Hiking in Tupiza: Bolivia’s Wild West
Date of Entry: November 18th 2015
Date of Writing: November 27th 2015
Tupiza is a little tourist paradise not to far from the other end of the Uyuni Salt Flats about a 5 hour ride from Potosi (We negotiated from 40 bs to 25 each) on the only recently paved road. Buses leave between 7 am and 9 am and at tonight time from Potosi’s modern new bus terminal at the edge of town. The buses are old and not that comfy but I’m accompanied by the three friendly brits from my Salt flat tour and we chat the hours away as we descend out of the Andean peaks going from over 4000 meters down to 2850 meters and much warmer temperatures.
Tupiza is used by many as an alternate base to start your salt flat tour, starting there and ending either in Uyuni or San Pedro De Atacama. Prices are often a little higher but the companies are all welled reviewed and the standard tour is 4 days for around 1000-1200 BS (about 200 CAD). And while the mild extra cost can be frustrating, Tupiza is a much nicer place to spend a few days than the town of Uyuni, which while not unpleasant has little to offer tourists. If I return to the salt flats in January during wet season, I certainly plan to do it through Tupiza, booking a tour, most likely with Torre tours.
That’s ends up being exactly what the Brits are doing and tempted though I am I have no time to join them on the flats for a fourth visit and instead check into a nice enough little hostel right by the hostel paying 45 BS (8 CAD) a night for what ends up being a private twin room. Wifi is sparse in Tupiza but they do have it, you just have to ask for them to turn it on and it’s limited to a few hours a day.
I spend my first afternoon in Tupiza just wandering around the sun soaked streets of the little town, particularly enjoying the tree lined plazas that provide respite from the sun, which seems hotter than it is after so long high up in the Andes Mountains.
The next morning though I wake up after having scoured the tourist agencies looking for a single day jeep tour without any luck, and decide to make it a hiking day, having been told the landscapes outside of town are uniquely beautiful and much like the wild west of the southern United States, a part of the world I can’t wait to visit. Don’t mistake the beginning of this paragraph by the way, there are lots of day tours out of Tupiza, just most of them involve either or both of bicycling and horseback riding, two activities I take no joy from.
Either way I set off from my hostel at around 9 am, two hours late than I should have considering the heat, and head out of town past the bus station, making a right at the railroad tracks which run between the last road of town and the dried up riverbed beside it.
I get the instructions on where to go from my hostel as well as Torres tours who are always happy to help and my goal for the day is to hike the roughy 7 km each way to Puerto del Diablo and possibly to continue out to Canyon Del Inca at least 9 km from town.
To get there you follow the railway tracks out of town until you get to a building called Piscina del Virgen, from there you find a little dried out riverbed just past the pool complex and take a right, following the Quebrada, (Dried out riverbed). Those are the instructions i Received, and they quickly got me lost as the Quebrada split after a short time and I chose to bear left walking up and around a big garbage dump and further int the mountains. Instead I should have gone right, although in the next blog entry you’ll see even better instructions on an alternate route to get to these amazing sites.
Now after heading up past the dump and getting vague pointed directions from garbage men driving by in garbage trucks I feel well and thoroughly lost, some might consider that not the best place to be, lost in the middle of the desert, but my bag has two litres of water and I do still know how to get back to town, so I figure why not keep exploring and see what this mini wild west might hold. The scenery all around me is certainly beautiful and I’m in a hiking moon as a I follow the dirt road up over a pass and out of sight of the dump. As I go I reflect on the sheer amount of garbage we leave behind us, it really is appalling and I’m certainly just as bad an offender as everyone. Maybe every person should spend a week out of every year working in the dump, just to make us a little more conscious of what we waste and all the excess packaging that surrounds us.
As I like the smell of melting garbage behind and head down into another valley between the multi coloured mountains filled by a few dotted houses and a decent size cemetery, still well decorated from the day of the dead ceremonies in early November. I have no idea where I’m going but I follow the road through the valley heading towards a much higher mountain pass. The sun by now is approaching it’s peak in the sky and I’m covered in sweat and burning up inside, though I’m determined to keep going.
After struggling with the winding road up the hill I eventually crest the peak and start my way down the other side, thrilled to spot something that looks vaguely like the photos I’ve seen of the Puerto del Diablo. I cant be sure but I quickly cut off the road and scamper down a steeper trail towards a few trees which offer a much needed respite from the sun before continuing on to the unique looking rock formation, where I find a single jeep parked, the driver resting inside.
I ask him where I am and if this is Puerto Del Diablo, he laughs and shakes his head saying no, this is Canyon Del Duendes. (Owner’s canyon.) I remember seeing it on my map, which I somehow lost before leaving town, and shake my head it was 12 km away and a decent distance from my original targets, still, it looks beautiful so I thank the driver and slip between the two giant rock faces to explore this happy accidental find.
Before going far though I decide to have a nice sitting break in the shade provided by the huge rock gates for a few minutes, lying down and listening to some music before eventually picking myself up and carrying on deeper into the Canyon, surrounded by huge flowering cactus’ and incredible rock formations. The deeper I go the narrower the canyon gets and the more impressive the views become. More than anywhere else so far in my travels, this place reminds me of Capadoccia in Turkey, a truly amazing region which you must see if your path ever takes you to Turkey.
The single tourist passes by me the other way, heading to his jeep which I press deeper into the canyon, following the dry riverbed up further and further into the close pressing mountains, the stones forming thin and impressive clusters of individual spires stretching up towards the pure blue sky. As I continue on the walking becomes a lot more climbing than anything else as I try to get deeper and deeper into the gorge.
Eventually the path gets too dangerous to keep going alone without climbing equipment so I turn around and head back, as I reach the exit of the gorge 6 jeeps pull up bearing a huge group of Latvian tourists of all things. After a few short conversations in broken english I leave the gorge behind and, before climbing back up the hill, find a nice resting place under one of the bigger trees, enjoying more music, and taking small gulps from my water bottle which is now running low. If you plan to hike here I recommend bringing at least 4 litres of water, it’s hot and the air is incredibly dry, and here, much like in the actual wild west, water is your best friend.
Eventually I gather my energy and force my way back up the hill to more amazing views of the canyon from above. Walking uphill in the early afternoon heat is far from fun though the scenery all around me does help make up for it and surprisingly coming down to 2800 meters has made a huge different and I feel a lot more fit than I did above 4000 which is encouraging.
AsI come to the turn off to take the pass up and over towards the dump I choose instead to bear right, through the little village and hopefully out towards the main road. My instinct proves right, which I confirm with a few locals and soon enough I’m back on the train tracks heading towards town. Though it’s only about 3:00 pm I spot the moon in the blue sky.
I wander back towards the town legs exhausted, my entire body drenched in sweat and feeling smothered by the sun, though I do snap some photos of the huge riverbed with is 95 percent dried up at this time of year, as well as some other tourists who’ve come on horseback. I wish I liked riding and here is the perfect place in South America to do it, where getting a good horse is cheap and easy, but for me it’s just too unpleasant, and I’m sure the horses are more than glad of that considering my substantial weight.
Eventually about halfway back to the bus station and my hostel the sun gets the better of me and I climb aboard one of the passing local buses for under 2 Bs (35 Cents Canadian) which drops me just outside my hostel. There I buy an ice cream cone and collapse in my bed for a while before a cold shower restores my energy and sends me out to Churrasqueria Moises for some amazing barbecued steak for dinner. Here in Southern Bolivia, so close to Argentina, the meat is excellent and I eventually head to bed early, exhausted but thrilled, with a comfortably full belly, ready to extend my stay in Tupiza in order to try to make it to my original targets tomorrow.
