Wild and Hairy

Wild and Hairy …..

The title refers to the huge herds of llamas that we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks …… and to our experiences as well!

We crossed into Bolivia over the Ollague pass (4200m) with no problems. The trail runs right next to the Ollague volcano; which is still very active. Clouds of dense smoke pour from a vent on the nearest slope, and the ground is covered in a thick layer of yellow sulphur. Lots of wildlife around …. Vicunas, rheas, and huge herds of llamas ….plus lagoons covered with flamingos. We stayed in Uyuni, a bustling backpacker-type town. The local Bolivians are very friendly and trustworthy. We stayed in a new hotel …..very cheap because it isn’t finished ….only cold water, and the toilet kept breaking. We left the car on the street outside ….amidst crowds of locals madly pushing handcarts everywhere, filled with huge mounds of fruit and vegetables for sale at ridiculously low prices; you can do your whole week’s shopping for about 10 euros (£7). And every day seems to be carnival day, with people dancing in the streets and a band marching up and down for hours. Unfortunately they only seemed to know one piece of music, so it got a bit monotonous after a while! We visited the Salar d’Uyuni, a huge (120km by 100km), beautiful, dry, blinding white salt lake. We drove across it on several different trails, and managed to get lost of course ….fortunately our trusty GPS saved us yet again. You have to be careful where you go, because if you stray off the trails, you can break through the salt crust and end up buried in thick mud! After Uyuni we drove to Potosi, then Chaqui, a beautiful little village in a long fertile valley, with thermal baths just outside the village. All the local women wash their clothes in the hot water and lay them out to dry on a hillside … a real party atmosphere. We continued further, and found a perfect camping spot beside a river. What we didn’t know was that we were on the main footpath between several villages, and the path to the local school. So over a couple of days we met just about everybody who lived in the area, including hordes of curious children. Our washroom was the river; cold but clean, complete with a bathing pool (Very cold!!)

Now we started our serious off-road mountain driving ….paved roads are virtually non-existent in Bolivia, plus the country is 80% mountain ….and add to that the fact that all existing roadmaps are virtually useless ….and you start to get the picture! We travelled 100’s of kilometres over breathtaking mountain ranges at altitudes between 3000 and 4500metres. There are no road signs either, so most of the time you have no idea where you are. The « roads » are rocky, dusty trails that cling to precipitous cliffs …just wide enough for one vehicle, with the odd passing place now and then. Fortunately nobody has a car, so the worst that can happen to you is to meet a school bus, or a truck …..which happened to us! It took some time to get past …fortunately we were on the inside! Ann is very brave; she doesn’t like going down steep mountain roads, but she covers her eyes when we go round each hairpin bend! We are currently in a town called Oruro, south-east of La Paz. It took over 12 hours to get here; when you ask a local if you are on the right trail, he always replies « Si », even if you’re going the wrong way!! Most of the people in the mountains live very isolated lives ….and have no idea where other towns or villages are!

Today is a day of forced rest; a local motorcycle race involved closing the main (and only) road from here to La Paz ….incredible! So nobody can leave town. It’s just as well because I had to repair a puncture, and the compressor as well.

Tomorrow we’re off to the Amazon …..