Bolivia started with some pretty horrible roads (as advertised) but the adventure we found on these roads was pleasantly unexpected. We crossed into Bolivia at Paso De Portezuelo Del Cajon which is usually done by 4×4 tour vehicles (usually Land Cruisers) on tours organized out of San Pedro De Atacama, but Overlanders often take on this exciting route as it has some of the most beautiful landscapes in Bolivia. Of course most overlanders have 4×4, but we had been told by a few people that it was not needed. Getting into Bolivia as a United States Citizen had a lot of required paperwork, but this border we had heard was a little more relaxed and we were happy to be only asked for the visa we had printed out from online and our USD $160 cash (required for all US Citizens). Promptly at the border the pavement ended and we encountered dirt roads and entered Reserva Nacional De Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa and then quicker than expected the dirt road turned to a sandy, bumpy mess, while we climbed to an altitude around 15,000 ft. Driving a diesel turbocharged two wheel drive van is not easy in those conditions, but Mike and Bill were champs. We drove past Laguna Blanca, which was a huge white expanse where it was hard to tell what was salt deposit and what was water. Next we hit the Polques Thermal waters, and spent a couple of hours watching flamingos walk past as we enjoyed the natural hot water pool. Then (still the same day) we drove to the Geysers Sol De Mañana which was our highpoint, at around 16,000 ft. We had thought about camping near here until we realized how much elevation we had gained in just one day and how unprepared we were for it. Both of us had dull headaches and one of the tour drivers kindly reminded us that diesel would not start well at this altitude with well below freezing temperatures at night. Knowing all of these things we decided to drive on and luckily down a bit. The climate was just as stark and harsh as it was beautiful. The gurgling geysers amazed us as we saw steam shooting up all around us. Luckily Bill drove with ease straight through the geysers (yes you drive straight through them!) over huge rocks, sandy pits, and through things I would have never thought our trusty van could drive through. As the sun set we lost a few hundred meters of elevation and camped in a canyon while battling some headaches from the altitude. The next morning we were feeling much more acclimatized and took a long walk down the canyon realizing that Bolivia had some amazing rock. In the canyon alone we saw tons of trad lines, bouldering spots, and possible sport lines, this place should be visited with climbing gear. We drove on past Laguna Colarado which was a huge expanse of pinkish water that is caused by the multiple minerals it contains. Later in the day while driving out of the park and towards Uyuni we found a broken down Land Cruiser with 6 passangers from one of the 4×4 tours out of Uyuni. We stopped and gave the tour operator and one of his passengers a ride to a small villa outside the park so they could call for help. It was a bit satisfying to see Bill succeeding where a Land Cruiser had failed 🙂
Arriving to Uyuni was exciting. It was our first city in Bolivia after nearly 4 days in the middle of nowhere and we even found a good pizza place. Our nerves about Bolivia being hard to navigate were starting to fade, the people tended to be nice, and unlike we had heard, fuel was relatively easy to find. The fuel in Bolivia is subsidized by the government and Bolivian citizens get it at the same low rate at every station, however many places either don’t sell to foreigners or have to sell it at the “tourist” price – which is about three times the subsidized national price. We found, however, that some friendly chit-chat, a smile and the promise of a tip with no need for a receipt was usually enough to get the station to turn off the security cameras and sell to us at a reduced rate. To make us like Bolivia even more the food was delicious and much cheaper than Chile and Argentina. The highlight of Uyuni was a crazy market that totally took over the street and sold everything from toothbrushes to fruits we had never heard of, it was fun to walk through, but a nightmare to drive through and we were glad we had parked the van. These street markets, little did we know, would be everywhere in Bolivia. After visiting the market we headed out of the city to the Salar De Uyuni, which is the worlds largest salt flat. It was different than anything I had ever seen. The large expanse felt half like the ocean and half like the desert. You could see forever, and everything was white. We explored two different “islands” on the salar, and saw giant cactuses, caves, and all sorts amazing views of the large white expanse. We parked for the night right on the salt and enjoyed the sunset.
After Salar De Uyuni we made a bit of a jump to Sucre. We drove through Potosi, deciding not to stop and camped for the night at a quiet spot in the country. In Sucre we stayed at a hostel near the city center which we were told had an indoor parking area and was run by an extremely nice woman named Maria. Unfortunately for us Bill was a bit to big to fit through the garage door, but we were able to park on the street out front. Maria, the hostel owner, was a Spanish teacher in Sucre and was incredibly patient and helpful when speaking to us. We learned a lot from Maria and actually held a Spanish conversation long enough to talk about the politics and the people of Bolivia. We enjoyed the museums and markets of Sucre, especially the food market where you can get a lunch that includes soup and your choice of meat with rice, salad, and potatoes for only 12 Bolivianos, around $2 USD. Then to finish off an already filling meal we walked down the stairs and got a blended fruit juice with our choice of fruit for about $1USD. Visiting this market for lunch became somewhat of a ritual for us as it was almost cheaper than making food ourselves. At Maria’s we also met Jana and Ivan, a Slovak couple who were traveling in a Nissan Pathfinder with a roof top tent. Ivan, who is a wedding photographer at home, was also finding weddings and taking photos for couples for free during their travels. Ivan and Mike spent hours talking about cameras and shooting pictures while Jana and I enjoyed the views, each other’s company, and lots of yummy fruit smoothies. Ivan and Jana also introduced us to “Exploding Kittens,” a card game which ended up providing us with hours of entertainment over the coming weeks – highly recommend checking it out!
After a few days in Sucre we all decided to travel to Managua (a village a few hours outside of Sucre) together. Having travel buddies can make the journey that much more fun. We also ran into two Americans in the market that were headed the same way so we offered them a ride and all packed up in the two cars and ventured up and down a mountain outside of Sucre to arrive into the tiny town of Maragua. The town was actually inside a big crater created by volcanic activity. We enjoyed the sunset and then set out for a nice hike the next day to see some dinosaur tracks, which due to the volcanic activity have been exposed as large sheets of the earth’s crust were thrust upwards. Mike was our navigator and took us on the “scenic route” which really did prove to be beautiful, but a much longer walk than expected. At the dinosaur tracks we were impressed with huge imprints in the ground that made out footprints of various dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period. It was amazing to put our hands in something so old and left behind by an something that doesn’t exist anymore. At night we all enjoyed eating together and were sad to part with the two American girls when we returned to Sucre, but luckily Jana and Ivan decided to travel along with us towards Cochabamba by way of Parque Torotoro.
Our adventure towards Cochabamba became our second scenic route of the week when we decided to take the “white” roads on the map to Parque Torotoro instead of the highway. A tip for anyone visiting Bolivia – yellow roads on the maps in Bolivia may or not be paved. White roads are definitely not paved, and the thinner and smaller they get the more likely you are to need 4×4. We all knew this but still ventured off onto our white roads with the comfort of knowing Jana and Ivan’s 4×4 could be our savior if needed. Quickly outside of Sucre we started to see gravel, rocks, and lack of bridges where there should be. Meanwhile the views were gorgeous, we passed tiny villages with huge papaya hanging off tiny trees and huge mountains bordering sparkling rivers giving way to deep canyons. The drive from Sucre to Torotoro is 247 miles according to maps.me (the map app we use) and only 6.5 hours. It took us a solid two and a half days of driving, and as amazing as the drive was we were all relieved to pull into the town and do some exploring on foot. In the park you are required to have a guide which can be hired for half or full day, so the next morning we ventured out with our knowledgeable guide to Ciudad De Itas and then Caverna Umajalanta. The Ciudad De Itas was a beautiful area of huge sandstone on top of a huge mountain. The rock had been carved out by water over the years to create interesting shapes and large rooms. We were happy to have a guide to show us rock paintings from Pre-Columbian times and lead us through the maze of rocks and on top of them for some breathtaking views of the mountains surrounding us. Next we headed to the Caverna Umajalanta, which was an amazing cave that took all afternoon to explore. We learned all about its history and got to marvel at the underground river and waterfalls. We also got to squeeze through some holes and slide down some slick rocks in true spelunking form. The next morning we headed towards Cochabamba, but not without stopping by a huge river canyon for an afternoon swim. None of us wanted to remind ourselves how many days it had been since a shower and the water was super refreshing.
We had read about amazing food in Cochabamba and were excited for it, but ended up being somewhat disappointed by what we found. Maybe we just didn’t look hard enough, but either way we still had two relaxing days in Cochabamba while camping in the patio area of a hostel. We also enjoyed another hectic market and found some more delicious fruit smoothies. Ivan and Jana were hoping to photograph a wedding so they were going to hang out an extra day, but we were ready to head toward Lake Titicaca, hoping to cover some ground and do some hiking the area. We drove off and camped outside of La Paz, telling Ivan and Jana where we planned to camp in case the wedding didn’t happen. Sure enough they found us that night since they were not able to photograph their wedding. We were excited to have our travel buddies back especially since the next morning ole Bill was giving us a “start error” and not starting, a new obstacle for us. We knew something was wrong electronically and tried everything we could think of to get it started. After 45 minutes of the “start error” message on the dash Bill randomly started and the message disappeared. So we drove straight to La Paz, not originally planning to stop, but knowing we needed to have Bill looked at before we ended up stranded somewhere. We headed straight for a mechanic saying bye to Jana and Ivan and luckily found a Mercedes importer with a diagnostics computer that could take a look at our issue. The shop ran some tests and said that our module that receives the signal from the chip in the key was not receiving the signal, but this was odd to us since our key did not have a chip. The shop told us they did not have the parts to further diagnose the problem so they suggested we head to Peru to a dealer who regularly services Mercedes and have more experience. After hours of trying everything we could think of, even 10 mechanics trying to push start Bill, we finally got started and headed to Arequipa, Peru with the goal of leaving Bill running at all costs. At the border crossing we learned that the customs officials had listed us as a Suzuki upon entry instead of a Mercedes-Benz, so we had to wait about an hour for a supervisor to come look at the van and say “yup not a suzuki” and fix the mistake. Meanwhile we dared not turn off the van. All in all we spent about 20 hours without turning Bill off before arriving in Arequipa, Peru but I must say, on the plus side, we only filled the tank once. Bill gets excellent gas mileage. A little exhausted and focused on getting our car fixed we didn’t even think about the fact we had entered our fourth country, Peru, land of high mountains, Inca Ruins, incredible hiking and we hear some decent beaches in the north. All things we love.
In Arequipa the dealer told us (in true dealer fashion) that we would need a whole new system ignition security system including a new chip in the key, new module to read it, and a new antenna to send the signal to tell the module to start the van. This would run us a good chunk of money and also take 30 days as the parts had to come from the US. We were a little bummed to say the least, but also confused as our key still had no chip, how had it been starting for so long? Mike decided to go back with the mechanic and go over some options. We eventually figured out the original owner had broken the original key most likely and had tried to jerry rig the chip next to the antenna up under our fuse box, so that the car would always think the key was in the ignition. Not cool. We also figured out that the dealership had an extra chip key and we asked them to try reprogramming a new key with our current module and antenna instead of ordering a whole new system, and surprise surprise it worked! After three days total spent at the shop (we ordered a second key from Lima), we ended up spending a lot less money than expected, and a lot less than we would have spent in the States getting a new chipped key programmed. We also got to enjoy the city of Arequipa while they worked on the van, but more of that to come on the next blog about our adventures in Peru!
Travels of Jess & Mike 