After leaving La Paz mid-morning I arrived at a hot-springs hotel that had been suggested to me by Phillip (a German driving a Land Cruiser around S.A.) as a way to avoid staying in Oruro (a “shithole” in his words).   I didn’t spend the extra $25 to have a room with a private hotspring so instead I was shown to a room without a shower at all.   Being close to the Atacama desert I went for a walk after my late hot-spring bath to look at the stars – I saw the apparently elusive Southern Cross once, but then again and again. Thoroughly confused about which one was the ‘real’ one I had a disjointed conversation with an older German couple and then went to bed.

Altiplano Sunset near Oruro, Bolivia

I then made the long, bumpy, and dusty drive to Uyuni.  The thin atmosphere was pressing on my chest and the constant jack-hammering effect of the washboard road surface grated on my nerves but I did see flamingos.

Flamingos, Oruro to Uyuni, Boliva

At about 3pm I rounded one final set of hills and quickly noticed the blindingly white salt flats in the distance.   I decided to not explore them right away as I was planning to drive across them the following day and needed to buy provisions as it’s known to be quite unforgiving and almost everyone only crosses them in 4×4 truck tours.  So I spent the afternoon checking into the rather depressing Hotel Avenida, buying a 20 L petrol container, 4 litters of waters, and putting half of my dinner into a plastic bag for breakfast the next morning.

Confident that I was planning as best I could for a trip through the remote Salar de Uyuni and the Atacama Desert I packed the bike at night and set the borrowed alarm for 5:45 am.  It rang as promised and I packed the final clothes into my cases and stuffed a 2 L bottle of petrol into the spare tire that I’ve been lugging around since Cuenca, Equador and woke the hotel matron to let me and my bike out.  The GPS starting bleating and I discovered a loose connection on the bike wiring – squishing it with my fingers seemed to quiet the Tamagochi.

When I arrived at 6:30 am under light rain at the only proper gas station within 200 kms or so, naturally it was closed. I weighed waiting for it to open but decided that I  could fill my new bright yellow 20 L container in San Juan (one of the two places in which to buy petrol by the bottle in the Salar and Atacama).   The rain had improved the road – no dust from passing vehicles – and more treacherous at the same time as the mud on the side became slippery.   Two buses passed me causing me to move closer to the edge, my back wheel slid down the embankment then as I over-compensated by turning the front wheel it jump back up on the road sliding the other way.  I held the bike upright, barely, much to the amusement of the 4×4 following close behind me.  A few kilometres later I noticed that the 2 L bottle of petrol carelessly loaded earlier had gone flying when the spare tire had turned over and was now hanging beside my side case instead of precariously on my top case.

By 7am I had negotiated which of the multitude of tracks crossing the Salar I should take and was cruising happily along – despite the threatening clouds in all directions except the one I was coming from.   It was then that I noticed that my speedometer never went beyond 55 km/h, it would reflect lower speeds but nothing higher.   Thinking that as long as the odometer was functioning I could still estimate how much fuel I had left I continued, until the speedometer quite unhappily slowly fell to 0 km/h and the odometer ceased to turn.  I gave up and took some photos of the Salt Flats.

Threatening Rain on Salt Piles, Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia

Salt Geometric, Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia

KLR650 Goes Salar (De Uyuni), Bolivia

Death Memorial, Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia

By the time the other side of the salt flat was visible, an uninviting cactus covered barren hill, it was starting to drizzle heavily and the sandwich bag was produced to cover the chirpy yet precious GPS.   As I drove the 30 or so kilometres over sharp rock, washboard bumps, thick sand, or slippery mud it continued to rain but for added pleasure began to snow at times.   I had dropped the bike twice (on the magically slippery mud) and my hands had become red and blue as I looked upon the sad collection of mud houses that constitute San Juan.   Four cups of Nescafe – Extra Fuerte and a long conversation with the fellow working at the lonely hotel revealed that the town only had electricity from 7pm-9pm daily.   He was worried about the impending arrival of 24 hour electricity along with internet and mobile phone service as these would change the village forever.   He claimed that currently without refrigeration they were able to eat as well as they wanted with Quinoa growing and Alpaca grazing the imperceptible desert foliage, that people went to bed early and rose with the sun, and that generally everyone was content.

I was pointed to the wizened old shop-woman on the corner who told me they were out of gasoline but a litre cost $0.90. Confused, I smelled it before helping her pour it out of giant barrel – which spilled down my jacket, and subsequently watched her siphon it expertly into used vegetable oil containers.   She then warned me about my plan to head to Laguna Colorada, saying it was not passable with mud and snow as the route climbs about 5,000 meters.   My fingers numb, gear soaking wet, and with a dawning realization of the remoteness and primitive state of the roads I wavered as this was just the kind of dissuasion I needed.  So instead of my original plan to see the lagoons at the southern border point my shop-woman drew me a map in the mud to the closer Bolivian-Chilean border of Avaroa – Ollague.   I tried to leave but my usually reliable KLR650 stalled each time I put it in gear.  This had happened once or twice in the past two days and I wasn’t worried when it started on the fifth try.

After one hour of slipping around in the freezing mud a strange noise came from the front of the bike and as I nervously looked down the front fender fell off and lay on the wheel.   I strapped it to the two fuel containers and spare tire and then discovered the bike wouldn’t remaining running when in gear at all this time. Figuring out that this was probably the switch that cuts off the power when the sidestand is down, I oiled the switch which didn’t work, and then disabled it entirely and was on my miserable way with the water, mud, and stones now flying up in my face from the front wheel.

Front Fender falls off in a mini-Salar, Bolivia

The scenery improved as the road conditions deteriorated into giant pools of water covering slippery mud.   Some brief moments of respite from the rain showed giant glaciated peaks of some of the highest mountains in the Americas.

Snow Peaks, Nearing Ollague, Chile

Dark Hills, Nearing Ollague, Chile

After passing through some of the water pools the motor coughed and spluttered to a stop and wouldn’t start. I began to get really worried and started looking around at the inhospitable snow dusted hills for what might be an appropriate place to camp.  As I was reading the manual and preparing to remove the fuel tank to look at the spark plug a trio of 4×4′s containing bewildered foreign tourists passed by honking and waving at me.   I waited another five minutes, wondering if I had just seen my last help for the night drive away, and tried the starter and the bike came grumbling to life. I’m not sure if it’s bad fuel, the mud and water now spraying the engine, or a myriad of other possible causes.

Fenderless KLR650 Not Starting in the Mud, San Juan, Bol

After another 40 minutes with the bike stalling occasionally I finally spotted the border and arrived like a dirty alien at the Chilean border to the amusement of the migration policeman.   The ‘short’ and eventful drive from Uyuni to Ollague ended at 5:29 pm – 10 hours and 53 minutes to cover 225 kilometres.

Bienvenida a la Frontera, Ollague, Chile

Uyuni, Bolivia to Ollague, Chile Distance and Elevation Profile

Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia	Altiplano Sunset near Oruro, Bolivia	Altiplano Sunset near Oruro, Bolivia	Oruro to Uyuni, Boliva
Oruro to Uyuni, Boliva	Oruro to Uyuni, Boliva	Flamingos, Oruro to Uyuni, Boliva	Flamingos, Oruro to Uyuni, Boliva
Red Earth, Oruro to Uyuni, Boliva	First Salt Flat View, Uyuni, Boliva	Another KLR650 Photo, Almost at Uyuni, Bolivia	First Salt Flat View, Uyuni, Boliva
Threatening Rain on Salt Piles, Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia	Salt Piles, Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia	KLR650 Goes Salar (De Uyuni), Bolivia	Death Memorial, Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia
Endless Salt, Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia	Salt Hexagons, Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia	Cactus, Near Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia	Mini-Salar en-route to Chile, Bolivia
Wet, Cold, Muddy, Scrub, Bolivia	Front Fender falls off in a mini-Salar, Bolivia	Snowy hills, Bolivia	Fenderless KLR650 Not Starting in the Mud, San Juan, Bol. to Ollague, Chile
Snow Peaks, Nearing Ollague, Chile	Snow Peaks, Nearing Ollague, Chile	Snow Peaks, Nearing Ollague, Chile	Snow Peaks, Nearing Ollague, Chile
Cold-Tired, Nearing Ollague, Chile	Bienvenida a la Frontera, Ollague, Chile

GPX track: Oruro to Salar de Uyuni to Avaroa – Ollague, Chile

Crossing the Salar De Uyuni on a motorcycle or own vehicle, useful links:

• Horizon’s Unlimited Discussion and GPS Coordinates for the Salar and Tourist Sites

• Google Map showing points on the Salar
• Most useful. Garmin GDB file from someone on the H.U. site: Salar Uyuni From HU User.gdb