This morning we are seriously wishing we were on the beach in Copacabana, Brazil, and not Copacabana, Bolivia. If the border crossing yesterday wasn't bad enough, when we rolled into town we discovered the only two buildings that had internet access were Internet cafes. None of the hotels had internet and the choice of accommodation was clearly aimed at the 'smelly backpacker' crowd, not that 'smelly backpackers' are any worse than us 'smelly bikers' the only difference is we are generally wealthier and snobbier!
Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
More Laurel and Hardy impersonators.
It was raining, miserable and the main reason we needed internet access was so we could 'Skype' folks back home to wish them Merry Christmas.
Just like home!
Last night we all agreed to leave Copacabana and head straight for La Paz even if it was Christmas day, we had no idea at this point what had happened to Chris and Melissa but the worst case scenario would be that they would have to enter Bolivia by another border and meet us in the Capitol in a couple of days. We got ready early and whilst everyone was packing I returned to the border to see if there was any sign of Chris and Melissa.
Mark packing up with that 'Merry Christmas my arse!' look.
When I rolled up at the Customs office Chris and Mellisa were already there with smiles on their faces. It turned out that the new Border Official had no problem allowing them into the country, however, Chris had 'doctored' his vehicle registration document to make it look a bit more genuine!. We returned to Copacabana, had a 'Merry Christmas' session and swapped stories of crap accommodation etc., Johannes was suffering badly with altitude sickness so he, Jude, Chris and Melissa decided to stay in Copacabana another night and catch up with us in La Paz and we all agreed to postpone Christmas until we were together again as a group. The highlights of the day's ride for the rest of us were a dodgy ferry crossing and some angry weather on the Altiplano.
I think we'll wait for the next one thanks.
"Can we have one with all the decking please?"
Even in bad weather the scenery is still impressive.
Mike and Alanna....A.K.A.
Well, there is a resemblance!
We happily left Copacabana in the rain and headed for La Paz, when we arrived we found a hotel with WiFi and spoke to Richard and Mathew on Skype and then went for something to eat. La Paz is claimed to be the highest capitol city in the world at 3,660 meters and we were definitely feeling the effects of altitude, every so often we would pretend to look in a shop window just to give us time to catch our breaths. On this trip we often talk about the world being a small place and tonight was no exception, as we were heading back to the hotel we bumped into Mike and Alanna, in the middle of a city with 2.3 million people we managed to find two friends handing out the remains of their Christmas dinner to street beggars! so we went back to their hostel for a beer and caught up on travel talk.
Well, there is a resemblance!
The next day was a rest day for everyone, Sue and I went with Ingo and Cecilia to try and find her some decent motrocycle clothing but no luck, in the end she had to settle for some motocross gear and waterproofs which would at least offer some protection from the cold and wet. There was of course the continuing saga of the tyres but as the shipping office was closed for the weekend all that could wait until Monday. That night everyone went for a proper Christmas celebration Sue managed to whack her head on the door as she was getting ready (honest!) and ended up with a lump the size of an egg on her forehead, we were extremely sympathetic in between fits of laughter! Oh, and just for good measure, she also picked up a case of the 'runs'.
No, your Honour, I had nothing to do with it!.
Our official Christmas, La Paz 2009.
Gino being all 'sympathetic'
A excellent time was had by all and it was agreed that tomorrow would be a good day to ride the infamous DEATH ROAD (scary music please).
The Yungas or 'Death Road' in Bolivia is still oficially the most dangerous road in the world, it gained it's place at the top, based on the number of people killed annually for every mile of road, It is estimated that between 200 and 300 people perished annually and in 1983 a bus veered off the road and into the canyon killing over a hundred passengers in what is thought to be Bolivia's worst road accident. In 2006 they finally finished the new road from to Coroico to La Paz so all the traffic uses that road and the old road is now mainly a tourist route for anyone who wants to pay thirty dollars to hurtle downhill for 60 kilometers on a mountain bike. For us it was another 'been there, done that' opportunity as well as riding through some of the best mountain scenery in Bolivia. In order to reach the Death Road it is necessary to climb over the La Cumbre Pass at 4,650 meters, this was the site of our first delay when Richard holed his front tyre, but a quick roadside repair and we were on our way again.
The La Cumbre Pass.
Ingo and Cecilia.
More Stunning scenery.
Isn't she pretty?
Running repairs.
The 'good road' to the 'Death Road'
Here's an excellent article on the Yungas Road, It makes it all sounds very dangerous?
And here's some video.
It was all downhill from here.
The Yungas road descends 3,600 meters over a distance of 64 kilometers, and is carved out of the mountainside with the cliff face on one side and a vertical drop on the other side, in most places the road is wide enough for only one vehicle which means someone has to reverse out of the way when two vehicles meet. To make it more hazardous the rainwater coming over the cliifs creates waterfalls which pour onto the road, washing away the surface and making it slick as hell. The accepted route is to take the Death Road downhill to Coroico and return to La Paz on the new road but before we even started we nearly came a cropper, twice we had to avoid dogs in the road and then almost 'cleaned up' a wanker on a push bike who was weaving all over the road!
The lazy man's bike ride! with the exception of one small stretch it's possible to freewheel 62 kilometers downhill.
"OK Darling, back a bit, keep going, just a bit more"
And here's us doing the same.
Sue and BOB 'Intrepid Adventurers'
After a rushed lunch in Coroico it was back to La Paz on the new road with a timely stop to put the waterproofs on.
The Tyre Saga Continues................
Today Chris Gert and Gino went to the airport in the hope of collecting the tyres from Customs only to be told they hadn't even left the States, lots of cursing and swearing but eventually they arranged to have them delivered to Sucre where we were supposed to be spending New Years Eve. Sue and I had a walk round La Paz trying to find an external hard drive to back up the thousands of photos we have, in the end we decided to 'bite the bullet' and buy a new laptop and ditch the old laptop/keyboard setup. The next day Ingo and Cecilia left for Potosi as they didn't want to hang around any longer, we would have another day in the city before joining them
The run to Potosi should have been straightforward, over the Altiplano with a halfway stop for lunch in Oruro and then a night in a hacienda just outside Potosi that had been organised by Gert along with a trip to the silver mine the next day.
The run to Potosi should have been straightforward, over the Altiplano with a halfway stop for lunch in Oruro and then a night in a hacienda just outside Potosi that had been organised by Gert along with a trip to the silver mine the next day.
Nice views...so far so good.
Entering Oruro.
The place was full of statues and sculptures but the whole town had a felling of not being 'finished'.
Shortly after leaving Oruro the skies opened up and we got hit with torrential rain and hailstones, Sue and I, Richard and Chris and Melissa got separated from Gino and Johannes and Jude but figured they had stopped to take photos or shelter from the storm.
By the time the rain stopped there was still no sign of them so we continued on towards Potosi and almost missed the homemade sign to the hacienda Gert and Ingo had put together. Fortunately this guy had been waiting for the 'Cosmotos' (that's us) for most of the day!
We settled in at the hacienda and waited for the others but after a couple of hours it was getting dark so Chris decided to have a ride back down the road to look for them. After what seemed like an eternity Chris returned with the news that Gino had crashed shortly after we became separated, apparently he had a front tyre 'blowout' which dumped him into the armco barrier at 80kph! Gino was bruised and battered but was able to ride the rest of the way and Johannes had suggested he go straight to Potosi. The bike fared slightly worse but we would straighten it out over the next couple of days, so we had a restless night at the hacienda worrying about Gino and left for the short ride to Potosi early the next morning.
When we arrived we checked in on Gino to make sure he was OK and then caught the minibus up the mountain for the tour. Potosi is claimed to be the highest city in the world (4,090m) and sits in the shadow of Cerro Rico (rich mountain) this mountain supplied much of the silver for the Spanish empire and an estimated 45,000 tonnes of pure silver were mined by the Spanish from 1556 to 1783. Historically it was one of the largest cities in the Americas and the World with a population of over 200,000, the tortuous conditions inside the mine and the extraction process meant that thousands of indigenous Indians died whilst being forced to work under the Spanish occupation. Eventually when the local slave force became depleted the Spaniards brought an estimated 30,000 African slaves to continue the work, as a result Cerro Rico became known as 'The mountain that eats men'.
Potosi square with Cerro Rico in the background.
First we were taken to what appeared to be someone's back yard and dressed in the latest 'tourist miners' gear.
'Tres Chic'
Bloody miners!
"Does my bum look big in this?"...." No darling, not in the least"!
The next stop was the miner's market a street of shops selling everything from dynamite to 98% alcohol (not a good combination). It's the custom for tourists to buy gifts of cigarettes or coca leaves for the miners in exchange for watching them shorten their lives working in atrocious conditions. As today was New Years Eve there was virtually no one working in the mine so we bought some dynamite for our own amusement instead!
These are what's known as 'completos' a stick of dynamite, a two minute fuse and explosive accelerant usually ammonium nitrate for that added Ooomph!. The dynamite of course is completely stable but I did scare the crap out of Johannes by tapping a stick of it on his helmet! Oh! how we all laughed.... (except Johannes).
And this is Ceibo, a drink 1% short of rocket fuel and the stuff that enables the miners to forget their worries and get blotto on a weekend and chase the local 'Chicas'
Most of the mining carried out today is done as part of co-operatives but the conditions are still archaic and disgusting. Inside the mines there is no ventilation and the air is thick with arsenic and asbestos dust.
They reckon so much silver ore has been taken from the mountain it has reduced in height!
It's his day off!
These carts are filled by hand and pushed manually to the surface from up to a kilometer and a half inside the mountain.
The entrance to 'Candelaria' mine.
'Cosmoto' miners
This mining lark is bad enough if you're a short arse, but I was in danger of knocking out every pit prop on the way down!
It looks perfectly safe to me.
"Turn round and get down the mine".
After twenty minutes Ingo decided the bowels of the earth was not the place for him and headed back for fresh air and by the time the rest of us reached the second level everyone was on their way out except Johannes. I of course would have continued (being a bloke!) but did the honourable thing and escorted Sue back to the surface (honest, I wasn't the least bit scared)
Going down?
Down in the depths are effigies to the devil of the mine 'El Tio'. (an ugly bugger with huge genitals) At the start of the shift the miners offer money, coca leaves, cigarettes etc. in the hope of striking it rich but someone must have had a real bad day because they came back and broke his knob off!!
How easy is this?
Once everyone was back on the surface it was time to have some fun with the explosives we had bought earlier, here's a quick run down of the 'Make your own Bomb' process:
1) Take the dynamite and mould it into a ball.
2) Put the ball in the bag of Ammonium nitrate.
3) Insert fuse into dynamite and wrap up contents tightly in the bag.
4) Light fuse.
5) Chase women, like a schoolboy chasing girls with a pet wasp!
6) Drop dynamite in a hole at a safe distance.
7) Run away........
Our guides had complete faith in my ability to handle dynamite.....Fools!.
Johaness with a 'live one', and now I'm thinking maybe it wasn't a good idea to tap a stick of dynamite on his head earlier.
At this point I was walking towards the women with a 'completo' two minutes away from blowing up. The comical thing was they were screaming like schoolgirls and running about like chickens with their heads cut off! and the reality was that if this thing had gone off prematurely they would have needed a real good beautician before going out on a Saturday night again....
Here's the video of us 'having a blast'!
After we'd put some more holes in the side of the mountain we all headed back to Potosi to organise a New Year's bash.
Potosi, New Years' Eve 2009.
The girls went out and found somewhere that would accommodate and feed us all but when we arrived later that evening we were told the food wouldn't be served till midnight, we did manage to get some booze and persuaded them to feed us at 11:30.
Even Gino put in an appearance, looking the worse for wear after his crash.
The place was still empty at 11:40 and then one or two people started to arrive, it turns out that everyone else celebrates at home and then goes out to eat and party after midnight so this place wasn't closing till 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. As there were no official chimes to ring in the New Year we all had different ideas on when it was officially 2010 so in the end we wished everyone 'Happy New Year' and had a bop on the dancefloor before heading back to the hotel.
This is the Potosi Social Club at 11:30 on New Years Eve 2009. The place was jumping!
Well at least we had a good time........
New Year's day was spent lazing around, most places were closed for the holiday so I took some photos and spent some time retyping a blog entry after a technical 'balls up' Tomorrow we head off for Sucre and hopefully pick up the tyres.
Potosi photos.
Before we left for Sucre we were interviewed by Mike and Alanna which was quite entertaining, not sure whether we are the right people to ask on 'what makes a good relationship' but after 27 years we're either doing something right or nobody's told us we're doing it wrong! The ride to Sucre was easy enough other than me nearly getting arrested after I lost my rag with a checkpoint official, everyone got there without crashing but Gino stayed behind in Potosi to recuperate for a few days and we would pick him up on our way back to Uyuni for our visit to the 'Salar' (salt lake).
Can you believe these roads?
An elaborate bridge to nowhere.
Sucre skyline.
Basically we spent the next four days hanging around the city trying to get the tyres out of customs, if you're bored with the tale of the tyre saga by now, imagine how we felt going backwards and forwards and achieving bugger all!
The Bolivians have their own way of doing things at their own speed, sadly for us this didn't include getting our tyres out of Customs within a week.
And here's the box on it's way back to the airport. At this point I would normally type some offensive expletive to express my frustration but I realise swearing is resorted to only by those unable to interject the emotion of anger intelligently into conversation....or some shit like that!
After four days we were no further forward with getting the tyres so Chris and Melissa decided to stay on in Sucre and send the tyres onto Uyuni by bus when they cleared Customs (whenever that would be). Chris by now was totally stressed out as he had organised the shipping and consequently felt the responsibility of sorting it out lay with him. The rest of us would head to Uyuni to organise the trip to the Salar and also look at the possibility of hiring a 4x4 vehicle to use as a support vehicle for our 2 day trip from Uyuni to San Pedro De Atacama just over the border in Chile. We tried to contact Gino on the way past Potosi to meet up with him but in the end we had to press on and hope he'd catch us up.
These don't look bad conditions, but four wheels are a lot more stable than two. When did you last see a car fall over in the mud?
More of the same.
Here's Chris and Melissa with 'The Box', this would be as close as we would get to our tyres for the next week!
At this point the Bolivian Customs Officials are explaining that the box cannot be released here at the shipping office. It now had to be returned to the Customs warehouse at the airport.
At this rate it would have been quicker and cheaper to manufacture our own tyres, all the time we are eating into our schedules, some of the group are on fairly tight timeframes but cannot leave without descent tyres.
We are in effect being held to ransom by beaurocrababble!
BEAUROCRABABBLE - (noun).
1. The circuitous, vague manner of speaking employed by beaurocrats to confuse and derail listeners.
2. The non-answer, of the manner above, that is unhestiatingly spouted off by a beaurocrat in response to a completely reasonable question.
After four days we were no further forward with getting the tyres so Chris and Melissa decided to stay on in Sucre and send the tyres onto Uyuni by bus when they cleared Customs (whenever that would be). Chris by now was totally stressed out as he had organised the shipping and consequently felt the responsibility of sorting it out lay with him. The rest of us would head to Uyuni to organise the trip to the Salar and also look at the possibility of hiring a 4x4 vehicle to use as a support vehicle for our 2 day trip from Uyuni to San Pedro De Atacama just over the border in Chile. We tried to contact Gino on the way past Potosi to meet up with him but in the end we had to press on and hope he'd catch us up.
A fine example of an Africa Twin, one of the best dual sport bikes ever built. The discontinuation of this model by Honda was probably a big mistake as it occurred just before the surge of interest in 'adventure motorcycling'.
The road from Potosi to Uyuni is a mixture of tarmac and gravel, we had researched the road conditions before leaving and knew they would deteriorate at some point. The only other factor to consider would be the rain which we hoped would hold off for the journey.........it didn't.
Johannes and Jude contemplating 'waterproofs'.
More of the same.
Richard and Johannes looking for an alternative route through the flood after some fool decided it would be fine to ride through the middle of it. Notice how Sue and I are not in the frame.......
Here's the 'fool' in question stuck in the middle of the puddle!, the only saving grace was we stayed upright. It's worth noting at this point that Sue had nothing to do with my decision to get the front wheel bogged down to the axle. With Richard's help we recovered BOB to dry land.
Sue doing the 'Hokey Cokey'.... You put your right leg in ....
Around this point Sue, I and Richard were ahead of Johannes and Jude when Gino finally caught up with them. He pulled up alongside and promptly dropped the bike!
Bugger! or something similar in Venezuelan/Spanish.
It must have been tough on Gino riding these roads so soon after the crash.
The Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq miles) at an elevation of 3,656 meters (11,990 ft) above the mean sea level. The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, the lithium is not being extracted yet (but the Americans are working on that). The large area, clear skies and exceptional surface flatness make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of the Earth observation satellites. It is without doubt one of the most spectacular sights we have seen on this trip, the dazzling white surface of the salt and the perfect blue sky present landscape images that are impossible to capture on film. These are are best we could do.
Our Day on the Salar
Salar De Uyuni panorama.
Dried surface of the Salar.
What do you mean 'were lost'?
Isn't she pretty?
I had the daft idea of camping on the Salar on Christmas Eve and waking up to this on Christmas morning (what a white Christmas!)
Bloody Tourists!.
When covered with water the Salar becomes one of the largest mirrors on earth.
Group Photo
Silly photo.
I did everything possible to stop Sue falling through the thin crust and into the salty depths below....yeah right!
The center of the Salar contains a few "islands", which are the remains of the tops of ancient volcanoes which were submerged during the era of Lake Minchin. They include unusual and fragile coral-like structures and deposits that often consist of fossils and algae.
Panorama of Incahuasi Island in the centre of the Salar.
Lunch break.
The Salar is virtually devoid of any wild life and vegetation. The latter is dominated by giant cacti. They grow at a rate of about 1 centimeter (0.39 in) per year to a length of about 12 meters (39 ft).
At 900 years old, this is the oldest cactus on the island.
This is a Rhea or Nandu, smaller than an Ostrich but bigger than a turkey.
The distinct contrast between land and sky allows for some fun to be had with 'lack of perspective' photography, so we had to have a go like everyone else.
"How come it's always me that's so small"? "Shut up and get back in my pocket"
Underneath the surface of the Salar is a lake of brine 2 to 20 meters (7 to 66 ft) deep. The brine is a saturated solution of table salt, lithium chloride and magnesium chloride in water. It is covered with a solid salt crust with a thickness varying between tens of centimeters to a few meters. The underside of the crust is covered with salt crystals which if you're lucky you can reach through occasional holes in the surface.
Guess who gets to stick their arm down the hole?
Voila!! salt crystals.
The Salar de Uyuni steadily attracts tourists from all around the world. As it is located far from the cities, a number of hotels have been raised in the area over the years. For several reasons, including lack of conventional construction materials, many of them are almost entirely (including walls, roof, beds, chairs, tables, etc.) built using salt blocks cut from the surface of the Salar.
Salt hotel complete with swimming pool.
Salt furniture.
Inside the hotel.
These riders were heading across the Salar on their way to Chile to watch the 'Dakar' Rally (we decided against riding on the Salar because of the risk to the bikes of salt corrosion.)
Most vehicles that travel on the Salar have the underside of the vehicle spray protected from the salt.
Piles of mined salt, Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tonnes of salt, of which less than 25,000 tonnes is extracted annually.
Richard picked up this on the way to the tyre shop.
Outside the hotel in Uyuni, ready for the off.
Storm clouds on the edge of the Salar with 'dust devils' (mini tornadoes).
Chris, Melissa, Ingo and Cecilia arrived that evening and so did the tyres! It had taken almost a month to get them but over the next two days they would prove invaluable. As we travelled through Bolivia we had been watching the Dakar Rally on TV and discussing the possibility of watching the race live somewhere in Chile, it would most likely be a once in lifetime opportunity and to be so close to the real thing meant this now became the focus for most of the group.
'Tyred' at last.
Richard picked up this on the way to the tyre shop.
BOB gets new shoes.
To reach Chile from Uyuni there are two options, one is to return to Potosi and back round the top of the Salar (probably four days ride) the other is to head South to San Pedro on a road that is only passable by off road vehicles and depending on who you ask we don't necessarily fall into that category. We do know that bikers have ridden the road, some on their own and some two up but no one has said it was anything but hard slog.
Fortunately for us there was a tour company next to the hotel we were staying at in Uyuni and we managed to hire a 4x4 for the 2 day trip to San Pedro De Atacama. The idea was that the girls would ride in the vehicle and the excess luggage and fuel could go on the roof which would make the bikes so much easier to ride and they would also be lighter to pick up when we fell off. (here I prefer to use the word 'when' rather than 'if').
First thing in the morning Chris, Melissa, Ingo and Cecelia did a quick trip to the Salar to take a few photos as they had missed going with us the day before. Sue and Jude had been out and bought enough food for the two days, we knew there was basic accommodation around half way into the trip but we preferred to be self sufficient just in case. Jose our driver and guide went and got a couple of new tyres and after loading all the gear we set off.
The blog entry for our journey out of Bolivia will be available in the next couple of days.....Stay tuned
Great blog folks!!
ReplyDeleteso by my reckoning your about 2 months behind in blogs!!! tsk tsk!!!
hope all is going well...your having a whale of a time!!!