Bolivia XVIII: Uyuni to Cerdas

Back to Altiplano riding

We had been already enough time in Uyuni, which to be honest has not much to see itself, so we decided to go back to the road. Our new destination now would be Cerdas, the only village in the next 70 km. It seemed it had no accommodation on offer, but we would find something.

We left relatively late, as usual. Susanne wanted a proper western breakfast, and that is something Uyuni can offer, even if they took forever to prepare it, and I had time to buy food for the next days while they waited.

After that, the way was easy. A mostly flat, mostly straight road, that had been luckily paved in the last few years, and with a generous hard-shoulder, even though with the little traffic we encountered it would not have been a problem to cycle on the main lane.

The route has not much to see, but at least it compensated with plenty of fauna for such a barren place.

We saw a lot of vicunas, llamas, and nandues. There are apparently plenty of armadillos near Cerdas but we didn’t see any.

When we arrived there, the sun was about to set, which meant it would get cold very quick. In the main and only square there was a building typical of many Bolivian villages, with a high platform and in this case even a roof, that could work for our tent.

On the stairs to get there, there was a man sitting in the sun, and he asked if we were planning to sleep there. We said we had not many choices, and then he announced he was the “commendador” from the village (something like the local mayor) and he could offer us their meeting room. That was great news!

He took a while to go home to pick up the keys, and on the meantime another guy had offered his home to us, but in the end he came and we could enjoy a great big room all to ourselves.

The floor was dirt so everything was very dusty, but it would save us from the frost. Outside there was a water tap so we had water, although next morning it was frozen.

We had a great night and we decided next day to go just to Atocha, an easy 30 km ride, mostly downhill with only a couple steep hills.

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