Entering Bolivia: From Villazon to Uyuni

Storyline: Buenos Aires to Lima Nov 2017

As mentioned yesterday, the current unrest in Bolivia brought me back to my notes from our visit there, two years ago. We do hope they come to a peaceful resolution soon. Bolivia was our favorite during this trip. We only covered a small corner of this surreal country, but I fell in love with the mystic yet raw landscape and the colour of life stuck centuries behind modernization, yet still modern.

From the biggest and highest salt flats in the world through the moon valley in La Paz to the cold sapphire blue waters of highest large lake in the world, it was all surrounded by magic, drama and tradition. We felt like we were on a different planet. And perhaps we were. Which other country has 36 constitutionally recognised languages aside from Spanish?

The morning of November 15th we departed our hotel in Huacalera Argentina, continuing north on Route 9 through spectacular scenery. Approaching the border, we packed our cameras away. Photos were not allowed; thus, we don’t have any from this interesting border crossing. Our Argentinian guide dropped us off in front of the International Bridge connecting La Quiaca with Villazon in Bolivia. There was a market where vendors, it seemed to us from both countries, were selling all kinds of goods. We didn’t have time to observe it all. However, dragging our luggage on the uneven surface of the bridge we noticed many locals crossing a parallel bridge with dollies, bags or wheelbarrows, carrying what appeared to be goods, both ways across the border. There were no checkpoints on that bridge. It looked like an integrated border market.

We said goodbye to Argentina and walked through the Argentinian exit, and immediately afterwards the Bolivian entry, checkpoints. Our passports were stamped and off we went into Bolivia. It was that easy. Lining the street, were a few Cambios (exchange booths). We did away with our leftover Argentinian pesos and exchanged some American dollars too: enough to cover our tie in Bolivia. Fredy, our host for the next few hours, was waiting with 3 taxis ready to take us to his place in town. Not long after, we were greeted by Fredy’s family at their home. Villazon is at 3447m (11,309ft) above sea level, and for the first time I felt somewhat dizzy, despite the altitude pills I had taken earlier on our trip and despite the fact that the Tren a las Nubes had taken us much higher. And so, while our group was chatting and waiting for lunch to be served, I opted for a short nap in one of the bedrooms prepared for the occasion. After the heavy Argentinian meat cuisine, the home-made lunch was exceptional. As a matter of fact, we loved the Bolivian food throughout the journey, perhaps because the fresh locally sourced fruits and vegetables were plentiful.

We had only a few hours in Villazon before we boarded Wara Wara Express train (here we discovered a new meaning for ‘express’ as it averaged only about 40km/h) to Uyuni, our final destination for the day.

Fredy took us to the train station, gave us our tickets, loaded our luggage and made sure we boarded the correct carriage. Mind you there were only two of them.

One, what appeared to be first class, was occupied by us and another group of foreign tourists. The second-class coach was occupied by locals. There was also a restaurant car and then two cargo cars.

Swinging and swaying, the train took us through the Bolivian altiplano desert, high mountains in the distance, through villages and small towns, ploughed fields, dry and occasionally not so dry riverbeds, which I observed until the dark settled in.

The train stopped at Tupiza and then continued its long journey. After dark we had a nice dinner in the restaurant car.

However, I was still woozy and left most of it in favour of some sleep. We arrived at our hotel just outside Uyuni after midnight. After 1am the following day to be exact. It was a very long day.

It would be only after dawn when the light came through the big picture window that we’d marvel the salt dome over our bed, which also was made of a block of salt.

Indeed, the entire hotel and others in the area are made of salt blocks. Later we’d visit the original salt hotel, right on the salt flats, now serving as a souvenir shop, museum and café. At breakfast we learned that Donny, one of our group, was not feeling well. The plans shifted a bit.

We drove first to Uyuni’s medical centre, where we left him in the good hands of the local doctors.

We then visited the famous train cemetery of oxidised old steam engines and rolling stock, currently an adult playground, and a salt processing and packaging factory.

I still have a small pack of salt from Uyuni. Back at the hospital, we were told that they’d keep Donny for the night because he was dehydrated. So this day we missed Donny’s company and I am sure he missed us and the experience.

The drive through the salt flats was amazing. We were in two Toyota Land Cruisers – very popular in and around Uyuni – racing comfortably across the flats at 120km/hr.

The sight of this gigantic field – part of the sea bed before the tectonic lift of the continent and a lake in prehistoric times, is just unbelievable. After all, we were now at ‎3,663 metres (12,018 ft). It was sunny with clear skies and very dry. We stood over this incredible, vast, perfectly flat, never ending sea of white and I kept thinking it was snow.

Except that snow can’t form such perfect hexagonal surfaces. There was nothing around, aside from occasional Land Cruisers in the distance. And the wind.

In the 21st century, salt production is still manual. Not for lack of options, but because the of the communal economy. Our guide told us that the local population does not want industrialisation because they’d lose their jobs. So, from scraping the surface salt with shovels, to manual packaging (in plastic bags, mind you) it keeps the few pesos trickling into their pockets. Having lived under both socialist and capitalist economic models, I was fascinated to discover the way the Bolivian communal economy works. Its origin is probably rooted in the indigenous culture. We’d see it working later in La Paz, with their public transport “colectivos” (unions) and in Copacabana (the original one, on Lake Titicaca).

In the middle of the salt flats, under the blue skies, we were surprised with a picnic lunch. Tables and chairs were unloaded from our transport, and set up in the lee of the vehicles to protect us from the wind. We were served buffet-style, and there was no shortage of salt for those who wanted it.

In the evening we’d be back onto the flats to watch the sunset, with a glass of wine or two and snacks to go with it.

What a lovely evening this was! For me, Salar de Uyuni was the most magical experience during the entire trip through 3 very different countries.

It is the largest salt flat in the world. It also is exceptionally rich in lithium, which is increasingly in demand due to the growth in battery-powered transportation.

With Donny out of the hospital and feeling much better, the next day we’d have another amazing experience crossing the flats, hiking up the coral-covered Inkawasi (or Incahuasi – ‘Inca House’) Island, host to many gigantic cacti, in the middle of the flats,

and then lunching under the volcano accompanied by a few flamingo flocks of different species feeding in the shallow waters bubbling up at the edge of the flats.

After lunch we visited the tiny Chantani village under the Cerro Tunupa volcano. The colourful crater of the volcano made the white, grey and green area look like in a fairy tale. We walked through the almost deserted streets of the village, visited the church, a local museum and a burial site.

Burials were traditionally made in above-ground ‘caves’ where the bodies desiccated in the dry climate.

Later we walked through fields of hardy, low-growing vegetation – food for a herd of llamas – at the shoreline.

We were fascinated by the mirages in the distance across the flats. I was in awe at the entire world of contours emerging from ever-changing shades of white and grey.