The Salt Flats and the South West Circuit.

Before we left Prague the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia was one of the destinations on our trip I was most looking forward to. I'd marvelled at other travellers descriptions and photos of the perfectly flat plain filled with sparkling hexagonal crystal white salt tiles. In Sucre we'd met our fellow overlanders Michael and Natasha (Swiss Land rover drivers) and Max and Tanya with their young children Clara and Robert (German Bremach drivers) again and as we were all heading to the salt flats on the same time we asked if we could join up with them. Steve's main concern was that we'd break through the salt crust, this can be a real issue at different times of the year. We'd heard some horror stories about other overlanders breaking through and being stuck in up to the axles. It is so remote that it would be a major headache to get help if you couldn't get yourself out. We met up with them in the dusty town of Uyuni just a few kilometres from the flats, ready for the next day. As we were wandering around town we saw a camper van we recognised well, it was the Tioga our French friends Carine, Andreas and family had been travelling in. This time though it had a new family in it, the French family are sadly heading home soon and they'd sold it a few days before to an Austrian family. We introduced ourselves to Christophe, Astrid, Eo and Linus, as they were also heading onto the flats the next day we decided to go all together. Not wanting to sleep on the street in town we tried to head the short distance out of town to the "train cemetery" in convoy in the dark after excellent pizza. We couldn't find the right dusty desert track, so parked up in a circle for the night. We awoke to find ourselves in the middle of a rubbish dump in the desert but quite close to the cemetery. It is where Bolivian Railways has dumped a whole load of rusting steam trains. We drove over and both adults and children alike had great fun playing on the old trains. SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC After getting the undersides of the four vehicles sprayed with a thin layer of oil to protect them from the salt we headed north towards the flats. Luckily as it was in the middle of the dry season the salt was hard and easy to drive on. There are lots of land cruisers that come out onto the flats as part of tours, so you could see their tracks which made it easier to stay on the thicker parts. The day was cloudy and overcast and as the edges of the flats are more brown coloured. I was initially a little underwhelmed, where was the sparkling crystals I had dreamt of seeing. After a look round an abandoned salt hotel, we drove to Isla Incahuasi and parked up for the night. Lots of the tours visit the islands during the day but it was beautifully quiet at night. I awoke early to see a perfectly clear sky lit up by a full moon, it was stunning. SONY DSC SONY DSC As the sun rose and the sky turned azure blue, the Salar de Uyuni lived up to its reputation of being one of the most beautiful places on Earth. SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC We drove further into the Salar to Isla Pescador, where almost no one visits and parked up for in a beautiful spot. Not too close to the island though, as that is where the salt is thinnest. The six children spent most of the day "mining" for salt in shallow caves on the edge of the islands. We all joined together to celebrate Natasha's birthday with fondu and cake before the sun set and the temperature dropped to an icy minus 5°C. SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC The white background of the flats gives a perfect background to take lots of silly photos playing with the lack of perspective. SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSCSONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC The so named South-west circuit of Bolivia is just outside the Salar and is known as one of the most spectacular drives in South America but the going is really tough. We waved goodbye to the Austrians as the Tioga isn't made for off-road driving. Remote, wiggling between high volcanos the rough sandy track passes flamingo studded lakes and weird shaped rock forms. The "roads" were some of the worst we've come across, with rocky patches, sand and Steve's personal favourite: bone shaking corrugations that rattled the truck so hard it seemed remarkable that it was in one piece when we stop. Most of it was though high altitude flat valleys but there were quite a few climbs an narrow, rock strewn paths. All of this between 4000 and 5000m high. SONY DSC Late afternoon the shaking all got too much for the truck and we heard an almighty melodic rattle from the engine. Straight away we recognised the sound, it was the left disc brake cover that had sheared all 3 of its attachment points and was now rattling free in a frenetic dance under the truck. The right hand side one had done exactly the same thing outside Panama City. In Panama we found a garage that could remake the three points. Here miles from anywhere that wasn't an option but it isn't essential but not ideal on rough roads. With Max and Michael's extra muscle and experience Steve was able to remove the front wheel, take off the offending part and put the wheel back on in just 30 minutes. Unfortunately this time when it came off it had severed a cable. Luckily it was only a sensor cable so the truck can still drive ok. We parked up for the night underneath a volcano that marked the Chilean-Bolivian border, each vehicle carefully angled to catch the morning sun's rays on the diesel tanks and to minimise the affect of the gale force winds. We tucked warm up inside once the sun had set for another freezing cold night. SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSCIt looks harmless enough but those little ridges shook the truck and us almost to bits. SONY DSC It was 11 o'clock the next morning before we could get all the vehicles started and get back on the road. The cold had frozen the diesel in the Bremach's tank and the lack of oxygen at the high altitude makes it difficult for all the engines to start. Without a cloud in the sky, the high altitude scrubby desert was every colour from yellow, orange to brown. Although virtually uninhabited there were lots of horribly corrugated crisscrossing tracks through all the valleys from the land cruiser tours. The views kept on getting better and better though, as we stopped for lunch beside a salt crusted lake filled with flamingos. We arrived in time for sunset at the look out over Laguna Colorado. It was another freezing night on the small hill above the lake, it went down to minus 13°C at our highest camp yet of 4325m. We couldn't get any of the vehicles started before 11.30 the next morning, even with boiling water under the diesel filters. It gave us time for a walk along the lake, admiring its frozen edge. SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC We picked up an unwanted travelling companion on the bad road: "the knock". Amongst the other horrendous noises coming from the truck as we shook our way along, this particular one sounded very ominous. The other overlanders were making their way to Chile, so the South-west circuit was on their route. For us though, as we are planning on going to Paraguay next, it was a scenic detour. Weighing up all the pros and cons at lunch we decided to head eastwards to Tupiza missing out the last two lakes on the circuit, which would have been a whole days extra driving. We sadly waved goodbye to the others and headed off. 15 minutes later a new swishing noise joined the cacophony, a puncture. Each of our tyres weigh 120kg and our spares are mounted high on the back, not an easy task to change. We were very thankful when the others pulled up behind us a little while later and helped us change and remount the tyre. The wind was bitingly cold, blowing dust in all our eyes. It took us 1.30 hours even with help. Setting off again we decided to drive until we were below 4000m, to give the truck a chance to start the morning. We jiggled along at barely 30km/hr on the remote desolate track. By 8pm we were still no lower than 4200m, so we decided to call it a night at the turning for Tupiza. It is only the second time we have used our massive spotlights on the top of the truck. We had parked just next to the entrance to the Reserva National de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa, so while we were waiting for the sun to warm the engine. Steve went off and asked about the road to Tupiza. It didn't sound good, rough and over many mountains with no where near to get the flat tyre fixed. The quickest way would to be to return to Uyuni, half of which would be on a better dirt road and then go to Tupiza, a 200km further drive also on a dirt road. Even though Uyuni and Tupiza were roughly equidistant from where we were parked. It was a two day hard drive to Tupiza either way but at least we could hopefully get somethings fixed in Uyuni. Thankfully the engine started at 9am but it was lunchtime before we hit the better dirt road, the track was relentlessly terrible right up to the last metre. The smoother dirt road into Uyuni felt very good. Although the roads on the South-west circuit were absolutely atrocious, the scenery was magnificent. Let's just hope there was no lasting damage to the truck and we can get everything fixed in Uyuni.

A Tale of Two Cities

Potosi is famous as a mining city. Set at 4000m on the Altiplano, Potosi was built underneath a hill ("Cerro Rico") that was full of silver. Over the years the Spanish funded their empire from the silver from Potosi. It was said that they mined enough silver to build a bridge all the way to Spain and still have enough left over to carry across it. Today there is hardly any silver left but there are some miners still mining for it in conditions that are nearly as bad as those the Spanish colonialists forced the indigenous population and African slaves to work in. One of the reasons tourists come to Potosi is to do a tour down a working mine. These are not entirely safe and therefore we had decided we were not going to do this with the kids. On entering Potosi we were soon lost and driving down increasingly narrow roads with the market spilling out into them. The town did not look very inspiring and nor was our parking spot in a coach/lorry park. Gilly said let's just get out of here but having struggled to get in I thought we should have a look around. The streets were very narrow and the cars almost touched you as you walked along the pavement in single file. Potosi is set in a harsh environment and you could feel it in the city. It's had a hard life and it felt a harsh place. There were a few pretty churches but not that much to keep us there.

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20140807-182908-66548256.jpg We stayed the night so we could visit the Casa Nacional de la Moneda, the Potosi mint the next day. This is where some of the silver was made into coins first for the Spanish empire and then for Bolivia. The museum was very good and we had a good guided tour.

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20140807-183147-66707191.jpg On the way back to the truck the street was full of marching bands as the following day was Bolivian Independence Day and so they were all practicing.

20140807-183310-66790746.jpg After our Potsoi experience and that of other Bolivian towns we were unsure of whether to go to Sucre. Whilst the scenery in Bolivia is fantastic the towns are not so inspiring. However we decided to push onto Sucre and were really glad we did. Sucre is the administrative capital of Bolivia and was where Bolivian independence was proclaimed on 6 August 1825 so it seemed appropriate to be there for Independence Day. Immediately on arriving the city felt warmer and more welcoming. The city is lower at about 2750m so it was warmer in temperature but the streets were also wider and we found a place to park up quite easily. When we arrived 2 fellow overlanders were also there who we had meant a few times before: Max and Tania and their kids as well as Michael and Natasha. We headed into town that evening which was jammed with people marching for the independence celebrations. We found a lovely French restaurant and had a great meal with a nice bottle of Bolivian ( yes, Bolivian!) red wine. We spent a couple of days in Sucre and thoroughly enjoyed the city. It was very relaxing and the centre of town was very pretty to wander around. As with many colonial cities we have visited the buildings are all painted white.

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20140807-183542-66942633.jpg On Independence Day we went into town to see the marching bands but we missed the President who was visiting.

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20140807-183836-67116935.jpg The following day we went to the Casa de La Libertad to see the museum where the Bolivian Declaration of Independence was signed. This gave an interesting insight into Bolivian history.

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A High Altitude Birthday

The Bolivian altiplano is wild and uncompromising, a high altitude treeless plateau with an endless cobalt blue sky pierced with the odd snow capped volcanos. It is hauntingly beautiful and almost flat apart from tussocks of scrubby golden grass. It stretches between the Andean mountain chains of Cordillera Real to the east, Cordillera Occidental in the west, Lake Titicaca in the north and down to the Chilean border in the south. You couldn't get an environment so different from where we were last week in the hot steamy jungle, yet they are just 200km away from each other. It is here we are planning to spend most of the rest of the time we are in Bolivia. 20140806-091724-33444348.jpgBefore heading off to the wilds we headed off to the supermarket in La Paz to stock up. To our surprise it was full of goods imported from the UK, this meant the shopping bill was a bit higher than expected! However we came away delighted with our purchases of salad cream, tetley tea, robertsons squash, heinz beans and bisto gravy granules amongst others!!!! After a year on the road, we were thrilled with these tastes of home (Megacenter for anyone coming after us). The Bolivia government heavily subsidises fuel but not for foreigners. A shame for us but I understand the politics behind it, quite how many foreign vehicles there are in Bolivia to make this anything else but a vote pleaser is another matter. The other problem for us is getting a petrol station to sell the fuel at the two and a half times more than the local rate, most can't or won't due to the extra paperwork involved. Many travellers have ended up coming to a deal with pump attendant with a mutually beneficial deal for both sides without the paperwork at out of the way places but we wanted fuel in La Paz, so that was out for us. Eventually we found a place on the main road south that were willing to do the extra paperwork and sell it to us for the inflated price although they couldn't find the UK in their computer system, so we are now officially Irish. Sajama National Park is a pristine part of the Altiplano, shadowed by three classically shaped cone volcanos topped by glaciers. We could see Sajama volcano from over 150km away, high above the flat plateau. At 4300m it is perishingly cold at night, down to -8°C when we were there, but the sun at this altitude is hot during the day. Everyone there wears a hat to protect themselves from the sun, it is easy to be freezing cold but get sunburnt at the same time. The high winds often make the temperature drop even further too, luckily it wasn't windy when we were there. There is a tiny village with a few hostels and a smart new medical centre, so it looks like some of the park entrance fees are at least being used to improve local facilities. It also has a pretty stone and mud church thatched with sods of grass. There is a scattering of tiny farmsteads is the park. Llamas and alpacas are about the only life stock that can survive there eating the tough dry grass.

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20140806-092034-33634111.jpgWe parked up near to some remote hot thermal pools. The owner was very pleased to see us, as he had managed to drain his truck batteries trying to start his truck in the cold the preceding evening. He was now almost 24 hours later considering walking the 8km back to the village with the two heavy batteries in a wheel barrow to see if anyone could charge them. We gave him a pull start along the bumpy dust track which got him going eventually. The cold starts at high altitude is something that has been worrying us a lot too, they don't sell winter diesel here and we've already had problems in Peru getting going when it is still cold. The good thing here is that once the sun rises the temperature rises rapidly. We just have to work out where to park the truck, so we get those all important rays on the engine and fuel tank. The following day was Alisha's 9th birthday, I can't believe our "baby" has got so big. A truly international girl, this is the 9th country she has celebrated her birthday in (it helps that her birthday was in the summer holidays when she went to school). Snuggling in the warm truck opening presents and relaxing was a lovely way to spend the morning, especially for me after going out before dawn to take photos. One of the side affects of altitude is increased need to pee to get out the alkali that builds up in the blood and we lost most of our acclimatisation by going down to the Amazon Basin. Once up it was hard to ignore the raw beauty of the early light or the lure of llamas with bright ear tufts backdropped by stunning volcanos.

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20140806-094418-35058325.jpgThe thermal pools were a delightful way to thoroughly warm through. Steve and I wallowed enjoying the view, while the girls collected the slimy green algae off of the bottom.... everyone was happy.

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20140806-092513-33913300.jpgWe took a short drive in the afternoon to take a wander around some geysers before parking up facing where we thought the sun would rise on the side of the track.

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20140806-092648-34008786.jpg The following day was a long driving day south towards Potosi, our Garmin satnav has totally given up in Bolivia, even with its South American chip inserted. She now just periodically mutters like a crazy person almost to herself: "Drive". Luckily Steve has his trusty backup navigator to tell him the way, unluckily for him, unlike the satnav the backup shouts back! We spent the night on the way in a quiet spot parked up beside a reservoir before heading on to Potosi the following morning.