NY Post Article

THE LINK TO NY POST SEEMS TO BE SCREWED UP.... SO IF YOU CARE. THIS IS THE ARTICLE FROM THE WEBSITE - WITHOUT THE PRETTY PICTURE AND BOLIVIA MAP.

Salt of the earth

BEN CRAMER lucks out and lives to tell about a road trip through Bolivia’s wild south

IMAGINE a world so cracker-dry, so flat and harsh and unrelenting that there’s no soil or water, no trees, no plants, no people, no buildings or roads. A world made up entirely of hard, crunchy salt.

If you’re thinking of some alien planet, come back to Earth. This barren landscape makes up the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, located high on Bolivia’s al-tiplano. Devastatingly beautiful, brutally inhospitable, it is also one of the world’s greatest road trips — minus the roads.

The Salar, once part of a prehistoric lake, is now a stretch of 10 billion tons of perfectly flat, crusty salt stretched over 4,700 square miles and surrounded by desert. At nearly 12,000 feet, the thin air makes exertion difficult.

When I decided to tackle this adventure with three friends, Brian, Oliver and Nick, all of whom live in Bolivia, we followed the guidelines to a T: We gathered the prescribed 55.5 gallons of gas, storing it in plastic cans on top of Brian’s Toyota Land Cruiser, a rough-and-tumble number with no back seats, weak head lights and a front window that wouldn’t close.

OOPS

We did everything right — except that we went without a guide.

We relied, instead, on a GPS device and a macho assumption by my ex-pat friends that their instincts were indisputably well-honed. Big mistake.

Our itinerary was similar to those used by Salar tour guides. It would take us west from Salar’s one formal entrance (20 miles north of Uyuni), give us a day and night on the flats, then take us south to the desert, where eventually we’d reach Laguna Colorado (a large, reddish lake) and Laguna Verde (a large, greenish lake), as well as some celebrated (and elusive) hot springs.

We set out from La Paz, Bolivia’s capital, and traveled 12 hours south and west on back-breaking “highways” (more often than not, cratered dirt roads). We entered Salar under a piercing sun, chewing coca leaves to fight fatigue. I ignored my suspicion that we were in over our heads.

The first night’s destination was Isla de Pescado, a cactus-tangled “island” of brown land —one of only a handful — on the otherwise white plain. With the sun beginning to set and no road to follow, we were officially panicking, until suddenly, the island appeared.

With the sun almost down and the wind howling, we scrambled to make camp. Nothing holds the heat on this stretch of earth, so temperatures plummet from the mid-60s to freezing in about an hour. We went to bed in long pants and hats.

By early morning our tents had become ovens; we hurried back into summer clothes.

Another two hours of dumb luck thrashing across the Salar was interrupted by a Bolivian army troop at an isolated military outpost pointing guns at us and demanding to see our passports. Eventually, we landed in the rocky, hilly desert.

DESERT LIFE
The desert supports a handful of species, from the usual (foxes) to the exotic (vicunas, a type of llama) to the surreal (pink flamingos).

But all that became somewhat unimportant as we scrambled to find a place to camp, eventually settling near a mountain that blocked the wind.

And then, on day three, on a steep incline in the middle of nowhere, the salt-encrusted engine of the Land Cruiser quit.

But luck was on our side. The Toyota started back up, and miraculously, we encountered a guided group. What’s more, the guide had the exact fuel filter we needed. (Sensing he had the market cornered, he jacked up the price to $4.)

On our final day, we drove south, past geysers that rival those of Yellowstone, to the Lagunas Colorado and Verde. And then, the jackpot: the hot springs. At 6:30 a.m., we shed our clothes and tip-toed through 40-degree air and over crackling ice to slink into the thermal waters.

Aaaaaah.

In Honor of Pedro

my second tour of the salar and the lagunas in the extreme southern altiplano of bolivia was an enormous success. come'on guinness, large ben, el boliviano, and me - johnny nascar (see the shades) began the journey with some beers and dinner at a local pub tuesday night. getting an early start at 1am wednesday morning, we made tracks for uyuni - 9 hours away with a live turkey, 128 cds and a roof full of gear.

foreshadowing the journey ahead, we slammed into some enormous potholes within an hour of leaving and nearly lost control. traversing the southern altiplano requires extreme patience, unbridled enthusiasm, four wheel drive and a host of repair items. luckily we had 3 of the 4.

beginning the 2500 kilometer trek with an all nighter, we stumbled bleary eyed into uyuni with a flat tire, no map and raging hunger... after replenishing, repairing and receiving a donated map - we ventured into the vast salt lake known as the salar of uyuni with only a vague idea of where we were headed (west then south then north then east).

after much serious debate, we arrived at isla de pescado and found "one of the top 10 campsites ever." eating well by a camp fire and sleeping underneath a canopy of bright stars, the road trip was off to a tremendous start.

racing south across the flats with brian and oliver surfing/filming on the roof, pedro (the turkey) became a bit restless... thanksgiving morning seemed to have aroused a survival instinct as he strutted around chest and feathers out... gaining confidence he attacked your poor story teller and his companions - including a two footed drop kick to el boliviano.

passing from salt flat to desert we made our way to our second camp site a few hundred meters off the main road where the howling wind was reduced to a growl - and the preparations for thanksgiving commenced. obeying advice... three of us coordinated to force wine down pedro´s throat... apparently if you dont get em drunk they get all tense and the meat is tough.

after allowing him the proper amount of time to enjoy his drunkeness, we commenced a ceremony to pachamama (mother earth). coca leaves, beer and some sticks where disbursed in a circle and the guillatine was prepared. pedro went somewhat peacefully... although the saying 'like a chicken with his head cut off' now has new meaning.

while the pavo tasted pretty horrible, the killing, cleaning and cooking process was an experience i wont forget.

finding our way back to the road in the morning.... Earl (the land cruiser) began to protest the monotonous journey across rocks and dirt. unsure of the problem and mechanically deficient, the four gringos pressed some tour companies for advice.

with our gas filter on backwards it was clear we were ill prepared for our trip. the chaffeurs broke out their spare parts and went to work. walter (friend of the map donator) came to the rescue and we managed to get the part we needed for 4 bucks. then Earl reacted by refusing to start, part of the door falling off and the rear door refusing to close.

despite the erratic and often death defying driving skills of Come'on Guinness (including getting us stuck in a river), Earl pressed on and we completed the circuit by hitting the lagunas, a hot spring (not pictured), and some geysers (not pictured).

As you can see in the following pictures, we saw an amazing variety of landscapes, wildlife and weather. arriving back in uyuni at 8pm - we dove into our first served meal since departing 3 days earlier. a pizza buffett created by our friend the map donator - happy to see we had maded it back safely.

http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b30c4e562590

until the next adventure,
nick

fyi the camera ran out about midway but this will give you the basic idea.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

4 Gringos, a couple of wild turkeys, a jeep with an extra tank of gas,
2 chocolate pecan pies, bongo drums, a compass, a frisbee, a hackysack, a
map of Bolivia and plenty of thanksgivin fixins. Its turkey time! We are
off to the salt flats and lagunas of southwestern Bolivia to celebrate that
good old American holiday in the midst of one of the world's most
spectacular places. Details to follow on the flip side.....