South America Blog

   This is the journey I have always dreamed of,  to ride my motorcycle across the Americas. 

   Follow me as I travel south from Texas to the tip of South America on my BMW GS.   

    Here's a view of the Maps

El Solar de Uyuni, Bolivia

I started my ride early to the remote southwestern corner of Bolivia towards El Solar.  The El Solar salt flats have the distinction of having the highest elevation in the world.  Frank and Gaby had indicated that this section of road was tough and would be a hard ride.  I found that long sections of the road were under construction and in some areas the ground was very soft, causing the GS to sink fairly deep into the sand.  In traveling alone the risk was tipping over and having no one to help upright the GS.

The road was extremely remote however the vistas were just amazing.  Arizona in the US has a resemblance in landscape colors.  The color tones of the landscape always changed.

Approximately two thirds of the way to Uyuni I stopped to take a few photos, and once again in the silences of the isolation I started to hear that familiar boxer motor sound in the distance.  Not more than five minutes later two adventure riders approached on their BMWs.  They were heading in the opposite direction.  They had ridden to Uyuni and were returning to Potosi.  They indicated that the road was difficult but could be ridden on a GS.

I finally made it to Uyuni.  It was a small, dusty town.  It seemed that the whole world came here to see the El Solar salt flats.  I stopped at the first hotel/hostel that I found.  To my surprise I came across two other adventure riders who were just about to leave on a ride to explore the salt flats.  Kevin, one of the riders, had been in contact with me via email.  He had provided me information regarding crossing the Uyuni to the San Pedro desert.  After checking in and getting a quick soft drink I headed for the Solar with them.  It was decided that we would not cross the Solar lengthwise because some areas had water.  Getting salt water on the GS is not a good thing.  Actually, salt water is nasty on anything that it touches.  Being out here in the middle of nowhere was not the time to introduce any problems.  Therefore, we rode fairly slowly and easy for a few miles.  We stopped and took photos to show that we had reached one of our milestones - Solar de Uyuni, Bolivia.

Kevin riding a KLR