When riding in Central and South America there has been a beacon in small towns and large cities alike.  I tend to head for the centre of town which is marked by a tall church steeple and figure out where I will sleep from there.  To date the routine has worked well but at 6:30AM the flaw in this plan became very evident.  Continue Reading…

Much of this trip I have ridden alone.  Most of the time I prefer to go solo but occasionally when asked by other riders to tag along I will join them.  When D and Bas asked me to ride with them to La Paz I said yes and after seeing the two seasoned riders race through the corners and hills east of Copacabana I was glad I did.

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Turned down by seven fuel stations in an hour, I was smokin’ hot.  A new law in Bolivia called for a separate price on gas for Bolivian nationals and tourists.  I didn’t care about the price, I just wanted to fill up and ride the Yungus Road but gas station attendants in LaPaz waved my off and smiled as they did it.  I was upset leaving La Paz and could have ripped someone’s head off. Continue Reading…

The ride into Potosi was uneventful but the scenery was unique.  I had breakfast in a small town market before riding the cold road to the silver city.  The absence of trees was made up for in the color of the rock and I was entertained by racing ahead of storms approaching in the distance.

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It was probably better that it happened where it did.  Moments earlier I was riding much faster and carefree along a ridge strewn with large rocks and hard clay.  Now the sand was deep, there were few rocks and I was relatively close to a small town that oddly enough had a doctor to assure me I would be OK. Continue Reading…

I never slept a wink all night.  The high altitude had me breathing quick and shallow so with each breath I had a reminder of my mistake.  I needed to make a decision which way to go so I stayed up reviewing my maps which were much more detailed then those Philipe and Francois were using. Continue Reading…