Now that I’ve repaired my motorcycle, I’m leaving San Pedro de Atacama in Chile and heading to Bolivia.
When driving a foreign vehicle in Chile, we need to apply for insurance called SOAPEX.
This time I’m only driving in Chile for about an hour, but I have no choice.
I tried to apply for SOAPEX with Consorcio, where I did the procedure last time, but the website was under maintenance and I couldn’t apply for insurance.
I had no choice but to apply with HDI, even though it’s more expensive.
I paid USD19
Well, I would like to arrive in Uyuni in one day if possible, but I’m not being greedy and I’m heading to San Cristobal, the town just before Uyuni
The distance is about 350km, so it’s not that long.
The border at Hito Cajon doesn’t open until 8am, so I leave San Pedro de Atacama at around 7am.
The morning sun is very bright
And it’s very cold
By the way, I realized here that the rear brakes were not working at all
I checked later and found that the brake fluid was below the minimum level
There are some downhill sections, so I drive carefully
In less than an hour I’ll be at the border.
There were a few tour vans waiting here
Then the border opened.
The procedure is simple.
I first left Chile at the counter on the far left of the building.
Then I declared my vehicle at the counter next to it.
Here I handed over the receipt I had received previously.
This is OK.
Next I’m heading to immigration in Bolivia.
I arrived at Bolivian immigration in about 15 minutes.
My immigration formalities were over in a flash.
I heard that customs was still ahead, so I headed there.
I arrived at customs in about 10 minutes.
I entered the building on the right and handed over the QR code for my personal declaration and the vehicle declaration documents I had prepared in advance.
It was easy because it was the same way I got from La Quiaca, Argentina to Villazón, Bolivia last year.
They prepared the paperwork for me, so I signed it.
I went through customs.
The building on the left in front of me is the National Park Office, so I’ll stop here.
Here I paid Bs.150, about 7.3 USD, in cash for the entrance fee.
I head to the first tourist spot, Laguna Blanca.
It’s certainly white here
Now, I’m heading to my next destination, Laguna Salada, where there are hot springs.
The road conditions here are extremely bad.
It took me almost two hours to get there, covering 42km.
Not only humans, but also birds are resting their wings.
It’s 12 o’clock at this point.
There are 257km to go until San Cristobal.
Considering the road conditions, it’s impossible for me to get there today.
I asked a nearby tour driver if there were any hotels up ahead, and he told me they were in Laguna Colorada, 45km away, or Villa Mar, 105km away.
He told me it would take 2 hours to get to Villa Mar.
This is the route to Villa Mar.
However, the road conditions here are bad and I can only go about 20km per hour on my motorcycle, so I decide to head for Laguna Colorada, 45km away.
I proceed with caution
And a dead end
Apparently I took a wrong turn
I spoke to the people at the facility and headed back.
I wasted a lot of time.
Now, I need to turn right here to get to Laguna Colorada.
This is quite a difficult thing to do.
If we are passing by for the first time, we don’t notice it.
This doesn’t look like the official route, but it seems to be the right one.
It would be nice if there were at least cars passing by, but there are hardly any here, so I trust the GPS and continue on.
The lake comes into view in front of me, and my heart leaps.
This is the last difficult part of the road.
I traveled 45km from Laguna Salada for about 3 hours and finally arrived at my accommodation near Laguna Colorada.
I thought I could get to San Cristobal in one day, so I only had a few bolivians, and negotiated with Cordillera Lodge whether I could pay in Chilean pesos or US dollars.
They said Chilean pesos were fine, so I paid a little more, CLP30,000, about 32 USD.
There is no bath, no internet, and electricity is only used for about an hour at night before the generator runs out.
Pasta with meat sauce for dinner, bread for breakfast.
I have a mobile battery with a 100w output and a Starlink, so I used it to search for the next day’s route.
There were a few blankets here, but it was quite cold, so I slept in my down jacket.
In the morning, the vicuna came near the house.
Now, I’m leaving for Laguna Colorada to see the flamingos.
The map shows the blue route, but I actually need to take the green route.
Before leaving, I asked the host about the major routes to Uyuni.
Then I was told that the route I was taking was not shown on Google Maps.
This is it on Google Maps,
It seems that many people take this route and go to Uyuni via Villa Mar.
I see, today I need to head to Villa Mar, about 80km away.
So I’m off.
I continue to struggle with the same bad road conditions.
I arrive at Laguna Colorada after 30 minutes of driving about 10km.
Flamingos can be seen anywhere, but Laguna Colorada is the only place where we can see three kinds of flamingos at the same time.
I was told that this is why it is the most famous place.
Now, I go back the way I came and head for Villa Mar.
I run into trouble again at the fork in the road shown on the map.
There is no road here.
I carefully searched for the way back and forth.
It seems that I need to go right on this road.
This is difficult
I made my way carefully through the very deep sand.
I thought this would last forever.
I followed the road for a while and then realized I was heading east instead of north, so I decided to turn back.
I went back and checked the route indicated on the map.
The green route I was shown on the map was to follow the red arrows
This was difficult for me, so I changed to the blue route, which went east and then north, even though it was a bit of a detour
It took me an hour and 20 minutes to finally reach the eastern junction.
Distance: 35km
From here to Villa Mar: 56km
At this point, it was 2:30 p.m.
I wasn’t sure if I’d make it before sunset, so I drove while assuming that I would have to sleep outdoors.
I was thinking that in the worst case scenario, I would sleep in a crevice between rocks to get out of the wind, but luckily I found a building.
I parked my motorcycle and negotiated with the restaurant owner.
Luckily, he gave me permission to stay.
This time, I told him that I didn’t have any bolivianos and that I wanted to pay in Chilean pesos or US dollars, and he readily agreed.
There was no bath or internet here.
I picked out some sweets and paid him more than the bill.
CLP20,000, about 21.3 USD
I talked to him and found out that his son lives in San Pedro de Atacama.
He would go shopping in Uyuni once a month, asking a car that passed by his house to take him there.
For electricity, he would charge the battery with solar panels during the day.
Water would be drawn from the river next door.
Fire would be made of firewood.
We talked for about three hours.
I thought that even though I only understood a little Spanish, I could manage.
Apparently this place is the entrance to a national park.
It’s about -10°C at night, so if I had been sleeping outside I would have frozen to death.
The river is completely frozen.
Here we break the ice and scoop up the water with buckets.
Y por la mañana, un montón de llamas bajaron de las montañas para comer.
It was cold in the morning and the motorcycle engine wouldn’t start, so I waited for the sun to rise and borrowed a car battery to start it with a booster.
It was my first experience of a motorcycle not starting because of the cold.
It was past 10 o’clock at this point, so I decided not to be greedy and headed for Villa Mar, about 56 km away.
So I set off.
The road around Laguna Capina is clearly rich in minerals.
Considering the roads I’ve been on, this is a much easier route.
I arrived at the Laguna Capina viewpoint about 50 minutes after I set off.
The road beyond Laguna Capina is still rough, but the scenery changes, so I didn’t get bored of driving.
Just seeing the building made me want to jump for joy.
I arrived in Villa Mar at around 2pm, a little over 3 hours after I left.
The next town, Villa Arota, is about 50km away.
I could have made it there before sunset if I tried a little harder, but there might be some rough roads ahead, so I decided to sleep in Villa Mar as originally planned.
I checked if there were rooms available at the first inn.
They said they had rooms, so I confirmed that showers and meals were included.
I needed one, as I hadn’t taken a bath in two whole days.
Then I checked whether I could pay in Chilean pesos or US dollars, which is the important thing.
They said I could pay in US dollars, so I checked the price, and it was 50USD.
Expensive!
Moreover, because Bolivia is short of US dollars, the actual 50 USD is worth 1.4 times as much.
I hadn’t taken a bath, hadn’t eaten a meal, and it would be difficult to negotiate at another hotel, so I accepted.
I was told that Wi-Fi can only be registered on one device. If you need more, you will need to pay Bs.15, about 2 USD separately.
The average communication speed was 1Mbps.
This is almost like not being able to use the Internet, so I pulled a Starlink power cord from my motorcycle.
Later, when I looked at the hotel’s Google reviews, they were all 5 stars.
I felt that these reviews were unreliable.
I’m a foreigner and didn’t make a reservation, so maybe they charged me more.
This is snack time.
There were a lot of llamas in the river in front of me.
Apparently these llamas are important meat.
And dinner
I was satisfied with the bath and meal after a long time.
The next day, I aimed to arrive at San Cristobal, about 106 km away.
Then I went to bed.
The next morning, the first thing I did was check if the motorcycle engine was working.
After turning the starter two or three times and taking a rest, the engine started, so I was relieved.
I had breakfast.
I packed my luggage and left just after 8 o’clock.
There was a checkpoint on the outskirts of the town.
I paid Bs.10, about 1.5 USD to get through.
Compared to the roads I’ve been on, this is a much easier road to drive on.
However, if you look at the windshield shaking on the right side of the video, you can see how uneven the ground is.
GoPro’s image stabilization is excellent.
Halfway through, the quality of the sand clearly changed.
It has more minerals.
Then, the last thing that stood in my way was the river.
The map certainly tells me to keep going.
I checked to see if there were any detours, but they all involved crossing the river.
So I got off my bike and checked the depth.
I thought that if I went through the area with the pebbles, there would be no problem.
I decided to pass through here with my luggage.
I managed to get through the river
I made the final push towards the asphalt.
It’s been about two hours since I left Villa Mar
After 10 o’clock, I was able to get onto the asphalt road
It’s about 150km from here to Uyuni
That distance would take less than two hours on asphalt, so I have no problem
I decided to pass through San Cristobal and head to Uyuni.
Asphalt is great
I arrived in San Cristobal less than an hour after I stepped onto the asphalt.
I fill up with gas here
But I was told, “There is no gasoline.”
They refilled the tank right in front of me.
So I decided to continue on to Uyuni.
I was going along pretty well, but as I crossed the Rio Grande the asphalt disappeared.
I thought I would be back on the asphalt soon, but it’s giving me nightmares.
Who was it that said Uyuni was completely paved with asphalt?
And I had to make a detour because the road was under construction.
I thought this was my final test and went ahead.
I walked along the same sandy road as before.
Next I walked down a road that looked like chipped asphalt.
And finally I arrived in Uyuni.
It took about 5 hours from when I left Villa Mar.
This trip was the toughest one I’ve ever been on.
I learned the lesson that it’s better to avoid roads without asphalt even if it means taking a detour.
Dates: June 7-9, 2025
