from bolivia to northern chile
 

i am going to be traveling down through bolivia into northern chile in a few weeks. i am riding with a pillion in the rainy season. does anyone one have any recomended routes into northern chile

cheers
tim

Yep, definitely recommend the er 'obvious' northern route into Chile - south of La Paz, north of Oruro, turn right on the only tarmac road for the frontera that runs through Parque Nacional de Sajama (sp?), under Bolivia's highest peak and into Lauca National Park on the Chilean side, then dives down into the desert until it hits the Pacific in Arica. Absolutely gorgeous, and the border's fast and straight-forward (though they aduanas will x-ray panniers and smash your fruit. No,really). Damn, that's a great ride.

Hello,
I did the same route but coming from Arica. Well it is great! But we had no problems with aduana. They did not even have a look in the boxes. Just passport control and the usual stuff like "Temporario importation del vehiculo"...
But no problem at all! The road is in good condition. Atetion: About 100km out of La Paz at the place (before entering a little city) where you have to turn to the right means western direction(looking from La Paz), there is the last gasoline station until the border. On the bolivian side, before the border there is the next one. The chilenean side is not the good in shape but they are working on it.
I can recommend the hostal La Paloma in Putre. Not that expensive and you can park your bike in.
Enjoy that ride!
Burnout1

There are some muckier routes further south but in the rain these are going to be tough. Has it started raining yet this year? I went from to Uyuni to Ollague on a road that was fairly firm and hopefully the two new bridges are ready. However, finding this route on a map was impossible at the time but easy to find when riding.

There's plenty of information on this subject starting from about this time last year. Seems to be a perennial favourite. Don't even think of the muddy route to the south that takes in the very scenic coloured lakes and classic altiplano!!

Have fun!!

Matt

hello,

we did two other routes - magnificient both.

the first one was connecting oruro in bolivia more or less directly with iquique, crossing the border north of salar de coipasa at colchane. thereafter, the road becomes (narrow) tarmac soon all the way down to huara near the coast. an adventurous ride, lonely and wild!
the second option is a connection between tambo quemado/chungara and colchane/isluga, following the border south and pasing the incredible salar de surire. some kms after isluga you find yourself back on the road mentioned above.

if someone is interested, i have a description with gps-data, distances, directions etc.

good luck to everyone

[This message has been edited by desert soul (edited 15 November 2005).]

desertsoul, please see the new GPS tracks section under Trip Planning (menu on left) and see the menu on left there!

(Routes to ride and GPS tracks)

thanks, Grant

Looks like you guys may have been to Iquique or Arica. I am looking for moto storage for two KLRs March 06 to Feb 07. Know anyone?