On our way to Chile?

Friday 30th December

Dave with the replacement passport, hurray & smiles all round!!

We are ready to leave our Hotel in La Paz after Dave returns around 10.30 with the bike document, Felix at the Hotel has been a great help to us on both our visits here.

Our destination in Chile is Arica on the Pacific coast at a distance of approximately 500km making it a challenge, the road however out of Bolivia across the altiplano is straight with good tarmac so we initially make good progress.

How people manage to eke out an existence in these remote locations still surprises us, it looks like this family manage to run a bus & do a bit of farming from their adobe house.

The weather is throwing everything at us today including some snow making riding difficult.

 

We reach the border around 2.00pm & it still looks good for time until we see the line of trucks!!

 

Then there was the line of people at immigration, we also meet the lady from the Embassy who sorted Dave out, she had left La Paz at 7am & was still in the queue just in front of us.

After a near punch-up at immigration due to several coach parties trying to push in we enter Chile at around 5pm, our destination looks a long way but still possible we think? We then come across this, road works for the next 23km!!

This quickly turns into a standstill as when we are given the go-ahead we find trucks coming the other way blocking the road, the construction operatives controlling the traffic are hopeless, luckily a young Police officer with some sense & a gun gets things moving, off-road riding with gravel & 3ft pot holes full of water in the dark is no fun, our destination is now Putre, 65km from the border.

Re-visit of La Paz

Thursday 29^th December

 

Dave is up early to be at the Embassy when it opens at 08.30 along with Bob, Roger & I take another look around the town, the locals also set up their spot on the pavement.

 

Local colour on the market stalls.

Lucky charms for Love, Fertility & Health at the Witches Market.

As evening approaches Dave returns to the Hotel with his Emergency Travel Document & the necessary stamp from Bolivian Immigration, all we need now is the bike permit from the Aduana & we can be on our way to Chile.

Back to La Paz via Potosi

Tuesday 27^th & Wednesday 28^th December

 

Leaving our Hotel in Sucre.

 

The ride back to Potosi.

 

I hate traveling the same road twice but the necessity to be in La Paz for Thursday & the re-opening of the British Embassy means we have no choice, the trip to Potosi is short & OK but the 2^nd stage to La Paz is a bit of grind. While in Sucre we watched a documentary film called ‘The Devils Miner’ in the Amsterdam Bar (yes Dutch owned) which told the tail of a 14 year old boy who works in Cerro Rico.

 

Cerro Rico viewed from the town of Potosi, the town once had 200,000 inhabitants due to it’s wealth & was one of the largest cities in the Americas.

 

Miners memorial in the residential outskirts of the City.

 

The mines inside ‘Rich Mountain’ produced over 41,000 tonnes of Silver to support the Spanish monarchy, also during the 400 years of occupation over 8 million workers died including both locals & imported African slaves. It now operates as a worker co-operative with meagre pickings of the remaining Silver, Lead & Zinc, life expectancy is short due to Silicosis with retirement available when your lung capacity hits 50%, If you want to know more seek out the DVD above.

Lunch stop on the road back to La Paz, long ride, poor weather & not very interesting.

Christmas in Sucre

Friday 23^rd To Monday 26^th December

Where has all the traffic gone?

 

Sucre is so different to La Paz, no street sellers, you can walk on the pavement & the colectivos are missing, peace at last!

Another white colonial town, this one with it’s own mini Eifel tower, look who we bumped into again, our friends from Holland.

The Netherlands is a common theme in this city with our Hotel & several of the best Restaurants being run by citizens from our European neighbour, Dave enjoys a Strawberry Mint drink in one of them.

  

Someone is giving away toys, the word soon gets around & the indigenous locals appear for the hand-out.

 

Some families spend Xmas on the street, the world is not a fair place & at this time of year it brings the inequality home.

 

Midnight mass at the Cathedral brings out the band & a procession through the streets, not sure why Mary & Joseph along with the 3 Kings all had wings! We prefered to go for drinks in the 'Joy Ride' bar & enjoy Happy Hour from 12pm.

We book Christmas dinner at ‘Florin’s’ (you guessed it, Dutch owned) with Michele & Paul plus an Aussie lady Francesca, Turkey with stuffing & a bottle or two of Chilean red, great!

Potosi To Sucre

Friday 23^rd December

Potosi at 4060m with Cero Rico in the background (more to follow).

Wow, who flicked the switch!!, as we leave Potosi we seem to enter a different Bolivia, the roadside beggars have gone, people wave as we pass & the housing & cleanliness of the roadside improve, are we in the same country?

The road is stunning with great views & a significant increase in cultivation, I guess this is where the extra wealth comes from.

Look what we come across in the middle of nowhere, a grand footbridge joining the neighbouring regions of Potosi & Sucre. 

We arrive at our Xmas 4* Hotel mid-afternoon & admire the view from the terrace outside our rooms, Dick our Dutch host is expecting us & makes us feel welcome.

Potosi & 'The Lost Documents'

Thursday 22nd December

Wood carver in ‘Plaza 10 de Noviembre’ with the police station behind where Dave spent several hours. 

Today the primary task is for Dave to go to the Police & contact the British Embassy in La Paz to work out our strategy for replacement documents, this of course is made doubly difficult by the Christmas holidays. After a day of running around & phone calls we decide to stick with our original plan to go to Sucre for the Xmas period & return to La Paz on the 28^th ready for the Consulate re-opening on the 29^th.

While Dave is sorting things out Bob, Roger & myself decide to re-ride the last 140km of the route from La Paz to see if we can find the lost bag in daylight, it’s a great road so no great hardship particularly as the weather is fair giving us the pleasure of great views.

No luck with the lost items but we did get to see the town beginning to enjoy Christmas & had a meal at ‘Café 4,060’ named after the height of Potosi’s main square in metres above sea level, at this altitude both the bikes & us struggle with the lack of Oxygen.

Dave relaxes with Roger after a better day & joins in the Xmas spirit, not sure what the Pink Panther & Tom Cat has to do with Christmas!