Through the Bolivian altiplano

After the breathtaking sceneries of the South Lipez, it is time now to discover the Bolivian rural world. We come back to the asphalt that runs through the altiplano. With a crazy bonus when we arrive in La Paz...

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The exit of Uyuni is sandy but it is easier to ride thanks to the rain of the evening before. We have our lunch break at Colchani, the last touristy point of our route to La Paz.

Bye bye mass tourism!

After a sunny afternoon of riding, we set our camp below a small pass.

Nice spot for the night, at least if it doesn't rain

While we are cooking, the sky gets very dark, and lightnings are getting closer. When it becomes clear that we won't escape it, we decide to dig trenches around our tents to protect us from the mud. In a hurry, we use stones or our foot, leaving the dinner for later. Finally, the thunderstorm hits us with a pouring rain. After verifying that we are safe from the flowing water, we eat in my tent, listening to the apocalypse outside.

Bon appétit!

At 1 am, we are woken up by a group of farmers who came around our tents. When they spot Martin checking what is going on outside, they leave. We never understood what were their intentions .

Tired by this short and scary night, we start again after cleaning up some of our stuff that got muddy. The road is in a bad condition with a dozen of fords. In order to keep our feet out of the mud, we often have to pedal with all our strengths, covering our equipment with dirt.

After the rain and the trucks

Before the storm...

In the afternoon, the sky gets again darker. We end up being caught in a hail thunderstorm on the altiplano, at 3'800m. Without any trees in the vicinity, we represent the perfect lightning rods. At one point, the sky flashes before a tremendous thunder less than a second later. We ride even faster, looking for a safer place. We stop between two hills and wait until the lightning gets further. When storm is finally gone, we start again with a strong head wind. At dusk, we arrive exhausted in Rio Mulatos. After a typical Bolivian completo (soup + main dish), we go early to bed.

On the third day, the road gets better until Sevaruyo where it suddenly disappears. A large river separates us from the village.

Looking for a solution

After considering the option to cross on a railway bridge, we use a pedestrian bridge 1km further as suggested by a local. Before the daily storm arrives, we find a hotel that turns out to be so dirty that we use our camping gear to keep us separated from the mattresses.

Nicer than the railway bridge!

Accommodation in Sevaruyo

Our temporary salvation comes on the fourth day: after 600km of bad road, we are finally back on a sweet asphalted road.

Last painful kilometers

Finally, asphalt!

We almost fly to Huari where we have a lunch talking with Delia, a local quinoa farmer. She explains us that Bolivians do not eat much of this seed because of the numerous and laborious processing steps needed in order to make it edible. Most of the crop is therefore bought by big industrial processing plants who export it because of evident economic reasons.

Quinoa fields on the altiplano

After this informative break, we end our riding day in Challapata where we encounter a French family travelling around the world for a year. Impressive point, the parents are teaching all the school material to their kids, in order for them to continue a normal schooling once they get back to Paris.

The return of the asphalt theoretically means that we are now back in civilization. On the next morning, at a toll station, a policeman discussing with the employee stops us:
"Tu hablas Spanish? Pasaporte!".  After a few questions, "I'm just a policeman but the employee is asking for 3 bolivianos (CHF 0.50) for the toll fee. Actually, it might be 3 or 5 bolivianos". Finding all of this very strange because we didn't have to pay anything at the toll station in Huari, I go to the booth and ask to see the law with a fee for bicycles. Silence. Suddenly, a car arrives behind me: "Hey Felipe!!! Qué tal?". A villager with who I discussed for a while yesterday recognized me from his pickup truck. The policeman and the employee look at each other, put out. " Ok, you can pass, go!". Entertained by this first failed scam, we set sail to Poópo, where we arrive around noon. We enjoy the afternoon there before the daily storm, playing table football under the curious gaze of local kids.

On the next day, we start early after eating a completo for breakfast. Because we won't make it to Oruro at lunch time and that it is difficult to eat out of normal lunch hours, we stop already at 10:30am in Machacamarca for an another completo.

Machacamarca entrance gate

The Bolivian sense of business is peculiar since we end up paying the same price for one completo (Séb) or the main dish only (Martin and I). We arrive in the middle of the afternoon in Oruro where we will rest for a whole day. It is the first time in Bolivia where we see a nice restaurant where we can actually choose our menu. We therefore give us a treat with healthy burgers & pizzas in order to change from our usual lama meat diet.

After the short break in Oruro, we start again towards La Paz. The future 4-lane highway between La Paz and Oruro is in construction and the traffic is getting denser. Fortunately, part of the highway is already built but still without traffic, which often gives us a royal private cycling path, far away from aggressive bus drivers.

Our cycling lane

During our lunch break in Caracollo, we also have a nice overview of the hygiene in the Bolivian countryside. A truck strops, the driver comes out and, "hidden" behind his truck, pees on it with us just eating next to it before sitting to a neighbour table.

By the end of the afternoon, we do a small break at Konani. While we are eating chicken wings, two young girls are laughing at Martin who is greeting them. Suddenly, one of them comes close to him: "Regalame plata!" (Give me money!). A little bit shocked by this "cultural corruption" and after unsuccessfully trying to look for an accommodation, we decide to push until the next village.

Once in Lahuachaca, we visit a shabby "hotel". The floor in the room is plain earth and the beds are dirty. When I ask for the bathroom, the owner shows me the courtyard. Surprised, I ask again and he shows me a little, 5-cm deep channel at one end of the courtyard, visible from everywhere, that flows behind a wall: "I cleaned it this morning!". Disappointed, we find an other hotel whose shutter is unfortunately closed. After asking a neighbour about the owner, I start walking in the village to find him. Finally, a friendly villager in motorbike picks me up and lead me to the right person. What looked like a nice hotel from outside is actually still in construction, but we are so tired that we nevertheless decide to stay there.

The next morning, I am woken up around 6am by the owner, who is walking in his construction set. After a quick breakfast, we hit the road. At some point in the afternoon, we pass a house with a few cows. Suddenly, two dogs come running and aggressively follow Martin who try to repel them with his foot. One of them even jumps and bites one of Martin's rear panniers, making him ride into Séb. We evaluate the damage once they are away.

"A good dog is a dead dog" (Franfouet, a fellow bike tourist)

We were lucky that they didn't bite Martin's foot (who is not vaccinated against rabies...)! A young man travels on his bicycle in the opposite direction. We observe him, just to watch his reaction. When the dogs arrive barking, he immediately stops and put his bicycle between the dogs and him. He then runs towards them, quickly picks up some stones to attack the dogs. It is a clever move: the dogs run off.

Travelling on the road in construction (without traffic), we arrive at the entrance of Villa Loza-Tolar. Unfortunately, the path on which we are abruptly ends, cut by a huge drain trench. After asking the permission to a nearby shepherd, we cross a pasture. Once we get to the actual road, he asks us for a "regalito" (small present). A little bit confused, I propose him a group picture. He seems to feel lonely and is delighted by the picture, though he still begs Martin several times for some money to buy alcohol...

The shepherd

Once in the village, we sleep at a cosy but affordable hotel where many Bolivian VIP (including Evo Morales) stayed.

On our final day to La Paz, we have no choice but to ride on the actual road with a lot of traffic. After a few hours of smoking exhaust gases, we arrive in El Alto, the suburb of La Paz. Unfortunately, the date is March, 6, the annual celebration of the city. Many roads, including the highway entrance to la Paz, are blocked. We look for an alternative route and end up riding down small streets of La Paz, with gradients of 18%. We are impressed by the endlessly populated and steep hills of this vertiginous city.

You better have good brakes

Impressive hills

Tap water of La Paz, taken from a river polluted by a nearby mine

Bob Marley's dog, found in La Paz, Bolivia

Our rims are boiling at the end of these descents when we arrive at the Casa de Ciclista.

BONUS!
After a 1-day rest, we decide to climb the Huayna Potosi (6'088m), one of the "easy" (understand "less difficult") 6'000m summit in South America. We set off to this expedition in a 5-man team lead by 3 professional (and funny) guides of Altitud 6000.

Huayna Potosi, seen from El Alto

On the first day, we train us to use the ice axe and walk/climb with crampons on a glacier, near the base camp (4'750m).

Practicing on the glacier (with Joel, our Swedish companion)

Martin in a vertical climb

On the second day of we hike to the rock camp (5'130m), carrying all our gear.

First walk on a crest

Our guides: (from left to right) William aka Wallace, Juan Jose aka Juancho and Ismael aka El Pollo

Juancho, the founder of Altitud6000

The camp carries well its name

Finally, the third and last day we start in the night at 1:30am, fully geared and roped up. Even if we are carrying the strict minimum in our backpacks, the ascent is difficult and slow. Breathing is tiring and getting a good climbing rhythm is not easy. When the sun is starting to rise, we are in our last 100 meters of ascent.

Sunrise over the clouds

Climbing the last 100 meters

Some andinists are already going down

Keeping up with the good mood!

Last crest

Almost there!

When we arrive to the crest, the sun is already up and gusts of wind pushes us gently. On the right, 1000m of  void, 200m on the left. Vertigo strikes Séb and Martin, but nevertheless we all continue and make it to the summit!

Huayna Potosi, 6'088m!

Going doing is trickier

With our guides and our equipment, we are safe!

Now, we are all safely back in La Paz and are resting before our penultimate stage in South America: La Paz-Cusco!

Feeling like in Fribourg, eating at SwissFondue