I had no idea if that was enough time elapsed or not?
When I was here last time, it was raining a lot and that meant that the worlds largest and highest salt flat was something between a salt lake and a mud flat...
And that meant I could not go ride on it as I had hoped.
But, this time, I still didnt know if it was going to be possible... And it was a long way down some unpleasant dirt roads to get to it (combined corrugated and loose sand!)... Not to mention that salt corrosion on a motor bike is absolutely terrible and Id already had my fair share of that with this bike!!! And if the salt flat is still moist, then riding on it would cover my bike in a hyper-saturated solution of salt... Not very good for it!!!
But, I thought about it some more, and I figured, Hey, if Im not prepared to ride this old "pre-rusted", mileaged-out" bike out there, then which bike would I do it with???
So, I set off :))
And, indeed, the road there is rather unpleasant for several hours... But Ive done enough of these sorts of roads to be able to just suck it up, and pick up the pieces of the bike when they fall off due to fatigue failures :))
So, I made it there to the very dusty and quite unpleasant town of Uyuni (So unpleasant that I didnt even take a single picture of it)... But its where all the tours are based and where the tourists come to. I was here to get the information about the salar (salt flat)... And it turned out that it was pretty dry, so that was great... I could go play in the salt :)
But, there was a problem...
The Easter week of celebrations and vacations was just ending here in Bolivia. And Bolivians love their long week-ends just like anyone else. And as a direct result of many of them going on road trips, pretty much the whole of Bolivia was out of fuel!
Id made it the 350Km to Uyuni with something like 60-80Km of fuel left, but there was absolutely no fuel in town.
So, the choices were to either sit tight and wait a day... or two... or three for a fuel truck to show up and then go playing, or to go see if I could find some small amount of fuel in the next town, and if not, just go for a short play on the salt.
So, I rode the 25Km back to another town where the entry ramp to the salar is (you need a long ramp (made of buldozed salt or earth) to get out on to the salar because the edges are always very soft and muddy).
As luck would have it, when I stopped to by a packet of biscuits and some drinking water, I asked if there was any fuel in town...
To which there was a cautious "how much do you want"?
This is where I have the advantage, cos the motorbike takes far less than a car and the people often have a small supply of their own in 10-20 Gal containetrs.
So, I said 5 litres is enough but 10 if you can spare it...
And so, I got about a half a tank of fuel which is enough for me to go about 200Km or so :)))
And then out onto the salar I went...
Past the salt harvesting operations which cover the edge area of the salar in little 1m high cones of salt... very picturesque...
And then I got a couple of pictures of me on the salt...
and then I rode out West for about 5Km and came to a small "salt hotel"... In the middle of nowhere (I guess that works for the tourists though)...
And occasionaly I passed a Land Cruiser loaded with tourists going the other way...
And then I stopped and had a little meditate about it all... Well, why not?
and then I took some pictures of the salt... Cos there is not that much else to point the camera at :)
And then I rode on... and on... and on... For about 80Km in total.
... And I came to a little island that had another little hotel on it. But the interesting thing is that the little island is completely covered in giant cactus... The big ones are something like 1200 to 1500 years old!
And then I decided to play around with my camera for a bit to see what sorts of perspectives I could get with just me, the bike, the salt and the sky as subjects...
You could do a lot more with a couple of props or some more people (someone with the camera and someone as subject) but I had fun for 10 minutes or so just using the self timer on my little point and shoot camera :))
... Hey, I think the salt has shrunk my bike!!!And then I rode on back the 80Km via a randomly different route.
On the way back I played with a couple of things that Id wanted to do and was here specifically to do...
First was to find out how fast the bike actually goes...
And, with the "full dress" touring rig, including 3x hard cases and two spare tires... as well as the 14 tooth smaller front sprocket -slower)... The bike topped out at 163Kmh... I held it wide open for a good minute or two ... Time is a bit flexible when you are concentrating!!! :)))
(Note though that that speed should be "discounted" by about 10% since most speedometers "over read" by about that much!)
Second project was to see how long I could ride for with my eyes closed...
This is harder than it sounds, and even out here on the salar, things can go wrong!
First up, there are surface inconsistencies and if you hit them at speed or at the wrong angle, they can set you to wobbling, and thats not great with closed eyes. Then there are very occasional outright holes in the salt where water comes whealing up to the top... They can be big enough to take a bath in... Needless to say if you hit one of these at speed you may not open your eyes again at all!
But, the tricky one is that with your eyes closed, you effectively lose your sense of balance... Not like when you are walking, but more like the same problem for aircraft pilots when there is no visibility.
The problem is that when the bike starts to lean over to one side, the bike automatically starts to turn in that direction (due to the big gyroscope that is your front wheel... Its actually what makes a bike a stable safe machine to ride)... But, when the bike starts to turn to compensate for the lean, the G-forces of the turn on the rider make you THINK that you are still exactly upright and going straight!
The first few times I tried riding with closed eyes for more than five seconds or so, I found I was WAY off course and in quite a good turn when I opened my eyes. (Note, I did all the blind runs at 100Kmh)
But I got better at concentrating on NOT messing with the bike and letting it do the driving... Instead, I concentrated on sitting straight up and down with relaxed loose arms on the steering (in case I hit one of those surface changes)...
Anyway, I amused my self for most of the way back to the edge of the salar with this game... And, the answer is that I was able to ride at 100Kmh for 35 seconds with my eyes closed :))) ... which by the way seems like an absolute ETERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNITY when you are actually doing it!
And, that was enough of pushing my luck for that day ;)
Then it was back to the salt harvest...
And then a quick check of the bike to see how much salt was covering its vitals... Not too bad but Ill have to find somewhere to give it a good wash tomorrow.
And then, back onto dry dusty land again.
But, that was a great little expedition for the day, and well worth coming back this way to do :)))
