Sunrise at 5:30 AM had us up and raring to go. Yeah… sure. We split the roll of cookies we had with us, the half bag of potato chips and the part of the bottle of water we had. That was breakfast and we weren’t sure when we would get more food and water.
Leaving our camp in the gravel pit, we headed across the salar in a westerly direction. Thank goodness for the GPS. At least we had some idea which way to go.
The overnight rain had only made things worse. Now the salt/mud combination had turned to glue and started filling up our front fenders stopping the wheel from turning. Of course this lead to more lay-downs and time spent unclogging fenders.
After a few upsets I was tempted to take the fenders off the bikes, but just didn’t have the energy to do so. Besides, we only had about another 75 kms to go to the border and it was only noon. Lots of time, right?
Finally we made it across the salt flats and were ecstatic. Now we just needed to find the desert road to the border crossing. As we rounded a corner, we were thrilled to see a village. Luckily it was inhabited, and there was a tienda open for business. We gobbled a few cookies and chocolate bars, some orange Fanta, and chatted with a village elder who gave us directions to the border.
Heading out of town we were back on the dry desert and a good road (by Bolivian standards)! One thing about desert roads though is that there are several of them and none of them are signed. A wrong choice led us up a trail that followed a dry river bed and again we were experiencing deep sand. Duck walking the bikes off and on for several kms we decided we would have to backtrack as we had taken a wrong turn. The road was angling in the wrong direction.
Back to the main intersection to take the “other” branch we were again on our way to the border. Only 40 kms to go, but damn, the sun was starting to set again. Come deep sand or flooded salar, we were NOT going to sleep on the desert again.
This time we had no breakfast or water with us, our fuel reserve lights were on, and both of us were physically exhausted. Corinne was so exhausted she decided she had to have a nap.
We made it to the Bolivia/Chile border just as the Bolivians were locking the gate. This border crossing consisted of three buildings, a gate and… well that’s about it. It was getting cold and dark again, and the desert wind was howling. The guard took a look at our sorry state and I am sure he decided he did not want anything to do with these gringos.
Stamping our bike export papers he motioned for us to be on our way. But we had not cleared immigration and couldn’t get into Chile. A phone call was made and the immigration officer showed up and stamped our passports. He wanted $5.00 US and we didn’t really give a crap for what, we paid and got on our bikes heading for the Chile border crossing which was about 2 kms further across the desert. Damn it was getting cold and very dark.
Arriving at the Chile border, we could see that the gate was locked. Hopefully someone was still around to let us through. Nope… little did we know, there was a time change between Bolivia and Chile and we were not only a few minutes late, we were over an hour late. No one was willing to open their office again at such a late hour.
Now what? We begged to be let through the border, but the janitor of the building thought we were nuts and of course could not do anything anyway. Luckily, the Immigration building was shared by the Policia and there was still a Policeman in the station. After Corinne had her crying spell (only partly an act), explained that we had encountered mucho problemos in the salar, and we need to sleep, they agreed to let us stay in the police station lobby until morning when Immigration opened. Not great accommodation but the price was right. Although unheated it sure beat sleeping in a gravel pit! Seeing Corinne curled up on the floor in the corner trying to sleep, some workers brought us mattresses and blankets (from the jail cells maybe?), and we were finally able to get some much needed sleep.
The past 2 days will be long remembered as an adventure we do not ever want to repeat!
