12th March 2009 (Dave’s turn!)
Kelly and I didn’t realize just how tired we both were after our epic cycle ride through the North of Chile and the Atacama desert- the driest desert on Earth.
After cycling through the desert with amazing views of the Valley of the Moon and Valley of Death, we arrived into San Pedro de Atacama (2400m above sea level). Within minutes, we met a French couple who were also on bikes. Thankfully they showed us the way to the hostel that they were staying in, called Mony Pan and we enjoyed their company. It was one of the cheapest that we had stayed in during our travels through Chile and according to the owner, Prince William had stayed here whilst backpacking through Chile after his Raleigh International work-it is good to know he can rough it too!
As soon as we set our bags down, we unwound and just slept and ate for two days solid. We should have probably copied Claire and Andre, the French cyclists by getting the bus up to visit the Geysers de Tatio (at 4300m), however Kelly and I decided that we should try to cycle the route and camp the night at the Geysers before heading into Bolivia.
We started off really well, pedaling in the afternoon sun out of San Pedro. The views were out of this world with views of volcanoes and the huge Andes wall which rose up out of the desert and stood up to 6000m high. We made it to the one house settlement of Guatin and camped next to a llama and goat pen.
The following morning we were ready for a big climb and set off confidently up the steep gravel roads, climbing up, up and up. We enjoyed the hot springs en-route and it was magical to swim in natural pools and marvel at the start contrast in scenery, the green of the valley, against the dryness of the desert. Kelly befriended a two month old llama that was being hand reared and bottle feed, and wanted to take it with her! (Is Kelly getting clucky?)
At about 3700m Kelly started to suffer with effects of altitude, including a bad head, nausea and not really quite with it. With the roads only getting steeper we reluctantly decided that the best option was to return to San Pedro de Atacama, where we crashed and burned again. We resorted back to our happy routine of eating and sleeping during the day.
It was carnival time in San Pedro, which meant that there was absolutely no chance of sleep during the night as the locals were up drinking copious amounts of alcohol, singing and chanting and hitting out the same one beat on a drum. This continued for the entire week we were there! We were somewhat delayed due to the carnival as we couldn’t find a welder who was at work during the week to fix a leak in our stove, as during the day they were nursing their hangovers from the night before.
We had to resort to plan B and decided to backtrack to Calama (apparently the driest town in the world) and then head up on a different road to Ollague for the border crossing. We ended up staying in Calama with Rodrigo and Lorena, a Chilean couple we had met in San Pedro. We were really appreciative of their hospitality and had a great evening with them.
So Ollague it was! We made great progress out of Calama on a better road with a less steep incline, visiting the mud brick villages of Chiu Chiu and constantly snapping pictures of Volcano San Pedro and San Pablo. We had planned to camp the night at what we thought was an abandoned railway station. However on arrival we met the most friendliest of workers who were responsible for looking after the maintenance and supply of the water for the mining companies.
Not only did they give us a room for the night, which was better than some of the hostels we have stayed in, but, they let us have hot showers too. They had a great sense of humour and so we spent the evening chatting and laughing with them. Mauaro took it upon himself to make sure that we were well fed and also took us on a tour of the abandoned village to meet a couple who had recently returned to live there as life in Calama was too hectic and expensive for them. We got to see their farm animals including rabbits and guinea pigs (for consumption).
In the morning, after we had said our goodbyes we cycled past Chile´s smallest volcano, it was really, really small! The road started to climb up and peaked at 4000m before descending down to Salar de Ascotan where we past local workers harvesting the Borax underneath the salt flats. Borax is apparently used in many creams and the pharmaceutical industry, much of which is exported to Brazil.
Kelly was obviously struggling to cycle with the altitude and strong headwind, as some friendly workers from Cebollar urged us to get into their van. Again we were very lucky as they gave us a place to camp out of the wind with use of hot showers and a toilet (luxury!). Kelly went straight to bed, and slept right through till the morning. In the meantime, I was invited to tea, dinner and watch the football with the workers – result!
The next day we set off to the border town of Ollague, passing flamingos, guanacos and vicunas. Ollague turned out to be a near ghost town but we had good entertainment watching a build up of a storm over a volcano. The colours were so intense.
From the border crossing, Bolivia has been challenging to say the least. Mainly because we couldn’t find ANY roads at all. Naturally we had a map of Bolivia and asked the locals the way, to which they replied to cross the salt flats and follow the 4x4 tracks and the railway as much as we could. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rain that Bolivia experiences this time of the year (known as the Bolivian winter) there wasn’t many tracks to follow. After getting lost a few times, having to push the bikes through mud and generally having quite a hard time, we eventually arrived to the military base of Chiguana.
We were given permission by the military to camp in an abandoned railway station building. Not much to look at and quite dusty, but it was a blessing as the heavens opened and we had a terrific storm. The wind was so strong it even blew open the doors that we had barricaded with bits of railway track we had found. We were grateful we hadn’t camped on the salt plains.
Problems were encountered again the next day. We had planned to get to San Juan, a little village and then onto Julica. Our map showed a road to the south of the railway track, but just to make sure we also asked the young military recruits as the previous evening we had seen trucks heading on a “road” that headed in a northerly direction. The recruits pointed us out the tracks to follow, which was the same as our map and gave us the advice to stick by the railway line.
With only 5km out of the base we were cursing. Both us and the bikes were completely covered in mud, to the point where I couldn’t even push my bike through it. For the next five hours Kelly and I pushed our bikes on the railway line, and then looked for dry patches of salt plain that we could ride on. We couldn’t make out any outline of a village or any habitation at all in front of us.
Curiously, to the North, we could just about make out a settlement, in the far distance, on the other side of the salt plains and took a mental note of it, but thought that we must be near to the village of San Juan. Eventually we whooped with joy as we could make out some buildings, but what we thought was San Juan turned out to be an abandoned quarry or village. At this point we both began to get quite worried, we had either missed San Juan or San Juan was the abandoned village. We were in a quandary what to do. We didn´t know what lay up ahead. Perhaps Julica, a further 20km push away was also an abandoned village? Should we go back to the base? We also needed to re-supply our water.
Instead we decided to try and head back and to try and reach the unnamed and unmarked village that we had seen earlier on in the day. However we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to cross the Salar due to the water. It is amazing how small we felt, without the presence of people or roads. We felt quite lost within the landscape.
Thankfully, after a scout around, we found a stony “path” that lead across the salt flats and we were able to push and drag our bikes across it to the other side. Eventually we can across some scarecrows guarding crops and eventually found a little boy minding his herd of llamas. With great relief he informed us that the village that we had seen and that wasn’t on our map was indeed San Juan. It was miles out of what our map showed and on the other side of the railway line. We past more herd of llamas and were thankful that we had made it to the village before another storm past through.
We stopped the first person we saw who happened to be a hostel owner and he was very sympathetic to us and even let us wash our bikes down (whilst also politely suggesting that we needed a hose down too!). We related our story to him and a few of his friends and they were all in agreement that although our map was wrong, the military boys were obviously joking around with us as apparently there was a perfectly good and visible track-road that lead directly to the village from the military base. So be wary other cycle tourers! We were in a pretty bad mood and absolutely exhausted, but meeting a few other travelers and chatting to them raised our spirits.
From San Juan we set off on a road towards Colcha K and both of us enjoyed the gentle ride and scenery. Arriving into Colcha K early on in the day also meant that we could explore the area around the village and went on a little hike to look at vegetables that the locals were growing at altitude. We had already made up our mind to get the bus to Uyuni as we had been informed that there was too much water on the Salar for us to cross it. Two trucks were already stuck in the Salar for wandering off the track.
We were the only two gringos on the bus, but the locals made us feel very welcome, chatting and joking with us along the way. It made for a colourful sight with the women wearing their traditional bowler hats and huge skirts splayed out on the seats. We were pleased that we did take the bus as the Salar would have destroyed our bikes with the water and salt. The Salar was incredible, like a huge mirror for as far as the eye could see, reflecting the clouds.
Both Kelly and I had been wanting to visit the Salar for years, so we promptly booked onto a one day tour. It certainly didn’t disappoint and it is on of the most strangest of sceneries that we have ever seen in our lives. The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt plain in the world. It is like a huge frozen lake, it is stark, bright and isolated and we thoroughly enjoyed being part of it.
After Kelly suffering with altitude, getting hopelessly lost and now I am suffering with a Bolivian bad belly, we took the decision to treat ourselves to a train journey to Oruru.
We will be hopefully be back on the road tomorrow and making progress towards Peru and Lake Titicaca over the next few days. We are really excited about entering Peru as we are looking forward to rediscovering places and people that we both met seven years ago, and it was also the place where Kelly and I first met!
18th March 2009
Neither of us can quite believe that we have cycled just over 6500km all the way to Peru!
After our arrival in Oruru, a bustling Bolivian town, we both felt a lot better, fully acclimatized to the altitude and fighting fit! Dave and I enjoyed hitting the road and being able to put the distance in again.
Thankfully the road from Oruru to La Paz was paved and relatively flat as we were cycling through the altiplano – the high plains. We were also pleased that the temperatures were a great deal cooler than the North of Chile. Although, we are still at the tail end of the Bolivian winter so have had one day of cycling in the rain (our first rain for months) and we have been having a number of storms pass us by in the night.
Compared to Chile and Argentina, Bolivia has been a lot tougher in terms of infrastructure and finding places to camp. We have found that many of the Bolivians are quite reserved and have been rather distant towards us. We are not sure whether this is just a cultural difference or whether it is due to the current political situation in Bolivia. Evo Morales, the Bolivian president (who was voted in by the poorer communities of Bolivia) has aligned himself with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Fidel Castro in Cuba. As a result, there is an undercurrent of anti-American/Western feeling. At times, as we traveled through the small villages between Oruru and La Paz, we felt a lot of tension and were deliberately ignored by a few people. We spoke to a hostel owner who said that Evo Morales was killing the tourism industry, especially as he has imposed a hundred and fifty dollar entry fee for US citizens and has further cut his political relationships with the USA. We found it quite ironic in a way as all along the road between Oruru and La Paz many of the villages have been helped with many good projects funded with US Aid and Save the Children, projects such as access to clean water, education and sanitation. Sadly, all the current projects have been stopped due to the breakdown in political relations.
As a result of this undercurrent, Dave and I did not feel as comfortable camping and so we sought out alojamientos, very cheap rooms. We were quite chuffed at the prices, ranging from one to three pounds each and we also chuckled at a few of our experiences. We arrived into one, a basic room with single bed and straw mattress, however it felt like a luxury as it provided shelter from the approaching storm. Once we had settled in and unpacked our bags we asked where the toilet was, only to be told that it we needed a wee we could go outside in the courtyard and wee against the hole in the wall, in full view of the other rooms. Otherwise if we needed a “number two” we should “go” under the bridge at the entrance of the village. Paco and Jenny, this is one that you might want to miss if you visit Bolivia!
Both of us really enjoyed cycling through the countryside and so we decided that we would give the capital city of La Paz a miss and head nearer to Peru. We were glad we did if the traffic in El Alto, (the town on the outskirts of La Paz) is anything to go by. We found ourselves in five lanes of traffic, with collectivoes weaving in and out of the traffic and stopping abruptly to pick up passengers. However, we were amazed at some of the sights, with women grazing their sheep in the central reservation grassy area and a huge number of stall sellers. We stopped at one point to wonder what stuffed effigies were doing, looking very similar to guy fawkes, hung up by their necks to lampposts. On further inspection we noticed signs around the lifesize stuffed effigies saying, “Thieves, be warned, this is what will happen to you.”
The cycle ride from Oruru to El Alto also kept both Dave and I on our toes as we were constantly on the look out for dogs. It seemed that they particularly like chasing after cyclists and so either had to shout back menacingly at them in a really loud deep voice, usually this works, however two particularly rabid looking dogs tried to attack both of us. Dave resorted to trying to kick one whilst I peddaled like the clappers! I have since resorted to carrying a few stones just in case as a few of the dogs really do look sick.
With all the extra energy exerted cycling away from the dogs we decided to stop at a local cafe for breakfast. The food in Bolivia has been very cheap, so we haven´t cooked for ourselves that much, enjoying quinoa soups and stews, llama steaks and fish. At this particular cafe we had the choice of a meat or egg sandwich. When we enquired what type of meat it would be, we were a little perplexed when the answer came back, “Bolivian meat.”
“What type of meat is that? Llama, alpaca, beef, lamb?” asked Dave.
“Yes. Bolivian.”
So we had the egg sándwich!
On our way out of the craziness of El Alto we came across a Bolivian cycle race, so we stopped to chat and look at their bikes and take pictures of each other. Half and hour later, we found ourselves amongst the peloton. Dave did a fantastic job of keeping up with them for quite a while, whilst I contented myself at the back of the pack and giving everyone encouragement! The views were incredible as we looked back over La Paz, with huge mountains and early morning mist rising up from the La Paz basin.
Cycling towards the Peruvian border was one of our highlights of Bolivia. We stopped at the town of Tiwanaku for the night and visited the ruins of the ancient capital and visited the museum, intrigued at the Tiwanakun skulls that had been formed into egg shapes by bandages as a sign of beauty. Even today Tiwanaku is still held as a spiritaul place for many people and the town was gearing up for a spiritual guide conference. Luckily for us it was Sunday and the plaza bustled with the traditional Sunday market, so we enjoyed sitting at one of the food stalls watching the world go by.
As we neared Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side we noticed that the people around the lake were much more open with their emotions and much friendlier towards us. Many people beside the road gave us the thumbs up and children ran beside us. The scenery was beautiful, clear blue skies, neatly tended crops of quinoa, wheat, barley and potatoes and due to the higher altitude the colours just seem so much more intense. As we looked over the lake towards Peru we just had to sit down in awe- that we had actually cycled over 6000km and we contemplated our journey so far.
Bolivia ended up only being a short visit but it definitely was an unforgettable experience. We will certainly remember it for our first two days where we had to push and pull our bikes through the muddy salt flats. Despite the aching bodies of those first few days the scenery that we past through was out of this world and I would go through it again just to gaze at the mountains. The crystalline colours and beautiful landscape was the type of scenery that initially sparked a longing for this cycling adventure. Uyuni certainly did not disappoint either and I would recommend anyone to go and visit this strange area.
The nearer we got to the Peruvian border the more excited we became, Dave and I met each other in Peru seven years earlier and we were looking forward to visiting places such as Puno and Cusco where we got to know each other!
We crossed into Peru with ease and again we noticed how much more confident and inqusitive the people were. Alot of people in the border town of Desaguadero came up to chat to us and children giggled as they tried sitting on our bikes, ringing my bell and saying hello to my owl mascot. We felt much more at ease and more at home.
We stayed in Pomata, a beautiful village, which was well maintained and at its centre had a magnificent church from the 1700s. We sat up above the town and enjoyed the views over Lake Titicaca which looked like a mirror. It is incredible to visit the towns and villages in Peru as many of them have the most amazing churches set around a plaza- relics from the colonial era.
The following day we enjoyed cycling through the countryside towards Puno and checked into El Lago, the hotel where Dave and I used to stay with our Explore groups. We were really pleased to see Hugo, the owner and have been amazed at how much Puno has changed since our last visit.
Tomorrow we are setting off for Cuzco, which we envisage will take four to five days.
I STILL CAN´T BELIEVE THAT WE ARE IN PERU!!
