Desert of salt

The road south of Oruro wound its way through the altiplano leading us to a phenomenon unlike anything I´ve ever experienced. The salt flats of southern Bolivia have been becconing us since we started planning this trip back in early 2008. The first of the two we encountered, Coipasa, is much less traveled and about half the size of the better known Uyuni to the south. Riding onto Coipasa gave me a feeling of giddyness similar to what I remember experiencing on the first day of snowboarding as a child. The great white expanse in front of me baffled me and everything I knew of familiar lanscapes. It took me a day or so to shed the fear of falling through the layer of salt below me, such similarities to a frozen lake back in the midwest. Fear soon led to expierementation and curiosity. Exploring how long I could ride with my eyes closed, seat surfing, or recliner rididng filled time while waiting for Brent who was somewhere out there in the great white void.I had loaded my moto with food, water, and supplies to last the two of us for four days and three nights, the bike looked like a rig made for a touring clown. Our approach was fairly simple, we would pick a landmark in the far distance and I would ride ten, fifteen, or twenty km towards it and set up a sun shade using tent poles and a tarp.. Brent would arrive an hour or so later, and we would eat lunch and chillout for awhile out of the white hot sun. Our lunches consisted of an unusual substance we came to call "meat paste"- a mashed bologne substance that provoked a rather odd dance every time we mentioned it..yummy. The winds at sunset would try and mold my tent into a sculpture seen only in a modern art museums, but once the sun went down the winds calmed and it was the moon turn to shine.

The full moon we were priveleged enough to experience was another oddity, as the great white expanse turned into a glistening pale blue ocean of salt in every direction. Mornings came earlier than expected, and after coffee and oats it was off into the salt for another day of nothingness and simplicity. Ride straight. Ok, close your eyes and throttle down for a while. Stop. Set up the sun shade. Make some goofy pictures. Ride straight. Set up camp. Sleep.
A few landmarks in the form of islands made for good rest points along the route, and provided cool refreshments (cervesa 1L bottles) much to our admiration. Smiling ear to ear led to sunburned gums and tounges,and the uncomfortablness of rubbing sunscreen inside my nose was overcome by the pain of burnt nostrils. Eyes closed riding, and flavoring meals with literally the "salt of the earth" were once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Eventually, saltier than weve ever been, we splashed our way out of the Uyuni six or so days later, and into the town of Uyuni to enjoy the likes of pizza and people. ¨ Nothing compares to nothingsness¨-Brent Sturlaugson