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Published: July 20th 2008
Stotty; So eventually across the Border into one of the poorest countries in South America as per previous post and we were on our way North. We knew from friends and other blogs that it was tough going in southern Bolivia all on tracks. We worked out that we had 200 miles to do until the first aspfalto rd near Potosi and the way the villages worked out for accomodation we would do this in 4 days.
seemed surreal leaving the frenetic pace of Villazon, straight out of town and it was forgotten already as we were back on the bleak altiplano and concentrating on the rough surface (this rd is called ruta 1 ironic eh?)
We saw some bike tracks infront of us that looked relatively fresh, i say fresh as everytime any sort of vehicle came past or crossed a huge plume of dust reared up, lingered for 30seconds and then dropped covering all below...this was going to be dusty dirty hard work. ..after the first truck nearly clogged up both lungs a trick was learnt which was sod off riding on the right if it didnt suit, if the wnd was from the left then ride on the
1st bit of action in Bolivia
they beat that drum and burth those tyres till late in the night...our hotel was 3 doors down!left, this minimised lungclog, full facial dirt layering and general safety...so few cars and lorries it didnt really matter and none of the dirvers flinched...the standard of shodiness in driving in Bolvia, and even more so witnessed later in la paz is, i think, the worst i have ever seen...so i guess these guys had seen it all and 2, (3 in a minute) cyclist on the wrong side of the road barely made them bat an eyelid...
We caught the other cyclist up, a Bolivian riding to Tupiza who rode with us for a bit...he was just dressed in normal bolivian clothes, on a 1 speed sit up and beg, i think he had been to buy some chepa goods in villazon, gave us confidence that he was going to Tupiza so it cant be that hard...he stopped at a random shack to see some mates, or have a drink or something...me and jenny suspected he stopped at every shack or house for a drink and probably either got to Tupiza very late or in the back of a truck!!
We made it to Tupiza, which involved a very rough 10km descent to 3000m and a corrugated rd
the long dusty rd
just into Boliva...main road! after that for 25km which means a max speed of about 9 mph..we actually had a bit of time to look around town as we had got there for 3.30, not knowing how long it would take us we had set off at the crack of dawn..not an easy thing for us 2 rip van winkles considering Bolivia was an hour behind Argentina aswell. Tupiza is a nice place actually...WELL on the Gringo trail though, plenty of nice fooderies, nice freindly relaxed town square and lots of choice of accomodation. Also on the only railway in Bolivia. Its got a slightly warmer climate than the harsh altiplano as its in a canyon valley, desert like. This is the famed place of the last stand of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid depending on which version of history you read.
Next day involved another unknown quantity and a pretty early set off (best breakfast for ages though at Hostel La Torre)..we had to climb out of the valley for 20km ...took us ages with some road (track) works going on, stiff gradient and rough rough suface...back on the altiplano we made some good progress until, on quite and insignificant
taxi
regular sight of overloaded cars with people in...this was relatively luxurious piece of rd on the way to Cotagaiti Jenny spilled on a slight downhill. I was right next to her as she fell but instantly knew something was wrong as the was no movement or cries of pain...she was pretty out cold, no damage to the helmet but she must have taken most of impact on her head as she had minimal damage to other usual cycle crash parts of body..really didnt know what to do but she seemed to come round relatively quickly and murmured incoherrently...shit...we were completely in the middle of nowhere and we hadnt seen any traffic for hours. Gradually her senses came around, speech (slurred), feeling, sight, but she had no recollection of anything...where she was, what had happened...she was also really confused and once she could stand wouldnt sit down and tried crazy things like trying to put the panniers on her legs...and get back on her bike but the wrong way...although i was worried i was less worried than a few minutes before as she was up and about ...we must have looked a real state as she had been lying in dusty track for an hour and i was full of dirt etc
canyon country
down near Tupiza as well...the first thing to come was one of the crazy lorry taxis they have in this part of the world...they have a cargo of people in the backs and it aint exactly luxury travel. Driver wasnt for stopping at first but he had no choice realy as i and the bikes were all in the middle of the route...convinced him to take us back to villazon (he had no option really!!) and the random poor country folk in the back help me on with the patient (who didnt know what was going on!) and the bikes and stuff...in retrospect it was a good form of transport to turn up as on a normal bus or car we would have prob had to stash the bikes
. Well it was quite an experience in the back of that thing...im almost glad jenny wasnt aware of it or cant remember cos it was pretty grim!! Well next 5 or 6 days were spent recovering in Tupiza and making plans of how (if) we would continue. We coul,dnt do much as jennys head was sore for a few days and anything involving a day trip out involved a really rough jeep
Bolivian Woman
I lvoe the traditional dress tha they wear..so colourful and little old women dress like little girls in bright colours and skirt and Bowler hats!! ride, or horse ride and under Drs orders we werent allowed! I went on a few day rides which werent too pleasant and i found myself pushing the bike up dry river beds quite a few times when i got bored of the 2 roads here and went on a smaller track. We wtahced a lot of Euro 2008 - no joke i picked spain early days! read a lot and visited every restaurant it seemed ..all pretty much the same recipe, cactus wood decor, serving pasta and pizza and playing some amazing 80s medleys on DVDs ...
There was no way we now wanted to reride the track north and we were well down on our rough schedule so we cut out central Bolivia by catching the train to Oruro and a bus to La Paz...arrghh its so stressful catching a but with bikes as they and all the bags go underneath, which opens up evertime anyone wants to get on inducing complete paranoa that stuff will get nicked and then everyone warns you about the stations for thieves and its really difficult to get bags and bikes and put them on and make a sharp exit
, you need about 10 hands! this was with 2, i dont know if i could cope if it i was alone.
La Paz was quite an experience and not quite the 3rd world ramshackle i was led to believe. I really liked it and enjoyed our 5 days there. You arrive in la paz from the altiplano by crossing the lip of a canyon and in that way its hidden from view till the last moment. Then the whole city is revealed sprawling up steep sides of the canyon and centred steeply below. The road twists down and you enter the organised chaos!!
Our Hostel was a bit of a "partyhostel" but we werent really in the party a spirit with jenny still ill (and then getting Bolivian Belly for 2 days) and me going through a bit of an anti Gringotraveller phase - 40 hours with no kip didnt help!!
Surprisingly there is a lot of colonial buildings and streets in La Paz, in fact it is traditionally split down the middle with the spanish colonials on the North of the river, gridden streets, palace, churches, old houses big squares and on the other side
electrical competancy
#1. The light switch under the showerhead...there was absoloutetly no way to shower without wetting the lightswitch...which then you had to swith with wet hands!! i think Aaron finished his apprenticeship here! the indiginous side which is basically market after market sprawling into the streets and chaos with a capital K. At first as with any city i was as paranoid as can be about getting robbed or pickpocketed but after a while i relaxed and could wander the markets with relative confidence..wow...you could but anything here..but not just once, it was like you wanted a DVD. 20 stalls next to each other all had CDs, another corner sold watches, sunglasses, street food, fruit, spices, llama foetuss!! then there was the gringo market with andean hats, fabrics socks etc etc..amazing.. you would see loud americans with bags hanging all over them, 2 massive cameras, designer sunglasses, cash out in the street and i thought...nope it so aint me going to get robbed!
One of the days in la paz i devoted to cycling the commonly called "most dangerous road in the world" so called as its narrow, steep and when there is a crash, like once a year, everyone dies.. the photos were amazing, and most people get on an organised trip, get taken to 4800m and descend all the way to 1000m in the Jungle at Coroica. I of course
taxi 2
i guess this would be called a coach as its longer distance....we would be in the back of one of these soon after the crash! didnt want to splash the cash when i had my own bike. plus i revelled in the opportunity to ride higher than i had ever been , as high as mont Blanc. Unfortunately descending the other side to get to the track it started raining and when on the MDRITW i couldnt see squat. Then i had to ride up like 2500m to get back to la paz. Cought a Bolivian ccyclists up and we did bit and bit to the top.....well i sat on his wheel cos i was wasted and i fed him coke!! Thew 1000m descent back to La Paz was absoloutely freezing as i was still wet and now it was freezing and i had to keep stopping and wailing with my hands up my shirt trying to get warmth, the only consolation is my buddy had less clothes on that me so must have been colder..he did the same!!
I´ve ridden in some dodgy places and busy roads but la paz takes the biscuit so far for me as the most crazy place..i had to ride through the centre ..there is just NO traffic laws there. There are hundreds of micros, which are nissan
Tupiza mirador
went brillaint red at sunset which was fantastic vans crammed with people and hawkers hanging out trying to get moree people in...pipping ALL the time..foot hovering on the brake waiting for the slightest sign from a pedestrian (like at an auction) that they might want a lift,.then slam on..pip..pull in ...cue all pipping behind from the other hundreds of vans its just impeded..cyclists forget it..you have no chance!
Jenny recovered from head injury and illnesses thank god and we got back on the road on the bikes eventually...it felt so good (can you get withdrawel symptons?)
We tackled the tough climb back out of la paz canyon and had to follow our nose through the chaos of El Alto, the overspill from La Paz at the lip of the canyon..no signposts here!!
Eventualyl we ended up on the right road to Titicaca after an impromptu stop at a random small bike shop to buy some mudflaps! Youll love em Dad!
It was 2 days ride to Lake Titicaca and passing through small villages of indiginous folk washing clothes in rivers and drying on the banks, taxi bikes, llamas and small farms of mud brick and thatched roof we could have been hundreds of years
ago..then a Nissan full of 40 people or a huge truck would pass inevitable pipping like we didnt know they were coming to bring us back to 2008!
We started to see some cyclo tourists heading the other way giving us titbts of advice, places to stay, road condition..one french guy amazed as there wasnt a restaurant for 40 miles!! oh i love the French and they love their restaurants bless him! He told us of some more Frenchies heding our direction but a few days infront of us...everyone we met told us about this french couple in front..we knew loads about them but wondered if we would ever see them!!
Lake Titicaca is beautiful there is no doubt..i loved riding along side it..its like no lake ive seen before with no commercialness and a serene calm and tranqullity and majestic wonder. We stopped the first night at the only town on this northern edge..there was practically nothing there it was brillaint...we got a room overlooking the lake and watched the sun set over the snowy mountains. Trout is the local delicacy and jenny sampled it and gave i the thumbs up...think she had it everyday on the
lake!! haha.
a crazy ferry across the the Copacobana side of the lake and then a super tough road which climbed and climbed and climbed but gave amazing views looking back to the Corderilla Real and forward over to Peru before a quick freezing cold descent down to the Gringofest which is copa!!
Gringo spots have their advantages, one is decent accomodation in abundance and competitive rates and the other is a good selection of food for us long suffereng veggies!
Busy little place not without its charms, a few local inca sites and a great view from the nearby hill (its height is deceptive..i ran up..well i tried to as it only looked small but took about 30 mins to get up!!)
We spent the next day on the isla del sol, birthplace of incan religion. A 2 hour boat trip out was well worth it although if you walk the length of the island and get picked up at the other end apparenty you get stung for 3 lots of fees from each section of the island. We met a canadien guy who was livid about it! We didint do the walk as a day
la paz
the first time you crest the canyon edge and see the view of the city with mnt illumina in the back ground takes your breath away off the bike is a day of rest in my book ..but the million steps up to the village at the southern end of the island was probably as hard as the walk (and we got stung 20Blvns to actually land) THere is definately a rip off the westerner theme in some tourist spots...Canadien guy was having none..probably went to see th chief inca or something!
Well Bolivia done and I have mixed feelings. Mainly as we didnt cycle through the middle like we had planned. Cycling is an incredible way to see the REAL country and away from the tourist hot spots..stay in some places no back packer would, meet some people you wouldnt on a bus, encompass troubles, joys you miss out by stciking to the beaten track..
I´ll miss the colourful local indians in bright pinks and with bowler hats on, their beautiful bronzen faces and smiles. The children who are either waving at you "grrrrrringo" they shout or asking you for money!! The markets are just chaos..the driving is some of the most chaotic ivew seen yet we didnt see any accidents. Its cheap so cheap that i was pissed off at paying 5
second most dangerous rd in the world
we all know that the A666 Brownhill roundabout to Blackburn town centre is the most dangerous!!
unfortunately the day i looked at this was peasoup so you cant see the vertical drop off to the left with dead buses!! for a view check out http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2006/11/most-dangerous-roads-in-world.html quid for a hostel as i thought we were getting ripped off. I dont know if i´ll miss the unstability - there were at least 3 incidents of road blocks and kikcing off whilst we were there but i guess its flavour isnt it...ok...peru next--we promise the next update wont be so long off!!
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Dicko
non-member comment
White Teeth
Im just taking a break from all the girls in our house, 5 at the mo and all Stott's....Your blogs good, it looks like an adventure. Is it too late for me to join you....(help me). I should of fitted a dangershower in our bathroom....I might have been able to get in at some point. Love Dicko