Chile to Argentina

Oct 4-5, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

We chill out in San Pedro, using the internet and doing laundry. It’s a small, pleasant, colonial style town with all tourist services located within a few blocks. We are stuck here for a few days waiting for the next bus to Argentina. There are several tours offered, but coming from Bolivia, they seem passé.

In Chile, we notice that everyone has suddenly become younger. Vana and I are now chicos. In a restaurant, I address a young, but very tall woman as senora. She comes over almost out of breath, and explains how she is shocked. On the way out, I thank her as senorita. She is all smiles, from the return of youth.

These few days in Chile are a tremendous relief. Peru and Bolivia were really cool, but it’s like heaven to breathe normal air pressure. We also appreciate the higher quality and larger variety of food. Vana has decided that Chile is a great place, after seeing a picture of their female president at immigration office. It’s a little early to summarize the Chile experience, but we’ll be back in a few weeks.

patriotic mountain bike

wine and dine, makes us feel fine

CLICK HERE to see pictures from San Padro de Atacama


Oct 6 San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to Salta, Argentina by bus


Today, we take the 10 hour Pullman bus to Salta, Argentina. The bus climbs back the same road up towards Bolivia, but then turn south towards the Argentina border. The border is in the treeless rocky highlands. It doesn’t feel too high, but one woman on the bus is treated with oxygen. After dropping through some pretty cool canyons, we arrive around 9PM, and stay at Hostel Cathedral. The people working the place are really bizarre, as the guide book’s reference to the Adam’s family suddenly clicks.

Highlands near the border

Dropping through canyons towards Salta

Northwest Argentina desert

Oct 7 Salta to Buenas Aires, Argentina by bus

Salta offers more chances to visit deserts and canyons, but after the amazing jeep tour in Bolivia, we decide to pass. We spend a quick morning downtown to get Argentina pesos, breakfast, and a SIM card. At the bus station, Kevin scarfs down a pizza while Vana enjoys the wireless internet. The Salta bus is really nice, with better services most US airports.

At 1PM, we catch the Veloz del Norte 18 hour night bus to Buenos Aires. Again we score the seats of death, which are not popular with the locals. The bus is bonus, as the entire second floor is semi-cama class 2, a few notches better than business class on an airplane.

Kevin loves these South American busses. It’s neat to watch them “taxi” into the bus terminal, and park at the “gates”. After some Indiana Jones and Denzel Washington, the bus stops at a roadside restaurant for dinner, included with the bus ticket. Our first taste of the grass feed Argentine beef is delicious. Their beef is supposed to be more healthy and environmentally friendly than the corn feed beef common in the US. Which tastes better? We’ll see after a few days!

Hello from the seats of death to Buenos Aires

Bolivia - Jeep Safari

Sept 28 Oruro, Bolivia


Today we buy our train tickets, and look around for a cheaper and better hotel but can’t find anything. We are surprised to find all the trash on the street is gone in the morning. If the street cleaning people strike, you will need jungle boots to get around.

Sept 29 Oruro to Uyuni by train


Today we take the 3:30pm Expreso del Sur to Uyuni, the hub for visiting the famous salt flats and southwest circuit. The train ride is spectacular, passing over barren flat land of Bolivia’s southern altiplano. In one spot, there are shallow flats of water, with tens of thousands of beautiful flamingos; white bodies and pink wings with black tips. As the train freaks them out, they half fly and half run over the shallow water.

The perfectly flat treeless plain contains scatter hills in the distance and changes every hour between short tee-pee looking grass, and water deprived putting green like grass. We get a lightning show, followed by rain, and then a sunset that breaks the clouds like a giant brush fire across the horizon.

We arrive at 10:30pm and check into the Hotel Julia, near the train station.

Expreso del Sur train

Shallow lagoons

Flamencos strut their stuff

Altiplano rain

brushfire sunset

CLICK HERE to see Oruro to Uyuni road pictures.


Sept 30 Uyuni, Bolivia

Today we book the standard 3 day jeep tour to the salares and southwest circuit. There are 60 companies offering the same basic tour. We talk with at least ten, and choose Expeditions Limpez. The fellow at this agency speaks good English, and explains how his tour is better than the others. Most of what he says is crap, but we are fortunate to get a good driver. We buy some hats and gloves for the cold nights and early mornings at high altitude.


Oct 1 First day of jeep tour, Southwest Bolivia

Around 11AM, our driver, Nuestro pulls up with his Toyota Land cruiser, and we load our stuff. The travel agency rents us sleeping bags, and supplies 12 liters of water for the three day trip. In our jeep is Amy from Austrialia, Carolina from Argentina, Iolanda from Spain, and Kevin from the US.

Nuestro is classic Bolivian; quiet, but friendly. After every stop he asks; Estan contento amigos? We think he looks like a walking potato. He is a conservative driver, and we are happy that he is sober for our entire trip. We are also happy that he makes stops for los banos libres y naturales (free and natural bathrooms).

First, we visit the train graveyard just outside of town for some quick pictures of rusted iron against clear blue skies. Next we pick up our cook, Luisa.

Then, we visit a village just outside the Salar de Uyuni, where workers process all the salt used in Bolivia. The process seems pretty simple; drive a truck out to the flats, load up a pile, dump the pile in the back yard, shovel atop a heater to remove moisture, shovel the treated salt into a grinding machine, bag it, and tag it. Suddenly, the small rocks in my food now make sense.

Next, we drive out on the salar, and stop to see the salt mounds, dug by salt workers harvesting the salt. Nearby we visit the original Salt Hotel, which is now closed as hotels are no longer allowed in the salar. We stop for lunch at the Isla de los Pescadores, and hike around this bizarre rock and cactus island in the middle of the salar.

For the evening, we stay at a salt hotel just south of the salar. What is a salt hotel? Imagine Superman’s house, where salt is used instead of ice. All the walls, floor, and furniture are salt. It seems salt is everywhere, except for its strange absence on the dinner table. I’m not one to get excited about hotels, but this is the coolest place we’ve every stayed; even cooler than the ryokan hotel in Japan. Electricity is by generator from 7-10PM, and hot water is by request; lighting a propane heater with a match.

Bolivia, here we are!

Vana loves salt

bag it, tag it

the salt waltz

salty hotels makes us thirsty

hexagons as far as the eye can see

mirages

Isla de los Pescadores

kung-fu kicks

the salt thinker

blown away by the flats

salt Hotel dining room

our room in the salt hotel

Oct 2 Second day of Jeep tour, Southwest Bolivia

The day starts with several hours of driving in the morning. We pass the last trace of civilization in the small village of San Juan before starting the slow climb into the treeless rocky landscape of Southwestern Bolivia. Carolina from Argentina and Iolanda from Spain pass the time singing songs in Spanish. They teach us and translate the words, which are really funny. Our favorite as follows:

La cucaracha, la cucaracha, no puede caminar. Pero no falta, por que tiene maryjuana por fumar!

In their comic rendition of the classic; the cockroach can’t walk, but it’s not his fault, because he has something to smoke!

We stop at Piedra de la Arbor (tree rock) and look at the bizarre wind sculpted rocks in a cold and breezy valley.

In the afternoon, we visit the five lagoons and take pictures of the flocks of flamingos and other birds. The flamingos are constantly working the lagoon eating micro-organisms. Unlike the zoo, very few pass the time resting on one leg.

After lunch, the jeep makes a major climb to higher altitude to reach the Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Ecuardo Avaroa. Our basic accommodations for the night are just up the hill from the red adobe colored Laguna Colorada, just above 13000 feet.

Nuestro finds that one of the tires is leaking air. After changing to the spare, he replaces the tube in the leaky tire. Our group warms up in the chilly evening taking turns filling the tire to 28 PSI using a bike pump. With layered clothing, we pile into our sleeping bags underneath multiple wool blankets. The temperature at night can drop to -10 deg F.

Vana's charm lights the world!

Piedra de la Arbor (tree rock)

flamingo beauty

flamencos in formation over Lagoon Colorada (Red Lagoon)

moonrise just before sunset

working the spare with a bike pump

the bike pump team

basic accommodations, but very comfortable

ready for a -10 deg morning

Oct 3 Third day of Jeep tour, Southwest Bolivia

After a 4:30 AM wake-up, we leave around 5:15 AM, climbing above 15000 feet to Sol de Manana to see the geysers at sunrise. We arrive just before sunrise and catch the dreamy mist of the geysers in the first light of the morning.

Next, we drop down to 4200m to Termas de Polques for a glorious morning dip in the sulfurous hot springs aside an incredibly beautiful lake. The ice crusted lake is surrounded by bubbling thermal springs, enjoyed by flamencos and tourists alike. After putting on our swimsuits, Kevin's 15 clothing items pile knee high.

After the morning dip, our swimsuits freeze solid in the early morning sun, while we enjoy a breakfast of tea and pancakes served from the back of the Land Cruiser. Vana finishes her breakfast, looks out towards the lake and states, “This is the best morning of my life!”

The final stop of the jeep tour is at Laguna Verde, just besides the Chile border. Unfortunately, the morning’s low wind means the lake is pretty, but not green today.

5am view at dawn

Sol de Manana, geysers at 15000 feet

flamencos in the morning at Termas de Polques

hot springs at Termas de Polques

beautiful pancake morning

run for the Chile border

active volcano

painted rock landscapes

group pic at Laguna Verde

The jeep unloads our stuff at the Chile border, and we board our pre-paid bus transfer to San Pedro de Atacamas in Chile. Thanks to Nuestro and Luisa for a great trip!

Bolivia and Chili border, we made it!

The bus to Chile drops way down to 2440m passing at least seven runaway truck ramps. We arrive in San Pedro de Atacama, and check in to Residencial Vilacoyo. The shared showers and bathrooms are very clean, as the proud owner circles the small inner courtyard singing with her mop in hand every few hours. After getting some cash, we head out for eats. It seems the Menu Del Dia has tripled in price, but the quality is up several orders of magnitude.

We definitely enjoyed Bolivia in all its extremes. It seems to be the highest and coldest, but the sun seems the strongest. The people are the poorest, but are very friendly and helpful. The tour operators are some of the worst, but the tours are some of the best. Bolivia easily makes the top five in our travels for scenery and taking pictures.

Jeep trip through the salares and southwest circuit complete!

CLICK HERE to see more amazing pictures of beautiful Southwest Bolivia.

Peru to Bolivia

Sept 25 Puno to Copacabana, Bolivia

It’s time to leave Peru. Our visit was pretty quick. Since we visited the Amazon in Ecuador, we only hit the major tourist sites in Peru. The price to fun ratio was so-so, but I’m sure Peru has more to offer in places we did not visit.

Today, we take the Colectur international bus to Cocabana, Bolivia, on the southern shore of Lake Titikaka. The bus is packed with Irish, who have an amazing ability to talk non-stop for three hours, even for a 7:30AM departure.

At the border, everything goes smooth until we find that Bolivia charges US citizens a $135 “reciprocal” visa fee. We are surprised because the guide book doesn't contain this recent development. After the bus unloads our luggage and leaves us in the frontera, we weight our options. Since we are in the middle of nowhere, far from an airport or the Chile border, we decide to bite the bullet.

We walk back into Peru, change traveler's checks for a fat wad of fives and ones, and then cross back into Bolivia. Fortunately, it’s only a $1 taxi ride to Copa.

A lot of countries are now charging the $135 “reciprocal” visa fee. This is the reason we are not going to Brazil or Paraguay. I guess you could consider it fair; they charge what we charge. On the other hand, the fees are not logical. When crossing the border, there are no electronic photographs, fingerprints, computerized database, or X-ray scanning machine. Clearly, the visa fee is political backlash, and is not used to protect Bolivian citizens from American visitors.

In Copa, we check into a hotel, and eat lunch with three Americans, who recognize us from the border incident. We walk to the plaza and visit the church. Outside of the church, cars are lined up to receive blessings; holy water on the engine, flowers on the windows, and beer squirted on the tires. I wonder if the blessing more effective than an oil change.

Blessing car engine with Holy Water

Beer for the tires

Copa sunset on the waterfront

Sept 26 Copacabana to Isla Del Sol by boat

Today we take the painfully slow boat to Isla Del Sol, just off the peninsula from Copa. The Island is more like a mountain sticking out of the lake. We find Lake Titikaka to be rather unspectacular; that is until you hike up a thousand feet for a bird’s eye view.

Rack and pinion steering, 75 horses of destruction!

75 hp boats in no hurry

After a few hours boring visit to the north of the Island, we make the breathtaking climb up the Inca staircase, and then continue to the top of the southern village. We stay at a spectacular hotel, facing the sunset in the west. The little candle lit pizza restaurant next to the hotel also has spectacular views. A lightening storm fires up in the distance during sunset.
Vana learns how to shoot lightning, and then teaches another foreign woman with the same camera. (Vana: highlight of my day)

sunset at Pizza restaurant

Lightning at sunset

Sept 27 Copacabana to Oruro, by foot, boat, bus, taxi

Leaving our drapes open, we are awaken by the moon, and then again by sun rise. In the morning, the children of the village are out walking their sheep.

Moon from our room

Island of the moon at sunrise

Today, we take a long 14 hour trip, continuing our journey south as follows; hike down thousand feet, slow boat back to Copa, pick up our luggage, 4 hour bus to La Paz including a barge and boat crossing, 20 minutes in La Paz to change buses, 3.5 hour bus to Oruro, taxi to hotel.


At first we are thinking to break the trip with a night in La Paz. However, a travel agent we befriended in Copa tips us off about a strike scheduled for tomorrow. An Australian on the bus who lives in La Paz confirms the information.

While dropping into La Paz at 12000 feet from nose bleed altitude, the Australian explains how it works. There is a disadvantaged city just above La Paz, which straddles the main road leading in and out of the city. When they are unhappy about government policy or wages, they strike by blocking the road, including access to the airport. The Australian shows us the people gathering, and where the road will be blocked. Usually no one is hurt, as buses are not set ablaze until all the people and their luggage are unloaded. The strike will trap us in La Paz anywhere between 2 days and 2 weeks.No thanks.

We arrive late in Oruro and stay at the Hotel Hildago. The hotel is not great for the price, but the owner is really friendly and helpful. Oruro is a trash dump mining town, but it’s the spot for our next train connection. The people are lively and the street side fresh squeezed orange juice is a treat!

Bus dropping into La Paz, from the seats of death

Oruro downtown: potato fritter with hot dog and egg, smothered in salsa

CLICK HERE to see pictures from Copacabana to Oruro