Tupiza Passage

During the night flamingos had flown several times overhead, making a strange calling sound. It was jolting enough to wake one from sleep. In the deep of night the wind had calmed down, allowing the sulphrous odour to waft up from the waters. It was nearly unbearable.

In the morning we unzipped the tents and started quickly eating some small items, in a hurry to escape the odour.

The chap coming round the laguna was on an older bike but he had outfitted it well for long-distance cycling. He had a thermos strapped to one side of the rack and a floor pump to the other, with a rucksack on top. He was about 40 years old.

He was about to cycle right by us -- and would have -- if we hadn't flagged him down. He was clearly in a hurry to get somewhere. We guessed he was late for work.

This man in a rush had a huge wadge of coca leaf in his cheeck, so much that it was difficult to understand him. He said he was indeed going to work, at one of the huts next to the laguna where there is still some mineral extraction taking place.

He raced off.

We mounted the bikes and followed the road around the remainder of the laguna, coming across our closest sighting of flamigos yet.

We climbed out of the laguna basin and found a nice long descent into the salar de chivalri (undoubtedly misspelled here). The salt content in the terrain lent the road a tarmac-like quality, making for excellent cycling.

Brice speeds to the salar

Crossing to the far side, one is confused about which way to go. There is a road leading up over a pass directly to the west, slightly north. Another road leads to the south, following a valley.

My rear tyre goes flat, giving us some time to eat and contemplate our choices. We really don't want to make any mistakes up here, so Brice volunteers to cycle down to a nearby laguna where there is an obviously active mineral extraction facility, to ask the way. It turns out to be a borax plant.

They set us straight and we take the left-hand road, south.

There are tons of 4x4s in this area; not on our road, but crossing our road to the west.

We take the road south and come across a small hot springs. The springs are on the left-hand side of the road. On the right, an array of 4x4s are parked, some with music playing and doors open, waiting for their clients to finish soaking.

Our jaws hang down as we make out the surreal scene of semi-naked tourists scurrying from one side to the other. As we did so, someone near the jeeps called our attention.

"Grover!" Brice said, recognising the jeep driver we had met on our first day out of Tupiza. He came across us as we lunched on a saddle beneath the ultimate pass that day. His clients had wanted to chat with us so he pulled over and we had a ten minute talk. We came across him again one or two days later, and again he stopped to let us speak to his clients.

He asked us how many days it has been from Tupiza. "Nine," we told him, in a voice that conveyed a sense of "whew."

I told him that we took the high road from Cerillos, which turned out to be very enjoyable.

He raised an eyebrow. "Bien dificil."

He said we were 40 kms from Laguna Verde.

We decided to forego the hot springs and make a run for Laguna Verde, where there are said to be tourist facilities. Yet it was already pretty late in the day. Only a good effort and propitious conditions would save us from another night in the tents.

The road turned increasingly sandy and difficult to manage. Then it turned for the west, and became a long wind tunnel -- in our faces. Here we passed through the famous Dali rocks. They are wind-eroded and spread in a valley, giving it an otherworldy quality.

A jeep drove by us with a head craning from the driver's window. It flashed a brilliant smile. "Butchcassidysundancekid!" It was Simeon, one of the drivers we consulted on our last night in Tupiza.

We cycled up to the jeep to speak with him.

As Brice excitedly chatted with him, I stood over my bike staring at the passengers inside. One of them was looking me and my bike up and down. After a minute I could see through the window his lips moving. It looked like he said, "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

We hunkered down for a long haul across the Dali valley, into a gale-force wind on bad road without a sun. A truly awful and testing experience. Just keep gritting teeth and get on with it, at a turtle's pace. Little by little. Notching up tiny morsels of progress towards the next pass.

It was exceptionally cold and we stopped to don our winter gear, especially the cycling trousers, fleece and wind breakers. I inserted the chemical hot pads into my gloves.

We climbed to 4600 or 4800 metres, where, surprisingly, there was no wind, and just a few last rays of sun. The horizontal rays demanded some hurried photos.

We descended toward Laguna Verde.

The sun was so low now, we had to scout a place to pitch the tents, and hope we would stay warm enough. Laguna Verde is a large laguna. As mentioned, these super-cool the air. The Laguna Verde region is known to exhibit temperatures a dozen degrees below zero.

After ten kilometres of descent, we left the road and pushed across the valley floor to a spot where a small rise might offer a sliver of protection from the winds blowing off of the Laguna, probably five or so kilometres further down the valley.

Brice snapping one end of the tent pole into the tent floor

From the journal:

Freaking cold in the tents, 3 degrees at 7:30 pm -- bad sign. We knew it would mean a cold night. I bundled up and set everything up. Shell and orange fleece under feet. Wearing two pairs of socks, one of them wool. Fleece trousers on. Silk shirt. Cycle shirt. Cycle vest. Hat plus sleeping bag hood drawn over head. Pulled it all up tight with no hole for breathing. Just blackness. Next thing I know -- I am awake. I just turn over, go back to sleep. I open my eyes and there is light. Shit -- is it morning? Yes! Slept the whole night through. The first time.

Landmark	time	temp (°C)	odometer (kms)	altitude (m)	(Google Earth)
Laguna Collpa	10:00 am	?	0	4497	4539
Salar de Chivalri - mineral plant	11:49 am	?	18	4278	4400
Cuesta Windtunnel	5:15 pm	5	53	4655	4729
Basin above Laguna Verde	6:20 pm	4	63	4300	4374