South America 2002-3

San Pedro de Atacama was a delight. We left the last paved roads behind in Calama, but the town is peaceful and attractive, although it had the most tourists per capita that we have encountered so far. There are no junky storefronts. The houses are all one story adobe style building clustered on just a few streets around a small plaza. The town is situated in an oasis so there are actual trees and flowers to relieve the brown dust of the Atacama desert. Our hostel was quite nice with all the rooms clustered around an inner courtyard and the restaurants in town were good, so we enjoyed our stay.

We walked around town to see the local Spanish mission style church, built centuries ago with local materials and held together with llama leather instead of nails. We visited the Archaeological Museum, put together jointly by a local Belgian Priest, Gustave Le Paige and a Chilean University. It gave a very complete story of the evolution of the area from prehistoric times to the coming of the Spanish. There were numerous artefacts, from ceramic bowls to somewhat gruesome mummies. The practise of the Indian tribes of burying their dead in protected graves dug into the ground combined with the dry climate resulted in many well preserved bodies for archaeologists to find. Their most famous mummy is nicknamed ´Miss Chile´ because of her fine features and elaborate dress.

We didn’t get much sleep the night before our visit the El Tatio Geysers. The geysers are at their best while the air is still cold, hence we had to leave at 4 AM to drive 2 1/2 hours across the desert to see the geysers at sunrise. Our minibus load of 20 people joined lots of other vehicles for a starlit tour across the desert. We were advised to sleep if we could but that proved to be a little difficult when you are bumping across washboard roads. There is usually a main trail on the desert but it gets rutted easily and the drivers just pick their own trail parallel to the main one.

We arrived in time to see steam rising from hundreds of fumaroles over a wide area. This was the broad crater floor of an old, but still active volcano whose sides had collapsed. We had been warned to bring warm clothing as at an altitude of 4200 M the air is freezing until the sun warms things up. I had on a warm fleece, my Gore-Tex jacket and gloves but I forgot my toque and my ears were freezing for a while and I kept warming my hands over the hot geysers. There were no geysers that spout forth as high as Old Faithful or some of the ones we saw in New Zealand, but they were impressive. We were free to wander wherever we wanted, unlike the well guarded sights in other parts of the world.

We ate a tailgate breakfast at the site, then walked a short distance to a thermal pool on the edge of the geyser plain. Some of us took advantage of the warm 33 C waters to put on our swim suits and have a good soak before boarding the minibus again for the return trip. By this time it was daylight so we could admire the scenery and the wildlife. We saw a few very tame foxes, used to feeding on scraps thrown by the many tourists. There were lots of vicunas, a small llama variety with prized, soft wool, some emus and a herd of domesticated llamas.

We stopped at a small village, permanent population of 7, to have a break at their small store. The cute, five year old daughter of the family was delighted to see us come. She was not at all shy and engaged several of us in her games. Ray and I played hand and counting games with her and she laughed with delight. It was nice not to be besieged by begging children, although our driver gave her a candy bar as we left. I hope she doesn’t become too jaded in the future.

We stopped a few more times to see numerous waterfowl in a shallow river and flamingos on a lake, so it was about 2:30 by the time we got back. We were hungry by then so we shared a pizza in a restaurant that just happened to have a quartet playing traditional instruments and singing folk songs for our lunch time entertainment. They were very good.

That evening we were just going out to find a restaurant for dinner when we spied an English couple we had met in Bariloche. They joined us for dinner and we caught up on all our travels since we last saw each other. That is one of the bonuses of travelling the gringo trail. You often bump into the same people over and over again and get a chance to renew your acquaintances.

Click the map above to see a photo album for Part 1of the Salar de Uyuni trip. Close the window to return to this page.

The main reason we came to San Pedro was to take a three day jeep tour across the desert to Uyuni, in Bolivia. There are lots of fascinating sights along the way and we had a great time, despite a few unexpected events.

We left San Pedro in a minibus with 10 others. We took the unpaved Paso de Jama road, part of a pan-oceanic route from Antofagasta, Chile on the Pacific coast, through Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to Brazil on the Pacific ocean. Of course, we didn’t go all the way. We turned off at Volcan Licancabur (5960 M) right on the Bolivian border. We circled the volcano to reach Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde on the north side. The two lakes were once joined but the waters receded long ago leaving two distinctly different lakes separated by a narrow road. The Laguna Blanca is ringed with white chalks and salts and is home to many flamingos who eat the algae that flourish in the waters. The Laguna Verde, at 5000 M altitude, is emerald green, but it is a dead lake. No fish or flamingos call this lake home as the various minerals in the waters are poisonous to life. It was beautiful to look at anyway.

On the Salar de Uyuni

Volcan Licancabur from Laguna Blanca

At Laguna Blanca we left our minibus and were divided into two groups of six to travel the rest of the way in Toyota 4 X 4’s. The groups were formed so that there were Spanish speaking people in each group as our drivers/guides spoke almost no English. Our group consisted of Ray and I, Amelia from the US, and Karin, Axel and Harry from Germany. I can speak and understand a little Spanish, but thank goodness Amelia and Karin spoke more Spanish than I do. We got along well the whole trip, which was good as we were to share the jeep and dorm rooms for the next three days.

Our next stop was the Termas de Polques, a small thermal pool. We had packed our swim suits but the pool was quite shallow so most of just paddled around in the warm waters. From there we went to see more geysers at Sol de Mañana, said to be the highest in the world at 4950 M. The area was smaller than El Tatio, but they were more active and definitely noisier. We wandered around taking pictures of boiling mud pools and smoking holes.

Laguna Colorado

Back in the vans again we made our way downhill to our hostel for the night at Laguna Colorado, altitude 4200 M. Since we had left San Pedro that morning at a mere 2800 M and climbed all the way to 5000 M at Laguna Verde, most of the people were feeling the effects of the altitude. At that point we didn’t feel too bad, the result, we thought , of our previous days trip to El Tatio. We left the rest of our group napping in our room and went for a walk around this large, shallow lake. It was home to hundreds of flamingos as well as many other water birds and was quite a sight. The center was flamingo pink and the 61 Km perimeter was ringed with white salt flats.

After our walk we were starting to develop a headache, so it was our turn to have a rest. Our appetites were somewhat depressed, but we took some Ibuprofen (Tylenol) and the next morning we were feeling fine again. Karin had a supply of coca leaves from her Machu Picchu hike so we all had some with our breakfast tea, which helps with the aclimatization. Thankfully all of us recovered well so we didn’t worry about the altitude anymore.

Day two of our trip was a little more adventurous than we had anticipated. We had a leisurely breakfast and ended up being the last jeep to leave the hostel. We thought that was a bonus because when we reached our first photo op spot, we had the place to ourselves. We were not the only tour groups on the route, there were at least seven other jeeps going the same way. We stopped to take our group photo at the Arbour de Piedra, a 15 M high rock shaped by the wind and ancient lake waters in the form of a tree, sort of like the flowerpot islands in the Bay of Fundy.

Photo Op under stone tree

the jeep breaks down

Our driver, Teo, had checked under the hood of the jeep before we left the Arbour and about a half hour later, at 11 AM, he slowly turned off the main path and stopped to check again. This time we didn’t start again. Teo spent a long time fiddling with the engine, with suggestions from the fellows in our group, but it was no good. A bolt had come off the engine block and all the oil was gone. The two litres he had as emergency rations was not enough to get us going again. This is when we realized that being last to leave in the morning was now a detriment. The jeep had no communication system. We would have to wait until jeep groups travelling in the opposite direction reached us in the afternoon. At least there was a breeze to cool us, we had food and water and the shade of the jeep.

We lounged around and had lunch. About 1:30 PM Teo suggested that he and I walk across the desert plain to the east side. The jeeps are free to choose their own routes over the desert and Teo wanted to make sure we could stop as many jeeps as possible to get enough oil to get the engine started again. It was about 1 Km across and when we were about half way across we saw the dust of a vehicle approaching from the south, the direction we had come from. Teo ran to catch them and I stayed in the middle, waving my fleece around my head and watched the proceedings with my binoculars. The vehicle saw us and stopped. As Teo was talking with what turned out to be an old car with no extra oil, a jeep approached our broken down vehicle, where the rest of the group was waiting, from the north. They stopped, then took off. I found out later he had contributed a small amount of oil and told our group to wait for the other Colque, our tour company, jeeps to arrive.

It was a good thing that Teo had crossed to the opposite side as that was the last jeep to take the east side route. All the others chose the path on the west side. Eventually about seven jeeps had stopped and Teo had what he thought was enough oil to get the jeep going again. Eventually the jeep started, but it didn’t sound good. The engine had been damaged by the time the oil leak had been discovered.

It was 3:30 PM by this time and most of the group wanted to return to Laguna Colorada and start out again the next day. Teo was against this as it would mean another day and our food was limited. After much heated discussion and assurance from Teo that we would reach our hostel for the night about 7 PM, we agreed to take another jeep and keep on heading north. One of the waiting jeeps distributed their passengers and baggage amongst the other jeeps. Teo was to drive the disabled jeep the one hour drive back to Laguna Colorado in convoy with the now overloaded jeeps.

We all piled into our new jeep with our new driver, Zumdi and took off.We roared off across the desert. About a half hour later we seemed to swerve in the soft sand. Axel, sitting in the back said we had a flat tire and we all called out to Zumdi to stop. Sure enough, one of the back tires had pancaked on the rough road. All the fellows helped to change it for the spare and 15 minutes later we were on our way again.

Flamingos on Lago Hedionda

We stopped very briefly to admire more flamingo filled lakes and take pictures of a smoking volcano, but it was a long way and it was getting late. We came to a tiny community where the weekly train between Calama, Chile and Uyuni, Bolivia, makes a stop at the provincial border post. We had to report in and show our passports, then we were off again across a vast plain.

We saw a truck on the east side of the plain and then we noticed a person running towards us waving a white cap. We stopped and Zumdi had a discussion with a woman who was asking for assistance for her husband's broken down truck. Zumdi refused at first, then he asked us if we would be willing to give the truck a push start. We said sure, piled the woman in with us and drove about 1 Km across the desert. We all got out, got behind the truck and pushed until the motor started. We said our goodbyes and were on our way again. It was starting to get dark. Gone are the days when we were in Torres Del Paine and it was still light at 10 PM. We are farther north now and we put our watches back one hour when we crossed the border to Bolivia. As I looked back, the truck had not moved at all, but we could do no more. They were in for a night in the desert if another vehicle did not come along.

About 8 PM we came to a small community with hostels used by other tour companies. I knew our hostel was further on. I asked Zumdi how far it was and he said, one hour! Everyone groaned but what could we do. Just out of town Zumdi got out and removed rocks serving as road blocks and carefully drove over broken bottles. We figured he knew a short cut but we found out later he was avoiding another police checkpoint. Other jeeps had been stopped and had to do a lot of talking to proceed. We drove on next to plowed but barren fields until at 9:00, as promised, we saw the lights of our hostel, near the edge of the Salar de Uyuni, a 12,000 sq km salt lake that we were going to cross the next day. We piled out of the jeep, checked into our room and went inquiring about dinner. At first we were told we were too late but with a little persuasion they came up with a good dinner for us at 10:00 PM. We ate heartily and went to bed.

Read Next: Episode 5: Page 2