Totora, Central Bolivia 25-6-2010

 

 

 

 

Totora, Central Bolivia 25-6-2010

Odometer: 8290.8 miles

The roads in Southern Bolivia continue to be amazing. We have now left the desert feeling of the Altiplano and have entered into green valleys. Most of the altitudes are still over 3000 meters, but there is real change. The roads remain difficult to drive. They are a mixture of sections of pavement and dirt. The dirt parts have changed to new hazard of clay dust. The dust is finer then powdered sugar and sometimes 3 to 6 inches deep. The bike sort of skates through it and is very hard to handle. Every once in awhile the clay dust will have some water mixed in it near the rivers that cross the road. This is more slippery than ice and we slide all over the place. I would rather be on ice. The dust is everywhere and gets into everything. At the end of the day when taking a shower you find crevices you didn´t know you had. The amount of dirt in your nose is beyond gross. The bloody pancakes of crud keep coming out of your nose for hours, days.

But the most entertaining hazard of the day is the hornet that stung Fernando on the lip. At first it is only funny as he says he has never had an allergic reaction and we give him some anti-histamine and drive on. After a while he stops to have me look again. After about an hour and half his face continues to swell, crossing mid-line and down into his neck and up into his eye and back into his ear. From what I can hear his voice has not changed and from what I can see with sun light, his throat remains open and symmetrical. We move on. About half an hour later, we stop again. The swelling is worse. We move on. Finally we find the small town of Aiquile, it has a hospital. He gets a shot of steroids in his tuckus. That stops the process. We move on to Totora.

The road from Aiquile to Totora was only 48 miles, all cobble stone. Amazing. The road was cobbled in 2002 and it only took 8 months to complete. It is in very good shape. There are a lot of trucks on it. It was a pleasure to be on the cobble stone and off the dirt. The views are increíble

Though Totora is a small indigenous village it is swinging when we get there. It is the 134 aniversary celebration of the city and the place is packed full of people having fun. We decide to stay. The local hotel owner is at the party. The hired help thinks there is room, but they are not sure. We are told by his sister-in-law to go up the town square and look for a fat old man, his name is Don Felix. She says he will be easy to find. Just to be sure, I ask if he has dark skin and speaks Spanish well. She assures me he does. I find that a relief. We go up to the main festivities and find hundreds of people having fun. They invite us in and we have great time. By night fall you can tell they have all had a bit too much to drink and before something happens we head back to the hotel. We never find Don Felix, but his help has found us room. It is the nicest place I´ve stayed so far. The cost: $7.00.

Uncle Walter