riding the salar

Today we fire up the bikes and enter the Salar, the largest salt flat in the world. I’ve got a full tank of gas and twenty liters of extra fuel strapped to the back of the bike. At 8:00 a.m. when the market opens we’re going to buy enough canned tuna and pasta to last a week, and our rag-tag band of five people on four bikes will leave on what could be the most amazing leg of this whole trip. (In Potosi we picked up Didi and Martina, a German couple riding two up on a DR 650)

We’re late in leaving because December rains usually cover the plane with water, but we did a little recon yesterday and it was dry. With that information, our plan is to enter from the east, and in about the center, where there are “islands” or raised areas of sand where cacti grow, we’ll spend the night, and in the morning turn south.

South of the Salar is a volcanic zone with geysers, hot springs, stone sculpted by wind, and colored lakes where, in November Flamingos flock to breed. If we’re lucky, they’ll still be there. From there we’ll cross the border from Bolivia into Chile and finish this little excursion in the colonial town of San Pedro de Atacama. The whole trip should be about five or six days through very remote territory, so hang on St Christopher, we’re gonna ride like the devil!

A few photos from the train graveyard on the edge of the Salar:

into the train grave yard

long view

train face

wheels

trian coming

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I wasn’t able to upload the post above before we left. Its a long story that goes something like this: After visiting five internet places in the town of Uyuni, none would let me plug a USB flash drive into their computers so I got frustrated and stormed into the desert.

We spent five days camping our way across the Salar and Altaplano, sun burnt, cold and happy. My camera broke on the salt flats and now I’m going through everyone elses photos to pull together a post of the expedition within our adventure. I should have it late tomorrow.