Into Bolivia

Hi again. I´m now in Bolivia in a city called Potosi which claims to be the worlds highest at an altitude of just over 4000m. I crossed the border five days ago from Argentina and its been proper mountain biking since down mud roads and through rivers. Emma also arrived in Montevideo on Saturday so its great to be that little bit closer, at least on the same continent! It sounds like shes having a great time and being kept busy with family meals and visits to midwifery units. We´re still planning on meeting up at the beginning of May to spend the last 2 months together. So I´ve another 6 weeks left on the bike. I can´t wait!

As for the biking since Salta, the road started off through jungle and climbed up to the altiplana pretty gradually. At around 3000m the altitude kicked in which knocked me back a bit. After so many weeks of cycling and feeling pretty fit it was a bit of a shocker but a couple of days of breathless cycling and headaches sorted it out!

The border crossing with Bolivia was hectic with masses of people frantically trading whatever they could. After being in Argentina which seems quite European, arriving in Bolivia was more like landing in India. As I crossed the border the roads also turned to mud which were compact the day that I arrived, but then it rained! My tent was flooded that night and the following days the roads turned to mush and the rivers swelled up over the roads.

The first town that I arrived in, a place called Tupiza, I met an English guy who turned out to have also started cycling from Ushuaia with two mates but had to stop a couple of weeks into the trip because he damaged his knee. Anyhow, during my trip I´ve been following their website http://www.cyclingsouthamerica.co.uk/ and slowly catching them. His two mates had just set off from the town that morning so over the next days I hoped to catch them. It was getting dark the following evening when I saw a tent that was trying to hide behind a bush a few hundred metres from the road, where it turned out these two guys were camping.

The following day one of the guys was too sick to cycle so he took a bus while I cycled to Potosi with his mate. The combination of mud roads for the first half of the day and then a huge pass made the day one of the hardest I´ve cycled. Even 2km before getting into the city there were no signs at all of life. No glow from streetlights and complete silence, then the road steeply dropped into a canyon and the city appeared. It was fantastic and all downhill to the first shower since Argentina!

So its my second day now in Potosi because the road to La Paz is blockaded by protesters who´ve been recently laid off from some company. The details are a bit vague but I´ve been told that it would be dodgy to try and pass through, so its been nice relaxing here and eating fried lama. The plan is to get back on the bike tomorrow though and head towards La Paz and the border with Peru.