We got up at 4:45 am, cold and tired, having slept barely a few hours. We packed in the dark. I brushed my teeth quickly and decided to skip washing my face with some expensive French product, for once. The water was freezing and of course, no hot water.
We got to the bus station sleepy and cranky. Once the “use of bus terminal” fee paid, we had just enough bolivianos for a bottle of water. We boarded the bus, still dark outside, leaving La Paz behind us. Crossing the Andes, again, to Chile.
I was wearing pretty much all of my clothes: thick socks, pants, a tee shirt, a sweater, the jacket I bought in Perú (which, according to Feng, makes me look like a “biker chick”), and a scarf I bought in Bolivia. I put the sweater’s hood on and adjust my Ipod headphones, in a desperate attempt to block the noise from outside. I must have looked like a moody teen.
The bus climbed in the mountains. La Paz is already almost 4,000 meters above sea level, and we were going higher. We passed through dirty suburbs, houses half destroyed or half built, dirt roads, people sleeping in the streets. The sun rose above the mountains.
We entered Bolivia’s highlands, dry and dramatic scenery. A few patches of grass here and there and miles and miles of flat land. In the background, huge volcanoes, above 6,000 meters high, their snowy peaks contrasting with the crisp blue sky. Amazing. Lamas, flamingoes, volcanoes, more flat land, and not a single village to be seen.
We reached the Bolivian border after a few hours and everybody got off the bus. We were under strict instruction to not bring any drug (duh) and fruits and veggies to Chile, as the bus co-pilot repeated many times. “Nothing animal or vegetal”, he started yelling in the bus, a few kilometers before the border. Everybody nodded, but suddenly, many passengers were opening their bags and discovering mate de coca, coca leaves, weird leaves mixtures etc. It took forever to clear them. We just waited in line, to get our exit stamp from Bolivia.
We drove a few more kilometers and reached the Chilean border. What a scenery! The border crossing is almost 5,000 meters above sea level, with mountains and volcanoes in the background. We left our backpacks with the police (searched for drugs), got our Chilean entry stamp, we back for the bags, X-ray, some more searches and finally we were able to go take pictures.
We were on top of the Andes… and now, we had to go down. Arica, our first stop in Chile, is an oasis in the middle of the desert, close to the Pacific Ocean. It took over 6 hours to finally be a sea level, 6 hours of closing our eyes as the driver, probably tired, was pushing the bus to its limits, each time closer to the cliff. The road was extremely narrow and we feared we would not make it.
Of course, we did. And sweaty, tired, and hungry, we arrived in Arica, our first Chilean city.
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Great! You are in Chile. Hope you can go to San Pedro de Atacama. We were there in 1998.
Beautiful place! I envy you~
The bus looks OK 🙂
You and your companion look OK 🙂
The landscape is breathtaking !
Enjoy the journey !
The scenery is great!
Of course, it takes a good photographer to capture the scenes 😉
But I can’t see the flamingos.
Wow, it’s stunning!! I love your description of the bus ride. Stay safe, have a great time!!
@Larry Gambone – We took another route actually… the landscape we had in Boivia is pretty much the same as in San Pedro, so we figured we would experience something different.
@Bluefish – I sent you an email, not sure you got it… connexion is a bit weird here.
@Sidney – Yes, the bus was fine… at least the outside! 😆 The inside is a bit more rundown.
@Khengsiong – The flamingoes are in the water. They are quite small… I will upload the larger pictures on Flickr as soon as I get a good internet connexion 🙂
@Brenda – Defibitely the best border crossing ever. The most scenic one.
My goodness these pictures are breathtaking! You guys are so lucky!! 😀
Wow… The Andes up close! The volcanoes are a sight to behold, ain’t it? 😉
Chile is a beautiful country. It has deserts, mountains, and the spectacular Torres del Paine National Park. I wish I could vsit there some day!
Salut Zhu,
This road trip is something that you have to merit, it seems to me.But, I think that it was worth it . It’s amazing to hear about the scenery you go through.
I think that few people travel and go both above and below sea level in a same trip !
Gorgeous volcanoes… I just love “les neiges eternenelles” 🙂
Keep on going strong.
Bises
Boy the security is really tight there, glad you got your camera in!! They must be protecting the beauty. Sounds like an amazing trip.
@Agnes – This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been!
@kyh – Chile, as well as Bolivia and Argentina, has just about every season and every kind of lanscape. Makes it really unique.
@barbara – It is quite unique! We crossed the Andes many times, and will cross them more in the future. Beautiful mountains… but twisty ride!
@DianeCA – I can understand though, drugs are everywhere… sadly. Chileans are also concerned with food disease.
Flamingos, lakes, and mountains in the same photo? I so wish I was there!
Chile is beautiful! But it looks cold as hell! Hell no!!
You guys look great! 😀
Cheers
That first photo is absolutely amazing. I’m looking to get into my photography a little more and things liek this always give me great inspriration…. Now if only there was something like that near me as I doubt I’m going to get to the Andes anytime soon.