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Salar de Uyuni	Riding on the Altiplano

Our bicycle tour of Bolivia began in Santa Cruz, a lowland city on the eastern edge of the Andes where the mountain range is at its widest point in South America. Santa Cruz is a fast growing boom town. The boom is being fueled by globalization. Bolivia has been targeted as a country ripe for resource extraction. Export soya agribiz is replacing the forest, a natural gas pipeline is heading east to Brazil. Coming into Santa Cruz from the airport we were stuck in a traffic jam that turned into gridlock.

Day of the Compesino celebration	Pelechuco Pass 17,000 ft.

The increase in the number of cars is one of the most visible changes that I noticed since my last travels in Bolivia in 1975. In that year private ownership of automobiles was rare and there was little traffic. Now the cities are jammed with imported Asian cars.

Changing a flat as a lama train passes by

Other surprises in Santa Cruz were the discount computer stores, a cyber cafe, advertising by Internet service providers, and supermarkets with all the luxury items bicycle tourists crave when they are food tripping in the bush between "civilizations". Bolivian cities are catapulting into the 21st century.

In Contrast to the rapid growth of the cities, life in the Bolivian countryside (where most people still live) seems hardly changed. But that is just a superficial observation. The fabric of life everywhere in Bolivia is changing, its just not happening as rapidly or as visibly to the traveler in the countryside.

The main part of the tour was a crossing of the Andes from east to west at their widest part. Nicholas stoked on our mountain tandem, Leslie road her Stumpjumper, and Tom Trickel rode the same vintage Nishiki mountain bike that he was riding when we first met him riding in India, during our 1988 Himalaya tour 1988.

It rained as we headed west out of Santa Cruz. The road leaving town is only two lanes with abrupt broken edges and bad shoulders. It was choked with traffic for the first twenty miles. The red tropical clay turned to slime in the rain made the road slick. It was sometimes quite "exciting" as buses passed each other with barely enough room, forcing us off the road into slippery mud. At one point we were concerned then bouyed by a car racing along on the mud shoulder, then pulling up along side us and the driver yelling at us and giving us the thumbs up and yelling "Viva cyclismo!".

The road soon began to climb and the traffic gradually decreased. By the end of the first day we were out of the city and into a completely different Bolivia. One with small villages, curious friendly people and long stretches of dusty washboards between towns.

I sometimes got annoyed with drivers as they raced by us not slowing at all and dragging their dust clouds into my lungs. But, that is part of travel in the developing world. Thankfully traffic in the country is generally sparse.

The road was paved for the first 80 miles west out of Santa Cruz. The road was also paved for the 100 miles between Sucre and Potosi. Otherwise, all the roads are dirt.

Our 1st route was Santa Cruz -> Aquile ->Sucre->Potosí->Uyuni

There are lots of big climbs on the way up into the Andes and onto the Altiplano.

There are enough small towns and truck stops along the way for bike tourists to find, meals, basic supplies, and water. Many people have brick ovens in which they bake bread. They often have extra to sell. We learned an important lesson one day when we discovered that a white table cloth outside a house meant that bread is available.This fresh bread was one of our favorite staples. Between cities we would try to stop at a village or truck stop to have a midday meal and buy supplies for dinner, then we would camp on the road somewhere in the countryside.

Sucre and Potosí are both nice cities to spend some time in, splurging on good meals and adjusting to the altitude. Potosí has a family of cyclists that puts up cyclists. They also run a bakery next to the house, a good place to stay warm and eat fresh bread.

Much of the scenery on the way up to Sucre reminds one of Baja, a dry cactus filled country. One big difference are the ubiquitous flocks of parrots.

Potosí is at 14,000 feet and cold. The stretch between Potosí and Uyuni desolate, beautiful and very cold at night. Temperatures dropped to 12° F at night. Water bottles froze. Uyuni has the worlds largest salt flat. It felt good to ride on the flat after so much climbing.

We bused to the start of trip two.

Trip two Pelechuco -> La Paz

Pelechuco is in the Sierra Apolobamba north of Titicaca. The mountain views approach Himalayan proportions. We crossed a 17,000 foot pass, and saw many condors and herds of vicuñas.

Trip three La Paz -> Coroico

This route climbs out of La Paz for 15 miles and over a 15,000' pass, which we did in a snowstorm, and then plunges about 40 miles and 11,000 ft. down into the tropical yungas on (according to some UN organization that rates such things) the worlds most dangerous road, a barely single-lane road that is carved on cliff faces with extreme vertical exposure. It's the best decent we've done. The little town of Coroico has a great hotel with fabulous views of the Andes, good food, and an Internet connection that you can use to send mail.

Traveling in Bolivia is inexpensive, we averaged $13/day/person camping out between cities, staying in nice places and eating well in cities. If we had worked at it, we could have gotten by with perhaps half that amount. Plane tickets cost $850 RT.

The Airline told us in advance that we would have to pay $45 per bike per leg. It turned out that we flew four legs and only paid for one bike on one leg. We never paid a charge for the tandem. We boxed the bikes on the way down and just rolled them up to the counter on the way home.

There are bike shops in most larger towns, where you can get basic parts. Santa Cruz, Sucre, and La Paz have bike shops the sell high end mountain bike and parts (spendy though) Hint: take schrader not presta tubes. The tandem broke a rear rack braze-on outside of Potosí, so I threw it on a truck and took it back to town where a bike mechanic welded it back on.

Well there's the basic stuff. Ask me specific questions and I'll try to answer.

Happy Trails,

--
 Barry Logan Tom Trickel
 

Summer '97 Bolivia Mileage Table

6-30 Angostura 66.7Km

Rolling before 9A. The highway out of town is narrow with a wide mud shoulder. Fortunately the traffic is slow and thins out soon. Stop to shave my seat pad. Stop for a cheap lunch 17Bs for 4 bowls of soup, tow rice, potato and meat plates and a liter of coke. Stop in Angostura to buy dinner fixings and breakfast. My knees are a bit sore when we start again. Look at several places along the river before stopping amoun a bunch of leaf cutter ants. Which Nick and Barry really get into. In the tents before 7p. Lights out before 7:30.

7-1 Achira 53.7Km

After Angostura the road entered a river canyon. Today's ride continued up that canyon. Very nice touring - pretty gentle up slope with some downs and little trafic. This is the tour I signed up for. The red cliff that the Lonely Planet guide book mentions was worth several pictures by an old suspension bridge. Shortly thereafter, about 1-2Km we roll into Bermejo. Leslie says it's her idea of a Bolivian village. The red rock cliff makes it in my opinion. After lunch the road crosses the river and we stop to pump water and strip off some clothes. Good timing because the road steepens for what says was 5mi of climbing. The crest is a nice grassy spot with good views. Shortly after we meet our first fellow bicycle tourist, Pablo from Argentina. A nice long downhill follows. Followed by flat or mostly so til just after Achira where the road steepens quickly providing a final climb to the turn off for the camp that we've been seeing  advertising for. We decide to bush camp short of camp Achira. Omlets and tuna sandwiches. In the tents before 7, lights out before 7:30 (Pablo takes his whole bike into his tent with him). My knees were a little sore all day but they didn't get any worse - besides that, this was one of the best days of pyschotouring ever.

7-2 Mairana 29.14

Off 5 minutes earlier than yesterday. Barry had to adjust Nick's cranks again. What is the mechanism for them loosening up? The day starts with a full granny climb. When we get to a nice stream crossing I stop to check out the rock pools. Turns out there is a 1.5Km trail from here to the road to El Fuerte. We decide to hike it and it's a stiff pull to the road and the road is a pretty good climb too. 10Bs for foreigners to visit the site. Interesting rock carvings. Barry's initial theory is a fountain/art project. On the way back down we stop for a swim in some nice pools above the road. We all decide that the naturally cut pools are better than El Fuerte. Barry now decides that El Fuerte is a thank you to the Gods for creating the pools. I like this new theory. Back on the bikes at 2p up with a short drop to Samaipata. Snack and ride. Granny climb of about 6Km followed by a screaming downhill to Mairana, well almost. The grade in to Mairana was favored with a stiff head wind. We eat dinner in town and draw lots of stares. Are we from Mars? Barry says yes but we don't bite. Good Ice Cream bar for desert. While looking for a camp spot Barry asks a woman if we can camp down by the river. The woman replies "Yes, by why would you want to do that? It's too quiet out there." Now out by the river listening to an irrigation pump it hardly seems quiet. The big news for the day is that the pavement ends here. The road looks to be gravel for the start.

7-3 Mataral 59.26Km

Watch out for those gates! The first gate brought us to the start of the mountains. The second gate brought us the end of the pavement. Going into Mataral we went through a cable. Does that count? What will it bring? Back into town for Huevos Rueveultos. Barry and I try to call the states but we either needed a calling card or were going to be charged 10Bs/min. just to get to Santa Cruz. Rolling out of town Barry asks if we've reached cruising speed. I pick up the pace a bit and soon find myself off the fornt doing battle with the road. I stop and wait at the first bridge crossing. About 15m later Barry, Leslie and Nick show up. Turns out Leslie dropped a pannier hook off her rack three times. Some climbing follows but not much. Some rough road but not bad and we've moved to a Bajaesque climate. Lunch an hour too late in Los Negros where some vegetables were being washed in the stream. The veggies were in blue bags and lads were stepping up and down on them. Outside of town at the P stop Barry has to adjust Nick's cranks again. What's going on? We decide to tear the BB apart in Mataral. Mataral has a great square off the main drag but only 1 room for rent, it had no water but it cost 15Bs/person. We decide to bag it and tear the BB apart on a veranda. We, actually Barry does the work, I stand around watching and drinking his beer, Leslie and Nick vanish, tear apart the BB and find a broken bearing cage. Pretty quick pit stop all-in-all. By the time we finish dinner and another beer dusk has settled. We head for the first flat spot out of town and actually find a nice spot in a dry stream bed while there was still enough light to see. Once again Barry says it won't rain, which he did last night and we awoke in the night to drizzle and rode part of the day in an on  and off drizzle until we left the valley and headed up a side drainage, tonight he may be right. While working on the BB I ask a guy how far to Comarapa and he says 120K and there are no towns or stores in between. We ask a second guy, whose riding a single main tubed bike, and he says that it's 60-70Km and there's a town bigger than Mataral halfway. A third guy who was driving a dump truck says we'll turn at San Isidoro, the halfway town. Which is 35Km away with a 25Km climb between Mataral and San Isidoro. Latin American Deviation - we'll see tomorow. My knees did OK today - 'course it was pretty easy riding if one ignores the bumps.

7-4 Saipina 66.07Km

Pretty gentle start to the climb followed by 6Km of steeper wt 25Km of up all told.  The final pitch had enough pavement remaining to make a ridable surface. The downhill to San Isidro was all paved! Soup & a stew for lunch. The proprietor says no problem. Flat followed by downhill to Saipina. We stop a Good Humor bicycle (Ice Cream in a Styrofoam Cooler on the back rack) on the way out of town and he says Subiti fuerte. B stops him for a second cone a bit later. No Pavement, a walked stream crossing, lots of talc and a definite subiti fuerte with lots of talc on the switch backs. Steeper on the downhill. I get two flats one on the climb before San Isidro and a second one on the downhill. The second flat has a torn valve. Lots of green agriculture in the valley below. A hotel, a cobbled main street, a shower(cold) and a paseo. Hey, nice town. Two guys chat us up and after we tell them we're bicycling one asks "por que?". "Why would you try this experiment." asks the other. He catches us later on in the walk and tells us we should stick around and enjoy the valley. Long day with two good climbs in it. Tomorrow promises more of the same. The road was actually better to San Isidro then worse to Saipina. Fortunately though, the washboard has been very minor.

7-6 Pena Colorado 51.91Km

Yesterday was a rest day and a laundry day. We also kibitzed on Aviv's motorcycle repair, fixed Nick's seat and cut Les' fender stays. Juan Loco was quite a character. He said if you chew enough leaves you'll see the devil. I also tried to call home - 15Bs/min but no one answered. Nice beautiful morning as we rolled out of town. Oh, I forgot to mention the crowd scene in front of the city market. The bikes, mostly Barry's and Nick's tandem, drew quite a crowd. Most of the day was spent following a beautiful river valley. Lots of cultivated plots. Three medium climbs and hot. Nick got his swim. One of the "climbs" wound around a nice Utahesque butte. The second climb happened right after leaving Perez. Good thing we didn't wait to eat lunch there. Pena Colorado was a little farther than we thought and off of the nice river. Pena Colorado does have on big draw, the Pollo A La Canasta at Restaurant Exclusivo. It stuffed both B and I. I got another flat - valve stem problem again. I'm trying to convince myself it was a manufacturing defect and not my wheels. This time the flat was on the front tire so I feel I know that it's not a wheel tire combo. [I also forgot B's chewing experiment - he should chew more often it improves his mood and he becomes super chatty. The downside is controlling it he stopped so he would have and appetite but he stopped to soon. Definite mood swing]. Last night it seemed like every truck in the world passed by. Perhaps we were paying for the little traffic of the day before or maybe it was market traffic returning home. One truck even had people singing in it. Trucks, barking dogs and crowing roosters it all made for quite the noisy night.

7-7 Villa Granado ? computer reset a Restaurant

12Km climb to start things off. Nice one it was too. It switched back up a face so one could see the switches above and below. The end fooled me twice and seemed to just keep on going up. After regrouping at the top we dropped into a subvalley that was really out there. Great corn cribs and shy people. Makes me wonder what their lives are like and what they know of the world. What could I do to make their lives easier/better? A turn of the crank and I'm gone. A surprise climb up a canyon that was again much longer than expected. We did manage to hold off lunch until Villa Granado. I ate the salad we'll see how that one works out. We end up not motivating soon enough. On the descent into V.G. we saw the ascent out and I'm sure that helped delay our departure. The proprietor of the restaurant shows us his pot collection and we end up staying in his parents adobe house.

Les has figured out how to know where bread is being sold. In Mairana Les is given directions to the bread and the final instruction was to stop at the house with the white table cloth on the chair in front. We start noticing other houses with white table cloths in front. Barry confirms the fact by asking the restaurant proprietor in San Isidro. He adds white table cloths low means bread while white table cloths up high means chicha. In two months V.G. will be getting electricity. What changes will that bring. We ask the proprietor of the restaurant for his mailing address and he doesn't know it. Instead he gives us the address of a friend in the next town.

7-8 Aquile 30.0Km

7-9 Punta Arce 62Km

Sleeping in the adobe was warm and quiet. One of the better nights of sleeping on the trip. Breakfast and pictures back at the restaurant. We're all glad we didn't attempt to climb/ride to Aquile yesterday. About half as long a climb as yesterday's first one but still two nice steep pitches. We join the main rad just hsort of Aquile. Aquile's main street is paved! Rolling is so easy on the pavement. Town seems too nice to hurry through so we stay.  I unload my bike and go for a tour of the town at sunset. The town comes alive at night. A very noisey disco; quite the change from Villa Grenado. Give the town a little electricity and see what happens. Gunshots, fights and dancing 'til late. I make a phone call to home 8Bs/min. Barry finds out that there are no private phones in town but maybe in August. 400Bs to install and a per use charge. He also finds out that the local high school is a boarding school. The door out of our hotel is padlocked from the inside in the morning as we try to leave. What fire hazard? Breakfast at the market. About 10Km of flat and up followed by 52Km of Downhill. The road today had more washboard than the previous dirt we've been on. At one point we came upon a catepillar that had taken one pass onthe road and it was pretty horrible but fortunately it didn't last for the rest of the day. It's much warmer down at the Rio Grande. We're still in shorts and t's at sunset. Tomorrow starts the big climb to Sucre.

7-10 Motojoro 65Km

Noisy camp again last night. We're up and rolling to the café early and we actually start riding at 8. The road is pretty firm but still a lot of dust. We have to lube our chains at midday for the second day in a row. The day was climb, descend, climb, descend but we must have gained altitude because it's much cooler tonight. At one point I spy a road grader working and figure the road is going to soften up but the operator has done a good job and the road is still fine. At an afternoon stop where Nick scoured town to find a two liter coke and I buy some bagged yogurt we're surrounded by kids until Barry gets out his camera to take a picture. The second the kids see the camera they fall all over each other trying to get away. Barry puts on a show asking the kids if they've ever heard of Andy Warhol and don't they want their 15minutes of fame. He even chases the kids around with camera for a bit. The whole scene is quite hilarious too bad we don't have a video camera. At one point during the show we look up and see and elderly woman looking out a window and laughing along with us. We aren't able to finish the coke and the kids won't take it so we just set it by the side of the road. After crossing a bridge and being about one quarter mile out of town we stop to see if the kids have taken the coke. They haven't. In fact they are still standing exactly where we left them. Barry takes out the camera again and the kids scatter. At the end of the day the road detours into the river bottom and at the second river crossing we camp.

7-11 Sucre 34Km

We made it to the big city! It was cold in the morning until we got into the sun. Another stream crossing and we were back on the road. Shortly thereafter we turn a corner and the first of the switchbacks come into view. I remember the lower switchbacks as being steeper than the upper switchbacks. The total climb was shorter than I expected, at least the switchback section. Once on the "ridge" there was still quite a bit of up hidden behind another bump but it was clear that we were up there. From the first sighting of the city to actually entering the city the road was a lot longer than I expected. The road curved way out away from the city and climbed up above the city and the ridge that hid the city from us. The big city has Nick jazzed. We got to the heights above the city before 2pm much sooner than they hype would have had us believe. The city sure feels strange and a lot different that Santa Cruz. It seems cleaner and older. Kind of seems like we enter the city through the back door because of the huge cement plant and quarry we pass through/by. Barry finds the hotel pretty quickly and it sure is fancy compared to where we've been.
 

More to follow as the journel  gets transcribed ....

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