09/08 I ended up skipping the taxi ride out of La Paz and just rode back up. Aside from the crazy traffic leaving the city it was an easy climb up the Autopista. Traffic was insane in El Alto, the city that sits on the rim of the canyon above La Paz and spreads far out onto the Altiplano. The population is about 1 million. I think I read that it’s the fastest growing city in South America. It is one of the highest major cities in the world at 13,615 feet. It is also home to one of the highest international airports in the world.
Traffic heading south was much busier than I expected. At least there was a small safety lane to ride in which made it tolerable (barely). The great plain that I was looking forward to never materialized. There were plenty of little hills along the way but most were short lived.
The first night out of La Paz I stayed in Calamarca. There wasn’t an official hostel or anything but this guy rents out a big room on the NW corner of the plaza for B15. There wasn’t a bed but my mattresses were plenty comfortable. I could have camped in the huge yard but it looked like it was going to rain (and sure enough it did all evening).
The next day was more riding along the busy PanAm. It wasn’t as hilly but the wind coming out of the south-west (aka in my face) made it harder than it needed to be. The wind eventually shifts around to blow out of the north but that doesn’t happen until 1-2pm and I’m nearly done for the day by that point. My company since La Paz has consisted pretty much of just the construction workers working on widening the road. It looks like it’ll be a 4 lane highway and possibly even divided which would be nice since the crazy drivers here need all the help they can get. I spent the night in the town of Sicasica. Not too much going on there but the hostel was decent enough and they had hot water.
I keep smelling dead animals and piss as I’m riding. It was really bad for about 50 miles outside El Alto. The piss makes sense because, other than Ecuador, I’ve seen more people peeing in public here than I have anywhere else. The garbage situation is horrible. Only Mexico was worse. Every ditch/dry river bed is a garbage dump.
The next section of my trip is undoubtedly going to be the most challenging of anything I’ve dealt with so far. Southwest Bolivia is notorious for its deep sand 4×4 tracks (roads…who needs roads???), unmarked tracks that branch off in every direction, limited water supplies, strong headwinds and very cold nights. The altitude never drops below 12,000 feet and gets much higher near the border. To top it off I have Chile to worry about. They are very, very strict about what food you can bring into the country. No honey, fruits, vegetables, cheese, meat or nuts of any kind (whether cooked, fresh or dried). That means I’ll have to bring just enough to get to the border or I’ll be tossing any extras.
The plan is to head south past Lago Poopo 
, follow the dirt/sand tracks to Salinas de Garcia Mendoza and then head south to the world’s largest salt lake (Salar de Uyuni). If the surface is dry I’m going to ride across it to San Juan. Then I’ll start riding west to the Chile border. From there I’ll head down to San Pedro de Atacama. Maybe a week after that I’ll be in Argentina.
I’m really looking forward to riding across the Salar. Hopefully it hasn’t been raining otherwise I’ll have to figure out another route to Chile. Riding through a wet, salt lake wouldn’t be very good for my bike. It’s dry season now so it should be nice and hard-packed for riding. The salt crust on the surface is anywhere from a foot to 12 feet thick. The surface is so smooth that some Earth observing satellites use it to calibrate their elevation measurements. The variation in the surface elevation over the 4086 sq mi Salar de Uyuni is less than 3 feet 3 inches. The few “islands” in the lake are actually the tops of ancient volcanoes. Underneath the salt crust is a lake of brine 7 to 66 feet deep. Lithium is concentrated in the brine and the Salar contains about half the world’s reserves.
I’m in Oruro for 2 nights. Brutal wind today that kicked up all kinds of dust storms. Fortunately it was blowing at my back or it would have been an ugly day. Need to stock up on food tomorrow. This place is a mad house. I didn’t get lost but I came close trying to get back from dinner. I almost had to break down and ask for directions. Had a great pizza for dinner at Bravo’s Pizza. The hotel is a disappointment. It’s supposed to be a 3 star deal but it should only be 2. It took forever to explain that there’s a difference between hot water and lukewarm water. The TV doesn’t work (don’t care) and half the lights don’t work. The place is called SM Palace Hotel. I thought it would be OK because it has my initials in it.
Not sure when I’ll have internet access after leaving here. I’m sure a couple of the little towns will have it and for sure they’ll have it in San Pedro de Atacama but I’ll post quick updates along the way since I won’t be in Chile for maybe as long as 2 weeks. Depends how much pushing I have to do. Hopefully none because I really hate pushing my bike.
Just got caught up with the news. They should really shut the hell up with the stupid terrorist threats. We get it. Everyone hates us. Maybe focus a little more on not handcuffing and shooting 5 month old kids in the head and people won’t want to blow the crap out of us.
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