
Nothing for miles.....
......just hexagons
This is the Dakar monument. The Dakar race is an off-road race, which used to end in Dakar, Senegal but was moved to South America due to security concerns in Mauritania (its neighbour to the north). Now it cuts a different route each year through Argentina, Bolivia, Chilé and Peru.
A salt hotel, constructed out of huge blocks of salt.
The flags of the world monument, with Jared holding Canada's
We spent the next 2 1/2 days driving around, climbing on the 'islands' of earth popping out of the salt plain, camping, etc.
Oh, and did I mention taking silly pictures?
On the islands it was pretty much just rock and cactus......
Having viewpoints like this, all to ourselves was really fabulous and unforgettable.
The sunsets were just a beautiful contrast of stark white with the sky full of pinks, blues, oranges.
We had campfires each night of dead cactus wood, which actually burns pretty good! It's super light to lift, but we still got a workout as we carried a bunch down from the top viewpoint because we're crazy like that.
More silly pictures.....
Just appreciating the immense nothingness was really unique. I remember saying to Jared "this is the most nothing something we've ever been to"
It took us forever to get these shots because you're trying to run around behind the back of the camera as it's moving, then hold perfectly still for your next pose......oh well, kept us busy for at least an hour hahahah
A chinchilla! The hills on this island were actually full of them, and they were all in pairs. Super cute! Their Spanish name comes from Quechua, which is Vizcacha
By the afternoon of the second day I realized I had sunburnt pretty bad, so I spent the rest of the day like this. There was no one else around for miles so it really didn't matter what ridiculous things I was doing.
Jared mock preg-checking a sheep. We had a lot of time on our hands🤣
The next afternoon we headed back into Uyuni to get more food, gas, do laundry and get ready to set off again. Our next adventure was the Laguna Route, that would take us through some wilderness roads of southern Bolivia and end up in Northern Chilé. There would be no gas, towns, and at times no road, so we spent the day preparing for a real adventure.
That evening we camped out at the Uyuni train graveyard, an eerily beautiful place.
The next morning we hit the road for Chilé, with only about 300 km of really garbage road and some fantastic paisajes (landscapes) in between.
This is at Lago Hedionda, at 4121m elevation and full of hundreds of flamingos. The wind was absolutely howling so we got a room at the hotel right on the lake. Thinking back on how cool it was to have this view for a night, I don’t regret spending the 60 Cdn. ☺️
Back on the road the next morning. When the roads were really hairy we were too busy cringing so I never got any pictures of the really crazy stuff. Which is a little regrettable because I would love for you to see some of the things we took this car over. I will now forever and always be a Mitsubishi fan.
The reason the roads are so questionable is not only the fact that it’s a wilderness area and they are poorly maintained, but they are also driven by a bunch of tour guides in Toyota Land Cruiser‘s with more clearance than us. So they lower the PSI in their tires and just bomb down the roads which ends up making huge deep ruts and lots of washboard. Gringa didn’t have the clearance to do the road regularly so we had to ‘surf’ along the sides on the high ground between the ruts. When it gets sandy, it makes this process a little tricky to stay up and not sink back down to the ruts and absolutely cheese-grater the undercarriage of your vehicle. However, Jared did a great job of driving, which he did the lion’s share of. I took a few shifts and decided it was not for me.
The Arbol de Piedra- (Tree of Stone). It had one of the highest elevations on this road at 4577m. Plus the fact that the wind was howling, and it was cold!!
Next up was our lunch spot, and maybe the most beautiful place we saw on the Lagunas Route-Laguna Colorado. It’s at 4326 m, and is a red colour thanks to sediments and the pigmentation of some algae. Add in some flamingos, well, a lot of flamingos, plus a scenic mountain in the background and it makes for a magical place.
This is the next day at Laguna Verde (4300m), with the beautiful cone of Volcán Licancabur (summit 5920m). It reminded me of one of those really beautiful glacial lakes in Banff, only this one was in the middle of the altiplano- surrounded by rocks and volcanoes.
Me trying to take another jumping picture but my scarf blew up in my face
Oh Gringa.......as I write this I miss her so. Doesn’t she look amazing? Handled the Laguna Route like a champ. She was literally the only non-tour vehicle we saw on the road.
And that was the end of the Laguna Route. We crossed the border into Chilé, and lost all of that elevation by the time we entered the town of San Pedro de Atacama (2408m), which is the next blog.
Until Next Time!
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