salar de uyuni

salt salt and more salt got to uyuni and was told the salt flats were under water....huh?

took a day and drove 20 mile into the flats to check before crossing...no water only bright sun and everything salt

salt riding as fast as you want wherever you want

salt water

salt hotel on flatssalt dining tablesalt resting/ salt nap

salt bird

salt clocksalt llama and jockey salt dork unsuccessfully trying to do depth deceiving pictures

went back to uyuni after flats and stopped at an old train graveyard....cool place

"all we got left are them amtrack things"

ride of rides

....potosi to uyuni
Only 25% of Bolivia’s roads are paved and they ended in potesi.

just out of town met a german couple two up on a dr650....didi and martina. martina has been riding solo across americas for 7 years! boyfriend didi came over for 6 weeks to ride bolivia and argentina. also met a land cruiser couple also from germany.

Certainly one of the best rides was from potesi to the solar de uyuni…all off-road with various conditions loose gravel, hard gravel, mud, red clay, sand, big rock, little rock, embedded rock, and regular dirt. more canyons filled with 1000's of llama grazing (dots) in addition to being all over roads Riding went from……loose gravel-sand…find a line…stand up weight in back…gun it….knee squeeze the tank….hold the line, shite lost it…slide out in sand..get back on line….loosen grip, weight in back go fast to avoid front tire twist….hold the line…..don’t forget to look up, when I am going to ever see this part of world landscape again…quick slip….shite watch/hold the line
Rock…sit down, watch the for big ones…dodge sharp ones…shite hit one, two, three etc…hoping not to pop a tire…looking down, come up to creek 2 ft water…oh man hope no jagged rocks in there….keep watching the road….big dip great shocks. Mud….instincts do what you can to not slide out especially around curves…lost it once…front tire slide out around corner sending back one out, counter steer….back tire slides left…this is gonna hurt…counter steer back goes right less…getting up right…counter again and slides left im almost straight…..managed to pull out of it after back and forth slides for about 30ft….whew…heart pounding.

stumbled on a place to eat just as the rain came Clay…slip slide after light rain but smooth….like it.
Washboard gravel…..whats coming loose now….dadadadadadad for miles…stand up to stop head shaking…listen to clanky noises hoping nothing rattles off and thinking I need to tighten chain. off in the horizon, nearing the flats could see a haze between land and sky
couldn’t help but to think of mad max and the thunderdome especially when finally came upon uyuni….could see forever..... one lonely road leading into town that you know by car dust trails… then this sculpture one of the first things i see in town Lets steel their gas and get out

salar de uyuni

crossing the worlds largest salt flats tommorrow and next then few days offroad- sticks- camping...before getting to chile..no power-internet. no posts 5-6 day no tent either.
lentils for breakfast, lentils for lunch, i hate lentils.

down to the devil

most unique and shocking tourist experience ive ever had. hardly touristy aside from the outfits worn into time stuck mining of now enemic silver mountain where miners eek away at any mineral they can find in unbelievable horrific work conditions. beginning was sort of novel.. after a few hours.... disbelief they still mine this way literally pick an axe away sometimes 20 hours a day.... reminded of brute work fishing but nothing like atmosphere....... average miner dies just 10 years after starting work because of all the toxin inhale...and many start in their teens. in these pictures spots are all dust particles

went in holes that got smaller and smaller..at times lay crawling to the work zones...

could taste the dust instantly

they call it working in hell and as such have devil shrines in the shafts they give gifts to for good luck....cigarettes, coca leaves, alcohol, candy, and at one a lambs fetus...ya good luck miners let tourist in cause we bring them soda and coca leaves

i think i got the black lung....
and last..what would a mine visit be without blowing up some dynomite
only way i got this explosive shot was clinch jerk from the blast

la paz to potesi

ride from la paz to potesi was a long one... left in morning got here around 8.

350 miles more or less take much longer than interstate back home.

felt good though as S.A. has been slow going.

first part was flat highlands alongside a range...off in the distance you could see another range that looked off the horizon separated from earth as there was a lake in between...very cool!

as in all mountain ranges i suppose the weather changed on a wim...went from cool overcast to cool sunny to rain...to hail on the ting ting helmet and knees (sucked) then sun into amazing redstone mineral rich mountain landscape to finish up. just as sun going down huge unearlthy looking canyon areas occasionally coming accross little villages that blended into the landscape....clearly dont have to go far for building materials.... clutch is still holding but im anxious about it and the slaeve needs to be replaced. simons bike acting up quite a bit too as the high altitude isnt agreeing with his carb/jets so it spits and sputters a fair amount..

City of Potesi... unexpected appreciated slice with rich colonial feel.... claimed highest "city" in the world at 4030 meters.

small cobblestone streets...vibrant atmosphere...

much of architecture still in/from original 16th century state.

before coming Potesi knew nothing of the place...found out it was the richest silver mining mountain in the world and the spanish found it mid-1500's....for two hundred years this was the funding for their conquering and allowing them to be biggest world empire at the time... found mountain by incan who told them about it....described in story...coming up the canyon to see sunshining on a solo unmolested sparkling giant silver mound. FUNDED THE ENTIRE SPANISH EMPIRE FOR 200 YEARS! thinking about history had the incan not told....