600km of Rugged Off-Road Trails - Chile and Bolivia

Often the best travel plans are not those that happen from the start but through bad luck. For Slow Roamers’ Alex and Meg, their trip to South America was not as expected. Instead of travelling directly to Bolivia, they took a 600 km detour across the mountain range separating Chile and Bolivia. Their drive was not your typical scenic drive. The route they took was along the more rugged and higher of the off-road routes where the unrelenting landscape challenges both the vehicle and your willingness to let go of how you perceive the vehicle.

Alex is someone who loves wide-open spaces; this what makes him feel at home. Alex does not just drive to these wide-open spaces, he builds vehicles that allow him to travel to these faraway places. While Meg loves the thrill and excitement of corporate life, she has turned her corporate life into something more colourful by using the food that she collects while travelling to create art. In her spare time, she has turned their van into a mobile cooking school.

Betty, which is their ‘home on wheels’, is also part of this story. Originally a two-wheel-drive Chevy Express 2500, Alex has converted Betty into an off-road monster that can traverse many of the terrains that most of today’s SUV vehicles would have to turn around on.

The decision to cross into Chile followed the ongoing fuel shortage in Bolivia, and after a week of navigating remote routes that follow a thin line between the two countries, they realized this was a route that requires respect and some level of comfort with being disoriented.

Traveling through these difficult to traverse areas requires a slower pace of life. There are no convenience stores or paved rest stops in the desert regions described here. This region has vast salt flats, volcanoes, and the serenity of setting up a campsite just before sunset as well as being located in the Andes Mountain Range. You will also often encounter roaming herds of llamas along the way, who are the true inhabitants of this region of the Altiplano at such a high elevation.

One very rewarding experience this long, rugged trail offers is the discovery of hidden geothermal hot springs that are often found in the middle of the desert’s desolate terrain. These hot pools allow you to relax in warm, steaming water among the frigid air of the mountains.

Every curve and bend of the paths offers a new perspective of the desert; these paths were carved out by the needs of the locals. In contrast, modern travelers (like Alex and Meg) are motivated by a different type of need. They want to enjoy the world without the influence of contemporary tourism. The movement of the road will dictate the tempo of your trip, while at the same time allowing you to appreciate the beauty of the things you see along the way.

The goal remains the same: to eventually loop back into Bolivia for the Lagunas Route and the Uyuni Salt Flats. But for now, the Chilean dust and the open road are exactly where they need to be.