One day in Chile: after entering Chile early in the morning and a lunch-stop in the mining town of Puttre we headed up into the mountain towards the Bolivian border. The road lead up to 4’600 m with rain, snow, lots of mud and trucks. We arrived at the border frozen to our bones and really light-headed due to the elevation. The border crossing was only for trucks – but now open for the odd tourist as well. So they didn’t really know what to do with us. Being sent back and forth to different placed to finalise all the paper work at high elevation and freezing was a real challenge. As soon as we entered Bolivia though the sun peaked through and offered a stunning view on the surrounding gigantic Volcanoes.
Right after the border the Sajama Nation Park starts, so we decided so spent the night there. After riding along a trail passing loads of Lamas we stopped in the village of Sajma, but all hostels seemed to be closed and camping was no option, as we were still at 4’500 m in the freezing cold. The locals came out and helped us find a place for the night. We ended up staying with lama/alpaca farmers in lovely hobbit-like huts covered with grass as insulation. After a rather sleepless night we got up feeling like having a bad hangover combined with an awful cold – riding up from sea-level to 4’600 m was having its toll on our bodies. Our minds where distracted fast though – in front of our huts was a chopped up lama with all the inside parts hanging next to our bikes. What an introduction to Bolivian culture!
Through out the day we were rewarded with a stunning ride through the Altiplano, passing Volcanos, vast open landscape and fields filled with Lamas.
