San Pedro de Atacama, Hotel Puritama, 8200 feet high.
Back to civilization after 4 days on the dirt roads of South Lipez. 4 days spent at more than 13450 feet above see level in a real open-air museum.
Leaving Uyuni brings a strange feeling. This town was a first goal in this trip, and a longer stay was planned. However it is the rainy season, and water, necessary to grow quinoa, has been awaited for a while. For us, rain means destroyed roads, mud, difficult driving conditions. Therefor Uyuni will remain a short stop-over. Leaving the (too) touristic center, it is an interesting living city that we are crossing. We will have to come back.
After few hours on an excellent road, the landscape is changing. Volcanoes are getting closer, altitude is increasing, villages are less frequent. We have a 5 gallons Jerry Can of gas in the trunk, mandatory to reach the next station in 290 miles. Toward west, it is Chile and some trucks and buses are taking the same itinerary. No asphalt, but this “road” is finally fast. 60 mph.
Suddenly, after a last village, our route is going full south. The changes are brutal.
The complexity of this itinerary slows down the vehicle a lot, mandatory GPS navigation, deep sand, rocky tracks, deep ruts… The 6 mm aluminum skid plates under the car are definitely mandatory ! And we hesitated to install them…
Our environment has changed too : Wild desert, wide and surrealistic. We are entering a museum ! Each valley is like a new gallery in which, the artist has composed the décor that light and clouds are constantly changing. The usual vicuñas and lamas are adding a touch of movement. Photos stops are frequents but the place is so wide and desolated that pictures are hardly showing it. Panorama mode is therefore the way to shoot but the best photos will definitely be the one that we haven’t shot.
There is quite some alkaline lakes around and each of them is bringing something special. Pink flamingos are settling in the Laguna Colorada and it’s incredible orange waters (we will spend almost 2 hours, seated, to simply admire the scenery).
Further, some rocky formations are the highlights like the Arbol de Piedra, which stands in the middle of a sandy desert. Later, the Dali Boulders seems to have been thrown by Salvador himself.
A lot before the actual border, it is mandatory to climb up to a pretty strange custom office to get the car’s document stamped. At 16500′ high, near a boric acid factory, at Hito Cajones, there is a small, lost office.
From there the dirt road is better and pretty quickly we can reach the Laguna Verde, just under the volcano Licancabur. The last day in Bolivia, in what is probably one of the most stunning area on earth, we will ascent this mountain. 6 hours will be necessary to reach the summit at 19410′ high. The crater at the top hide a little jewel : a high emerald lake that contrasts with the Atacama desert on the Chilean side.
Rain is coming, but at this altitude it will probably be snow. Without waiting too long we will roll down to San Pedro de Atacama, a cute oasis, touristic but pretty calm and perfect to rest 2-3 days before going back on the road toward higher mountains.
