During our journey along the western shore of the Uyuni salt flat we planned a small detour. The destination was the Aguas Termales de Empexa baths – a place that looked like a pleasant bonus on the map, but in reality we weren’t at all sure whether we’d actually reach it or whether it was even in operation.
Deciding in Llica: the shorter or the safer route?
Everything started the day before in the town of Llica. We’re sitting over the map and wondering which route to take to the baths. Two roads lead there – one is direct, shorter, without a big detour, the other is about 40 kilometers longer but seems safer.
The problem was that the shorter one had a suspicious interruption on the map. On satellite images it was clear that the road in a certain section turns into a riverbed. The track itself disappears and the surface looks sandy. After our recent experiences with sand and our quad, we quickly started to doubt.
The decision wasn’t made until the day of the transfer. When we pass the turn to the shorter, uncertain route, we’re lucky – right there we find several locals. We ask for directions. The answer is brief: the road is passable up to the baths. We’re going for it.
A road not mentioned on the map
The road immediately begins to climb steeply and beautiful views of the Uyuni salt flat open before us. As before, we’re completely alone on this road.
Within minutes we’re already fairly high and the route begins to approach the feared riverbed. It’s the dry season, so the river is without water, but already from the car window you can see that the bottom is sandy in places.
We go about a kilometer and reach the point where the road on the map definitively disappears. Here we must either join the riverbed or give up and turn back.
We stand for a while and assess the situation, but in the end we head forward through the bed. To our surprise it goes better than we expected. The sandy sections are short and mostly flat. The car overcomes them without major problems.
Braňo is driving, I intensely watch the navigation. I literally count meters to the place where according to the map the road should continue again as a normal track.
Finally we manage the whole questionable section and continue toward our destination.
A different world beyond the river
Crossing over the riverbed we arrive as if in another country. We’re higher and paradoxically a bit greener. The endless plain is closed off by colorful masses of volcanoes in the distance. On some you can even see remnants of snow.
The feeling of isolation is absolute. No cars, no houses, just us, an empty plain and volcanoes on the horizon.
Aguas Termales de Empexa: abandoned, but working
When we finally arrive at the baths, reality is a bit different than we expected. The place feels abandoned and clearly not very commercially successful.
There are several pools here, but the only really usable one is the highest. It is clean and located right at the spring. The water is more than pleasantly warm – and that has its charm, since outside the sun does heat, but the air temperature is only around 10 °C.
From the pool we have a view of a small stream that flows from it. A herd of llamas grazes peacefully nearby. The whole picture is completed by the volcano in the background. And of course that’s not all. We underline the perfection even more when we open a well-chilled beer and sip it right in the pool. In that moment you feel the universe has reached its perfection for an instant.
It’s one of those moments when you realize you’re in a place reached by only a minimal number of people. Besides us there is only one local man – probably some sort of hermit – with his dog. We secretly hope Ibo will play with him, but the man took his dog into the little house right after our arrival.
He doesn’t ask us for any entrance fee. Nevertheless, before leaving we leave him a few beers and a chocolate on the steps.
Ibo and bathing at altitude
Of course Ibo didn’t miss the bath either. Although he’s not a big fan of water and certainly not a good swimmer, this time he braved it (with a little help from me).
A bigger problem arose after bathing. While he was wet, he always rolled in the dust on the ground.
In the end we solved it simply – we placed a towel on the bed of our pickup truck and let him roll there. That way he dried quite reasonably.
Map with a mention of the road
Even though we feel extremely good here, it’s time to move on. We still have a long way ahead. According to the map it’s better for us to take the aforementioned second route and not return the same way.
So pleasantly relaxed we get in the car and set off. But not even five minutes pass and we discover that the road we’re on diverges significantly from the route in the GPS. Apparently we missed the turn.
We go back and look for where to continue. But there is no turn here. The road is lined with bushes and in places the bed of a dried-up river. We wander, we try, but we don’t succeed.
Braňo even launches the drone to scout the terrain from a bird’s-eye perspective. In the end we find something that someone might call a road, but we conclude that if the beginning is already so impassable, what will the continuation be like?
A quick consultation takes place in the car and a safe, less adventurous decision is made – to return the original way back to the Uyuni salt flat.
And so the day ultimately gave us two different scenarios. Once we went along a road that wasn’t even indicated on the map, and once we didn’t go along a road that was on the map but didn’t exist in reality.
This is also a face of traveling the Bolivian Altiplano.
Conclusion: baths worth the detour
Aguas Termales de Empexa for us in the end weren’t just a “point on the map”, but one of the most powerful moments of the western shore of Uyuni. Not for luxury, not for services, but precisely for their isolation and raw authenticity.
The place feels abandoned, almost forgotten. And that’s exactly what gives it charm. No crowds, no souvenir stalls. Just warm water bubbling from the ground, the cold air of the Altiplano, llamas by the stream and a volcano on the horizon.
The roads of the Bolivian Altiplano repeatedly teach us one thing – the map is not the truth. It’s just an orientational opinion. And that’s the charm of traveling this part of the world. Not everything is certain, not everything is marked and not everything can be planned. But if you dare to take a detour, you may end up in a hot pool in the middle of the Andean wilderness with a beer in your hand and the feeling that this is exactly why you set out on the trip.