A short ride for today
After our relatively long ride yesterday, we decided to only go up to Atocha, a mere 30 km away.
It was not so easy as it sounds, as we still had to climb the first 6 km. After that we would have a short but fun downhill.
The rest of the way would be up and down, with a short but tough climb nearly at the end, specially bad because it was unexpected.
Once in Atocha, we were told in Uyuni there was a guy hosting cyclists there, but we could not reach him, so we had to pick one of the relatively expensive hotel options. The place, as usual in Bolivia, had no heating, which I don’t really understand in the altiplano since it’s cold 10 months of the year.
Atocha is mostly famous because it has some mines nearby, and because of that it was a relatively important train hub. Nowadays it is mostly a rest stop on the way to Tupiza, and the new road does not even cross through the village.
Katherine
A que se dedica la gente que vive en esos pueblos? A juzgar por la foto de Cerdas, son meros asentamientos en base a una occupation, pero en esos parajes inhospitos que hay? Minas de seguro.
Jose
Tu conjetura es correcta, la mayoría de la gente vive de las minas, con algún negocio lateral como ganadería de llamas o la tienda del pueblo…