Date : November 27th, 2000
From: America Latina 2001
Subject : a 505 car at 4700 meters high
Place : Uyuni

Wednesday, November the 15th

We woke up at 8 a.m., the car was loaded with food - we took enough for five days - with 30 litres of water and 36 litres of petrol that we placed on the roof. To be on the safe side, we went to the nearby "Vulcanisation" to take a second-hand tyre that cost 10000 pesos ($ 23). We were ready to leave for Bolivia !

At 9 a.m. we arrived at the Chilean border post, several lorry drivers were waiting juste like us that the custom officers had finished their breakfast. Around 9.30 a.m., a custom officer arrived at last, he checked our papers, and with two fingers, he typed the "Travel permit of the car" on a typing machine of the 1950s, and we were allowed to go at last after a quick stop at the immigration office.

We drove, as we did the day before, the 2000-meters difference in height in 45 minutes, and we found ourselves again at the Bolivian border post. Getting out of the car, our Chilean friend (who works for a tourist company in San Pedro) welcomed us like heroes : "Well ! You managed to drive up there !" Two groups of people coming in a bus from San Pedro were to embark on their 4x4 towards Laguna Verde et Colorada. We sorted out a few formalities for the custom house with the friends we met the day before. The custom officer looked so cheerful (that we paid 6000 pesos maybe) and found it so original to drive across Bolivia in a private car, that he went with us to the car and wished us "Buena suerte !"

20 minutes later we arrived at Laguna Blanca : where the main road separates in two : the 4x4 track and the main road leading to Uyuni. After conversing with the driver of a "red 4x4", the latter offered us - for US$ 10 - to show us the way till Uyuni, where he thought to arrive the day after.

This would enable us not only to go through the Lagunas, but also not to get lost and to find help in case we needed some. We accepted the deal ! Bye to the main road, now make way for the adventure !

The track started by running alongside the "Laguna Blanca", then it crossed a river that linked "Laguna Blanca" to "Laguna Verde" at the bottom of the Licanbur : the red 4x4 went first and sank up to the top of the wheels !! This was far from reassuring us ! We decided instead to take a small lane covered with stones, on the right side. While one of us was driving, the other one waded about in the water that was 5 Celsius degrees cold in order to remove the stones in the way; the car stood on the stones and we reversed to get out of it but still we didn't reach the other side. We then decided to take the same way as the 4x4 did... the water rose higher than the wheels but we made it ! Pfew !

As a result of all this we thought we had wronged the transmission that made a muffled noise each time we went faster than 30 miles/hour ... we kept our fingers crossed, there were still 249 miles left until the next garage !

At noon we stopped near springs of hot water to have our lunch. The red 4x4 was there as well as a white 4x4 in which Wolfgang and Marek were travelling.

We had some crisps and bananas and then we resumed our trip among the wonderful landscapes of south Bolivia : in front of us stood a desert mountainous valley that was both yellow orange-coloured and vivid red. The red 4x4 was about 1 mile ahead of us but we could follow it thanks to the cloud of dust it made. The altimeter was gradually showing 4200 meters, 4300, 4400... the track was multiplying more and more : there were a left way, a right one, a diagonal one, etc... and suddenly we saw "the cloud of dust" leaving the main road and taking on the right. Thank goodness we had decided to follow him otherwise we would have taken the wrong direction.

This track rose up in the mountains, the cloud of dust disappeared, the altimeter showed 4700 meters ! We went up the pass and in front of us, in the distance, we could make out a huge blood-red spot ! This was the "Laguna Colorada", an exceptional lake from which the pink flamingos derive their colours : due to the red plankton. The track plunges into the Laguna Colorada and looks onto a panorama over more than 19 miles. We sought the red 4x4 or just a cloud of dust... but we could see nothing at all ! Getting nearer the Laguna Colorada the track divided itself in two and a board indicated a refuge for tourists on the left and "Alota" on the right. We took the lane on the right till the hut of the National Park guards.

Nobody was in the hut, we decided to wait there : we thought that if the red 4x4 really wanted to get its US$10 it would inevitably make a U-turn to come for us or at least to check whether everything was all right... in the distance, we could make out a cloud of dust coming from the lake ?! Actually it was a motorbike... it came near us to drop the guard of the park. We got on well with him and we asked for information about the state of the road leading to Uyuni via Alota. We also asked him to get information by radio to check whether the red 4x4 was waiting for us on the other side of the lake : at the refuge, 30 minutes later we still had no news from the radio, it was 4.00 p.m. and we decided to spend the night there : if we had left for Alota straight away we might have got lost and if something had happened to us, we would have found no help. The guard, very kindly, informed us that tours in 4x4 passed by his post everyday at noon, which would enable us to get another escort till Uyuni the day after.

We arrived at the refuge at nightfall, the temperature fell drastically. We cooked our grub in the communal room while groups of posh tourists were staring at us as if we were extraterrestrial... they must have thought we could only speak Quechua or Mapuche as none of them spoke to us :-(
We spent the night discussing with the drivers of the 4x4 cars :
"What is the best road to go to Uyuni ?"
"Is it easy to get lost ?"
"How long ?"...
Once again we got mixed answers, but we understood that the track going on the left was quite extreme and that on the track going on the right (towards Alota) there were three rivers passing. For us, it was useless to sleep on it so we decided that the day after we would go and wait for the 4x4 cars going through Alota. If we stood at the crossroads at 11.00 a.m., we could make it.

Thursday, November the 16th

Olivier had quite a restless night because of some headache and nausea due not to the mountain sickness but to the petrol fumes when we filled up the tank the day before. We were surprised to find again a place where there was no tourist at all. To be at Laguna Colorada all alone... what a feat !

The sun beams heated up the atmosphere, in the morning the temperature was near -5/-10 Celsius degrees and the edges of the lake were frozen. We left at 10.00 a.m. in order to wait, as we had previously decided, for the 4x4 going towards Alota and that were to pass by the entrance of the park at about 1.00 or 2.00 p.m. The 505 didn't go very far, after trying to take a shortcut on the sides of the laguna, it got stuck into the sand ! This cost a 6-mile walk at an altitude of 4100 meters, in order to get some help from the guards of the park. We were very lucky as we learnt that they owned a "fake 4x4" but which would enable us to pull our car out of the sand and to put it onto the track again., we wasted 3 hours and above all we lost a chance to follow other 4x4 cars to lead us to the right place. We met again the guard we had seen the day before, and following his advice we ventured on the track going northward... for the first 12 miles the road was perfect and we drove on at 44 miles/hour, but the worst was still to come, we discussed in a camp with 2 people who explained us that the crossing of the cero was hard. Indeed after 6 miles we stood at the bottom of a stronghold ! Philippe walked ahead of the car to "clean" the rocky track. After 3 miles in first gear we were out of hell at last, the tyres did resist. Farther we met a 4x4 of some agency, and it was quite surprised to find us on this track ! He confirmed to us at the same time that we were on the right way.

The landscapes were still as wonderful, we arrived in one village, the first one since we had left San Pedro. Villamar is situated at the bottom of small cliffs... We then stopped at the football stadium and we talked with Bolivian people for the first time, apparently it was the first time they had seen a private car on this road !
They gave us advice about the way to cross the river before Alota, and showed us a path on the left... in short, all that wasn't very clear !
We started off again, rather worried since without any help we might get the car stuck in the water. After 2 other frightful occasions of near getting stuck in the sand, a 4x4 overtook us, that was our luck ! We started a chase till we caught him up in the forest of stones. It was the 4x4 of one of the drivers we met the day before... he was quite glad to see us and agreed to help us to make the car cross over. On this occasion we made acquaintance with Chantal and Pierre, two French people who were touring around the Lagunas too. They told us that they mistook us for smugglers who were trying to smuggle cars from Chile into Bolivia; when they realised that we were French, they took us for lunatics ! Eventually after a few miles, we reached the tricky passage but we drove through it without much difficulty thanks to our guide, avoiding a hole in the ground and displacing several stones. A true track led us to Alota where we found Wolfgang who, seeing us approaching, shouted : "Gee ! Did you came by Jeep ?"
Shower at 5 Boliviano, a good meal made with llama, and a well deserved night sleep ended the evening !

Friday, November the 17th

We woke up early in the morning, that day we had to go to Uyuni, we've been once again very lucky as an inhabitant from Alota was to go there and offered us to be our guide. No sooner had we left than regular soldiers stopped us - we had forgot them. A young soldier asked for our papers... after a short talk, and surely thanks to our passenger, they let us go through... Pfew, no "tip"; and above all we kept our Chilean travel permit.

The track was easier but still very tiring... 25 miles before Uyuni, our petrol gauge showed that we would soon run out of fuel and we had no more stock left on the roof... we entered the town with certainly less than 1 litre in the tank !
Because of the altitude we used around 15/17 litres : that was a record !

We've just crossed the highest desert in the world with our 505 over 310 miles... we recalled the Bolivian custom officer at the border when he wished us "buena suerte"... Well, yes indeed, we've been very lucky !

Olivier and Philippe