April 06, 2005
Welcome to Bolivia
We crossed into Bolivia at Villazón and quickly found ourselves back on earthen road. There was plenty of climbing to do en route to Tupiza and not a few trucks throwing up clouds of dust. Out came the face masks we bought in Salta. We got on with the day's 95 kms with a minimum of nonsense. As a result we made it by nightfall and were glad to have done so.
At the border a vast line of people carry goods into Bolivia
End of the (paved) road
Scott found his Mojo
High-altitude soccer
When we reached a police checkpoint just a few kms outside of Tupiza the man in charge asked us how long it took us to cycle from Villazón.
"Seis horas," Brice said.
"Cómo?" replied the commandante. "Ustedes salieron a las seis en la mañana?"
"No," replied Brice. "Hace seis horas hasta aca. Salimos Villazón a las 12 en la tarde."
Having satisfied their curiousity, we were free to go. As we were doing so, I overheard one of the officers whisper "Mierda. Seis horas."
Posted by Scott at April 6, 2005 06:15 PM