BOLIVIAN BACKROADS
BOLIVIAN BACKROADS
Overlanding the Southwest Circuit
TEXT BY ASHLEY GIORDANO
IMAGES BY RICHARD GIORDANO
We had been dreaming about Bolivia’s Lagunas Route (also known as the Southwest Circuit) for years. But now it was no longer some distant, wishful destination. It was time to start our truck’s little engine and complete what would most likely be our longest off-road experience in South America.
The Lagunas Route is an unpaved track from Uyuni, Bolivia, to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The route winds through soft sand and over bumpy sections of washboard and rocky outcrops located in the Bolivian Altiplano, or high plain. Thus far we had only seen photographs of the route depicting otherworldly and desolate (but beautiful) scenery. Glacial salt lakes shimmered in strange, vivid colors of rusty reds and alien greens. Pink amingos huddled together in the middle of semi-frozen lakes attempting to conserve body heat in the sub-zero temperatures. It was time to experience the scenes we had only seen in photographs.
”OUR CALCULATIONS INDICATED THAT APPROXIMATELY 100 LITERS OF FUEL WOULD LAST US FOR AT LEAST 600 KM, TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION BOTH THE HIGH ALTITUDE AND THE ROUGHER-THAN-NORMAL ROADS.”
Our North American convoy, hailing from California, Virginia, and Canada.
We convoyed with two other couples for the duration of the 474km western leg of the route-George and Jenine, driving a Sportsmobile and hailing from San Francisco; and Chris and Mallary, who had driven their ‘94 4Runner from Virginia. We joined them with our ‘90 Toyota pickup, affectionately nicknamed “Little Red,” which we had driven south from Canada.
DAY 1
After depleting our three-day supply of water, food, and cervezas while staked out on the Bolivian salt flats (Salar de Uyuni), we needed to visit the nearest town to stock up. We spent the night at our favorite train cemetery before meandering back into civilization. Showers for everyone! After we were scrubbed clean, we visited a local power washing station to deal with Little Red’s salt-encrusted undercarriage.