Just outside the town of Nazca in southern Peru is a flat desert plain on which ancient peoples (500BC – 500AD) etched hundreds of large images (geoglyphs), sometimes over 300m in length, that only really become apparent when viewed from above – the Nazca Lines. Our merry band of overlanders, David and Francine, Ivan, Heather and Jon, and Gerhard and […]
We left the Bolivian holiday town of Copacabana and crossed into Peru at the Kasani border crossing. The border personal were serious, but very polite. A promising start. Having had our passports stamped and collected Big Bertha’s temporary import permit (TIP) we entered Peru and were immediately greeted by numerous and quiet fuel stations – what a change from Bolivia! […]
We spent just over a month in Bolivia. Not our longest visit by a far cry, but given the fuel shortages and regular road blockades (government protests), we decided to not press our luck. We entered Bolivia from Chile in the south on the Laguna Route and drove to Uyuni to visit the Salt Flats which we explored for several […]
Exploring Copacabana in Bolivia, we saw a lot of decorated cars around the town. Further investigation revealed they had been adorned with trimmings in preparation for their blessing by the pastor at the town’s church. Turns out this is quite a thing. Each day at 10am and 2:30pm, and especially at weekends, vehicles assemble outside the church ready for their […]
For many years this road was the only way into La Paz, Bolivia’s capital, from the north. It is a treacherously steep and very narrow unsealed road, with few passing places, cut into the side of a cliff. The drop offs are up to 600m – no room for mistakes. But plenty have made a mistake and paid for it. […]
Francine told me she wanted to see the Fighting Cholitas – a group of female wrestlers that perform in El Alto (just above La Paz). Unfortunately, Francine caught a bug and did not feel like going. Given they only perform twice a week, Dave decided to go and report back. What a laugh! You either love or hate wrestling. It […]
Bolivia is a poor country. But La Paz’s public transport system is very modern and it would be at home in any major city. La Paz is built in a bowl with steep sides, with maybe two flat streets, and so a rail system would never cut it. Instead, La Paz has ten interconnected cable car lines. And it is […]
Before leaving Uyuni, Dave visited the ‘train cemetery’ in Uyuni – a graveyard of tens of steam locos imported from the UK. Great fun! From Uyuni, we drove to Potosí, once the largest city in the world thanks to a silver mining boom. It is now a city of steep hills (being located on the foothills of the mountains being […]
The Salar de Uyuni is the largest continuous high salt desert in the world, with an area of 10,582 km² (4,085 sq mi ) – about half the size of Wales. It is located at about 3,650 m above sea level in southwestern Bolivia. It is on every overlanders itinerary and we were really looking forward to spending a few […]
The Laguna Route – an overlander’s right of passage. This 302km off-road adventure starts at the Bolivian Border, Paso Fronterizo Hito Cajón and goes all the way to Uyuni, although there are patches of tarmac towards the end. It’s not for the faint hearted. The entire route is above 4000m, is very cold at this time of year, and is […]