Pumpernickel on Tour   … in South America

Sunday 14 September 2014

When the friendly lady at the ticket office tells us that the 204-kilometre journey from Tupiza to Uyuni will take 8 hours, we already suspect that this route hasn’t been paved since 2010.  Our suspicions are confirmed when we see the coach waiting for us –

And surely, after a short stretch on the smooth tarmac that now stretches from Villazón to Potosí, another road branches off to Uyuni.

We sit in the first row having a panoramic view of the breath-taking landscape, the villages and the people living there – but also of the mostly single-track dirt road and its wash board-like surface. We see every tight edge, every landslide narrowing the piste even further, we hold our breath at every blind hairpin bend and the many river-crossings with and without water. On the Altiplano we also meet sand dunes and Llamas running around freely. What more could the adventurer possibly ask for?

More than once my dad shakes his head in disbelief that I rode this track on a motorbike and on my own four years ago…

Thanks to our excellent driver, we already arrive after seven hours at our destination, walk straight to the Hotel Julia where I stayed in 2010 and even get my old room on the third floor.

After such an adventurous ride we think that we’ve deserved a treat – our first Llama steak.

Tomorrow we will explore the famous Salar.