Wed 23.3.2016
At 8.15 a.m. I’m at the Gomería, dismount my front tyre and be surprised that he he is doing all manually. After 30 min all is fine and I can leave with a new tyre.
After that I enjoy the breakfast before the new challenge follows: how to get the new luggage on my bike.
Res Chiloé San Pedro with add’l luggage
On my way to Calama I found a nice valley with various landscapes. At the end the village Río Grande is not very attractive and sleepy.
In Calama i buy some food, eat lunch and drive a on a good road in direction of Ollagüe.
But after 50km the road changes into gravel. My GPS shows a hight of 3.250m. To avoid altitude sickness I decide to turn left in a road which is not on any map and find a great place for the night. I enjoy the upcoming full moon. Beautiful!
Thu 24.3.2016
Even I’m so high I could sleep 9 hours without interruptions.No needs for long underwear, my sleeping bag is warm enough. After a sunny breakfast I’m driving back to the main route that becomes now more challenging, because sand is still my biggest enemy. I’m glad to have the new front tyre mounted. The border crossing is finally the same as everywhere. But to get a vehicle into Bolivia it has to be registered once in the “ROMA”. As this goes through Internet which has the speed of 1995 it wasn’t possible. So the officer explained the other one that he has to do it manually. After 20 minutes this was eventually done. The landscape changes immediately. In the area of San Cristobal my Navi was set to sinuous route and so I figured out too late that it was the wrong road, which was by far the most difficult road I had to manage. But the view on the stone quarry (zinc, antimonium, gold, silver and lead) is great as well as the view to the Salar de Uyuni at a hight of 4.444m.
As San Cristobal is not really nice I drive further to Uyuni. A found a nice restaurant and parked Flecha in front of the window so that I can see her. After a while two young boys take a thorough view on it. After they have seen me behind the window they have left the place immediately. May be I’m wrong. I’m happy that my hostel Toñito has a parking possibility in the patio.
Fri 25.3.2016
Even the next night at a hight of now 3.700m was unproblematic. Bolivia is very colorful which can be seen already in Uyuni.
I book a 3-days trip to the Salar and its famous places around.
Sat 26.3.2016 – Mon 29.3.2016 3 Tages-Tour Salar de Uyuni
At 10.30 a.m. I meet Andrew, Stephen, Brain und Erica from USA and Marlie from CND. Together with Pito who can’t speek Englisch and the others speak rarely Spanish, we will spend the next three days. The pictures speak for themselves.
Tue 29.3.2016
My stomach mumbles and I feel weak.Was it the bath in the therms or again a sunstroke? I don’t think that I have eaten something wrong. Eventually packing takes much more time as usual. At the gas station I was able to negotiate the price down from 8 Bol to 7 Bol (~€0,95). Of course “sin factura”. The ride to Potosí is a big contrast. The road is well paved and sinuous. Motorbikes can pass the toll without paying and after three hours I each the highest city in the world at ~4.000m. I find a highly recommended Hostel Koala Den without patking. But when I asked they offer me in the hotel on the opposite side of the street the possibility to park in the patio. It takes hours until I have all my stuff in my room. Then I stayed the rest of the day in my room in the hope to get better for tomorrow’s mine visit.
Panamericana 2016 