Its true that some of the best stories and experiences are the ones that come unexpectedly.
I arrived in La Paz, the highest capital city in the world at 3640m, and embarked on exploring the city. I ventured the streets and cable cars before heading to San Pedro prison, a place made famous by the book ‘Marching Powder’, possibly my favorite book ever, though that’s not saying much given my limited reading list. The days of tourists bribing their way in for a tour are long gone, but it was still fascinating to see this massive prison right in the middle of the city.
I went back to the hostel for lunch and it is here where I unexpectedly bumped into Rob and Lu. I met Rob, an unhinged but hilarious Irishman, in Colombia where we followed a similar route for a week or so. He and Lu – who I also met in Colombia- had just arrived in La Paz and were recruiting a couple of people to share the costs of renting a car and go on a roadtrip to the salt flats in Uyini.
“That sounds good but I’ve already booked a salt flats tour in a few days” I told them.
“Fuck that, come on it’ll be fun”
And that was it all it took.
I cancelled my overnight bus and tour which I thankfully hadn’t paid for yet. We recruited another girl and the next day we would be off. An Irishman, an Australian, a Brit, and a South African on a road trip over some of the worst roads I’d ever seen—what could go wrong?
Acquiring a car was an ordeal in itself as there were strict limits as to where we could go and how much we could drive per day but eventually we got there.
The Start: We left La Paz at around 3 pm, aiming for Oruro—a journey that Google Maps optimistically put at 3 hours. A 6 pm arrival, dinner, and a few drinks? Perfect plan.
We got to Oruro at 2:30am.
The first problem we encountered, the first of many unbeknown to us, was actually leaving La Paz city. Our Suzuki crawled up the initial hills, but when we hit a steeper one, it was game over. Rob gave it his best shot, and we made it about a quarter of the way up before realising we weren’t going any further. Stuck on a hill, on the outskirts of the city, barely 15 minutes into our road trip—a series of unfortunate events had begun (videos on google link, they slow down page too much).
Eventually we made it out of the city and we were back on schedule… sort of. After a few hours we reached standstill traffic, and a long story short, a man told us in broken english that the road was closed for 3 hours. Why? No idea, but these random and unexpected hinderances became a theme on the trip. We looked at potential alternative routes to our destination and found one that was a little bit out of the way but at least it was better than waiting 3 hours. The group agreed we should top up on fuel first so we backtracked 20 minutes and joined a line of trucks also awaiting fuel. After 50 agonising minutes, we discovered it was a diesel-only station. Lovely.
Google maps took us to another fuel station, 20 minutes away only for it to be closed. With half a tank, we resorted to asking local shop owners if they had any fuel to sell. Through Google Translate, the first man we asked was happy to help and guided us to his house nearby to get some. The Bolivian hospitality we received on this trip, especially outside tourist hotspots, was a highlight. Warm, smiling faces greeted us, and the “gringo tax” which we had come to expect elsewhere was no where to be seen here. The cliche that those with less are often the happiest seemed to hold true.
Equipped with dodgy fuel from a local’s house, we set off again. The route took much longer than anticipated and went through terrain our poor Suzuki was not equipped to handle. We arrived in the tourist-less town of Oruro at 2:30 am, searching for a place to stay. Most hotels were closed, but we found one where our entrance woke the owner, and she put us in a room.
Oruro to Uyini:
Oruro offered nothing remotely interesting, so we got breakfast and hit the road, hoping for a smoother day.
We arrived in Uyuni after a relatively smooth day. Relatively meaning we still queued an hour for fuel, but smooth meaning, at least they had some. Uyuni is a small town in the southwest of Bolivia, serving as the gateway to Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat on the planet. We checked into a hotel, got dinner, some cheap wine, and booked a tour for the next day.
The Salt Flats:
The first stop was the Train Cemetery a few kilometres out of town. Economic decline and the mining industry collapse left these huge trains abandoned, which is now a tourist hotspot. They were cool, but the best was yet to come.
We then explored the famous salt flats which were amazing. We spent an age taking loads of perspective photos and then had lunch on the flats away from everyone.
Next a trip to this cactus place. Can’t tell you much about it to be honest but it was cool.
Finally, we headed to another area of the salt flats for wine and the sunset. It was absolutely surreal. In a year of amazing views and experiences, this was one of the best for sure.
The Road to Sucre:
After a day hard that was hard to top, we hit the road for Sucre, Bolivia’s second capital. We drove most of the morning, stopping in Potosi for lunch. The route from Potosi to Sucre would take six hours if everything went smoothly.
It didn’t.
Two hours in, we came across a queue of cars and people littering the streets. Some sat around fires, others had brought their own deck chairs. I didn’t know what was going on but what I did know was, they didn’t look ready to leave anytime soon. Rob bypassed the cars to see what was going on. A big pile of sand and dirt blocked the only road to Sucre.
We asked around and were told, “Protesta.” We learned very quickly that Bolivians love a protest. What this one was for, I’ll never know, but the road to Sucre had been blocked for three days.
Back two hours to Potosi for the night we went.
Potosi:
Potosi wasn’t the worst place to be stuck. Unlike Oruro, it attracts some backpackers, mainly for its ethically questionable mining tour. Tourists can tour the still-active Cerro Rico mines, where the life expectancy of workers is 40 and children as young as 12 work. We didn’t do the tour, partly due to moral implications, but mainly because the Euro quarter-finals were on, If I’m honest.
We stayed the night in Potosi and found a pub to watch the football the next day. It was a boozy affair, obviously. After a second night in Potosi, we had breakfast before the road trip crew disbanded. Rob and Erin headed back to La Paz, Lu took a bus to the airport in Santa Cruz, and I was off back to Uyuni to continue south toward Chile.
I was ultimately forced to spend another night in Potosi as I had put my washing in on Saturday to be picked up later that day but I forgot so would get it the next day and of course the laundry place was closed on Sundays.
Although so many things on the road trip went wrong, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The unexpected moments of disaster made the trip that much funnier and gave us so many stories to tell. A chance encounter with someone at the hostel bar led to one of my favourite weeks in almost 6 months of travelling.
Journey to Chile:
I reluctantly had to travel back to Uyini in order to get my bus to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. I got the 6 hour bus and stayed the night ready for a very long travel day the following day with a 6am bus trip.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bGuDYExR9n9ZmLvi9
Love it all!❤