Riding out of La Paz I was a little better prepared, a full load of different food I didn’t expect to find on the way and a plan to reach Chile in about 8 to 10 days. The only one hiccup was that I decided I can get onions at one of the “bigger towns” on the way (that did not work out!). The first 50k or so before my turnoff were very odd and somewhat unsettling, maybe it was the direction the wind blew and every truck or bus passing me felt like a major disturbance in the serenity that riding your bike normally is. I rode a couple of kilometers with two Swedes, they did not seem as bothered by the traffic as me, maybe they have big trucks in Sweden too.
I set up at a fancy hotel right before my turnoff and had one of the best hot showers in South America, perhaps amplified by the rainy season in Cordillera Real but no, the shower was very good. I had steamed up the shower room quite well and I seriously though that if staff walked by they would have charged me more. Then as is always the case I slept under a whole bunch of heavy covers but warm!
Well, there were 4 dogs outside and I had 4 pieces of bread, looks like the perfect match and a good way to start my day
I could see the quiet road in the distance, i watched that lady and her dog walk to the middle of the road, pick up something and go back. It also seemed that it wasnt her dog and she trew rocks at it but he kept following. Thats right, you don’t go to adopt a dog, dogs go to adopt a human here!
It was a dog world out there and in few places I got surrounded, these dogs have probably never seen a cyclist. Normally when you bend over and pick up a rock (or pretend to) most would run away, if not always take a big rock and trow it near them (somewhere where it can hit another rock so they can hear it) and if that doesnt scare them away, at least they wont be near you (in biting distance) and then you can pretend that they are just cheering for you to go up the hill, like tour du france. Imagine if tour du france was held in Bolivia?
Rain was always in the air and I couldnt wait to go somewhere drier!
The one odd thing was that people here stopped to say hi to me, ask me where am I going and surprisingly, why! Even people walking stopped to say hi, instead of walking around me or away when I passed by like in the mountains.
The roads were interesting and somehow had that “Utah” feel, big and odd rock formations and rope cattle gates that you can normally just swing over your head
I also had that new 2 person tent with me, its a bit heavier but it was good, since I wont be carrying the bike up and down trails some extra space wouldnt hurt, especially if it rains (which it hasnt and it wont for the next few months) but also for the wind, there is a bit more free space and when its windy the tent isnt bending down on you.
in the fading light I decided it would be a good time to install the Mules, Joe from BarYak sent me these mounts for bottle cages that can go on a carbon fork and I will need to carry a lot more water soon. Since I still have the new fork back in canada, this would be a good time to see what this one can handle. I see few cracks/splinters in the fiber glass suspension planks but i have been assured that they may get soft but they wont break.
the route seemed to work out great, near every big crossing I was near a highway so I can take advantage of the bridge and at least for now, there were 1-2 towns (or villages) every day or so. Mind you, nothing that may have a store which may possibly carry a vegetable or two…
But I still couldnt get over how friendly people were here. For a good chunk of Peru, the shepherds were mostly shy and so were the mountain people of Bolivia. A south african cyclist I met told me that this was one of his favorite country but he toured the lowlands. But once away from the big tourist guided treks and perhaps mining exploration people were nicer.
The scenery too was different and although I couldn’t help but look for water in the dry riverbeds, just in case… There didn’t seem to be as many roads as in the mountains and for the most part, the vegetation and hillsides were quite unfriendly, should the need arise to “walk” to the top of the hill.
A dog showed up, oddly I could tell from his behavior that he was looking for a human. Overly friendly and submissive. I let him follow me for a while but yelled at him to go home. I wonder if anybody saw me, quite the story to tell, huh? “Hey there was a gringo on a bike today in our land and he was yelling at our dog”.
but i think i was only seen by the alpacas and the viscacha. The alpacka with a metal tin on his neck kept shaking as if to intimidate me, yeah right buddy - i have faced worse than you!
so looking at this gate, alpackas and llamas would not pass if there is something at their height? like they wouldnt bend down and walk across this?
rounding up the last of the hills, i can see that flatland was ahead! no more granny gear
at the little town of Turco I found dinner but it wont be served until 6. I almost never ride this late (gets dark at 7) but I waited with the hungry minibus drivers while dinner got served and loaded up on water from the town square. Leaving the dusty town was the most unreal sunset ever and I was chasing a giant storm across the plains, looking for a spot to camp.
The lightning and thunder got closer and I got a bit of a rain but I was not in the middle of it. This made me wonder about lightning safety while camping. There were no higher spots near me so I was the most likely target. Like that one funny capacitance problem our teacher had about the arts student walking during a storm with a metal rod!!!
It was a dry and empty place on for miles and the roads were quite consistently bad at times
I had high expectations for this next town too, maybe i can find some veggies but no. I also arrived between lunch and dinner so there were no meals available and I settled for making some instant noodles and cookies. They didn’t even have water here, i was told its on for two hours in the morning.
There didn’t seem to be anybody in the next town either… But the scarecrows littering the fences (also odd to see fences here!)
next little village had water (and good one at that!) and even a store that had veggies but sadly nobody was there and I didnt really want to wait so I went on
the funny part is that by 7am, it is normally too hot to stay in your tent and although the nights are cold you never get that cold morning where its hard to keep your fingers warm when packing up (tent poles in particular can be very cold!)
I have often wondered about garbage…. the one that doesnt go on the fences, where would it go? All these relatively clean town centers with garbage bins are perhaps just an “out of sight, out of mind” thing, few times I was told not to trow garbage there but to take it outside of town… maybe that is what they all do
The road got sandier and tough going, at times requiring hard pedaling but surprisingly I never had to get off the bike except for one dune. Then it got flatter and finally I was on salt!
There was a lot of water and aside from riding at unreasonably slow pace there was no way to avoid getting it all over my bike, shoes and me. The next town had some water but it was really bad. Salty and perhaps some other stuff in it, I compromised by mixing half of my previous water with this one and it seemed ok to drink.
I really wondered if i should push on to the other side today or set up around here, after my storm experience the other night I was a little more concerned with sleeping on the saltflat.
i stopped at a town which had good water and I was also able to wash the bike. When I took a photo by this car, a dog came out from under. Probably upset that I am near his perfect shade spot.
this other dog was also very surprised and after few seconds of barking at me, he went back on to reflect on life. This is my face expression when the map says there is a road…. but there is no road!
Some guy gave me an apple! an apple!!! he was driving back home to a town on the argentinian border today and I was really happy that if I wanted to, i could have just asked for a ride and be in Argentina today!
not kidding, an apple in the middle of nowhere!
but Argentina can wait, i’d rather be on an island now
Now, there were few problems, the biggest one was the bottom bracket. It didn’t spin quite well when gravity bolivia serviced it (a whooping $40 to replace the bearings) but now its been slowly getting worse and worse. The other was that while i left my solar panel in the sun (haha joke!) actually the backside of it, one of my adapters was damaged. Thus I was unable to fastcharge my powerbank or charge the drone batteries via the powerbank. I was also a little low on food so although I can make it to chile, a resupply wouldn’t hurt. So I headed toward Uyuni in hopes of finding repair for the adapter and restocking. I doubt I can find a reasonably priced bottom bracket in Bolivia so that will need to wait until Chile.
I met several smooth superhighways on the salar but i just wanted to go my own way, surprisingly parts were incredibly rough - i lowered tire pressure a lot to ride them and it was still quite bumpy. I dont know how other cyclists find the salar riding but I found it quite boring with nothing really changing and you just pedaling into oblivion.
the icing on the cake was that watery part near shore that is just uuuugh, disgusting to ride.
I set up camp with good wind protection and decided to start early for Uyuni so that I can do everything i need and not “have to” stay in the town if i dont want to.
but let me tell you, one of the best pieces of gear I have are these straps. They add and adjust easily, you can remove the salt and the mud off of them, no problem. Just really worth getting! (google: voile straps)
As boring as the salt flat is, the best time to be around is sunset (and i guess sunrise!), you can actually see it and everything has more color
i spent the morning along the sandy roads and the sand farmers (apparently thats quinoa!)
Then a quick ride on the pavement to Uyuni, it was nice to see fully loaded pickups leaving for who knows where and the tourist 4x4 sometimes with the windows down and thumbs up. The town was a dusty, windy mess, didnt seem like a very pleasant place to hang around
A TV shop found the fault in the adapter and fixed few things, including a direct 2.1x5.5mm exit from my solar to charge the power bank and then a 2.1x5.5mm to car charger to charge the drone battery. It was nice to see how it is done and the job looked solid enough so that it will last.
as for me, I found a reasonably prices ($11) room away from the center and rested and ate tourist foods for two days in order to fatten up for the last section to chile.
yeah, tourist town dog life!!
route: (1st half of the displayed one to Uyuni)