Everyone at The Salvation Army insisted that we visit Bolivia's most significant ruins seeing as we were so close. Although we didn't learn too much about this ancient civilisation, it was nice way to spend a quiet afternoon together and stretch our legs after a full schedule of volunteering. Click here to find out more about our volunteer work in Tihuanaco.
Christian and Luisa have their fingers in many different pots; with one of them being a 'Casa de Cyclistas'. After whizzing down into La Paz and then pushing our bike up the steep street where they run their cafe (which also acts as a meeting spot for touring cyclists) we were greeted by a familiar face. We last saw Ramiro (another touring cyclist) somewhere in Ecuador and we couldn't have been happier to see him. Him, his girlfriend Jessica and another cyclist, Carlos was looking after the cafe while Christian and Luisa had a much needed weekend getaway. For the rest of the afternoon it seemed like cyclists keep coming out of the woodwork and before we knew it, we had a dinner party of 10! The next day we were able to meet our hosts and thank them for receiving our tires that had travelled all the way from Canada (thanks Dad and Roseanne!). Christian and Luisa's spot was definately a special place and we were glad we made the detour to visit La Paz, we even helped out serving breakfast in the cafe a few mornings.
La Paz sits in a valley so we had a healthy climb back out the way we came in (not always our favourite thing to do, doublebacking). We were kept alert on our ride to Oruro some 200 odd kilometres south by a treasure hunt that the brother's had devised for us and a groaning rim on it's last legs. We had success and found our treasure (a book carefully hidden in a colvert under some rocks) and Big Bird made it in one piece. Roland had dealings with the friendliest bike mechanic ever and within a few hours of arriving in Oruro we had our rear wheel rebuilt for (get this!) 5 bolivianos (less than a dollar). Roland tried to give him more but he graciously refused. We spent the weekend here with Juan Carlos (couchsurfing) as we had two days of volunteer work at The Salvation Army (click here to view). Oruro has been one of our favourite cities in Bolivia not only because of the lush green trees in the centre plazas and unassuming residents, but largely due to Juan Carlos's hospitality, relaxed nature and interest in spending time with new friends. Our last night was particularly memorable when Juan Carlos's, girlfriend Marcella, kindly invited us over for a typical Bolivian snack, pasteles and Api. Check out our video for more on that. It was a pleasure meeting all your family, Juan Carlos and again please thank Edwin for having us to sleep in his apartment.
Knowing that Oruro was our last substantial sized city until Argentina we loaded up on a few essentials and headed into the unknown. We were feeling excited and a bit nervous making our way towards the 'Salar de Uyuni' (the salt flats) as anmenities were scarce and road conditions deteriorated. Having a gut's full of deep sand which required us to dismount and push the bike and washboard surfaces that make our brains jiggle and our bottom's bruise, we opted for an early exit and we jumped on the Salar prematurely, only to encounter slushy salt that caked onto everything. It was no fun washing it off our hairy legs!
You definately need to make sure you have all your "stuff" together in these remote areas as passing traffic is minimal, sources of water are few and far between and (apart from crackers and lollies) food is in short supply in the blips they call towns. For example, in Jiria on the edge of the dried up lake we sought refuge from the howling head winds only to discover a ghost town. Never before have we considered camping in the main plaza as it is normally the hub of any town, always filled with actitivty. Not here. So we bunked in the stable next to the beautiful but weathered church. The following morning and our second turn on the Salar we decided to bypass Isla Incahuasi (the typical route) and cut directly across to Colchani. In over 80kms on the white stuff we had two jeeps pass us so we were pretty happy the tracks we were following headed towards some form of life again. Cycling on the salt was a very unique experience, with it being a very peaceful place and we found ourselves enveloped in conversation. We were savouring this feeling of being entirely alone and yet at the same time constantly searching for security. As we slowly crunched along on oversized honeycomb, we watched entire landscapes dissolve from view and equally appear in an accumulation of blobs until we could be certain of what we were looking at. From a distance, at what seems like a car eventually materialises into nothing more than an empty bottle! Our final 20km assault into Uyuni was only made that much more pleasurable by two flat tires (we got one on the Salar too) due to the shocking road. So terrible infact that there was no traffic on the actual road as everyone used the weaving dirt/sand tracks on either side. So we did the same and arrived into Uyuni with an overwhelming need for a bed and hot shower.
- On the whole, Bolivianos tend to be a very friendly and polite bunch albeit reserved; however on the road they become speed devils with some seeming to be on suicide missions.
- Bolivia has over 500 different types of potatoes with the most interesting one we tried being 'chuños' that are black and are often served in soup.
- There is a lighthouse in Oruro to remember when Bolivia had a coastline. Bolivia has had a raw deal with huge pieces of land being claimed by surrounding countries.
- Bolivia is a very corrupt place. For example, several years ago university students publicly protested against a professor who raised his fee for altering marks to get a better grade. Doesn't give you a lot of confidence when you visit a dentist!
- So how are the salteñas? Pretty good but we lilke the tucumanas more. A deep fried pastry filled with veges, meat, and eggs topped with a peanut sauce.
- What do we do when a pack of aggressive dogs want to take a chunk out of ya? Stop. Have a scowly face. Bend over and pick up a rock. If the threat persists, pretend to throw the rock. If the dogs calls your bluff, actually attempt to throw the rock with your skinny spagetti-cycling arms. That's how we do it and have had a 100% success.
- Cycling on the 'altiplano' we would often see mini dust tornedos whirling past and at any minute expect to be ravaged by a Tazmanian Devil.
- Biggest disappointment: All through The Andes we were expecting to be saturated by the mystical Peruvian windpipe music. However, the only time we heard it was in tourist gift shops not on the radio and not on the street. Instead, everyone seems to listen to and enjoy traditional music that sounds (to us) very oriental.
- When did people start making socks specifically for left and right feet?
- Check out the Barbie toilet paper that can only be found in Boliva