Roads to Uyuni
 

Hi,
Does anyone have any up to date info on the condition of roads to Uyuni?
We are currently in Arica, Chile and moving into Bolivia shortly. Is it still possible to take the bike onto the Salar or do we have to do a guided tour!!?? :thumbdown:
Cheers all beerchug

Only thing stopping you going on the Salar is if its under water (as it was when we went around mid Jan) so we took a jeep tour. Would have been great to do it when it was dry however was very spectacular as its only under about 2" of water so the whole sky is reflected, very surreal! And someone else's vehicle gets eaten by the salt, not your own!

Hey Kev & Lorraine.... Geez, you're taking it even slower than I am – you must have stopped ;) Hope you're all well & having a blast!

From Uyuni, it's about 30km washboard up to Colchani (?), from where you can enter the Salar. If it's dry there, it'll be dry in the centre as well. You can follow the jeep tracks to the big island in the middle (touristy!), from there it's 20km NW to a smaller island (no tourists). You can camp there.
Don't camp on the open Salar. I heard that some trucks drive at night with their lights switched off!

After the Salar, make sure you clean your bike properly back in Uyuni. I've seen other bikers who did a rush job & later had problems with corrosion. Maybe also give it a good bit of WD40 into the hidden/electrical parts.

Enjoy! It's amazing!!

Hey you two! Just happened to be online researching stuff and thought maybe I should check the 24hr post and I see you are here. I took the road from Uyuni to Ollague, beautiful ride, sand here and there, bull dust, extreme washboard, crashed there, but I took my eye off the road and hit a gully of sand. Tough ride but doable for sure. You can camp on the Salar, just park near an island and out of site from the tourist island. It was dry when Ken & Carol and Crawford and I were there. Crawford and I road from Oruro to Uyuni directly without going to Potosi, sand, bull dust, washboard, but new road was nearly finished when we were there last year, 2009. I had Tourance tyres and they were fine. Just take it easy like the Ruta 40 in those troublesome spots. That being said, everyone knows the road won't be like it was two weeks ago so take this info as outdated. There are pictures on my blog Flibber T Gibbet and you can write me here ..... sawyertwo@gmail.com

Great to hear you are still riding, I am stuck in the cold UK, but have a nice warm room.

Markus

Uyuni
 

Hi All,
Good idea MikeS, although I would like the picture of the bike on the Salar, since leaving home in Jan 2009 it only ever gets cleaned when it goes in for service, maybe I should think again!!

Hi Bjorn, yeah we're going slow but we did have to take a break and went home for 6 months to sort out some bureaucratic crap that we couldn't do on the road. All sorted now and back at it. We thought you had left the continent and were in Aus/NZ now. Read your post here about Columbia, if you are returning home for a while we may be in Columbia around the same time when you get back, good to meet up for a beer or two.

Hi Markus, glad you found somewhere warm to stay in the UK. You going to see Nick? he will be home soon. If you get to the Southampton/Portsmouth area or up to Ayr in Scotland, let us know beforehand, could poss get you somewhere to kip if you need it.

Hey Kev & Lorraine,

I'll be back in Cali on the 16th of January, staying in Hostal Casa Blanca. If you're here –

Uyuni
 

Hi Panhandle 1300,

We came through from Potosi to Uyuni a month ago and the road was being worked on. About 50% finished with many detours around unfinished bridges and culverts. These areas were quite rough. Took about 4 hours to ride from Potosi to Uyuni on Vstroms.

A friend came from Oruro on Dr 650 2 weeks ago and said it was extremely rough with locals making numerous trails beside the road because the actual road was so rough. This was the case when we went up to Colchani to access the Salar. Supposedly the rainy season is coming soon, so check the forecasts.

We talked to a tour bus driver and he said the road south from Uyuni to Tupiza was so rough with 12 inch sand and corrugations that he broke 4 shocks on his bus and other suspension stuff, We chose to go back to Potosi and down to Tupiza and south to the border that way. Road south to the border Villizon is about 50% finished as well but the dust was horrendous. There were a few river crossings around unfinsihed bridges that were shallow for us but could cause problems when the rains start.

After the border into Argentina, the roads were all paved on ruta 9, 16, 12, and 14 and great shape.

Hope this helps and good riding.

Regards

Mark

Hi, as others have said the best alternative from Arica is to go via Ollague (unless some local with good knowledge tell you otherwise) and then to Uyuni via Allota (don´t go via Rio Grande). If you go south to Calama first to reach Ollague, there are a couple of salares (San Martin and Ascotan) on the road from Calama to Ollague that are just magnificent, and all that with the Ollague volcano overlooking you. Wow! Once in Uyuni, if it is dry, you can ride on the salar and it will be unforgettable. Don´t go, if possible, with a 4x4 tour. Uyuni is a very personal experience IMHO. I´ve done Calama to Uyuni in April and it was relatively easy, all dirt but very compact. From Uyuni I don´t know what your plans are but if you plan to go to San Pedro de Atacama there are two alternatives: either a direct road via Laguna Colorada, Hedionda, etc (very, very tough requiring good offroad skills) or, as I did, from Uyuni go south to Tupiza, and then Villazón on the border, enter Argentina in La Quiaca. Relatively good dirt road with magnificent views, very remote, and Tupiza is a good stopover place(be sure to find a decent hotel, there a couple of them). Once in Argentina, you can reach San Pedro de Atacama via Paso de Jama, very, very beautiful and all tarmac or, in case you want some adventure, take Paso de Sico (relatively tough): both will take you to San Pedro de Atacama. Good luck and keep us posted. PS When I say good dirt roads they have a lot of washboards but nothing that riding standing couldn´t take care of. From Uyuni to Tupiza it is okay (beautiful!), but from Tupiza to Villazón (in April) the road was under construction and it was a mess (about 100km) but nothing that with a bit of patience could not be handled.

Hey everyone,
Be careful riding around Uyuni.
Coming in from Potosi I fell asleep and woke up just in time to fall off the bike and break my pelvis.

I think the altitude is around 13,500 ft on the road in(4100meters).
I felt fine and alert just before conking out.

I spent 30 days in Uyuni, bones don't heal very fast that high up and I am getting old. I made TDF but Ruta 40 in Patagonia scared the sh*t out of me cause I thought I might go down again(90mph winds didn't help).

I rode home to the USA after TDF.

I do not recommend hurting your pelvis under any circumstances...it's extremely painful and the hospital in Uyuni had no surgeon, a 36 hour ambulance ride/wait would have been necessary for medical transport to be sent from Potosi if the road is dry. It could take longer! There is no helicopter so forget that.

Had I needed surgery I would have died.

I am a RN.
I believe my doctor was Cuban.

There was no morphine in the hospital I stayed in, no toilet seat, no bath and a very bad bed.
The only antibiotic they had was penicillin, I am allergic to that so I took some of my own Cipro and gave some to another Euro with pneumonia. I probably saved his life. The buses weren't running(the rains) so he got to a lower altitude by train, that took 2 days.

The nurses however were excellent and quite beautiful.
bill

Very good point Bill, riding in the altitude may affect people differently, and also the same person differently; this year I felt the altitude much more than last year (granted, I´m an year older;)

The stretch I did (Ollague -> Allota -> Uyuni -> Tupiza -> Villazón) is, by the most part, extremely remote and you hardly cross with another vehicle and for several kilometers you don´t even see one single person. My friend and I kept wondering what it would be like if one of us fell off the bike and couldn´t ride, even as a pillion; the other would be forced to go for help and leave the hurt one alone for god knows how long.
One of the attractions of riding in the area is precisely the remoteness but one must take into consideration what Bill said. Good planning helps and chewing coca leaves or drinking coca tea also helps (nothing to do with the narcotic use).

Salar
 

just came off the salar and down to san pedro de atacama. at Colchani the rain was about 6 inches deep for about 600meters onto the salar. after that it was dry every where else. this was 4 days ago and may of changed. there have been isolated showers in the area.

Cheers Ben

Hi Ben,

I'm heading to Uyuni on Sunday.

I'm in San Pedro too. I'm at the Hotel Tulor. If you fancy a beer or two call in and give me a shout.beerchug

Chris.

That thread about the Salar of Uyuni is an exellent initiative, since this is right now the peak travelling season in South America and Uyuni is a high point of interest.

It made me feel like riding again. I ll head to Uyuni from Asuncion at the beginning of January. Anybody in the area who wants to join is welcome.

Keep us update on road conditions (summer is storms season on the Capricorn Tropic)

Uyuni to San Pedro
 

Anybody up for the Uyuni - San Pedro de Atacama trip???

I will get down to Uyuni tomorrow Dec.14th (now in Sucre) and then riding further to San Pedro probably via San Juan and Laguna Colorada..
If anybody on the same route let me know :thumbup1:

weather forecast is looking good for this week, hope the salar is dry again for riding and camping:palm:...

Roads to Uyuni
 

Thanks for all the replies guys, unfortunately I have only just picked most of them up.
Sorry to hear about your accident Bill, not good, hope you are fully recovered. Luckily the only effects I have felt at altitude is shortness of breath at night fine during the day.
We are actually heading North through S.Am. Our original plan was to just do San Pedro de Atacama and miss Uyuni (I know, sacrilege!!) as we were getting conflicting reports on roads and weather to Uyuni.
A great ride over the Paso de Jamo but once we arrived at SPdA, we got a bit p***ed off with the prices of camping, CLP8,000 pppn for supposed good camping, we didn't even look at the site at that price. Others we looked at were not more than a patch of dirt in someones back yard. Seems the tourist bandwagon has arrived. Maybe we are too fussy but budget and everything, so we rode on to Calama!!
After that we decided to ride on up to Iquique and Arica and spend our money there (enjoyed both of them). We then crossed into Bolivia at Tambo Quemado (3 hours to get through because the computers were down, when the queue had got big enough they then did the paperwork by hand!). Headed to Oruro and then Potosi enquiring about the Salar. Still getting conflicting reports, even from tour operators. road really bad/good and Salar under water/dry. Anyway, we come this far so decided safest option was to take the bus to Uyuni and take a tour, 14th, 15th & 16th Dec.
Once again we realise we should just do what we want and if it gets too difficult then we have at least tried.
The road from Potosi to Uyuni was perfectly rideable and the weather was good. Alternating tarmac and ripio, very corrugated in some places, a little bit of sand, some short detours on good ripio around current roadworks, one water crossing just after Chaquilla village which had a concrete base. I would say at least 50% of the route at the moment is tarmac. The last stretch from just before Pulacayo to Uyuni was the worst corrugations, no current roadworks on this part so I don't think that will change for a while.
Apart from the weather the road will only get better.
Also no water on the Salar and not expected until end Jan beginning Feb according to our guide, but don't take his word for it!!
I agree with Fernando's point about the Salar being a personal thing. We are very disappointed at not taking the bike there and taking the 4x4 tour, just being part of the herd. :thumbdown:
All said we still enjoyed the Salar.
Next stop Sucre then either Santa Cruz or Cochabamba.
Anyone headed the same way and fancy a beer??

I just rode from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama, it was a hell of a ride! I did it solo on my DR200, after leaving the road that goes to Calama I really began to worry that something might happen.

There are other 4WD's but if you had a mechanical failure I doubt they would help you, perhaps for a massive fee, who knows.

Anyway, if you want some route info (all the maps I had were useless out there) you can check my Spot history, just click here and change 'history' to 'all' on the left hand column and click the orange dots to get the GPS co-ords.

On a side-note, the road between Uyuni and Tupiza was fine for me and I found it to be quite a pleasant ride, albeit a dust storm hit me as I was entering Uyuni.

That should learn you that you mostly must check things out yourself, even if you can trust others judgement, things change, one week the road is good [because that road grater machine had just straightened it for you the day before] and the next week [after a nice rainy day] the road is full off gullies and ruts. Mostly its roads, and roads are there to be driven on. It's not Dakar crossing dunes where there are no roads... Go and explore, be surprised and don't be scared of what others will tell you. But then you know this otherwise you would have never driven your bike outside of Europe... :-)

Adventurous greetings,
Coen

Hi, great you made it to the Salar, it doesn´t matter whether you arrived by bus, on foot, by bycicle, parachute, whatever, it is a fantastic place and I´m glad you didn´t miss it, I don´t think there is anything quite like it anywhere else in the world. What you say about conflicting reports is one of the attractions of travelling in Bolivia, I too couldn´t get two reports that would match, adds a bit to the adventure. Good luck on the rest of your trip and keep us posted, abrazos,

Border crossing at Ollague / Question about Alota
 

Merry christmas all!

Does someone know if the border point at Ollague is fully equipped in terms of aduana for the bike? I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that it is necessary to get the bike stamped out of the country by the police in Uyuni, but I can't find that info anywhere. Anyone able to fill me in please?

Also, a couple of people in this thread have mentioned going via Alota between Ollague and Uyuni (i.e. not via Rio Grande). Any particular reason for this? Is it road quality or just for the views?

Finally, the only remotely useful thing I can add to this thread is that the unsealed sections between Villazon - Tupiza - Potosi are manageable 2up on a big bike. Several river crossings and some washboard in places, but perfectly manageable (even fun in places!). 4 days ago the deepest river crossing was about 30 - 40 cms, and it's been pretty dry since.

If anyones's in Sucre, we're headed to cafe bar Amsterdam for Christmas lunch (426 Bolivar street) jeiger

[quote=garmei;316906]Merry christmas all!

Does someone know if the border point at Ollague is fully equipped in terms of aduana for the bike? I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that it is necessary to get the bike stamped out of the country by the police in Uyuni, but I can't find that info anywhere. Anyone able to fill me in please?

I was there in April and left Bolivia at the Abaroa/Ollague border; no problem at all at both Bolivian and Chilean Immigration/Aduana offices, it all went relatively quick.

Also, a couple of people in this thread have mentioned going via Alota between Ollague and Uyuni (i.e. not via Rio Grande). Any particular reason for this? Is it road quality or just for the views?

I´m probably one who have said that. When we left Uyuni towards Abaroa/Ollague and then Calama, a guide we met in Uyuni(very knowledgeable) told us that the road via Rio Grande is full of trucks whereas via Allota is totally remote and very beautiful. We followed his advice and did not regret it at all. He also mentioned a new road that goes from Allota to Abaroa that is not shown in any of the maps that I´ve seen. You can clearly see the road (top lefthand corner) at:

http://fernandocosta.smugmug.com/Travel/Road-from-Uyuni-Bolivia-to/12194215_JfeUc#868001069_tmiCy-A-LB

Have a safe trip and let us know how it went. Once in Chile be prepared to see some very beautiful scenery right after Ollague, particularly the salares de Ascotan and another one that I forgot the name). At the border you will be riding around the omnipresent and magnificent Ollague volcano, wow, I´m missing that already.

Hi all.
We went on to the Salar on the 29th December. There was about 500m of water at the entrance (40cm deep at most) and then it was mostly dry on the salar with a few mushy bits. I think it has been dry since them, so things may have improved. We only went in a 100km, so I dont know what conditions are like towards the western end.

The road to Colachi is horrible, but the locals have made tracks to the side of the road to avoid the worst of the washboard and these came in quite useful.

As far as the road to Ollague goes; we ended up going via Alota simply because we couldnt see any other roads! They may be there, but we missed them. From Alota to Ollague the road was in bad shape with very long sections of very deep windblown sand. We almost fell on countless occasions and have one small off. It took us 7 hours to go from Uyuni to Ollague!!! Please take care.

The border is very quick and easy. There is no petrol on the Chillian side until Calama. We were very fortunate to find ourselves in a hostal in Ollague with a very enterprising owner who keeps a 100litres or so of fuel ready to sell to stranded overlanders! The price is inflated, but fair. The hostal is on the northern side of town, adjacent to the football pitch and down the road from the rural post office. I did see a sign for fuel in a village 95km west of Uyuni, but didnt fill up there because I assumed there would be fuel in Ollague (sorry, cant remember the name of this village). In total, the route we took from Uyuni to Ollague was 250km and it's a further 210 km to Calama.

Hope this is of use.

Oh yes, by the way, there is a llavadero (hosepipe and water!) next to the petrol station you pass on the way towards Colachi. Despite my best efforts to clean my bike a fork seal has gone. Finally, take some WD40 with you - you cant buy it in Uyuni.

looking for partner
 

hi all.

Im on a dr650 travelling with friends in a car at the moment. Currently in el bolson in argentina. Plan to head north to bolivia (Uyni) over the next 2 weeks. I leave my friends there and go to uyni alone and through bolivia. Meeting them again in peru. Would love to team up with someone! If anyone is interested?

Dates can be flexible..

Andrew

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I hope to share my story so others don't find themselves in the same situation!

Not having maps for Bolivia, I used my phone and both Nokia Maps and a Google Maps type app stated that the road from Tupiza to Uyuni was on the south side of the Rio Tupiza. It is incorrect - we followed the river, train line etc for 60km, camped and gave up. You can see where the old road was, and it's now no good - many landslides cover it.

Leaving from Tupiza, head north on the bitumen until the military checkpoint, and then there's a sign letting you know the turn is on the left.

As of today, the road was pretty average (bit of sand and lots of corrugations) on the Uyuni side. The other side is fine. For what it's worth, we didn't have any trouble on loaded CG125s - anything can do it with patience (that said, we did it over 2 days, and stayed in Atocha). :thumbup1: