Outlaws,
Pizza, Love and Salt: Life in the Land of Butch and Sundance
Photos by Chris Sarage and Franz Durán
Text by Jonathan Derksen
The Salar de Uyuni located in the Potosí
Department, is a desert salt flat located at 11,985 ft (3653 m) above sea
level. It occupies an area of apporximately 3653 square miles (9065
square kilometers).
The Salares and adjacent parks are home to strange
landscapes, like the Tree of Stone in Parque Nacional Avaroa
Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid are said to have been buried in the Cementerio de San Vicente
Could this be the grave of one of the
greatest outlaws in history?
A geyser at Sol de Mañana at
approximately 5000m
The salares of Uyuni and Coipasa are separated by a
range of hills, as depicted in this map. Source: Instituto
Geográfico Militar
The arid climate of the Salares hosts to a
unique variety of flora and fauna
The San Vicente Cemetery, alleged
resting place of Butch and Sundance
Camping with Toñito
Tours on the edge of the Salar
Chris Sarage takes a break on the shore
of Laguna Colorada in Parque Eduardo Avaroa
Links:
Salar de Uyuni - Babylon Travel Magazine
Brandon
Liew's Journey to the Salar de Uyuni
Bike Trip
Through the Salar de Uyuni
Even
in the eighties, wizened old men sitting in the central plazas of Sucre
and other highland cities could be heard gossiping in scandalous voices
about the fate of two of America’s most notorious outlaws, Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid. Their
flight in 1901 to Argentina, and later Bolivia, has been perhaps one of
the most celebrated criminal escapades of the past century.
The famous Hollywood rendition is just one testament to this. And
their demise in 1905 in a small mining town of the Southern Altiplano left
the world guessing over the possibility of a joint suicide….
But it was
pizza, not the legend, that originally brought Chris Sarage to Bolivia.
In 1994, while managing Antonio’s, a popular pizzeria in
the college town of Amherst, Massachusetts, Chris met Sussy Durán.
“Sussy had come
to Amherst from Bolivia to participate in an environmental education
seminar sponsored by USAID,” Chris says.
“She and her Bolivian study group would eat daily at the pizzeria
for lunch. I could overhear
them trying to figure out in English how to order their sodas without ice. Bolivians are afraid that ice might give them a sore throat
or make them ill, (a luxury I have been forced to give up since moving to
Bolivia). I let them practice their English until it got too frustrating,
then I interjected, ‘Sin hielo?’.
Sussy asked me why had I made them suffer so when I could have
spoken Spanish from the beginning. And
wham! I fell for her right
there, separated only by a counter littered with Parmesan cheese and hot
pepper shakings.”
They
married soon thereafter. Chris
became a high school Spanish teacher, while Sussy, a whiz at numbers
thanks to an economics degree, landed a job with a large firm.
But that summer, Sussy’s parents, who ran a small tourist
operation in Bolivia, called to ask if they could head south to help
during the peak season. Chris
reflects, “So, we packed up, flew down to Bolivia, and never made it
Back!”
The food that
brought them together continued to guide their fates.
A year after
establishing a La Paz office to complement the lack of information for
travellers heading to Uyuni, Sussy and Chris opened a pizzeria in
Miraflores, a neighborhood near the soccer stadium. Minuteman
Revolutionary Pizza was a hit among ex-pats, Peace Corp volunteers,
missionaries, and Bolivian clients alike.
Chris
laughs, “I was shocked one night when we delivered a pizza to a heavily
guarded house in the Zona Sur. It ended up being the house of Jorge
Quiroga, then vice president, now the president of Bolivia. We were
working like crazy. The tour office during the day and making pizzas at
night. Local Bolivians would just stand outside the door to watch the
gringo pizza guy spinning pies.”
The
news: Minuteman has
moved south to the town of Uyuni. In
June of 2002, Chris and Sussy will start dishing up pizza in one of the highest pizzerias in the world.
Starting from Scratch
Besides
serving pizza above 12,000 ft., Chris and Sussy continue to help manage
the family-owned and -operated Toñito
Tours.
Sussy’s father, Alejandro Durán, started the company in 1994
with only two jeeps. Despite never getting a loan—interest rates on a
mortgage hover at about 19% in Bolivia--the Durans persevered and were
able to save enough to open their agency.
Eight
years later, Toñito Tours has a fleet of 15 Toyota Landcruisers, three
Chevy Subrubans, a Mercedes Benz Bus, and a bullet proof van they acquired
at the US Embassy Auction. Chris
says, “They haven’t taken out the steel plating yet and the windows
don’t roll down!”
Toñito
Tours is a well oiled machine. Sussy’s
brother, Franz, coordinates the operations from the Uyuni office.
Alejandro, Sussy’s Father--as Chris puts--haunts the garage. Martha,
Sussy’s mother, oversees food detail including training of the
cooks-in-the-field. José Antonio (Toñito), Sussy’s other brother, works out
of La Paz and is in charge of parts.
Bolivian roads aren’t kind to even the toughest-built vehicles.
“These jeeps need constant maintenance and fresh parts,” Chris
observes.
Sussy
and Chris work as a trip-coordinating team. Apart from keeping an eye on
the La Paz office, they carry out all Internet bookings. Chris is quick to
point out that their outfit takes full advantage of modern technology.
“Thanks to the Internet, future visitors can get all their
questions answered online. The Internet has in part done away with a traveler's
dependency on the local travel agency. We save people time
and money by taking care of their hotel reservations, transportation
timetables, and by providing up-to-date info.
I like being able to help. It gives me a great sense of
satisfaction when clients appreciate how smoothly they where able to maneuver
around Bolivia with our guidance.”
The
Wonders of Bolivia
Chris
admits that Toñito’s success is also due to the fact that the country
is an easy sell to adventurers. “Bolivia
offers an incredible amount of diversity to anyone interested in
visiting,” he says. “In a
relatively short amount of time you can visit Amazon rainforests, frontier
jungle towns, sub-tropics, salt deserts, remote llama villages, colonial
cities at 4,000 meters, indigenous markets--the list goes on and on.”
Over
the years, Chris has developed a deep respect for the people and customs
of this landlocked nation. “For
me, the most impressive quality about Bolivia is that the people maintain
their cultural identity despite the rapid invasion of Western influences.
Holidays and festivals are sacred here. Each year it’s a privilege to
witness Alasitas, Carnaval, Semana Santa, Gran Poder, and the festivals of
the different virgins. And why not take a few days off of work in the name
of cultural preservation?”
He
says travel between departments is made interesting by how the local
customs differ. Ones clothes, food or dialect betray distinctive
regionality. “People here are definitely proud about where they’re
from in Bolivia, not hesitant to remark that their province makes the
freshest cheese or produces the sweetest grapes. In essence, Bolivia has a
tangible, exotic quality that’s difficult to find these days.”
Toñito
and Ecotourism
Chris Sarage shares the same opinion about eco-tourism as many other tour operators: “Eco-tourism is a buzz word that you see everywhere nowadays. I believe that deep within ourselves there lies a genuine longing to get back in touch with nature. Every year millions of people escape their daily routines for a much-needed vacation. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t experience the great outdoors as a way to relax and ‘get away from it all.’
“Maybe
it’s an ancient Neanderthal instinct that we need to subdue, which in
turn has created eco-tourism, an organized--people need to feel
organized--way to experience nature close-up.
“Toñito Tours fits precisely into that category. Our tours focus on the natural beauty that Bolivia has to offer. We take people across the largest salt flat on Earth and into the Eduardo Avaroa National Park, characterized by its multi-colored lakes and wildlife. Our clients ride in our Toyota Landcruisers, sleep in llama villages where quinoa [a highland grain] dots the terrain, and visit surreal landscapes protected by volcanoes, which were once legends.
“Just
because a company organizes eco tours doesn’t necessarily mean that it
cares about the preservation of the environment. That is where Toñito
Tours is different in Bolivia. For example, a US Peace Corp volunteer,
Bob, was working on a solar latrine project on Isla Pescado,
a popular tourist stop in the Salar de Uyuni. Toñito Tours helped
in part by sponsoring this project by supplying
assistance in communications, transportation, and materials. We
have a long-term commitment to the areas where we run our tours. Toñito
Tours also believes in promoting sustainable tourism here in Uyuni. Our
drivers and cooks are on a year-round salary. We don’t hire help out per
tour as we go along. You could wander over to our garage in the slow
season and see a dozen drivers working on the vehicles.”
Running
a conscientious tour outfit comes with its share of headaches, and Chris
narrows down their source to competition.
“In Bolivia,
competition is rampant. The country’s informal economy, lack of control,
and abundance of corruption wreaks havoc on all law-abiding businesses.
Take my pizzeria for example. I was selling slices between 5 and 8 bolivianos
each. I chose the location because it was near the soccer stadium. After
games or concerts, hundreds of street vendors invaded the entire area and
sold sausage sandwiches, anticuchos (barbecued cow heart), and pork
sandwiches for 1-2 bs. each. I still did steady business, but it was
frustrating. I was paying rent, electricity, water, taxes, employee wages,
etc.
“The
same chaos applies to travel agencies. Our vehicles are insured, papers
are in order, we have year-round personnel, legitimate office expenses,
and Internet costs, with everything on the up-and-up. Other travel
agencies open for less than a year, then close and open up again under a
different name without playing by the rules. That’s one of the
frustrating aspects of operating a business in Bolivia.
This is why I honestly believe that tourism in general in Bolivia
cannot serve the hopes of real conservation. The lack of control that I
mentioned above is a big factor here. SERNAP, the government agency
responsible for conserving protected areas, is not doing enough to protect
wildlife from Bolivia’s tourists. The funds collected at park entrances
here in the Laguna Colorada (south of Uyuni) go to the central office in
La Paz. Then, like magic, they disappear into the national coffers and the
national park, which generates a huge amount of income, but doesn’t even
have proper outhouses and trash facilities.
“The
corruption and incompetence stem from the government’s brilliant way of
giving jobs to all members of the ruling political party. If you’re in
the right party, then you and your whole family can run a government
agency even if you don’t have a college degree or much experience. The
attitude is that you only have five years to steal as much as you can
because, after the next elections, you are out of a job. Only when Bolivia
can get rid of this ridiculous tradition and put career-minded
professionals in all government positions will we have hope.”
The
Salares of Uyuni and Coipasa
Toñito
Tours has become experts on travel in one of the most inhospitable places
on the planet. The salt flats
of Uyuni and Coipasa occupy an area of more than 15,000 square kilometers,
and are acclaimed to be the largest in the world.
With no roads and often nothing more than salt and sky by which to
navigate, the prospect of losing ones way in this white desert is grim.
Beyond the borders of the salt lakes are the treacherous lava beds
and mineral lakes of the 715,000 hectare Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve,
where little grows save the usual highland pantano grass.
So what’s the attraction? The
place, simply put, is visually stunning.
“…In
Bolivia, travel to the Salares is booming right now,” Chris says. “We are happy to work directly with walk-in clients,
Internet reservations, and foreign travel agencies. In one of our group
tours you might find yourself with travelers from four or five different
countries. People like to make friends while they travel. The foreign
travel agencies want a consistent and reliable tour for their clients. One
of their main concerns is safety. The remoteness of this region and wide
range of temperatures (-25C at night in winter) make it vital to hire
someone with experience and a good service record.”
In-laws
and Outlaws
San
Vicente is a mining town tucked away in the creases of the Southern
Altiplano. It was soon after
his arrival to Bolivia that Chris decided to make the unsung pilgrimage to
the alleged final resting place of Butch and Sundance.
He recounts the tale here:
“San
Vicente is roughly 4 hours from Uyuni. This is the town where Butch and
Sundance made their last stand. As an American, I felt that it was my
patriotic duty to pay my last respects to two of the Wild West's famous
outlaws. I told my Bolivian family the legend of Butch and Sundance. If I
could pay a visit to their cemetery, I would die a happy man.
“That
said, it was decided that the whole family would make the pilgrimage. We
left Uyuni early, around 6 am in the direction of Atocha. The road turned
from dirt to desert sand as a giant dune had covered the road. We put the
jeep into four-wheel drive and barely made it across, sinking and
fish-tailing in the sand. We crossed a few rivers that reached the door
handles of the jeep.
“The
landscape was mostly llamas and sheep grazing on the sides of the road. We
passed old, crumbling adobe houses and churches with sunken steeples.
After passing through old Atocha (a deserted ghost town) into new Atocha,
we made for a road that supposedly led to San Vicente. Note: in this
region, road signs are non-existent. You need to have a psychic instinct
that tells you where you are going. This dirt road took us up and down
hills reminiscent of a dilapidated Incan path. We rode the hills like a
giant roller coaster. When
the descent began, the road would momentarily vanish before every dip and
then your heart leapt into your throat. This continued for what seemed
like 30 miles or so.
“My
best friend Rob and I had religiously watched the movie for years, quoting
lines like ‘You just keep thinking Butch, that’s what you’re good
at’ when important decisions needed to be made. I felt a deep sadness
that he could not be there with me.
“My
father-in-law, Alejandro, found a tiny store and started to ask about the
legendary bandits. The woman didn’t seem to have the vaguest idea of
what we were talking about. I knew she had never seen the movie. A group
of curious youngsters mentioned the old cemetery and we shot off in that
direction. We pulled up at a bleak cemetery with mostly unmarked graves. I
was mesmerized. Could one of these tombs contain my heroes? The rest of
the family patiently humored me. They couldn’t fathom why I wanted to
come all this way to prance around a dreary cemetery.
“None
of us could figure out where Butch and Sundance lay. I collected a few
sacred stones, which I would later award to Rob. In the afternoon, we
drove the long, winding road back to Uyuni. With my inner expedition
behind me, it dawned on me how personal journeys can be. We had gone to
San Vicente together. For my family it had been an outing. For me, the jaunt had given me closure with Butch and
Sandance.”
More
than Salt and Pizza on the Horizon
Chris
and Sussy are excited at the prospect of opening a new hotel at the
beginning of this year’s peak season.
“The hotel,” Chris explains, “will be a welcome addition to
the lack of good options in Uyuni. You
could call it a neo-colonial structure with a polycarbonate roof to provide
much-needed warmth in the winter months.
This has been a very time-consuming project, which is finally
coming to an end. Sussy and I
are especially thrilled because Minuteman will be the hotel’s
restaurant. Also, we are
planning to provide Toñito Tours with Minuteman Expedition Supplements,
adding granola, trail-mix, peanut butter and other goodies to the menu of
the tours.”
Outlaws,
pizza, love and Salt--in Butch and Sundance’s land of refuge, Chris and
Sussy have found a recipe for adventure.