Larry Memmott's Blog

There are other ways to make a trip to the Sajama National Park into an interesting, and much longer, loop trip.  Probably the best is via the Ciudad de Piedra, which is to the north west of the park.  However, even if you take a different route, you should make time to drive the

old road, as well.  This route, only some 20 miles of dirt road before you get back to the blacktop of the new road, was the main route to Chile until the new road was completed some 15 years ago.  It passes through some fascinating, stark scenery, gets you within a short few miles of three old colonial churches, and, close to the junction with the new road, passes through some beautiful and interesting “badlands.”  One warning:  I got my jeep stuck in the mud driving this road 25 years ago.  That was not a problem at the time, since the road was heavily traveled and it was only a few minutes before a truck driver stopped and pulled me out.  Now, though, you might wait hours before someone came along.

Three Colonial Chapels

Just a couple of miles from Tomarapi you should be able to see in the distance to the right the Cotasaya church.  We are funding the restoration of this chapel this year.  The road to the chapel doesn’t turn off the main road for about three more miles, so you will have to backtrack some to get there.  I haven’t visited this chapel, yet, but will update this post when I actually get there.  For now, I am showing two estimates of its location on the .gdb file.

At 8 miles you can turn off to the north to the tiny town of Kellua Kota and its even smaller church.  The town is only 2 miles off the main road.  The locals have the keys, but it is not really worth going inside.  This mini-chapel is no longer in use and the inside is a bit of a mess.  The outside, though, and especially the view in its incredible setting make it a worthwhile side trip.

Another 4 miles from that last turnoff gets you to Ojsani Capilla.  The chapel here sits right off the road and it is a beautiful example of colonial architecture.  I didn’t get a chance to get inside, but shooting through a crack in the door gave an idea of the inside.  This is another of the chapels we are restoring this year.

Badlands

There are a lot of badlands in Bolivia.  Near the junction of the new and old roads is one such area — a cute set of hoodoos and (mostly) hoodoo rocks.  Definitely worth getting out and stretching your legs.  Since it is very close to the junction with the new road, this also works as a very short side-trip off of that road if, for example, you are on the way to Arica.

Getting There

As always, there is a .gdb file you can use in your GPS or in Google Earth to get a better idea of routes and locations.

 

This is the final installment of my Guide to Sajama National Park.  For the other installments, go to my Bolivia Index.

For more photos of this area, see my photo site.