Friday, January 29 Cloudy and cool Potosi Potosi turns out to be a beautiful city (classified as World Heritage of Humanity), a lot of beautiful baroque churches, buildings Colonial and alleyways with colorful facades. Only problem, the heavy traffic in these narrow streets. I took the day to try to repair our stove, two hours to make the joints from pieces of rubber ... Tonight, we were finally able to cook seriously, it changes us for camping or lunch at local restaurants ... We invited Malta and Annette (who had just arrived in Uyuni) to share our meal. They seemed to enjoy our culinary skills. I wanted to visit the silver mines of Potosi tomorrow, but it's carnival of minors, so we can visit but there is nobody who works ... shame because I think it would have been instructive, and they work conditions in the''Germinal''!
Saturday, January 30 between Potosi and Sucre 83km Elevation: 3257m 18 ° Cloudy with showers We started late, around noon, but as the road was easy (One looongue climb and otherwise almost entirely of descent), we still have done more than half of the road leading us in Sucre. It was felt not to be above 3000 because the landscapes have changed, with gentle slopes of the hills have replaced the rugged coast of days and we went through miles of cultures among which, scattered here and there, Small mud houses. Tonight, we ate a cold dish because the repair did not hold the stove. I hope I can find spare parts in La Paz, otherwise it is all over our little feasts in tents and morning coffee Angel. Anyway, after many days of abstinence, it feels good to ride again!
Sunday, January 31 83km Sugar Elevation: 2790m 22 ° Rainy morning, sunny afternoon in the drache Depart this morning and 10km descent to reach 1000m lower! We will pay the rest of the day because we're not going to make that climb and descend each time a few hundred meters. We thought the road was easy ... Blame the Bolivian informed us. Our morale is not great; private crossing the Salar de Uyuni and not knowing if we can go Machu Pichu (due to floods and landslides, the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency by 60 days on the region) and further to our technical problems (tent and stove), it was just the impression that the end of the trip could turn water into blood sausage ... This is the first time since I travel by bicycle that envy is gone. I hope this is temporary. After all, there are quite a few kilometers to go and many things to discover. We were welcomed in Sucre by jets of water, in fact, young people having fun throwing water balloons or water the bystanders. Carnival or last vacation day (the start of class is tomorrow), I do not know but I will find out tomorrow. To decompress a bit after the restaurant, we landed on our beds to watch a movie on TV. For me it's a great first because normally, the holiday is no TV. Monday, February 1 Sugar Sunny 22 ° A real rest day: my breakfast on the terrace of the San Francisco city tours, a super small bodega (winery Vieja) for almuerzo ( lunch) and nap. And for four hours, we tasted the local specialties Tojori (beverage milk and corn and served hot and api (corn, cinnamon and cloves) along with pastries. Our hotel is really good, a colonial building, roof terrace, spacious rooms with bathrooms spread over three floors around a courtyard. A haven of peace in the city center.
Tuesday, February 2 Bus Sucre-La Paz 3km Sunny 25 ° Bad day! Angela was sick. After sleeping all morning, she wanted to go eat at the same bodega yesterday, but did not finish the meal as it returned to him already in reverse ... The boss, the kind that we can be found in English bodega, I would not pay because they could not eat it all ... I tried to find something to eat after having brought Angel to the hotel, but right in the afternoon, except for ice cream or popcorn, nothing, everything is closed. Well here we are on the bus. We took the most luxurious, we have fully reclining seats. Nothing to do with the Argentine bus, it has somewhat worn seats, the lights do not work and air conditioning either. No service on board, and what is funny is that people take the driver on the road. They sit in the aisles ... This is how Bolivian drivers round up their monthly ...
Wednesday, February 3 2km La Paz Alt: 3643m Variable arrived at 7 am at La Paz, we encounter another cyclist quickly (Colombia) shows us a door. We knock and we are now in the café for Cristian, president of the Cycling Association of La Paz. It can not accommodate us because the site is already occupied by a couple of American cyclists (Aaron and Chantal). We also cross Francois, a French cyclist. And later in the day, Max, a Peruvian. As we also find Anette and Malta (and two English) in their hotel, that we is the largest concentration of passengers on two wheels since our departure. After a little turned around, we found a hotel (hostal Maya) we seemed calm. Peña was not counting the (kind of bar where a band plays) on the ground floor ... music resonating throughout the building until midnight. Cristian has suggested we take a leisurely walk in the mountains tomorrow. The gag of the day, we ordered a pizza and a drink in a restaurant before we realized that we did not have enough money to pay ... Fortunately, the pizza is not done yet, we only had to pay the drink. And we did not eat pizza!
Thursday, February 4 52km with 18km of piste La Paz Sunny 21 ° and an hour of rain in the middle of the afternoon (like yesterday) Depart 7:15 after eating pancakes prepared by Aaron. It's a night out guys: Cristian, Aaron, Malta and me. Angelique, Chantal and Anette are sick ... Small headlock with Cristian because I do not wear a helmet after a few minutes of discussion, I accept one of his own to calm him. We begin our descent down the city at a speed much too high (more than 60km / h in town). Not great for me because if my bike is perfect to travel on a bad road, he too cash shock (too rigid) and I have trouble keeping up. I do not want to wear a helmet and I can not keep down, I think that Cristian had to take me for a clown. But it did not last long. As soon as the road began to climb, I put things in place. As usual, I am the only one who could reach the top without playing push-bike ... Ah yes, the travel 8000km traveled since June there are probably no strangers. And then, as in running, I began to love the coast by bicycle. What views! From the top of our 4000, we could see La Paz and all the cliffs and mountains surrounding. Splendid! And after what descent! Earth, stones, holes and a little mud. All on a path that sometimes flirted dangerously with the vacuum. What up! We celebrated this beautiful walk around a good spaghetti with Cristian at Café Chuquiago.
Friday, February 5 La Paz 15 ° Cloudy and rainy morning after Angel is cured! It should be here today but she pulled me from my bed in a panic to get an organized tour that took us to visit the site of Tiwanaku, the most important site of the civilization of the same name (before the arrival Inca). Well, this is the Machu Pichu, the Spaniards destroyed everything to build churches with stones from the site. That said, our guide was really knowledgeable and the tour was informative. Back in La Paz, we went to eat a cake and it becomes a habit, we forgot our money back ... Fortunately, it was near the hotel.
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