Bolivia and "The Road of Death"

November 9, 2010

Left LaPaz and rode to Oruro today. 3 hours of high plains (alta plaino) riding. Our altitude was fairly constant at about 3900 meters (12,800 ft) Roads were better than expected and signage was too. Got into Oruro and needed a small screw for my antenna and directions to a good hotel. These guys helped with both. they were very nice. One guy got directions and drew us a map. Now I'm blogging...

November 8, 2010

"Death Road" here we come. After figuring out how to get unto the highway and running another gambit through another "cluster fuck" which we were much more able to manoeuvre because our side panniers were left at the hotel, therefore much narrower and lighter. We did as the local did and split lanes and weaved between stopped taxis and passed trucks on speed bumps (tapas). Then up up up and away. The pass peached out at 4669 metres (15,400ft) Talked to some people riding mountain bikes, with all the gear and carried on. There was the first Yungas Rd turnoff and as we deliberated about going down it, a bus was coming up. There are no buses allowed on "The Road of Death" so this bus ruled out this first road and we carried on. After Chapata, we noticed some mountain bikers heading down this other road and figured we should follow. Stopped and talked to their guide who confirmed we were on the right road. 1 km further confirmed our insights with this sign confirming the Death road. The road is about 30 kms and it is spectacular. Nearly vertical mountain slopes in many areas and we went from dry alta plaino desert vegetation to jungle vegetation in 50 kms Went from 46ºf @ 3600 meters (11,800ft) to 93ºf @ 1000 meters (3280 ft) in the same time. Rode under a few waterfalls. Then we went up to Coroico, 9kms up lousy gravel and cobblestone. Had lunch there. We ordered hamburgers and after an hour they finally came with no bun. There was no bread in town. Oh well? Then we returned on the new road that was opened in 2007. There is still a lot of repairs needed to the road but quite cool. As we were riding back to the hotel, there were many switchbacks, gravel stretches and repair work. but what a road. At one point the road crested the mountain and you could see gorgeous valleys on either side of the ridge then we went into a 1.4 km long tunnel. It was trying to rain and getting cold and in the tunnel was emergency pull outs where Michael and I stopped and got out our rain gear. Ended up the only thing it was used for was to cut the cold as we ascended to the pass. While ascending, cloud were being blown up the mountain and on 2 occasion the clouds created a visual vortex as they hit the lip of the road. We both commented how cool it looked. You had to be there, i guess…. Back in town, we bought groceries enough for dinner and lunch the next day for $b86 ($12.75can) including 2 beer each.

 November 7, 2010

We moved into LaPaz. After riding around town for a couple of hours trying to find accommodations with wifi, we finally found the one we are at now. Talked to Julie and the WiFi keeps cutting out. What a pain the in then ass. After reading my Lonely Planets book this morning, it sound like internet and ATMs are relatively sparse in Bolivia. So you will get what you get. Tomorrow, we are going to find the "worlds most dangerous road" and ride it if we can. Some have said that only bicycles are allowed down it now, but we will check it out. Tried for 2 hours to hook into the internet this afternoon so that we could talk to friends and family at our house for Miranda's 22nd Birthday Party. We missed out and I am upset with not having access to the internet when we needed very much. Walked up town and found a pizza joint. A large pizza, bread sticks and 2 beer cost $b110 ($15.75can). It was good too. The area of LaPaz we saw is more than I expected. Cleaner and more exciting and we felt quite safe, but didn't take any chances, so we were in before dark.

November 6, 2010

Got our bikes loaded before the tour and was picked up on time. The tour lasted about 3 hours and was very informative. The people who started building these reed rafts (islands) initially headed into the swamps and into reeds to hide from the Spaniards. They developed a culture away from everyone else and eventually started building these rafts. The rafts have a life expectancy of about 25 years and takes a family about a year to build a new one. Tourism is a major supplement to their economy and appears to be doing them very well. One young lady showed us her room that she shares with one of her sisters. Then we had to buy some hand sown pillow sham to help support them.

After getting back from the tour, we got on our bikes and headed for the frontier (border). 2.5 hours later riding over another 4000meter pass, we arrive at the border town and am surprised to see how busy it is. We figured out that many trucks do not cross the border, but instead off load their cargo and put the cargo onto 3 wheeled bicycles with flat decks built on them and people wheel the cargo across the border and reload trucks on the other side. Simply amazing. It took us about 1.5 hours to cross the border and import our bikes, relatively painless and then down the road to LaPaz, Bolivia. We made it to El Alto (a suburb of LaPaz) about 6:30pm their time and what (excuse my Bolivian) a cluster fuck. Taxis off loading and picking up fares 4 lanes wide in each direction. People weaving between stopped and moving cars, People selling their wares, produce ad anything else that might be sellable from the side of streets, middle of streets and bridges… Finally, we needed to find accommodations before dark and asked a taxi to show us to a good hotel with parking. I can only hope that was not one of the better ones in town. The manager could speak english, but there was a night club one floor below us. NOISY or what. Even with my earplugs in, I could still hear the night club and the perpetual honking of taxi horns.

 Check out all of our pictures, just click on this link.

Machu Picchu

November 3, 2010

Up at 5am to get ready for the tour. Got a taxi ride and then another taxi ride to Aqua Calliente to pick up the train. Were given Train tickets, but was supposed to meet the guide at the Machu Picchu train station. There was no guide, no bus tickets to the top and no entrance fee tickets. Had to call the tour guide who was no help and then talked to some handler who got us the required tickets. All this took 2 hours. We arrive at Machu Picchu and had to wait for an hour for the tour guide (new one) Had a great tour of Machu Picchu and then went back down the mountain to the train station. Apparently there are 2 train companies and we had to wait another 2 hours for ours, who was broken down, so we were piggy backed on the main train company (PeruRail). Our train car had no lights, so we got to watch the fireflies outside. Once off the train, we were to pick up a taxi and they would get paid from our tour operator. He didn't know our tour operator and we had to pay him. We will be going back to the tour operator tomorrow morning for our taxi cab money and also to complain. We could have done this ourselves, saved the hassles and saved time and saved money. Not impressed. The tour company name is "Promotur's" Do yourself a favor and DO NOT USE THEM.

Enough with my rants, I got my taxi fare back this morning. Machu Picchu was very impressive. There are many different types of tours that can be done, from 1 day tours to 11 day hiking tours following the Inka trail. Many people choose a 2 day tour. Our tour guide was very good. We enjoyed him very much. He conveyed that a lot of opinions heard on TV has been disproven and that MAch Picchu was just a regular town with regular people who wanted to farm that area. No gold or silver was found (a sign of royalty) and that only bronze was found which is a sign of the working class. Being perched high in the mountains, this town was very protected from the Spanish, but the town folk left and the Spanish never found Machu Picchu, thats why its so important, because much of the original buildings and history was not taken and or destroyed by the Spanish. It is a very well preserved site and 70% of the sight was still intact after 500 years of earthquakes and looters. Machu Picchu is on the Amazonous side of the mountains and is actually in tropical weather. As we were taking the train from Ollanteybamba to Aqua Calliente, we saw a huge climate and vegetation change. All in all, we enjoyed the day.  

November 2, 2010

Arranged our Machu Picchu tour for tomorrow, then got my rear tire patched from the inside. Went for a ride out to Urubamba and back. Had to dodge rain clouds, but never got wet.

November 1, 2010

Got our riding gear cleaned and found a few bike shops that open. Bought some more chain oil and then washed the bikes. Adrienne showed up about 5:30pm to the same hotel as us without checking out her emails. How lucky! About an hour before Adrienne arrived, JD and Jean from Arizona showed up, so the group of us went the Norton Rat's Tavern for dinner and beer and lots to catch up on.

October 31, 2010

Halloween, A lazy day, said good-bye to a number of bikers that were leaving from the hotel and helped move Dean's sidecar out and hook it up. Had laundry done and took a ride around town to get our bearings and check where the bike shops are. Worked on my blog most of the day.

Cusco

October 30,  2010

We had had to have our bikes out of the restaurant by 7am, so we were up early again, but this appears to be a normal thing cause we go to bed early. We don't like to be out after dark to much. Anyways, we are off down the road with 120kms to Cusco. The first thing to greet us is more heavenly paved twists for about 1/2 hour, then road repairs due to many washouts from there winter weather. More twists, more little towns to slow down for and then before we knew it, Cusco. Wow, 375,000 population. We motored into town and the drivers are the usual crazy. Martina Had warned us that they have helped many people ship there bikes from here because of accidents, so we are on high alert. followed the road into Historic Central and parked to find a internet cafe. We needed to find the Norton Rats Pub because it is owned by and American biker that came down years ago and stayed. He is a mender of Horizons Unlimited and has been in contact with Adrienne. Funny thing, the internet cafe that we stopped at was 4 blocks from the Pub. The pub overlooks the Plaza De Armas central plaza and easy to find. We end up stopping to a a police where to park and he gives us a police escort to a hotel not a block away from the pub. We are here now. The Casa Grande Lodging is rustic, but has been updated. When one is so close to the center of everything, the prices always are reflected for the convenience. At the Hotel , there are 6 other bikes with riders from France, Brazil and Australia. We arrange to meet at the Norton Rats for 6pm. After beer and Hamburgers, Good conversation in English, Michael and I  leave our follow travelers and head to the plaza to watch Halloween Fireworks. Our fireworks displays pail in comparison tho these. They shoot projectiles past the church into the air and massive explosions of light and sound, at t he same time they have these willow racks with fireworks attached going off with things going round and round and up and down and shapes and and and… Thats the day, good night.

Cruise finished, now bike riding

October 29, 2010
 
In the morning, the young lady matron of the hotel informs me of road construction, but I am unable to understand and learn to appreciate what she was trying to convey to me earlier. Man, road construction or what, it took us 2 hours to go 50 kms and once we get through Andahuaylas, there is a road block which I understand to be for about 1/4 hour but Michael informs me 4 hours. Then a driver says the a moto can get through, so I squeeze by and rub  few cars with my side bags but carry on, Micheal watching this makes sure to be more careful than I. Then around another corner is a police manning a road block and detour sign. Again, Spanish no good I tell him Cusco and he points to the other fork in the road, so we take it. Lot more rough rough dusty gravel in 2 wheel track roads. For hours. Lucky we had lots of gas, that was on thing we didn't need to worry about. Finally we merge back with the new road, that is now open, and can see Abancay on a hill off to the left of us and pavement and the patch that I installed 500 kms earlier, started to leak with only 2 kms to pavement. After patching the tire again, with 2 plugs we are on nice smooth pavement. Thank god. Abancay was having some sort of parade through main street so we cut off and went around, expecting to get totally lost, but we didn't. then up the road with about 200 kms to Cusco. We found heavenly twisties. Stuff to drag pegs on, over and over again and again. Switchback after switchback. Michael and I are drooling, grinning and have almost forgotten the dust earlier in the day except for it on the visors and they need cleaning. We arrive in a little farming town of Curahuasi and find a hotel. Looks good but no hot water and the water stinks.

October 28, 2010

Fueled up, we continue down gravel road. Finally, we hit some great pavement but its short lived. We have to go over another pass and there is major road construction for about 100km. But we preserver and arrive in Chincheros. We stay in a nice hotel here and the little lady is wonderful with help. Costs us $44 soles ($18) with secure parking. It appears that the Peruvians like to put road on top of mountains and ride the ridges. We were up at 4200 meters a few times today. Then they wind the roads down to the valleys below, and I mean wind. More road construction. As we are heading south, we are noticing more water (creeks and rivers) and more vegetation. Becoming more beautiful. Hit a chicken crossing the road, Michael said it survived. Begs the question, Why did the chicken cross the road? Another question, why was a chicken playing chicken? Food for thought, Maybe it just could have been food?

October 27, 2010

We head out of La Oraya and south west towards Cusco. La Oraya is a mining town and we didn't find much to like about it. We rode for a while and after finding our way through  Hauncayo, we were stopped at a road block and was bribed out of our first $25. Eventually we found our turn off and proceeded onto dirt, gravel roads, another first. Down the road a few hours and I get our first flat tire. The plug kit worked great and we finally ended up in a little town of Churcampa. Now this hostel is the worst we found, with cold showers and small room, but the lady was nice. I have to say that I am amazed at the altitude that people are farming and the pitch of the land they farm on. Amazing where they will plant a crop and it will grow. More amazing is how they are turning the soil and preparing the soil. I saw one man on a 45 degree incline plowing the soil with a pick ax and shovel. Then all the people tending their herds. Drove through herds of cows , pigs, goats, Llamas and I  don't know what else, but they walk along the roads and aren't afraid of vehicles. The farmers tend them religiously. Amazing existence farming.

October 26, 2010

Up early to catch our last flight back to Lima, Peru and our bikes that we left in a parking garage for 10 days. They had not been touched. The day before, Michael and I decided that we wanted to get on our bikes and ride. After figuring out how to get out of Lima (7 million inhabitants) we headed to the east. Drove down a main road that is under construction with the added crazy Lima drivers and after a few hours, the traffic thinned out. Then we started heading into the hills. Wonderful road that climbs and winds its way up to 4830 meters (16,200 feet). We were supposed to start to take our altitude sickness pills 12 hours before ascending and we didn't, so we took a double dose at about 12,000 ft and carried on. We arrived in La Oraya and found a hostel. Probably the worst place we stayed in yet, but I didn't care. I felt like I was dying. Dizzy and nauseous from the altitude of over  3700 meters and I think I poisoned myself with the extra dose, but I'm not sure. All I know is that I was in bed by 5:30pm and had a splitting headache, nauseous and couldn't stop peeing. As the night wore on I felt much better.

October 25, 2010

Got up early to catch our flight to Guayaquil. The flight was routine. Hurry up and wait. We landed about 12:30pm and got a taxi to downtown. After checking in, we did some emails and then went to find something to eat down on the Malecon 2000. They have revitalized the boardwalk along the river and have done a wonderful job of it. The Malecon goes for miles. Reminds me of New Westminster's boardwalk, just much much larger. After we got back to the hotel, Michael and I talked to Julie and a few friends for over an hour. Talked to Adrienne who we met in Nakusp at the Horizons Unlimited Meeting in August. She flew her bike to Bogota in September and has been riding since. Sound like we can meet up in Cusco, so another push is on. So nice to hear everybody and I miss Julie so much. Then I updated pics while waiting for Tony to arrive. Tony and Ana-karina took us up to a mountain in the middle of Guayaquil for pics. Wow, what a large city.

Galapagos 2

October 24, 2010

During the night, we cruised to near our beginning point on the Isle of Baltra where the airport is. Michael and I are staying an extra night because we were informed that it was difficult to get us to the airport for our flight. Apparently not. We were at the airport for 8am for the rest of the people on the boat and got our tickets for tomorrow. Lam Airlines were willing to exchange our ticket and we could have flown out today, but we had already arranged hotel here on the island and a hotel in Guayaquil tomorrow. So We waited for the buses to take us from the airport to Peurto Ayora for the night and back to the airport tomorrow. 1 hour each way. We got to go over the top and only road on Isle Santa Cruz. As I said, this is a beautiful little town, lots of dive shops, restaurants, tea-shirt shops and the likes. Had a great shower in a large one today without washing our clothes. They have been sent to the laundry. Knowing what I know now, you can pick up a cruise on the mainland on very short notice. A day or 2 ahead. Our co-passengers were able to save about $250 per person compared to what we paid. Maybe some would like a longer cruise, but I would recommend a 4-5 day cruise. Long enough to see many things without becoming boring. Just one man's opinion.

Oct 23, 2010

This morning we have arrived at Isle Floreana to check out beach, Flamingo nesting habitat and more beach with turtle nesting habitat. Then we went to "Post Office Bay". This place had the first barrel installed in 1792 and the idea is to put a post card in the box (without postage) and you go through the mail yourself to see if there is any mail addressed near your home. If there is, you take the mail and deliver it yourself. Michael and I found a postcard from someone in Everson Washington, so their postcard is going to get a ride of its life. These people will receive it in about 6 months. Now Michael and the others or out snorkeling. i didn't feel like joining them in the water. I have seen enough beach, fish, sea lions, boobies, turtles and ocean. I am looking forward to riding again. This has been relaxing and beautiful, but there are more sights to see and more places to visit and more people to meet. While the guide has done a good job, I feel his pace has been slow. Maybe the pace is good for much older people but slow for the current tourists on the cruise, given their ages are much younger. Michael is bored too… In hindsight, a 4 day cruise would have been a better timeframe. after another 4 hour trip across open ocean we arrived at Peurto Ayora. Beautiful little town, very clean, very Latin American. The largest town on the islands. We are here for 1.5 hours, then our last dinner on board, then another trip around the island to where we started. Dinner was good again as always. The ships chefs have cooked consistently good food that does not irritate the bowels. Good portions of meet, veggies, and fruit. Juice too, people down here like their juices, With every meal.