Diesel & Bolivia: it’s complicated! For years this combination has caused headaches for overlanders like us. The quality of diesel is notoriously bad and has caused plenty of mechanical problems for recent ‘clean Euro diesel’ vehicles. But that’s not all. It is often very difficult for foreigners to even get diesel at all. Foreigners have to pay a different price (non subsidized) and the administration for this “two price system’ is so cumbersome that many gas stations refuse to sell diesel to us. Having a jerrycan is essential in Bolivia . Because sometimes, these stations may want to fill the can to avoid the administration.
We had read about these issues so many times long before arriving in Bolivia. There are entire internet forums dedicated to this. Because of these issues some people avoid Bolivia completely or only visit small parts of the country to avoid having to fill up the tank in the country. Bolivia is one of the first countries on this trip that we can easily ‘drive around ‘if necessary…But it is also a country that we had not been to and really wanted to visit. So well prepared (we bought a jerrycan in Peru and brought a ‘car scanner’ to be able to check the impact of bad diesel on our engine), we decided to take the risk.
However, while we are approaching the country, the situation gets worse. Dramatic diesel shortages all across the country, worsen an already huge economic crisis. Now even Bolivians were not able to get any diesel. People are queueing for days at the gas stations!
Just 4 days before we will cross the border, the ‘diesel crisis’ really heats up! The transport sector has had enough and starts to use the ‘pressure means of choice in Latin America: roadblocks. All over the country, highways and other roads are blocked. Within hours the country grinds to a halt. We follow the situation closely while we spend our last days in Peru and keep the option to circumvent Bolivia open.
Luckily after a couple of days of road blocks, a major delivery of diesel from Russia arrives and a temporary agreement is reached with the protesters. We buy a second ‘jerry can’, fill up tank and the cans right before the border and hope for the best…So with 40l of extra diesel in jerrycans and a lot more cash than we usually carry, we cross the border.
Our first stop in Bolivia is in the lakeside town of Copacabana. We park on the beach at a safe distance from the town center and the big fiestas for which it is known.We are at 4000m and our sleep is not optimal so we don’t feel the need for thumbing basses.
While driving in southern Peru, we had crossed plenty of richly decorated cars, trucks and busses. And in Copacabana we find out what it is all about: la ‘benedición de movilidades’-blessing of the vehicles. It happens on a daily basis during July and August and the queues are huge! There seems to be first a traditional Inca Cha’lla (ritual blessing) that happens on the beach. It involves quite some alcohol, both for drinking and spraying over the vehicle (although Fanta also appears acceptable). After that first step, most of them also drive up to the cathedral square to get a second ‘insurance policy’; of the Catholic Church this time and in the form of ‘holy water’. We understood that this ritual should be undertaken whenever a new vehicle is bought. Although some claim that it’s only a yearly policy and should be renewed every year. The fact that the blessing process also involves a big fiesta afterwards, might explain the difference in interpretation.
From Copacabana, we go hiking for a day on the beautiful ‘Isla del Sol’. This should be a good warm up for the hike that we plan in the Cordillera Real, the mountain range that we can already spot in the distance.
We wanted to do a day hike in the Cordillera Real. But most information we found were either longer multi day hikes or the ascent of Huayana Potosi which is a ‘technical’ glacier climb and not suitable for kids. But thanks to this great ‘overlander community’ (and app), we found out about ‘Pico Austria’, a day hike that alpinist use to acclimate to the high altitude. The hike is not long or technical but the altitude is the devil! From 4400m to 5350m is a huge climb! The scenery is once again ‘breathtaking’! The weather is unfortunately a bit variable. When the sun disappears it quickly becomes ice cold.
The whole family made it to the Chakoti pass at 5150m, where we have a first view of the Condori range. The cold gets the best of Lucie however. Caro starts to descend with her while Leon and myself attempt to go to the summit. It became another ‘sobering’ experience for me. From the go, I have to try to slow down our 8 year old. I am really struggling with the altitude, but he seems not to feel any effect at all. He is running away from me, coming back to ask me all kind of things. And all I can do is breathe and mumble that we will discuss on the way down. Every hike with this kid, I feel older and older. The one reassuring thing is that the group that started right after us are falling further and further behind too…so it is not just me.We make it to the top and the views were amazing: the Cordillera Real, Lake Titicaca and even a first glimpse of La Paz in the distance.
La Paz is often called the highest capital in the world but Quito (1000m lower) begs to differ. Bolivia has two capitals, La Paz is ‘the seat of government’ and Sucre the ‘constitutional capital’. Hence Quito claims to be the ‘real’ highest capital.
We had been warned many times not to drive into La Paz itself. The city lies in a canyon and is a traffic nightmare. We decide to stay in neighbouring ‘El Alto’ and use the very efficient ‘teleférico’ to go into town. As we are not real ‘city trippers’ at all, we spend most of our time in town on practical stuff: changing money, shopping and getting haircuts.
The thing we will probably remember most are ‘Las Cholitas’ of El Alto. Due to bad planning we repeatedly missed the famous ‘Lucha Libre’ wrestling bouts in Mexico. But in La Paz we have another chance and this time we really plan our route to be there at the right day of the week. The cholitas are women wrestling in traditional dress. The guys only get to do the ‘opening act’ here. The whole thing was super entertaining and funny. We really loved it.
The descriptions by other travelers of our next destination were awful. “Orouro is Bolivia’s ugliest town”. “Only worth a visit during their Carnaval and even then…”. We especially want to get some diesel because the reviews on the gas stations in this town are ‘promising’. The good news is that there is actually diesel available. The bad news: the queues are very long! Trucks and busses are waiting for more than 24 hrs. We drive past a couple of stations before we have the nerve to ask the truckers if we can skip the line to quickly tank 40 or 50l. It is no problem at all! They let us tank with a big smile.
We also visit the anthropological museum where they have some very well preserved mummies. They were found in chullpas (pre Colombian funeral towers) outside of town. Our sleeping spot for the night is at the foot of a hill with some of these chullpas. When we visit the next morning, we are surprised to see that some of them still contain human remains over 500 years old.
Our nexts stop are the famous salt flats (salar) of Uyuni. We had been considering for a long time whether we would drive it with our own van or take a tour. It is not without danger, but with some pre-caution it is possible. However, when talking to other overlanders, it turned out that the reason some of them took a tour, was not the Salar itself but the ‘Laguna route’ south of the Salar and all the way to the border with Chile. In theory this route is feasible with our van if we stick to the main gravel roads. But we also would like to visit some more remote/off road locations. And we also read a lot of reports of travelers who started to get all kind of mechanical issues after driving this route. 800 km on bad roads between 4000 and 5000m, takes its toll on vehicles like ours that were made to drive on smooth highways at low altitude.
Our tour will include a day on the salt flats. However, when we drive past the entrance to the Salar we can’t resist going for a short drive. to make some of the silly ‘perspective pictures’. After the drive, we give the van a thorough carwash to get rid of all the salt.
In the next two days we drive all the way to the south and the border with Chile. The ‘desert-scapes’ get really intense! The blue skies contrast stark with all the different shades of yellow, brown and orange in the desert. We start the day 2 with some ‘hot springs with a view’ near Laguna Chalviri and also climb to 5100m for a visit the Sol de Mañana geyser field.
Further south the border with Chile cuts in half most of the mountains and volcanoes that we see. Laguna Blanca and (toxic) Laguna Verde are our turn-around point so after having taken some pictures to head back north in the direction of probably the most famous of the Sud Lipez lagunas; Laguna Colorado. The famous red color of this laguna is caused by algae in the water. But it is also famous for the fact that all three species of Flamingo that live in South America are present here. Our son is keeping a record (drawings) of all animal species that we see and so he’s ready to add a couple of new ones. However, keeping the three species apart isn’t that easy…and so discussions are endless on whether or not we have seen all of the three (James, Andean, Chilean) species.
More drama comes in the evening, when Lucie discovers she left her cuddly giraffe in the bed of the hostal in the morning. Our guide quickly sets up a rescue mission and we hope to get her back at the end of the tour. The night is ice cold even inside the hotel that we stay at. We are very glad to see the sun rise to bring some warmth.
On day three, we leave the national park and drive into the Silala desert. The landscapes stay amazing. At the Honda and Hedionda lagunas we are finally able to end the Flamingo discussions and tick off all three types of flamingo! On the last evening of the tour we sleep in a ‘salt hotel’ right next to the Salar de Uyuni. We drive up the Salar to go see the sunset and have a sundowner of (surprisingly good) Bolivian wine. The drama of the ‘forgotten cuddly giraffe’ gets a happy end when a friend of our guide gets it back to us.
The last day of our tour starts with sunrise on the Salar de Uyuni. It is bitterly cold and dark when we start hiking up to the top of Isla Incahuasi. But as soon as the sun rises we start to warm up quickly. After another round of ‘silly pictures’, we still visit some of the classic sites such as the Ojos (water sources), Las Banderas and the Dakar monument. And before we know it we are off with our own van again and we have another ‘moment of truth’.
From here we can easily drive to the Argentina border without having to look for more diesel. Or we can continue with our plan to drive all across Bolivia. But in that case we will need to find diesel at least three more times. We decide to take the risk again and go for the original plan…