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.

Ayuda!

FYI - LINKS TO PICTURES OF BOLIVIA AT THE BOTTOM

Its been several weeks since the last email because my life has been more boring than usual (until this past weekend) - consisting of working (preselling telecom services to institutions) and going out in la paz and thats about it. More or less waiting for the government to announce the winner of the bid which has been postponed 5 times so far. next announcement date has been set for monday - we shall see.

so getting frustrated waiting for some type of news on the telecom project - i weasled my way into a trip to Potosi in southwestern Bolivia (situated between 11,000 and 13,000 feet - excluding peaks and bordering Argentina and Chile). The purpose of the trip was to do preliminary work on an Ecotourism proposal for the IDB (int'l dev. bank). And they need a finance guy to validate the viability/sustainability of the proposal - so there I am on a 5 day trip with Peter, Mela (his wife), Allen Robinson (tourism consultant from colorado), Anna Maria (bolivian architect), Freddy Yupa (bolivian tourism consultant), and the guides (Eberth and Rubin - both very cool).

Potosi is one of the poorest departments in Bolivia although it has a very rich silver mining history (much like the rest of bolivia - all the wealth was taken out of the region). It is also home to the largest (and highest - although everything seems to have that description in bolivia) salt lake in the world. There are also dozens of volcanoes, lakes, some ruins, etc. Also, this is an area of extremes recording 25 degrees and negative 30 degrees Celsius in one day (a world record).

The project will build hotels, restaurants, sewage and water systems, electricity, telecommuniations, transportation, etc. in communities in this region to increase tourism. It is currently very isolated and infrastructure is bleak - so only backpackers hit it. The project will include 5 or 6 sites and a ethno-historic museum in Uyuni (the starting point for seeing this region). The communities provide the materials, land, labor, etc. and receive a percentage of the gross revenues in return. The rest of the money covers operating expenses, infrastructure and goes into a pool for future tourism investment.

anyways the trip was awesome. it entailed being driven around potosi by rubin in a toyota land cruiser visiting various communities and talking to local leaders, businesses and others involved in tourism. along the way we crossed the salar de uyuni (the salt lake) several times which was very cool, passed dozens of volcanoes, saw some ruins and saw almost no human beings. a few highlights included watching a group of israeli girls take naked fotos of each other on the salar, a bit of hiking, and spotting various native animals (vicachi (similar to a rabbit), rhea (similar to a ostrich), llamas, vicunas, etc. - but no pumas). oh and we had to stop every time the light changed or a shadow moved so that allan and peter could take photos - this was very annoying.

the community meetings were an experience. we met mayors, alcaldias, townspeople, business men, artists, tourism officials, etc.. we also went to several town meetings. it was awesome to see the hope and wonder on these peoples faces as we described what we hope to accomplish for them. although personalizing the names on the map makes the urgency to get project funding much deeper and personal. but the hugs, handshakes and words of encouragement are something i will not soon forget.

and peter is an absolute hero. we were in towns of 500 people or less most of the trip and without fail he knew 3 or 4 of the people in each community and many more knew him. he has an excellent repoirte with these very simple people. so good, in fact, that he was asked to be the godfather of two children during the trip.

the most interesting 24 hours began the night we slept in the town hospital in san pedro de quemes. well it used to be a hospital but the doctor left and now it is just an empty building with beds and some old medical instruments. i was a little freaked out by the prospect of sleeping in a bed with old malaria or hepatitis germs but this was an act of kindness by the community - so there wasnt really anything we could do but accept it. (the blood on the wall next to my head didnt help)

the next morning we headed out to for the hot springs near the border with chile (about 70 kilometers). about 10 kilometers from our destination, in the middle of nowhere the jeep suddenly died. we hadnt seen a house or a person in 2.5 hours and had traversed the worst road i have seen on my trip (for those who know - much worse then the road from Coban to El Estor in Guatemala).

luckily the weather was nice, we had some food and water, and we were near the border with chile -(being near the frontier we were optimistic that there must be a military station somewhere). after several hours of 3rd world mechanics 101 and jeep pushing - a group of us set out to find help. and as luck would have it - help was less than 1 kilometer away in the form of a military station. the four soldiers were ecstatic to see us - we were a little bit of entertainment in an otherwise miserable and lonely existance for these guys. they let us use their radio and stared at me. and after a couple hours of trying we got through to san pedro and help was on the way.

unfortunately, help got lost a couple times on the horrible, winding unmarked roads. so we waited from 11am til 8pm when they finally showed up in a very small pickup (and 12 liters of beers). incidentally - the truck is the alcaldia's. so 10 of us piled in for a 3 hour ride in the dark - sitting and drinking in the back of this little truck on this shitty, dusty road with visions of hospital beds in our heads.

we all hopped out of the back of this god forsaken pickup for dinner at 11pm. we were a site for the locals - a bunch of gringos covered in dust, coughing, and miserable.

the next morning - we are informed that the only mode of transportation back to uyuni (where we have meetings and get the train to la paz) is the same truck. so after 5 of us get in back with all our luggage - the locals throw in another 4 kids for good measure - and all our luggage. goldberg is now pissed off. needless to say, this segment of the trip is filled with various problems. the highlight of which is getting stuck in the salar (when it is wet it is much like cement) and pushing the pickup out of the salt mush while getting sprayed with salt and water and generally soaked. there were many pictures of gringos stuck in paradise throughout the trip. i will try to scan some - but make no promises as i am very lazy.

much more to tell later over beers - but i just got back on an overnight train and want nothing more than to go to bed.

oh here - if interested are links to bolivia fotos since i have a crappy camera and am lazy

this is the view from my apartment in la paz:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/south_america/bolivia/illimani.html

and links to pics of the salt lake in uyuni and other areas in potosi:

http://www.min.tu-clausthal.de/www/lager/excursion/pict_07.htm

http://www.bolivianbeauty.com/SalarDeUyuni/MainPage.htm

http://www.cinemascope.com/photos/bolivia/index.html (great slide show)

http://octobre.free.fr/photos/Altiplano_Salar_Uyuni/

Llama Hickey

March 6th was the second deadline for the bid, the original deadline was Feb 4th. And in customary Bolivian fashion, they postponed the date again to March 14th. (word on the street is the latest delay was because the govt feared there would not be enough participants in the bid - if that happens it could be postponed indefinitely)

While delays are not helpful for getting the business up and running it is a sweet change of pace from investment banking deadlines. For those who don't know, it is standard operating procedure in banking to set deadlines two days in advance and have meetings cancelled on one hours notice after back to back all nighters. The customary kick in the pants.

In sharp contrast. We have been provided 6 extra weeks to prepare the bid documents and finalize business relationships. And the time has been more than necessary. However, it appears that things are finally coming together and I am looking forward to finding out if we are hitting the ground running or looking for alternative financing.

In more interesting news. I failed miserably at making friends in La Paz so I recruited another gringo from San Francisco to help (the urban setting is a much tougher nut to crack than travel life on the friendship tip). A former co-worker of mine in SF put a friend of hers in touch with me in January. And I talked him into coming down. Oliver arrived March 3rd. Hanging with an American dude after a couple months tredding water in La Paz has been a welcome relief.

My housesitting gig came to an unfortunate end 8 days ago. But I got some Olympics gear and needed a break from my daughters anyway. Also, I broke the blender and melted the kettle onto the stove and put a cigarette burn in the drapes - so I needed to get out before more damage was done.

Last weekend, I introduced Oliver to the nightlife in La Paz on Friday night. We were chillin at this bar when 3 girls came up to us (of course). Turns out they work in our building and recognized us or something - at least that was their game. Two of the girls were Bolivian and one from Quebec. Anyways, long story short we were at some club dancing with these chicks when we noticed one of the Bolivian chicks was missing a canine tooth. It was hilarious at the time. So we bolted. But when we got to work on Monday morning they had already called the office. And as proper gentlemen should - we ignored the call. So they called again. They brought us breakfast on Monday morning. Unbelievable. Its good to be gringo.

Sorry for the dumb story but it was funny as hell. The rest of the weekend we spent at Peter's house at the Lake. (the bloqueos were lifted two weeks ago - thank god) It was great to get out of La Paz and chill in the beautiful setting of Lake Titicaca. Weather was sick. We didnt do a whole lot. Tried to go sailing but Felipe the caretaker is very lazy and wouldnt get the sails out for us.

And in the interesting experience category. On Saturday, I was walking in the field and got attacked by a llama (actually a vicuna - which looks like a llama). The beast charged me, tried to kick me in the face and bit my shoulder. It is pretty sweet though because it left a hickey on my shoulder. How many people have ever gotten a llama hickey? Dulce.

Then on the way back to la paz from the lake. We almost died. The road (like most roads in Bolivia) is a dirt road. There had been a lot of rain overnight on Saturday night. The road was a mud pit. We were coming down a hill when the bus lost traction and began to slide to the side. Everyone on the bus ran to the right side of the bus and there was a the unfamiliar silence of terror in the air. The driver was a hero though and some how stopped the maddness. And after another half hour of pressing through the dirt road (double rainbow on the horizon) we hit pavement and were home free.