Day 1 – Already in love with Bolivia

Things didn’t get off to a great start, as it took me over three hours to get my Bolivian visa, then another hour criss-crossing the border, changing money, paying for the visa, then going back to Argentina to get processed exiting, before I was finally on my way. But things started to look up when, just outside of the Bolivian border town, the guy at the toll booth played a joke on me. Made me optimistic about Bolivians, if not the first day’s scenery.

I had expected a bit of a nothing burger today, another day on the altiplano. And for the first 45km, that’s what it was, though the rolling hills and twisty road were infinitely more enjoyable than the previous day.

But then suddenly the altiplano ended and I descended 10km and almost 800m into something entirely different. It was like the earth was getting torn apart at the seams (I haven’t researched this, but it seems plausible that this is actually the case), and I descended into and snaked my way through the resulting gaps in the red-rock fjords. It was so damn cool. And so unexpected.

The good thing about planning a route is you hit the highlights. The good thing about not planning a route is that you can be surprised. I was so giddy about the scenery I actually felt thankful to have been able to ride it, a sensation I don’t think I’ve ever had. I’d blame it on the altitude, but I had descended, so that clearly wasn’t it. Maybe I’m just getting emotional in my old age ;)

Day 2 – Getting high

While day 1 was unexpected, I knew what was in store for me on day 2: namely, climbing to 4200m+, or just about 14,000 feet. From my start at 3000m, the first 20km climbed gradually through a desert landscape with hoodoos to 3200m or so, when the real fun began.

From there, the next 16km would take me up to 4000m, followed by a little descent, and then another climb up to 4243m, which was the highest I saw on my bike computer. Up to 3700m or so things were fine (relatively speaking). From 3700-4000m I could still pedal, but not as hard, and above 4000m it was everything I could do to keep pedaling.

After the first crest at 4000m I had lunch, and figuring it couldn’t hurt, popped a fat handful of coca leaves in my mouth. All I got was a numb mouth. Oh well.

The rest of the ride was descents followed by ascents, all above 4000m, all of which hurt. It started getting late, so I looked for a campsite sheltered from the wind. Not much to be found with the view that I wanted, so rather than be safe and have no view, or cycle 5k back to an abandoned building I had seen, I did a dumb thing and pitched my tent in a gulch and hoped it wouldn’t rain. It didn’t! And my view was royal.

Dinner was a disaster. Water boils super quickly at 4006m but at a lower temperature, so cooking rice took ages, and in the process I burned some to the bottom of the pan. I didn’t have a water source and needed to conserve for the first 20km tomorrow, so I couldn’t wash the pot out.

Then came the stars. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’ve never seen so many stars in my life. The milky way was on full display, and there were so many other stars it felt like more stars than sky. An absolutely beautiful way to end the day!

Day 3 – Mentally broken

Despite not sleeping well, I woke up in a fabulous mood, excited and thankful to be on an adventure that has me camping solo at 4000m with an unobstructed view of a 5600m peak which dominated the landscape. The dinner/pot issue meant no oatmeal for breakfast, so instead it was cheese and tortillas, which surprisingly hit the spot. The good vibes started to change when I got back on the road and realized that, already at 8am, the headwind was violent. My optimism ran out on the first descent (barely a few km later) when, like riding into Bariloche, I had to pedal to go downhill.

Getting more aero meant a significant amount of additional discomfort, so I either bore the full brunt of the wind, or my downstairs went numb. The wind was so bad I opted for the latter. After two hours of what should have been fast, easy riding, but was instead slow and exhausting, I wanted to cry. I screamed. I was done. I’m so sick of headwinds I couldn’t muster the energy required to force myself to keep pedaling. I would have much rather used the energy to throw my bike off a cliff. Still, I told myself to get over the last hill, finish the descent, and then I gave myself permission to hitch hike. It’d cut about half of the planned 120km for the day, but the full ride seemed a laughable prospect given the conditions and my mental state.

After a couple of hours of waiting, eventually a bus came along which would take my bike; in the meantime, I had enjoyed a number of dust storms blowing past my little shelter. As indignified as it feels, taking the bus was no doubt the right call.

And that’s the unsatisfying, anti-climactic end to the second bike tour, 600ish kilometers in 8 days, most of which was over 3000m in elevation. Dirty, defeated, and sleep deprived. But hey, I won’t forget it any time soon!

Up next: 4×4 tour of the salt flats, volcanoes, and lakes, followed by Sucre and La Paz, followed by some more biking. Gotta check the prevailing winds for this route!

But first…

Something you probably didn’t know

Bolivia is a top-10 global producer of seven common commodities like silver and zinc, and its mining sector is the single largest contributor to GDP. Unfortunately, this mining is not always carried out responsibly, meaning heavy metals contaminate many water sources, even streams at 4000m that a thirsty cyclist may want to drink from. Heavy metals are difficult to filter and don’t die like bacteria when boiled. The result is that only about 50% of Bolivia has access to clean drinking water.