14/9/10 to 30/9/10 526 of the roughest, sandiest and washboarded kms of our trip
After the ‘Bolivia weaving detour’ we returned to Uyuni eager to tackle the infamous ‘Lagunas route’, a challenging route through the south west of Bolivia on sand and washboard roads in one of the most spectacular parts of Bolivia among volcanoes, flamingo filled lagoons and steaming hotsprings. 10 to 14 days is the norm for most bikers, depending greatly on weather, wind and the condition of the road (later to be known as ‘deep sandy washboard jeep track’) so a lot of food to be taken, and carrying water for 2 to 3 days. How hard could it be after all?...
At this point Nils and Carolin, a German couple on bikes similar age to us and, also coming from Alaska rolled into the same hostel where we were staying in Uyuni and soon we had convinced them that they should join us for this trip (they had already been thinking about it but were a little cautious about doing it).
Our first step was to retrace our steps back across the Salar de Uyuni to Isla Incahuasi where we had already passed on our first west-east crossing of the salar before taking a bearing due south to hit land again and make our way to San Juan. Not a bad thing really to have to cycle over the largest salt lake in the world...a second time...this is what most bike tourers dream of for years!
This time we managed to find the ‘secret terraplen’ 10km south of Colchani, then spent a night camped alongside the salt hotel ‘Playa Blanca’ where a cute Japanese couple volunteering in Bolivia, Nori and Keiko entertained us with a sunset salar concert on the guitar and melodica with some Japanese Spanish folk rock.
‘en vivo’ on the Salar
Nori and Keiko in the salt hotel ‘Playa Blanca’
Heading west across the salar this time into the wind and new friends Nils and Carolin towards Isla Incahuasi
A night indoors at the Isla Incahuasi refugio (a refugio for bikers and walkers), watching the sunset over the crisp white salar from behind the glass and out of the wind after a late afternoon scramble over the rocky coral cactus filled island.
Heading south on the ‘sea of salt’ with the four of us, and anticipating what will come on the ‘Lagunas route’...note the black trail from the hundreds of jeeps that drive the over the Salar each day.
Not long after leaving the salar the road turned to sand and washboard, although it was mostly rideable, it was a sign of worse things to come. And then the road veered right at a small village and headed up this hill....
The ‘giant cactus hill’ before San Juan - ‘my girlfriend is hardcore part I’
“What had we got ourselves in for” we thought after this 200m pinch on rough limestone rubble on unrideable gradients. This was when we adapted to not just ‘hike a bike’ (where one has to push their bike for a considerable distance due to rocky terrain for example) but ‘hiking and biking’, donning the trusty Macpacs on our backs (well we are not carrying them for nothing!) to make it easier to push a lighter bike. And when it got too steep we hiked a section dropped the pack and then went back for the bike.
A rest day in San Juan and a quick restock of food and supplies as there would be nothing substantial until maybe the refugios at Laguna Colorada and Laguna Blanca.
Some nice riding along the Salar de Chiguana to the military post to get water for the next days and then the ‘Lagunas route’ officially began in earnest although not without its early problems. Carolin suffered an intense pain in her belly and was unable to continue riding the big rough climb up from the Salar de Chiguana. Luckily a large overland truck driven by a friendly Italian man John appeared out of nowhere and he was able to give her a lift to the international road where if she needed serious medical attention we could hitch a ride to Ollague in Chile to see a doctor. As it turned out, her pain passed but it was already late in the day so we camped under the watchful eye of the smoking Volcan Ollague in a dried out basin away from the road.
The next day Carolin had made a full recovery so we pushed on as planned, but running a little short on water we had to try and make it to Laguna Hedionda in the day. Some more steep climbing, some friendly jeep tour groups who gave us some extra water, getting some practice on the sand and washboard and the scenery began cranking up a notch or two on the ‘spectacular dial’ especially when we rose over a small pass and the shimmering Laguna Cañapa spread out before us filled with hundreds of tiny pink dots - flamingos!
Descending to the flamingo-filled Laguna Cañapa after a long day where we decided to make camp for the night.
It's not every night you get to fall asleep to the sound of Flamingos gently calling 20 metres from your tent, on the frozen Laguna Cañapa.
When the riding was good, it was truly a spectacular route. Big skies, vast red desert-scapes now smeared with white salares and turquoise blue salt lakes filled with the pink dots of flamingos. Anna descending to Laguna Hedionda and the multitude of jeep tracks to choose from.
Flamingos on Laguna Hedionda
Almost directly after the last in the string of lagunas, laguna Honda, things got a little tough...3 days of mostly pushing through deep red volcanic sand crossing the Desierto de Siloli. We covered less than 30km each day with around 5km of that daily figure pushing through sand. Our shoes were filled with sand and our backs ached but we just had to ‘push on’ quite literally km by km until close to the days end when we would have to seek shelter from the freezing cold wind and set up camp, cook, eat and be inside before the sun disappeared for another cold altiplano.
The only rock, and maybe the only shelter in miles...and at 4:39pm exhausted after pushing for hours, not a perfect camp spot but it would have to do.
Nothing, nada not a single plant, grass, or speck of green! Nothing that is except fine red volcanic sand and deep washboard...There was plenty of that crossing the Desierto de Siloli
Anna taking a break from the incessant wind for morning tea at Arbol de Piedra before arriving at a funny little refugio run by a green-mouthed coca-chewing senora at Laguna Colorada where we met up with Nils and Caro again and spent a rest day in the relative comfort indoors with the sun shining and wind howling outside.
The girls weaved and baked bread for the days ahead, the boys cleaned stoves, kicked bike tyres and did manly things like that. Unexpectedly on our way to one of the ‘tiendas’ (if you can call them that) we saw a llama with its throat cut and draining blood into a bucket...well that would be dinner for the jeep tourists tonight!
After Laguna Colorada things seemed to be looking up, the road was harder packed and good riding high above the shore of the lake but after Huallajara where we picked up water for the next two days, we crossed a frozen stream and then the road turned to a sandy mess of jeep tracks. Only the strong tailwind kept us in a forward momentum downhill until eventually once again we were relegated to pushing the final 3 km to the main road. “That’s fine” I said as I sensed the moral dropping, “from here on the road is going to be in great condition...it’s the main road from Alota to the border and is used by a lot of mining and geothermal plant traffic. It’s only going to get better from here on”. Once again, how wrong I was going to be proved....
The road pinched upwards and into a roaring headwind. “Only 7km of steep climbing...that’s fine we can do that!”. Well after only 1km we were both pushing. I quickly caught up with Anna who could only push the weight of her bike behind me protected by the wind. We had to dig the deepest we have ever on the whole trip to keep the wheels rolling uphill. Hunched over, one hand on the handlebar grip, the other on the lowest point of the seatpost, head down, pushing, pushing, pushing then stopping for a breath. And so like this, we made our way slowly into the wind. Stopping exhausted we collapsed behind the protection of our loaded bikes trying to escape the unrelenting wind. We managed to shove some bread down our throats (no toppings though as the wind blew dust and grit over everything in a few seconds) before our body temperatures dropped rapidly and we needed to keep moving just to stay warm.
Soon enough we were actually able to ride our bikes again, quite a novelty these days on the ‘Lagunas route’ and we got another 15km or so further and close to the top of the pass where we found a small flat slightly protected gravel pit just off the road to pitch for the night. Not perfect, but in that rocky barren landscape probably the best we could have hoped for.
At 4800m it would be our highest camp for the whole trip, and will probably remain our record for ‘high altitude Hilleberg sleeping’. Spectacular views, freezing night, and early wake up call as the hordes of jeeps passed by as early as 6am on their way to the Geysers and Termas de Polque.
Anna riding the highest road of our trip at 4900m Paso Sol de Mañana and missing the unspectacular Sol de Mañana geysers (they were somewhere down there on the left but after 2km walking into the wind and seeing them from a distance and not getting too excited by what we saw we turned back to the bikes)
As we were approaching the Termas de Polque I heard an unfamiliar knocking sound from the front of the bike. I looked down and saw my right pannier hanging in an unconventional manner rubbing against the tyre. Closer inspection revealed by front tubus ‘swing’ rack had snapped clean in two and was now dragging on my tyre. The rough roads and maybe a screaming descent to the Salar de Chalviri had finally taken their toll.
In over 26000km of biking we have had very few mechanical issues aside from flat tyres, the bob trailer wheel bearings and a minor problem with my Rohloff. I always say “rims and racks are what bring most bike tours to a standstill”, and now it was my turn. I managed to rig it up in such a way that I could limp the final 2 km to the Termas de Polque where we could hopefully do some makeshift repairs.
Broken rack in Termas de Polque (postscript: I emailed Tubus and they agreed to send a new rack to Mendoza under their 10 year “we’ll send a new rack to wherever you are in the world” warranty policy, so to the credit of Tubus they stand by their word and their product)
At the Termas de Polque there was no refugio but a nice restaurant where the owners who had received Nils and Caroline the night before, allowed us to roll our mats out on the floor and sleep inside out of the wind. Once Eusavio saw what problem I had with the rack he disappeared and then reappeared with 3 long strips of car tyre tube. And in true ‘bush mechanic’ style he proceeded to wrap the tubing in such a way that it was pulled together almost as good as new. Well at least i hoped it would last until San Pedro de Atacama.
Soaking in the 38 degree waters. I know i’ve said this before, but what a way to end several days of tough cycling...a 2 hour hot bath at 4500m with the chilly altiplano wind keeping you in for as long as you can survive.
“To beat the wind you should leave at 7am!” Eusavio had told us the night before. Well someone should have told the wind that, because when we left at 7:20am we were soon fighting the brutal headwinds along a wide sandy jeep track with many speeding jeeps.
Another killer climb (yes, that road is actually climbing, its deep washboarded sand and the wind was howling all the way from Chile in our faces).
On the other side of the pass Anna taking a ‘power nap’ roadside. Actually we were both completely spent by this point pushing our bikes into the wind up a steep climb all morning before a beautiful descent towards Laguna Blanca. Initially I had wanted to try and summit Volcan Licancabur (in the background) but once we were riding along the shore of Laguna Blanca, the thought couldn’t have been further from my mind.
Finally once all the jeeps had rushed back towards Uyuni it was a beautiful peaceful road alongside Laguna Blanca with her flamingos and nervous vicunas roaming the barren red desert landscape.
The windswept shores of Laguna Blanca from ‘Refugio Colque’
The final hurrah of the ‘Lagunas route’ Anna climbing away from Laguna Blanca towards the border with Chile at Hito Cajones.
By now we had developed a severe hatred for the jeeps and their speeding disregard for other road users. Funny that all the Reserve signage said ‘40km per hour’...yet most jeeps here were doing at least 100km per hour on gravel and sandy roads! The catch 22 here is- that without the jeeps it would be a beautiful tranquil altiplano wonderland, but without the jeeps and tourists there would also be no services to get water, food, to sleep inside etc...and therefore almost impossible to ride by bicycle...(that’s if you’d ever want to do that!). That said we were extremely happy to enter Chile, no more jeeps, no more Bolivian jeep drivers and the rough paved road began, although it still climbed up to 4600m again.
Another dilemma. Once into Chile we had to descend to San Pedro de Atacama some 2100m lower to pass immigration and customs and to take some much needed rest and recovery time after a tough but memorable 16 days since Uyuni. The problem was, that we would then have to reascend all that elevation to the junction before continuing on to Paso Jama and Argentina. Oh well, we would deal with that when the time came. But for now it was nice to be back in the warmth of the lower desert, reunited with Nils and Caro at Hostal ‘Nuevo Amenecer’, and with some relative comforts like a hot shower and good food.
“Would we do the Lagunas route again?”...mmm for the moment “no” but I imagine like the pain of childbirth, once everything of the struggle has been forgotten maybe “yes” when all that remains is the beautiful memories...like the flamingos on the Lagunas Cañapa, Hedionda and Honda, the solitude of the Siloli desert, skies full of the brightest stars you can imagine and herds of Vicuñas running beneath melting rusty coloured volcanoes. But the wind and the deep sand and pushing your bike for hours on end only to cover 2 km? No, I cant remember the wind nor the sand, nor pushing my bike! Well maybe just a little bit...so "never again" we can confidently say but looking back an amazingly remote and beautiful adventure!
Hasta la proxima vez
Thanks for joining the adventure with us
Ali and Anna
I’ll leave the final word on the prospect of the ‘Lagunas route’ to a good friend of ours who respectfully chose not to ride the this route based on the philosophy of...
“After all this is a bike trip and bikes were made to be ridden!”
Max Peer - philosopher, bike traveller, sound engineer and good friend, 2009
Some extra info on the ‘Lagunas route’ for cyclists
We asked ourselves the question, “would we recommend the ‘Lagunas Route’ to other cyclists?” Well it very much depends on who, what you are looking for in the route, and how lucky you are with the wind and road conditions.
For us, it was extremely beautiful, extremely remote but also one of the hardest things we have ever done on, or away from the bike. As the days passed after the route, the pain and memory of the sand and wind lessened, and the memories of flamingo-filled lagunas and endless red volcanic mars-scapes remain
Important things to consider:
You are riding on mostly sandy jeep tracks, not roads
There are not that many places to find water enroute
It got extremely cold at night maybe -15 degrees celsius on some nights (and it can get colder)
150 bolivianos is now the park entrance at Laguna Colorada or Laguna Blanca entrances , they don’t accept US dollars and will not let you pass without paying the fee. They even told us that we could return the way we came if we liked!!! Very corrupt practice, but what can you do?
we carried enough food for 10 - 12 days (but you can maybe ride it faster and therefore with less food, i think 10 days a minimum in case you run into bad weather out there)
at least 1L of petrol per person but if you run short you can buy a litre or so from a jeep driver or refugio
Water:
We got water from the following places en-route (maybe there are other options):
Isla Incahuasi refugio, Salar de Uyuni
San Juan
Chiguana military base
Laguna Hedionda hotel (we had to pay for this ie 1 x 19L garrafon was 50 bol.)
Hotel del Desierto (2km from the route in Desierto de Siloli)
Laguna Colorada and at the Huallajara refugios
Termas Polque restaurant/refugio for cyclists
Laguna Blanca refugios
