Bolivia: South Lipez in self-drive
We decide not to go through San Pablo de Lipez but head toward San Antonio de Esmoruco and take a small track up to Guadalupe. The road to San Antonio isn’t very smooth, but the landscape with its colorful mountains is stunning. It feels like the Wild West.
To our great surprise, we spot two condors soaring above the canyon. They’re quite far away, but you can still make out their white collars. What a surprise—we weren’t expecting to see any here at all! 🙂
The track up to Guadalupe is marked by a small wooden sign. It’s the same route maps.me wants to take us on—perfect. The track climbs steeply, it’s very narrow, and there are lots of bends. After a while, it becomes almost impassable, but we push on. Unfortunately, not for long—the water has carved deep ruts, and the bends get harder and harder to navigate. We’re six kilometers from Guadalupe when we come across a huge hole. At this bend, the track has simply disappeared, and there’s no way through. 🏴☠️
Luckily, this stretch of track is a bit wider, and Benoît manages to turn around, though it takes several maneuvers. We’re disappointed—we have to go back down to the junction and find another route. With maps.me’s help, I quickly find a solution. We have two options: either take another 13-kilometer track up to Guadalupe or descend 4 kilometers to San Antonio de Esmoruco and skip Guadalupe. It’s late, so we decide to head to San Antonio for the night. The track is beautiful, and we get to see some amazing rock formations.
We quickly find a hostel and ask to see the room and bathroom. We don’t even step inside—we don’t want to spend the night in a place like that. Everything’s dirty, and the woman says she’ll clean, but we’d rather leave and sleep in the car. We head back up the track, hoping to find a spot to settle down. But for several kilometers, we can’t leave the track, and I really don’t want to sleep somewhere with passing traffic. In the end, we decide to go up to Guadalupe. What a waste of time!
The sun has already set behind the mountains by the time we reach Guadalupe. We quickly find someone who goes to fetch a woman who rents out rooms. Like in San Antonio, I ask to see the room. It’s basic but very clean, and there’s a bathroom in the courtyard. We’ll be staying “at” Celia’s—she charges us 70 bolivianos for the room.
The headboard is still wrapped up
Celia doesn’t cook, so we’ll have to fend for ourselves. No problem—we’ve got our little stove and enough food to cook. We ask her to arrange a guide for Ciudad da Roma tomorrow morning. Celia comes back with her son, who’s willing to be our guide for the whole day. No thanks—we only want a 3-4 hour visit so we can do some walking. So Celia will be accompanying us instead.
She and her son are amazed to see our little stove with the gas canister. They’ve never seen one before and want to know how it works. Then a neighbor stops by to chat, but he quickly realizes our Spanish isn’t good enough to understand or hold a conversation. Too bad! We won’t be using the shower—the electrical wires above the showerhead don’t exactly inspire confidence.
The rest is here: https://voyageforum.com/v.f?post=9951025;a=9951025
To our great surprise, we spot two condors soaring above the canyon. They’re quite far away, but you can still make out their white collars. What a surprise—we weren’t expecting to see any here at all! 🙂
The track up to Guadalupe is marked by a small wooden sign. It’s the same route maps.me wants to take us on—perfect. The track climbs steeply, it’s very narrow, and there are lots of bends. After a while, it becomes almost impassable, but we push on. Unfortunately, not for long—the water has carved deep ruts, and the bends get harder and harder to navigate. We’re six kilometers from Guadalupe when we come across a huge hole. At this bend, the track has simply disappeared, and there’s no way through. 🏴☠️
Luckily, this stretch of track is a bit wider, and Benoît manages to turn around, though it takes several maneuvers. We’re disappointed—we have to go back down to the junction and find another route. With maps.me’s help, I quickly find a solution. We have two options: either take another 13-kilometer track up to Guadalupe or descend 4 kilometers to San Antonio de Esmoruco and skip Guadalupe. It’s late, so we decide to head to San Antonio for the night. The track is beautiful, and we get to see some amazing rock formations.
We quickly find a hostel and ask to see the room and bathroom. We don’t even step inside—we don’t want to spend the night in a place like that. Everything’s dirty, and the woman says she’ll clean, but we’d rather leave and sleep in the car. We head back up the track, hoping to find a spot to settle down. But for several kilometers, we can’t leave the track, and I really don’t want to sleep somewhere with passing traffic. In the end, we decide to go up to Guadalupe. What a waste of time!
The sun has already set behind the mountains by the time we reach Guadalupe. We quickly find someone who goes to fetch a woman who rents out rooms. Like in San Antonio, I ask to see the room. It’s basic but very clean, and there’s a bathroom in the courtyard. We’ll be staying “at” Celia’s—she charges us 70 bolivianos for the room.
The headboard is still wrapped up Celia doesn’t cook, so we’ll have to fend for ourselves. No problem—we’ve got our little stove and enough food to cook. We ask her to arrange a guide for Ciudad da Roma tomorrow morning. Celia comes back with her son, who’s willing to be our guide for the whole day. No thanks—we only want a 3-4 hour visit so we can do some walking. So Celia will be accompanying us instead.
She and her son are amazed to see our little stove with the gas canister. They’ve never seen one before and want to know how it works. Then a neighbor stops by to chat, but he quickly realizes our Spanish isn’t good enough to understand or hold a conversation. Too bad! We won’t be using the shower—the electrical wires above the showerhead don’t exactly inspire confidence.
The rest is here: https://voyageforum.com/v.f?post=9951025;a=9951025
