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Panamericana

Bolivia XI: Konani to Oruro

Open road in the altiplano

Open road in the altiplano

We finally made it to the big city

This time our day would be a little big longer, as we would have to make 80km to reach Oruro, the big city.

Leaving Konani
Leaving Konani, our hotel at the back with green windows

This would be near our daily record, but from the last village in Caracollo there is a long straight road of 30km with absolutely nothing, so better to make it till the end.

A long climb
One of the long smooth climbs

The profile, as in the last few days, would be again nearly flat with only small elevations here and there.

More climbs towards Oruro
And another climb!
Roadside sellers
These sellers were in the middle of nowhere, with no village in sight

The highlights of the day would be a few small lakes, where we saw flamingos, although in this case they were white instead of the usual pink, I guess because of whatever they get to eat around here.

A white flamingo!
Local fauna

A down moment was when we got the second puncture of our trip. In this case it was one of the wheels of the trailer. And I know how it happened. I had stopped to wait for Susanne and the side of the road was full of wire bits from an exploded truck tire. And one bit got inside the tube.

Flat tire in the trailer
Offloading the kids to repair the tire
Bike shepherd
A shepherd on a bike, what a great idea!

Another highlight was meeting Felix, a German cycling north from Ushuaia. We exchanged a few tips and he gave us good advice on where to sleep in Oruro and also how to deal with the fx rate in Argentina, so thanks Felix!

Meeting Felix
The always exciting moment of meeting another cyclist
Last road to Oruro
The long and straight last 30 km to Oruro

When we arrived in Oruro we gave ourselves a reward after the long ride and went to a nearby restaurant just as they were starting the grill, so we had some excellent steaks together with an unexpected surprise.

Oruro entrance
Famous sculpture at the entrance of Oruro

A very good wine from Tarija, in Bolivia. I can’t remember the name of the winery, but we both liked it a lot, a dry red wine that matched perfectly with our dinner. It can also be that as a pair of hungry cyclists everything was great that night!

Dinner in Oruro
The steaks would come later

4 Comments

  1. Katherine

    Me imagino la alegria de ver otros ciclistas. Se han encontrado otros con niños? De seguro se han de sacar el sombrero por lanzarse a esa aventura con niños. Pero por Las fotos puedo decir que sin lis niños no seria lo mismo. Ellos le dan la alegria de conocer cosas nuevas. Oooh hartos recuerdos para atesorar

    • Comment by post author

      Aún no hemos encontrado otros ciclistas con ninos, solo algún otro en autocaravana o viajando con mochilas. En general son franceses, muy viajeros y con un sistema de educacion más flexible que les permite el homeschooling, algo ilegal en Alemania y Espana.

  2. Ricardo González García

    Madre mía!! yo que me quejo de las rectas en las carreteras de León!! más de 30 km, uff. Cuántas cosas no se pasarán por la cabeza en tan larga recta.
    Qué peligro lo de los alambres, se clavan en la cubierta y avería asegurada, además se corre el peligro de hacerse daño al reparar el pinchazo, si pasas la mano sin cuidado por el interior de la cubierta buscando la causa.

    • Comment by post author

      Aquí las cunetas están llenas de “gomerías” que son tiendas que reparan pinchazos o neumáticos. Las carreteras son malas y la gente aguanta mucho antes de cambiar las gomas, con lo que hay muchos accidentes…

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