Dec.12-Jan.16, 2003
The latest travel to South America always begins in Oregon. Scheduling flights can be a nightmare with convoluted routes. This time we decided to try flying from Redmond/Bend Airport to Miami, Florida. With a night over we could break up the flying time. We chose Redmond due to having to place the dogs with the kennel for the 40 plus days that we would be away. But, from Redmond we fly backward to Portland, Oregon then back across the Cascades to Denver. I should mention that we live forty miles east of Eugene. No such thing as a direct flight. From Denver it is onwards to Miami. We arrived in the evening from icy, cold air to balmy, moist temperatures. Enough to raise a light sweat on the brow.
Since the flight on to Sao Paulo, to La Paz is an overnighter we stored the luggage at the hotel and spent the day exploring by foot the area around the art deco/beach. Back to the hotel by three o'clock to change clothes and store the bag for the return trip in January. Arriving before noon in La Paz we expected to feel the effects of the altitude. Coming from only 1000 feet at home to this city one could experience the shortness of breath, possibly a severe headache or even nausea. Other than a bit of breathlessness we were doing well. Still, we had planned to spend several days to acclimatize and repack the gear we had stored the previous trip.
The weather was quite pleasant with cool nights. The Oberland Hotel is near the Valle de Luna, a rather surreal landscape sculpted by the rains and wind. Not much in the village but a taxi is inexpensive and quicker to use than driving into the city in one's own vehicle. We went to the mechanics's to retrieve the motorcycle on the second day. The arrangement was that some maintenance would be done such as oil change, checking the oil filters, tires, etc. Since our Spanish is limited we "think" most of what we requested was done. The people at the shop are very accommodating and try to understand us. One of the managers does speak some English, better than our Spanish, so we felt comfortable with taking the moto and preparing for the trip.
On the last trip we had met a German rider, Frank, who lives in La Paz. He met us for breakfast and discussed routes to try which were new to us. Later in the week he and his wife came by to take us out to see a mountain and show us what they thought was a good way out instead of going thru the city. We knew we had plenty of rough roads and un marked routes ahead, and riding over it that day convinced us that we could skip it the next day. The ride up to the mountain was on a road we were glad not to try with the motorcycle. Shale slabs, potholes, vicious blind turns and steep as well as narrow was again something we could avoid. It did provide spectacular views of the city and valley. Up on top was windy, cold and even thinner air. We didn't linger, only long enough to have some cacao tea to ease any symptoms. After dinner together we again went over maps back at the Oberland. And then to bed as we were hoping to leave the next morning.
It was getting quite warm as we packed up the motorcycle the next morning at 9:00. We missed our turn on the city route and ended up blocks from where we wanted to be. But, with the help of the city police found our way quickly to the autopisto going south. On the Pan American we made good time until the first road block. It is not unusual to find major roads blocked by protesters. These can be about gas price increases, bus fares increased, political statements or?? We never quite know. But, the people do not act aggressive this time. They make way for us to pass thru, even waving and some give the thumbs up sign of approval. We stopped shortly after to take photos and video of a glacier which is reported to be rapidly melting. Near the thermal springs there is another road block, smaller, with less need to worry. However, it is a good idea to go slow and not show irritation, even displaying interest seems to speed us on. It can be nasty as it was two years ago near Quito, Ecuador where there were severe problems on all roads out of the city. The people there had been drinking and more aggressive. Shouting, putting their hands on the moto, trying to take the key and even undoing the bungee cords on the bags convinced us