Villazon, Tupiza, Santiago de Cotagaita, Vitichi, Potosi, Rio san Yuan, Jancuyo, Ujuni, Oruro, Calamarca, La Paz, Copacabama.
We are in Potosi, a mining town that attracts a lot of tourists and backpackers. But let's go back in time first. After one day in Villazone we packed our gear and cycled to Tupiza; a little miningtown wellknown for Bud Cassidy and Sundance Kid who apparently got killed here.
Well, the landscape is exactly like if you are in a real western movie; we feel like cowboys on the bike.
After Tupiza we will cycle first to Potosi and from Potosi we'll continue to Uyuni. On unpaved rough roads, lot of climbing, and a lot of dust from passing busses and trucks it is not always easy and our distance a day is reduced to 40km. The heat is killing and the altitude is taking away your breath. Sometimes donkeys along the road look at us like:O.K, who the hell is the dumbest around here?
But the area is absolutely stunning, we camp in the field and in spite of al the other things that makes it hard we are having a great time.
It wasn't possible to take a day off after 5 days (like usually). So after 7 days tiredness got us and I got even diarrhoea. We stayed in this small village called Vitichi and found a room above the 'markethall. Showers and toilets were downstairs in the building, didn't work properly but who cares?
We were a bit worried because we couldn't lock our door, but the owner had thought of a solution without telling us unfortunately. So what did he do? In the evening he locked the door from the small hall in front of our room. When it was already late I got really cramps and really needed a toilet but couldn't get out. So what do you do? Unbelievable, isn't it? (I get always diarrhoea at places you really wish it is not gone happen). It sounds disgusting but with some plastic bags I could solve my problem, ha!
The next day I didn't feel fit and because we didn't want to stay another night here we decided to try to get a lift to Potosi.
We waited al long time (nearly no traffic), before we got ourselves a lift from a truckdriver. He got himself a meal first and after half an hour we left Vitichi. When I got closer I must admit this truckdriver looked pretty funny out of his eyes. We didn't pay much attention in the beginning but after a while when he started acting and moving very odd we got both a bit nervous and worried. He looked like he didn't know how to stay awake anymore. It was scary.And it got even more scarier when we got of the road!. We forced him to stop and let us out. Apparently it is a common problem in Bolivia that truckdrivers drive far too long hours and they all are addicted to cocoleaves to keep them awake. Terrible, isn't it?
So we had no other choice then to pack our things and get on our bike ..sick or not!
After another 15 km we saw a house with "restaurant hotel" painted in front of it..Yeah, finally!!!!! But when the owner told us it wasn't a hotel anymore we reacted both very disappointed. Now what?
Well, he had an idea. We could sleep there anyway. We only had to wait in the restaurant for a while. So we did and heard a lot of noise. What where they doing?
After a while they showed us a little room with one bed. brilliant! They were so nice to us and we could stay as long as we wanted. The next day I stayed in bed and Yeb enjoyed himself with checking the bikes, and playing with the two kids of the family Teller. The other morning we left by bus to Potosi, found a nice hostel with this lovely patio and relaxed a few days more to recover..
La Paz, 22nd October 2002
It has been 3 weeks since our last report. It took some time but a few days ago we arrived in the capital of Bolivia. We?ve had a few tough weeks with some delays and some stressed out stomach and intestines, but at the moment everything is working nomal again. Hopefully it stays like this. Bolivia really is a hard country for cycling??hard but absolutly worth it. Well, after some recovering-days in Potosi (nice by the way), we headed of to Uyuni. Here you can find the biggest and highest saltlake of the world and is one of the highlights and musts of Bolivia.
The track from Potosi to Uyuni was absolutly the toughest but also the most beautiful. We cycled through breathtaking mountains and canyons and we've camped at the most fantastic spots ever.
There was hardly no accomodation so we had to put up our tent several times.Food was also a problem but one day while we were shopping in a small village we found potatoes, carrots and onions?Visions of Dutch "hutspot" appeared and after we found even a can of cornedbeef we were happy like two little kids.
We found some time later a great place to camp and started to make a delicious meal. God, we're so hungry. Finally it was ready and I still don?' know what happened but all of a sudden everything?.I mean nearly our whole meal was watching us out of the sand.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy??????????
It's just not fair, is it? Very, very dissapointed and shouting at eachother we had to hit the sack with an empty stomach and in a very grumpy mood. Poor us!
After six days struggling through heat, dust, bad or unpaved roads and through this thin air (4000m) we looked forward to the last 20 km before Uyuni. Only downhill..........................WAAW And it was an incredible feeling when we eventually got into this nice town where a bed, shower and a fancy meal was waiting for us. We deserved it!!!!!!!!!!!! We relaxed, made a daytrip to the saltlake on our own, met some great people and really enjoyed. But bad luck was following us because Yeb got ill this time. We took a nighttrain to Oruro, stayed for some days and got on our bike again. La Paz was waiting for us. A paved road on the alti plano that is going to be peanuts we thought optimistic but we didn?t know is that the wind can be very strong (so it was) and it didn?t 'low in the right direction if you know what I mean. So with an unfitt Yeb, strong wind ahead and a huge mental dip we arrived eventually in La Paz. Time to relax! It's a nice city which we both enjoyed, the markets are great, we bought even some souvenirs to sent home, we had great delicious meals, we met nice people, and Yeb got fit again. Nearly the end in Bolivia. Via the Titicaca lake we hea of to Peru. After a hard but great time in Bolivia we look forward for some new experiences, new people, cultur and unkown roads.....
Peru, Cusco 10th november 2002
Like we said before; we had a good time in La Paz. We stayed even a whole week. Yeb went also to the barbershop. A nessecary step because people already started to ask him strange questions like if he?s an artist or something. The result is perfect. The barber enjoyed a dutch cyclist is his chair so he did his best. And finally women flirt again with my mister "handsome".
And we got ourselves a little surprise from Yeb's ex-collegues. They sent us an e-mail that we could find something at the post office. Waaauw, a bag of l"drop" delicious typical dutch candy which every dutchie likes.
The day we left La Paz started with a long climb . La Paz is built in a canyon so we had to cycle up first. After one and a half hours we pedaled over the alto plano again. We had several times rain that day and we had also a delay because we got stuck in the middle of a Cyclingrace. The weather got worse and we had to find us a place to stay.
Eventually (both soaking wet) we fiund a nice cosy ecologic hotel at the Yiticaca lake. The owner was glad with some guests and he gadered his whole family for cooking us a meal. The next the served us breakfast.well a cup of coffee and a piece of dry bread. So we left with an empty hungry stomach.
But we forgot all about that when we cycled through this beautiful area. In Copacabana we stayed two days and relax and enjoyed. We met a french cycling couple who came just from Peru so a lot of information to exchange.
