Bolivia’s Western Lagunas Route — When Altitude Sickness Forces You to Split Up

Waking up to a pre-made breakfast along the Lagunas Route really is a treat! Temperatures are still well below zero, but the sun will be here any minute. And that’s a good thing! Because every morning our motorcycles are more reluctant to start their engines. The altitude and the cold are definitely getting to our small red heroes.

We get going and immediately start heading uphill. This landscape simply doesn’t give you a break. And this time it’s us as much as our little bikes that are suffering. Just to save our breath we stop talking to each other while we head to the highest point we have ever been in our lives: geysers at 5000m.

We may sound like wheezing asthma patients fighting to catch some air, but we make it in good health, or so we think. The moment Jonas gets off his motorbike we notice there is something wrong (see YouTube video). Instead of walking, it’s as if each leg individually is trying to find balance on a boat amid a heavy storm. They wobble about, they can’t agree where to go and Jonas’s body just tries to stay on top of the situation.

This can’t be good! We might not have seen all the geysers, but we need to go down again. Every few 100m down makes a world of difference at these soaring altitudes! And Jonas needs to drive, so his legs need to at least keep semi working.

Together we start heading down, but as if to prove to us how harsh this environment can be, the track gets tricky. Still the kind of tricky one would call a fun challenge at sea level, but in this situation it terrifies us. We must not drop the bikes, because we know that we wouldn’t be able to get them back up again. There’s no way. If they go down, we go down with them.

Slowly we wobble up and down, concentrated and utterly scared. This can’t be happening! As suddenly as this tricky route made its entrance, it changes into a wider, better maintained track. This is the moment for Jonas to speed up. Onwards to less oxygen-deprived air!

I feel less confident, and still very much don’t want to drop my bike, so we agree to part ways. He will wait for me at a lower altitude. We go our separate ways, both slightly concerned about what might happen, but confident this is the best solution to get the both of us to safety. It’s a strange feeling, watching each other ride off on an empty altiplano. Neither of us says much about it.

People don’t always realise how dangerous altitude can be. So, consider yourself warned! At altitude, listen to your body and take time to acclimatise, because it can literally kill you. You wouldn’t be the first to wither at an altitude border crossing or on the flank of a mountain, nor would you be the last.

Back on track! As you might have guessed, we safely make it back down to 4400m and Jonas instantly started to feel better.

There are some properly warm hot springs here, but Jonas isn’t feeling up to it yet. The border to Chile is only 50 or so kilometres away. Should we continue or hang back here and enjoy those hot springs properly once the crowds leave? We take a few hours to monitor Jonas’s health, but eventually make the happy decision to stay the night.

Once we get into the hot springs we have them nearly completely to ourselves. Luxury isn’t always about fancy things. More often it’s about having the time to enjoy remote places you could never have dreamed existed.

This is the end of our Lagunas Route experience. No dramas, no big heroic moments. Just two people on two small red bikes, glad to have made it, glad to have seen it. Glad we could share a hint of it with you!