Sleep was something that evaded me for the rest of the night as I waited, patiently shiverring,for the first rays of sunlight to warm my tent.The increase in traffic on the highway gave me some idea that daybreak was not far off and it was a relief to see the sky lighten in the early stages of sunrise.I knew that my little tent would take some time to warm up so I set about lighting my small stove and cooked myself some porridge, laced with hot chocolate.Just the thing to warm my insides and give me energy required to face the cold morning.
Once outside my tent I found all my equipment covered in a thin layer of ice and the ground brittle under a heavy frost.I decided to take my time and wait out those first cold hours and made a mental departure time of around nine o´clock.I took the opportunity to get the hot chocolate out again and warmed my hands around an nice hot brew.Sitting there in the strenghtening sunlight I soon forgot about the chilly ordeal of the night before and began to look forward to what lay ahead for me as I made my way ever closer to La Paz.First things first though, I still had to break camp and actually get my lazy butt back on the road.
I figured that as I had climbed so much the day before from 3700meters that today must surely be an easy one.The road ahead seemed to confirm that as I rolled happily down to the next town about 10k(6miles) away.It was a beautliful day without a cloud in the sky and no sign of the winds that so cruelly toyed with me the day before.I should have known though that what goes up in Bolivia,just keeps going up and as I rounded the bend to leave my first town of the day I saw the road tilt skyward,up and over the the hills in the distance.I did see a couple of cyclists quite some distance ahead and my competitive insticts kicked in and they became the focus of my pain.I did feel pretty foolish when,on approaching my prey,I realised that one of the "cyclists" was not a cyclist at all but a young mother pushing her two kids up the hill in a cart.We were about half way up the 10k(6mile) climb and I wondered how many times this poor woman had made the journey from the village at the bottom to the village at the top of the hill.I gave her and her family a nod of resect as I passed them and with their cheers of encouragement spurring me on I forgot my petty worries and made for the summit.
As I crested the climb,passing through yet another featureless village I saw the vast expance of the high plains stretching for miles before me.The long descent out of that village should have brightened my mood but the wind that had not yet reached the valley out of which I had climbed, made it´s presence felt here and I was forced to peddle downhill to gain any kind of speed.It was on this painfully slow descent that the Andes began to reveal thier beauty.Looking toward the west at my left were three enormous,snow-capped volcanos standing tall,towering over the plains below.They looked spectacular in the bright morning light and I wished I was able to ride toward them.My road unfortunately,headed ever upward,to the featureless highlands that I knew would lead me to my final destination.I felt a bit like good old Frodo heading towards Mordor.Could have done with Sam being there as well.I would have liked the company and his cooking is better than mine.
The rest of the day was spent in survival mode and I braced myself against the wind and rode on and on ever upward,the miles slowly passing under my wheels.I was very surprised at how many villages that I passed through as I thought that Bolivia was supposed to be more sparsely populated than I was witnessing.You would have to really try hard to run out of food and water here and it was nothing like I´d expected.I cursed the extra wieght that I carried with food that I now knew I didn´t need.
I had a couple of funny chance meetings along the way that day.The first was a group of schoolkids riding along the highway on thier way home from who knows where.There were five of them peddalling haphazardly all over the highway pushing and shoving each other in a way that the boys in Le Tour would be proud.No sponsors outfits with this little peleton though.Theses kids were immaculately dressed in full school uniforms.Grey dress pants,maroon sweaters overtop bright white shirts and polished black shoes made them look decidedly out of place in those bleak surrounds.All formality was thrown away when they saw me rapidy closing in.In a move that Team Telecom could have learnt from, they waited until I was just about to pass and the little buggers,in one swift move boxed me in.I was stuck and rolling along the highway at their mercy.For about a kilometer they teased me in a way that only kids can and for the first time I actually prayed for a hill so I could drop this juvenile pack.The inevitable hill came and in a play straight out of the German cycling handbook,my tourmentors lost the plot and I rode upward and away from them with ease.You know your competitive carreer is over when you start claiming victory over a bunch of ten year olds.The shame of it all!!
I rode on and on and by late afternoon was beginning to turn my thoughts to weather or not I could actaully make La Paz that day.I was riding well and even with the headwind figured I could cover the 140k(87miles) to the big city.I must have been riding at well over 4000m as I knew La Paz was in a bowl well below the city of El Alto that gaurds it´s western edge.I slowed down to fill my waterbottles at a disused gas station and even though it isn´t reccommended that you drink the water here in Bolivia my dehydrated state left me no option.As I slowed to find somewhere to put my rig I greeted by a little boy who waved me in with the flair of a seasoned pit crew member.He excidedly showed me where I could put my bike and then after watching me hopelessly looking somewhere to fill my bottles directed me to the tap that he had been standing next to the whole time.He asked me lots of questions about myself and just fell in love with my bike.Here was this little kid who couldn´t be more than eight or nine standing there in bare feet,his body dirty ,blackened by the curse of poverty, happily chatting away as if life couldn´t be better.I dug into my food stash and gave him all the cereal bars that I had left,said goobye and rode off with him running behind waving madly at his new gringo friend.Very humbling really.
On and on I rode knowing that I was very close to La Paz when unpon cresting yet another hill I was greeted by the sight of the mighty snow covered giants that make up the Andes.They are truly a magnificent sight and a real novelty for a guy from the tropics.As I rode further,the imposing Mount Illimani came into view on my right to the east.At over 6400 meters it is by far the highest mountain I had seen on my trip and I stopped on the highway to admire it´s majesty.By now the sun was on it´s way down and I thought it would be special to make camp and watch the sun set over the range before me.I found a perfect spot hiden from the highway behind a couple of small hills and set about organizing my last camp before La Paz.
My chosen resting place also overlooked a small hamlet and just as I was firing up my stove an old man pushing a bike strolled up the dirt road from his home below me and came to investigate.I asked him if it was okay if I camped there for the night but he thought I was mad and suggested that I come down to his village where it was out of the wind and make camp.I explained that I wanted to see the sun set on Mt Illimani and assured him that although it would be cold,I would be just fine.He shook his head and went about his business.About an hour later after my camp was set and dinner was had, the old man came back from whatever errand he had been on and checked out all my gear.He looked like a kid on Christmas morning as he checked out firstly my bike,which he thought amazing(the disc brakes get them every time)then my tent.He fussed over it for ages before declaring that in his opinion I would be fine for the night.What really floored him was my trailer.He couldn´t get enough of it and I had to show him how it attached to my bike,how the bag attached to the trailer and just to show off I gave a quick demonstration of how it folds down on itself to the size of hand luggage.Well you would think I´d just reinvented the wheel he was so excited.I asked him to please keep my location for the night a secret and with that he wished me luck and strolled back to his little world at the bottom of the hill.
With the sun setting and the light dwindling I put on all my warm clothes and braced myelf for the impending chill of night.I wanted to be able to see both the sun setting over the hills to the west and the last rays of light playing on the snow-covered Illimani to the east.I figured if I went to the top of the tiny hill above my camp I would be able to see both.What I didn´t expect was the sight before me as I reached the hiiltop.There to the north were the lights of El Alto,22k(13miles) away.El Alto is Sth Americas fastest growing city and is now the gateway to La Paz.The lights from the homes of its half million inhabitants shimmered like a golden lake in the in the fading light .I sat on that hiltop until the last rays of the sun had bathed Illimani in a warm purple glow and the lights of El Alto had brightened to a huge beacon that showed where I would end my journey the next morning.Turning to walk back to camp I was reminded of just where my adventure had started as there,high in the night sky was the southern cross, the celestial symbol of the land down under where my adventure had begun eight weeks before.
Once outside my tent I found all my equipment covered in a thin layer of ice and the ground brittle under a heavy frost.I decided to take my time and wait out those first cold hours and made a mental departure time of around nine o´clock.I took the opportunity to get the hot chocolate out again and warmed my hands around an nice hot brew.Sitting there in the strenghtening sunlight I soon forgot about the chilly ordeal of the night before and began to look forward to what lay ahead for me as I made my way ever closer to La Paz.First things first though, I still had to break camp and actually get my lazy butt back on the road.
I figured that as I had climbed so much the day before from 3700meters that today must surely be an easy one.The road ahead seemed to confirm that as I rolled happily down to the next town about 10k(6miles) away.It was a beautliful day without a cloud in the sky and no sign of the winds that so cruelly toyed with me the day before.I should have known though that what goes up in Bolivia,just keeps going up and as I rounded the bend to leave my first town of the day I saw the road tilt skyward,up and over the the hills in the distance.I did see a couple of cyclists quite some distance ahead and my competitive insticts kicked in and they became the focus of my pain.I did feel pretty foolish when,on approaching my prey,I realised that one of the "cyclists" was not a cyclist at all but a young mother pushing her two kids up the hill in a cart.We were about half way up the 10k(6mile) climb and I wondered how many times this poor woman had made the journey from the village at the bottom to the village at the top of the hill.I gave her and her family a nod of resect as I passed them and with their cheers of encouragement spurring me on I forgot my petty worries and made for the summit.
As I crested the climb,passing through yet another featureless village I saw the vast expance of the high plains stretching for miles before me.The long descent out of that village should have brightened my mood but the wind that had not yet reached the valley out of which I had climbed, made it´s presence felt here and I was forced to peddle downhill to gain any kind of speed.It was on this painfully slow descent that the Andes began to reveal thier beauty.Looking toward the west at my left were three enormous,snow-capped volcanos standing tall,towering over the plains below.They looked spectacular in the bright morning light and I wished I was able to ride toward them.My road unfortunately,headed ever upward,to the featureless highlands that I knew would lead me to my final destination.I felt a bit like good old Frodo heading towards Mordor.Could have done with Sam being there as well.I would have liked the company and his cooking is better than mine.
The rest of the day was spent in survival mode and I braced myself against the wind and rode on and on ever upward,the miles slowly passing under my wheels.I was very surprised at how many villages that I passed through as I thought that Bolivia was supposed to be more sparsely populated than I was witnessing.You would have to really try hard to run out of food and water here and it was nothing like I´d expected.I cursed the extra wieght that I carried with food that I now knew I didn´t need.
I had a couple of funny chance meetings along the way that day.The first was a group of schoolkids riding along the highway on thier way home from who knows where.There were five of them peddalling haphazardly all over the highway pushing and shoving each other in a way that the boys in Le Tour would be proud.No sponsors outfits with this little peleton though.Theses kids were immaculately dressed in full school uniforms.Grey dress pants,maroon sweaters overtop bright white shirts and polished black shoes made them look decidedly out of place in those bleak surrounds.All formality was thrown away when they saw me rapidy closing in.In a move that Team Telecom could have learnt from, they waited until I was just about to pass and the little buggers,in one swift move boxed me in.I was stuck and rolling along the highway at their mercy.For about a kilometer they teased me in a way that only kids can and for the first time I actually prayed for a hill so I could drop this juvenile pack.The inevitable hill came and in a play straight out of the German cycling handbook,my tourmentors lost the plot and I rode upward and away from them with ease.You know your competitive carreer is over when you start claiming victory over a bunch of ten year olds.The shame of it all!!
I rode on and on and by late afternoon was beginning to turn my thoughts to weather or not I could actaully make La Paz that day.I was riding well and even with the headwind figured I could cover the 140k(87miles) to the big city.I must have been riding at well over 4000m as I knew La Paz was in a bowl well below the city of El Alto that gaurds it´s western edge.I slowed down to fill my waterbottles at a disused gas station and even though it isn´t reccommended that you drink the water here in Bolivia my dehydrated state left me no option.As I slowed to find somewhere to put my rig I greeted by a little boy who waved me in with the flair of a seasoned pit crew member.He excidedly showed me where I could put my bike and then after watching me hopelessly looking somewhere to fill my bottles directed me to the tap that he had been standing next to the whole time.He asked me lots of questions about myself and just fell in love with my bike.Here was this little kid who couldn´t be more than eight or nine standing there in bare feet,his body dirty ,blackened by the curse of poverty, happily chatting away as if life couldn´t be better.I dug into my food stash and gave him all the cereal bars that I had left,said goobye and rode off with him running behind waving madly at his new gringo friend.Very humbling really.
On and on I rode knowing that I was very close to La Paz when unpon cresting yet another hill I was greeted by the sight of the mighty snow covered giants that make up the Andes.They are truly a magnificent sight and a real novelty for a guy from the tropics.As I rode further,the imposing Mount Illimani came into view on my right to the east.At over 6400 meters it is by far the highest mountain I had seen on my trip and I stopped on the highway to admire it´s majesty.By now the sun was on it´s way down and I thought it would be special to make camp and watch the sun set over the range before me.I found a perfect spot hiden from the highway behind a couple of small hills and set about organizing my last camp before La Paz.
My chosen resting place also overlooked a small hamlet and just as I was firing up my stove an old man pushing a bike strolled up the dirt road from his home below me and came to investigate.I asked him if it was okay if I camped there for the night but he thought I was mad and suggested that I come down to his village where it was out of the wind and make camp.I explained that I wanted to see the sun set on Mt Illimani and assured him that although it would be cold,I would be just fine.He shook his head and went about his business.About an hour later after my camp was set and dinner was had, the old man came back from whatever errand he had been on and checked out all my gear.He looked like a kid on Christmas morning as he checked out firstly my bike,which he thought amazing(the disc brakes get them every time)then my tent.He fussed over it for ages before declaring that in his opinion I would be fine for the night.What really floored him was my trailer.He couldn´t get enough of it and I had to show him how it attached to my bike,how the bag attached to the trailer and just to show off I gave a quick demonstration of how it folds down on itself to the size of hand luggage.Well you would think I´d just reinvented the wheel he was so excited.I asked him to please keep my location for the night a secret and with that he wished me luck and strolled back to his little world at the bottom of the hill.
With the sun setting and the light dwindling I put on all my warm clothes and braced myelf for the impending chill of night.I wanted to be able to see both the sun setting over the hills to the west and the last rays of light playing on the snow-covered Illimani to the east.I figured if I went to the top of the tiny hill above my camp I would be able to see both.What I didn´t expect was the sight before me as I reached the hiiltop.There to the north were the lights of El Alto,22k(13miles) away.El Alto is Sth Americas fastest growing city and is now the gateway to La Paz.The lights from the homes of its half million inhabitants shimmered like a golden lake in the in the fading light .I sat on that hiltop until the last rays of the sun had bathed Illimani in a warm purple glow and the lights of El Alto had brightened to a huge beacon that showed where I would end my journey the next morning.Turning to walk back to camp I was reminded of just where my adventure had started as there,high in the night sky was the southern cross, the celestial symbol of the land down under where my adventure had begun eight weeks before.
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