Bolivian road conditions?
 

A buddy and I are currently in Lima shooting south for Ushaia. We've heard varying reports of Bolivian roads being mostly closed due to a bad wet season. We will need to decide in a few days weather to go to La Paz and Salar de Uyuni, or to just cut straight into Chile. Any advice? Thanks!

live the words of UNK in your signature line would be my advice.

Weather - and road conditions - change so fast, the situation today isn't the same as tomorrow.

I went through Bolivia 2 weeks ago.

Peru border to La Pax - Paved
La Paz to Potosi - Paved
Potosi to Uyuni - Dirt, not terribly technical. 5 hour ride.
Uyuni to Ollague (Chile Border) - Dirt, not terribly technical. 4-5 hour ride
Ollague to Calama - Dirt, much better than Bolivia. last 40k are paved. 5 hour ride.

Small mud puddles here and there but in general, very dry (except the salar which is under 6 inches of water). Have fun!

it has been said before, one day it can be good, the next washed away roads. You might have to wait a day or two. But you will miss out on a great piece of adventure is you op the direct road to Chile. You might have bad luck there as well if there is a quake or something....

just spent 5 days in bolivia...
 

...made unnecessarily difficult by endless construction desvio...

almost entire length of road from verazon to tupiza is cross-country solo carril dusty desvio. We rode tupiza to potosi on the 10th of march after thunderstorms the night before - many washouts, deeply rutted mud, sometimes in 500m plus sections. Note: 90% of vehicles travelling these roads are buses or trucks which damage dirt tracks significantly.

We rode potosi to uyuni on the 11th - more of the same.

Salar was wet near Colchan entry (up to 8 inches deep) but relatively dry 1km further in.

We were pretty fed up with bolivian roads, but will undoubtedly appreciate the experience in the future.