Heading south — bus, bus, and more bus — Curahuara, Oruro, Uyuni. At 3 a.m., after 14 hours of continuous travel, we arrive in Uyuni, beaten up and worn out … like the roads. Morning pales over Uyuni; we hire a 4x4 and continue onward, still heading south, still seeking our Valle de las Rocas. We find nothing in this stark, desolate region, where people and pueblos carve out a subsistence niche, struggling against the rigors of an unremittingly harsh environment.
We do our best to remain diplomatic with our 4x4 driver, who has had enough of us “tourists” and our unchanging and shrill chorus, repeated over and over, that everywhere we stop, ¡La roca no esta buena! — The rock is no good! We pull up to several promising areas only to touch the stone and have it crumble beneath our fingers. Hour follows hour after hour. Nothing. Mas adelante — farther.