Into the wild part IV. Volcano Uturunco – cycling the highest road in the world (Bolivia)

Day 37 and 38
Rest days in Quetena Chico

“Family" picture with Mrs. Modesta, Mr. Marcelino, their sons, and Didiana and Jeronimo, a couple from São Paulo (traveling with a tour), in front of hostel Condor in Quetena Chico, where we all spent some good times during the 2 days before initiating our climb to the top of Uturunco.

Day 39
From Quetena Chico to the base of volcano Uturunco.
15.3km
Maximum Altitude 4477m
Camp Altitude 4477m

Today was a very hard day. The problems began early in the morning when we visit the “flota” (a bus turned into a mini-market), parked in the dusty main plaza, it had nothing for sale. We were told that it would have vegetables and fruit brought in from Uyuni, but this time the “flota” was empty, the lady in charge didn’t travel to Uyuni on that week. In an action of despair we begin to knock on peoples doors and ask to buy some food from them. We managed to find some vegetables with some canned food that we had bought the previous day. We fill-up the bottles, 11 liters total, from Mrs. Modest well and at 11:45 hours we were set to leave.

Quetena Chico main square
Despite Mr. Marcelino having told us that there was no water beyond an abandoned camp at the base of the volcano we were hopping to find some snow or ice at the top, which we could use for drinking and cooking, but what we didn’t expect was to find all the ice contaminated by sulfur. The directions of Mr. Marcelino that the previous day had hiked with me to the top of a small peak behind the village to explain the best road to take were good enough. Without those indications we would not be able to decipher the myriad of roads that there are at the exit of the village.

The progress was very slow, the road was in some terrible conditions, but we could pedal on some times. In the two days we spent in Quetena Chico we had not eaten well and I felt weak. Despite leaving some of the gear in the village, the water and food added enough weight to my load, probably more than 40 kg. I was constantly following behind; Joana was going at a good rhythm, since her load was considerably lighter.


At one time we stopped to discuss about the weight of the bicycles and my weak performance. We were having a bad start and moral was degrading. At the end of the day we had traveled just 15 km with barely 400m of ascent accumulated. We stopped frequently to recuperate strengths. We had just started the climb and I already begin to question if we could make it all the way to the top, and most importantly, would it be worth the hard effort? The road was simply disastrous with loss rocks and sandy patches where we had to drag our bikes, pushing was not enough.

At 10 km from Quetena Chico we pass the abandoned camp with a small stream nearby. Despite the water tasting like dirt, we filled up all our bottles. The road in disuse begins to move slowly away from the pampa (prairie) and approaches the base of the volcano. We setup camp at 4477 meters. Tomorrow we will try to climb 650m up to 5150m. It may seem an un-ambitious number, but given the conditions of the road, the heavy load we’re caring and the high altitude, it will be a true challenge.

Day 40
From the base of Uturunco to somewhere mid way up.
8.9km
Maximum Altitude 5138m
Camp Altitude 5138m


It was 10:30 in the morning when we left the campsite and we continue on pushing the bicycles up the mountain. We were determined to continue. At km 18.9 from Quetena Chico we reached 4700m altitude. From here on, we initiated a series of switchbacks, with inclinations over 10%. At that altitude our “Burras”(donkeys, name of our bikes) refused to be mounted and the progress was very slow. We slogged along at 2/3 km per hour, stopping every 30 to 40 meters to catch our breath.

For almost a year we’ve been pedaling through the spine of the Andean mountain range, the thousands of kilometers traveled in these mountain roads have convinced me that the higher the road goes the less aggressive the inclination gets, something that had proved to be true when we passed above the 4000 meters in Ecuador and Peru, but here, in the Southwest of the Bolivian plateau, the roads seem to break all rules and at 4500 meters inclinations still go over and above 15%. The road seems to climb slopes thru the same path lines that the rain water opened as if nobody is going to use them.

This torturous road was built about 20 years ago to give access to a sulfur mine at the top of the volcano, with the fall of prices for this mineral the mine closed and the road fell in disuse. Nowadays it’s only used by the few adventurers that are prepared to conquer its top.



We set camp at 5138m with a fantastic view of the volcano and surroundings. We barely made 9 km, all of it by pushing our bikes. We were exhausted, and running out of water, with no idea of how much further to the top, and uncertain of the desired to be there.

I found out about this road, by accident, more then a year ago when I was pedaling thru Central America and the heat lead me to look for higher roads with milder temperatures. While doing an internet search of the highest roads on all the Central American countries that I was planning to pass thru, I stumbled into a site of some Frenchmen that in 2005 did a bicycle expedition to the top of Uturunco with a support vehicle. It was only in La Paz that I finally was able to locate the volcano in my maps.

But is this really the highest road in the world? During many years the Indian government tricked the world to believe that the pass of Khardung La at 5602 meters, was the highest pass in the world, but an expedition recently confirmed that the correct measure is in fact 5359 meters. The top of the road that climbs the slopes of volcano Uturunco was measured with a GPS by the only cyclist, to my knowledge, that went all the way up in total autonomy. He recorded the end of the road to be at 5836 meters of altitude which surpasses Khardum La by 477 meters.

I think that Uturunco does not qualify as the highest road in the world because it’s not tarred or maybe because it’s a dead end road. Whatever are the requirements for this honored title one thing is certain a journey on this road takes you thru some steep inclinations that are simply impossible to pedal, at least with a loaded bicycle. The numbers are the prove of that: the ascent from 4350 meters to 5836 is done in the short distance of only 15 km.

Day 41
From the slopes of Uturunco to near the top.
6.3km
Maximum Altitude 5702m
Camp Altitude 5688m

Joana awakes me up because she had heard the noise of cars passing by. It’s been two days since we’ve seen a living soul; this was the perfect opportunity to ask if we were in the right road and perhaps get some water. When we left our tent they had already passed our campsite. We continued on our cycle-torture up the mountain. At midday the jeeps passed us again on their way back to Quetena Chico, in the two jeeps was a group of climbers: two Englishman, an American and 3 generations of a Mexican family, their guide was from La Paz and they intended to go up to several peaks above 6000m, peak Sajama being the next one.


Baffled with our mission to go up to the top of Uturunco in autonomy with our loaded bicycles they presented us with dry fruits, energy bars, water and fruit. But even more incredible was that we were in the present of Oscar’s grandfather, who at the age of 70 had just finished going up to 6000 meters. They informed us that we only had 5 km left to go, but the climb would get steeper. Disregarding the opinion of someone that travels in a jeep for not having the "eyes" of a cyclist, I thought that it couldn’t be worse than what we already endured and we continued determined to finish our journey to the top. We thought that we could make it by the end of the day but the road got worst with ever more lose rocks and cruel inclinations!


At a given moment the road looked to challenge all laws of gravity and for the next 100 meters or so inclinations were certainly over 25% (the wheels on the bicycle rolled so slowly that I couldn’t gather a correct inclination reading on my computer), and having in account that we were above 5000 m this wasn’t cyclo-tourism but more like cyclo-torturism! We pushed one bicycle at a time until we reached the edge of the volcano. The ground was covered in a yellowish white powder from the sulfur and we passed a few smoking cradles.



At the end of the afternoon a turn reveals to be the last one, we probably had one kilometer left to the end of this road. But we were exhausted and the sun was setting down. We were so near, but yet so far. The only place possible to set our tent without being on a 30 deg slope was to camp right on the road but with 300 meter of steep mountain rocks hovering over us on the side of the road, we didn’t feel safe to camp there so we back tracked about a km to camp nearby the smoking cradles where the slope looked less susceptible to fall down on us during the night.


Inside my sleeping bag I tried to visualize our location in an aerial perspective, a minuscule point in this vast wild landscape with hundreds of kilometers of desert all around us, the smell of sulfur, the coldness and the indescribable sensation of camping in the cone of a sleeping volcano at 5700m of altitude all of these kept me from having a good night of sleep.

Day 42
From the cone of Uturunco to Quetena Chico.
32.5km
Maximum Altitude 5783m (a new record for me, ever!!!)
Camp Altitude 4150m

As the morning sun came up from behind the mountain and a strong wind blew it wasn’t soon before my fingers froze provoking unbearable pain as if I was being stung by thousands of needles. The cheap thermal gloves that I bought in Ecuador months ago were practically useless in fact Joana’s socks fitted in my hands proved to be much more efficient against the cold than my cheap gloves.

2 km afterwards we arrive to the end of the road. According to my altimeter we were at 5783 meters of altitude. A felling of well being came over me. For a few moments I forgot that I just spent 3 long days pushing the bicycle in a sacrifice that almost challenged my own mental sanity. I contemplated the Martian landscape all around us and felt exultant for having made it. However the absence of oxygen and my physical weakness were begging for the descent. Joana, on the other hand was determined to go on foot up to the top of the volcano. Against my will, I joined her at a slow pace, we made the remaining 200 meters up to the top. My altimeter recorded 6006 meters of altitude (readings of GPS indicate 6020) and as I had promised Hervé (Swiss cycle-tourist that we meet in Uyuni), there we enjoyed the Swiss chocolate that he gave us.




The fantastic sights looked like scenes from a science fiction movie, I can see why NASA picked volcano Lincancabur, situated just southwest from here to test their equipment and experiments to be performed on planet Mars. With gravity on our side the descent to Quetena Chico took us only an afternoon to do. We arrived to the village by nightfall. The full moon presented us with a final image of what was without a doubt the biggest mental and physical challenge of all my life.


Day 43
Quetena Chico
Rest day

Joana resting her feet after the crazy climb
Day 44
From Quetena Chico to half way up on a cruel climb.
24.1km
Maximum Altitude 4475m
Camp Altitude 4475m

The climb to Uturunco was hard enough to make us anxious to leave the plateau as soon as possible. We’ve been traveling on this desolated landscape with tortures roads for the pass 44 days (without counting the 15 days we spent on the north of the Plateau where the roads are in fact flat but the landscape less interesting). With the approach of Joana’s anniversary what better then to present her with some nice accommodations and comforts that we are hoping to find in San Pedro de Atacama already in the other side of the border? We changed our plans again and decide not to go to Laguna Colorada and Geiseres 'Sol de La Manana', following directly to Laguna Verde in the border with Chile passing through the salar of Chalviri and the Dali Desert.

We traveled 10 km and arrive at Quetena Grande, a village even smaller than Quentena Chico. In the following kilometers we pedal thru a series of small stone houses, some abandoned others with a few clues of human presence.




It is simply incredible the tenacity o people to live in such hostile places. Here, above 4000m, a Pacha Mama (the Mother Land), is infertile and the few animals that are adapted to these altitudes are the lamas and alpacas. What do these people live from? What do they eat, and why are they so stubborn to live here? I asked myself those and some other questions countless of times while facing the rocky roads of the plateau. Sometimes not even I knew what I was doing here with a heavy loaded bicycle. Could I have something in common with these people? Could it be the immeasurable dimension of the mountains, the vastness, the irrefutable beauty of this raw landscape that attracted us all?

At the bottom of a rocky valley thru which we pedaled a huge mountain interposed on our path, a semi-frozen stream turned left and zigzagged its way towards southwest. Joana sights a road that goes up the slope of the mountain and says to me that we have another obstacle in front of us. Analyzing my compass and maps it didn’t make any sense to go up the mountain when the open valley followed southwest. For my complete perplexity, a few kilometers later we were once again pushing the “burras” up another cruel ascent with ridiculous inclinations. The road went up as if it followed a giant rope thrown at random. I saw an expression of desperation on Joana’s face and, like me, she questioned the sense of this route. We gave up for the day and decided to camp beside the road. Tomorrow we will face the remaining climb.

Day 45
From cruel climb to (just after) Laguna Kolpa.
18.1km
Maximum Altitude 4726m
Camp Altitude 4611m

After another low energizing breakfast, crackers and jelly with, cornstarch made from powdered milk and coffee, at the expense of this diet I have lost weight in the last few weeks, we followed journey pushing the bicycles up the mountain. The inclinations over 15% forced us to push the bicycles one at the time.

We reach the pass at 4726 meters of altitude and we enter another valley at a higher elevation and more desolated than the previous one. The strong wind struck the bicycles laterally and reduced our speed to a mere 8 or 9 kilometers an hour. We passed vary lagoons with white colors of the sun that reflected in the shallow waters with a big saline content. Later the wind intensified. We found a place for camp without much protection from the wind, in the open pampa, 1.5 kilometers after lagoon Kolpa.





Day 46
From Laguna Kolpa to Laguna Verde.
1.5km by bicycle and 60 km by Jeep.
Maximum Altitude 4617m
Camp Altitude 4341m

We were camped at 4600 meters at this altitude the wind doesn’t allow the sun to heat the earth. I carried the saddlebags over to the bicycle and when I turned around it happened, what I most feared, I had left the tent open and without the weight of the saddlebags it just gave up. The wind broke both poles and ripped a lateral tear of about 80 cm long. The forces of the elements have claimed their victory. We were in one of the most inhospitable areas of South America where the supremacy of “Pacha Mama” is unquestionable.


Defeated and incapacitated to continuing without a tent, we went back to a camp of workers that we had seen next to Lagoon Kolpa where we convince the foreman to transport us by jeep to Laguna Verde. The negotiations with the uncooperative boss took us all morning and we only left by midday, after a sumptuous monetary agreement. It was a 60km trip looking at the landscape pass thru a window as if we were watching TV. Upon Arriving to the Green Lagoon, which is named for the unique tones in its waters; we found shelter near the lagoon at some 7 or so kilometers from the border.


Day 47
From Laguna Verde to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile)
61.6km
Maximum Altitude 4612m
Camp Altitude 2527m


After the formalities at the Bolivian customs in Hito Cajon (the Chilean ones are in San Pedro), in the degrading one floor building under the watchful eye of Volcano Lincancabur, we enter Chilean territory. The landscape maintained its spectacular posture, and the only difference that marked the entrance into another country was the asphalted road! A few kilometers after we found not just asphalted roads, but also a fantastic downhill of around 2000m that led us from the cold plateau to the Oasis of moderate temperatures of San Pedro of Atacama. After a month and half of pedaling in the most disastrous roads of the continent, the tar was like a flying carpet. Ah, how good it was to be flying again!



We were anxious for a good warm shower, comfortable bed, washed clothes and food with fresh ingredients. San Pedro of Atacama offered us everything we wanted and much more, but at extravagant prices, at least for ours modest budget. After so many weeks traveling in a desolated plateau, San Pedro of Atacama looked to us as a sophisticated and modern place. But in fact it’s barely a small Oasis in the vast desert of Atacama that embodies barely all the north of Chile. A colorful settlement of homes build from adobe with a plaza that offers lots of shade and fantastic sights of a series of volcano’s that paint the landscape on the east side of the village. It is also the place of passage for many travelers and backpackers that travel the South American Hemisphere, its popularity has grown irrefutably in the last few years; it’s such a tourist village that it doesn’t seem to have any other activity then exploitation of tourism.



Today is Joana’s birthday; we are going to celebrate this date, and also the end of the hardest part of our journey, in style. We went to a restaurant where we eat to most delicious table of cheeses and the juiciest dinner of the last few months watered down by two bottles of the best Chilean wine, after all it’s not every day that we celebrate a 30 year birthday, get to pedal up to 5800 meters and survive to tell the tale. The Bolivian plateau was without a doubt the hardest part of all my touring adventures, and I can only imagine if I would have attempted to do this alone. Without Joana’s encouragement at the most crucial moments, her determination and the combination of our energies to reach goals, it’s very probable that I would have concluded this journey in a much less positive note than I did with her company!

Nuno Brilhante Pedrosa

Into the wild part III. El Valle de las Rocas (Bolivia)

From day 18 to 28, UYUNI.

Between sunny days talking to Antonio Queirós(our newly made friend from Portugal traveling on his motorbike through the American continent) in the main Plaza cafes, cold nights spent in Hotel Avenida where all the water pipes would freeze each night, and walks thru the train cemetery and local market the time flied without notice. We spent 10 days on this cold, simple city of the Altiplano, maybe because our bodies where in need of rest or maybe because the uncertainty of what’s ahead.
Visit Antonio's site here traveling the American continent for an undetermined time and to limitless destinations.

We celebrated the night of Saint John’s with locals and new friends. Which only similarity to the Portuguese Saint John’s night are the bonfires in the streets. It was a fun night with the help of a few shots of "singani" a local alcoholic drink to keep our bodies warm.


Here in the altiplano Saint John’s night warns in the coldest night of the year. Temperatures can reach -30 deg. It was hard to imagine that this city once was the cradle of prosperity and life to a large population of treasure seekers looking for rich minerals, a period well portrayed in the movie "Los Andes no creen em Dios".

Despite human greed this region is still rich in minerals which are now explored by multinational foreigner companies and the population of Uyuni had to look for new wealth: tourism. Dozens of tourism agencies plague the city offering the most diverse adventure packages with walks in the biggest and highest salt plain in the planet or by the red lagoons populated by rare flamingos on the vast and desolated southwest of the Bolivian plateau, a region that we plan to explore next.
It was time to leave; new adventures and difficulties awaited us.

Day 29
From Uyuni to (before) Ramaditas.
48.8km
Maximum Altitude 3695m
Camp Altitude 3680m



Finally we’re "on the road" again!
The road between Uyuni and San Cristobal is in surprisingly good conditions and it’s completely plain and free of traffic. The landscape is very monotonous and uninteresting. We camp in the windy pampas grass where do we had a very cold night with minus15 degrees registered.


Day 30
From (before) Ramaditas até San Cristobal.
48.3km
Maximum Altitude 3821m
Camp Altitude 3790m

This morning was so cold that we couldn’t leave before 11:30. It was another day of monotonous and uninteresting things to see. I began to question if it was worth the effort to endure the cold and probably pushing the bike thru more sandy roads. We arrived at the village of San Cristobal, and decide to not camp and find a hotel. San Cristobal is a village that was transferred from its original place to give rise to a mine of silver and zinc, of which barely all the population subsists. The road upon arriving to the village was in such good conditions that almost appeared to be asphalted, one of the many projects that the Canadian company that explores the mine did for the region.



Day 31
From San Cristobal to Villa Alota.
60.5km
Maximum Altitude 3895m
Camp Altitude 3840m

We had a few salami sandwich and coffee for breakfast in the municipal market and continued on the road. 15 km afterwards we arrive to the village of Kulpina K, one of the four villages in the region chosen and titled by the Canadian mining Company as "authentic pueblos". This company invested in projects of rural tourism with the objective of creating an economic structure for the future when the natural resources for mining runs out 17 years or so from now. This is a form of compensating the local population by the presence of the mine. Without doubt an interesting project and unique in Bolivia, a country with very strong traditions in mining and not always explored the best form. In the colonial times the Bolivian mines were the main sustenance of the Spanish crown at the cost of thousands of lives that worked in it.

Kulpina K

In the small plaza of the village we spoke with a young man who told us a little about the biggest mine of silver and zinc in South America and of the greatest mining project in all of Bolivia for the pass few decades. "When work began the mine employed 6 thousand people, now exist around 1500 workers. The Canadians brought in modern machinery and they don’t need as much hand force" he told us. The heavy machinery turns over 100 thousand tons of earth every day, José works with one of those machines during 16 consecutive days followed by a week of rest.

At the exit of Kulpina K a short but accentuated ascent took us to another desolated valley. We pedal all afternoon against the wind until we arrived to Villa Alota by sunset. It was another day of monotonous landscapes with head winds that did not let us amount a good rhythm, but even so in 3 days we had made 150 km, somewhat unexpected in this part of the altiplano where we were expecting to find the worst roads. The monotonous landscape left much to desire and again I question if it was worth the sacrifice to travel this route recommended by so many other travelers.
Today we decide to alter the route and go up the volcano Uturunco first and follow afterwards to the Laguna Colorada.

Villa Alota

Day 32
From Villa Alota to Valle de las Rocas.
22.7km
Maximum Altitude 4117m
Camp Altitude 4076m

Well, it looks like after 3 days of monotony, the southwest of the Bolivian altiplano began to reveal its beauty. 2.6 km from Vila Alota an old sign worn by the weather announce the road that would take us to Quentena Chico. This is where the road maintenance by the miner company stops and the "nightmare" road begins. After confusing crossroads and rivers, the road begins to go up to a plateau above the 4000m and we found our self’s entering the Valley of the Rocks. We pedaled directly south and the strong northwest wind helped, but the sandy roads made for a slow progress.







We camp in a "forest" of rocks with fantastic formations created by the erosion of the wind that strikes them incessantly. We looked for a place sheltered from the strong wind (which would accompany us for the next few weeks), set-up camp and cooked on an open fire. It was another cold night, registering minus 17 degrees.




Day 33
From Valle de las Rocas to Villa Mar.
31.1km
Maximum Altitude 4083m
Camp Altitude 3998m

Surrounded by this uncommon and fantastic landscape, we had a lazier morning than usual. It was without a doubt one of the nicest places we had ever camped on this journey.




But we weren’t the only ones on these roads. Dozens of jeeps full of backpackers roam the altiplano raising a huge cloud of dust as they pass by and also removing a bit the magic of pedaling thru this area so inhospitable of the planet. We cooked breakfast on bone fire and left camp by lunch time just as the first jeep arrived.


We pedal barely 4 km before approaching a huge rock formation that extends for all the West cost of this valley. We left the bikes and went for few hours hike. The rock formation reminds me of Wadi Rum in Jordan by its similarities.


We arrive in Villa Mar by the end of the afternoon, an Oasis in this vast wild landscape. A small village, with a group of 900 Quechua speakers inhabitants, built from unpainted concrete blocks and crossed by a small frozen river, the village is protected from the winds by a natural wall of rocks, part of the rock formations that we have enjoyed since Villa Alota. We found a place to stay in a small rustic Hotel where a tour group was also lodged which tour guide gave us valuable information for our upcoming route.
arriving in Villa Mar

sunset in Villa Mar


Something that intrigued us in this small Andean community was the origin of its name Villa Mar, village by the sea. We were surrounded by deserts of volcanic rock and sandy pampas at 4000m of altitude and hundreds of kilometers from the sea coast. Originally called Mallku, the name of Vilamar originated from the loss of the Bolivian coastline in the war of the Pacific with Chile and Peru that affected the feelings of the community and they changed the name in honor of the lost sea. That feeling is still present today.

DIA 34
De Villa Mar a algures na pampa
33.8km
Altitude máxima 4129m
Altitude de acampamento 4044m

The nice owner at the hotel sketched in the sand our upcoming route to Quentena, Chico. In her drawings there was a detour and a bridge, but as we soon found out (and we’re already accustomed to) there was a bridge and, several detours! Always follow the road with the most tire tracks, is something we’ve learned in our bike rides thru the Bolivian altiplano, and it has become our number one rule for orientation around here. In the altiplano many roads are not public works but instead roads that were made from the successive tracks of local vehicles, people that know their way. But for us is not always easy and maps are practically useless.

Soon enough we passed the bridge mentioned in her drawings, the landscape became really nice and there are no tours! The road approaches mount Zoniquera with its rocky peak and no snow at an altitude of 6000m. From here on we begin a hilly section of up’s and down’s in sandy and winding roads. We find shelter from the strong winds behind some rocks and setup camp.


After dinner we looked at the maps and for the first time we considered leaving the Bolivian plateau thru the green lagoon and into Chile by San Pedro of Atacama. We had enough of these horrible roads, cold winds and hoping for better food... And Chilean wine! After San Pedro we would follow to Argentina through Paso de Jama, Humahuaca gorge and then return to Bolivia at Villazon. A detour with 600 km more than initially planned, but on asphalted roads!


Day 35
From somewhere in the banks of Lipez Grande river
32.1km
Maximum Altitude 4393m
Camp Altitude 4170m

We had another cold night with the thermometer registering -12 Deg. Besides the disastrous roads it’s the nights what I’m most afraid. A soon as the sun comes down we initiate another journey. The chilled nights in the Bolivian altiplano oblige us to cook inside the tent and take refuge inside our sleeping bags instantly after eating. At night the simple physiological necessities are a true sacrifice. As consolation I have the fantastic views of the night skies and the company of Joana. It would have been very difficult to face the hardness of the Altiplano by myself.


We continue our journey thru this sandy, winding road that with the ascent to a 4393 meters pass becomes a stony road. At the top we found the reward: the first close-up sight of the volcano Uturunco in the horizon.

On the downhill we had to cross a small frozen stream. Another one of dozens of rivers that we had to cross in the few last weeks, bridges are a rarity. Joana went first and in a lapse of imbalance, she barely fell in the water able to hang on to her bike. In a spontaneous reaction, I left my bicycle and tried to help, but I end-up falling and dropping my bicycle in the ground. The fall was such that I scratched my chest, my hands (a finger swelled-up immediately just like ET), and I hit my chin on the rocky ground. What initially looked like just road rashes revealed to be a little more serious… We followed journey and Joana says to me that I have blood dripping from my bear.

We stopped for lunch (just crackers with jelly, we didn’t felt hungry because we spent all morning chewing on coca leaves). Joana disinfected the wound and says that I have a deep cut in my chin up to the bone. It probably needs stitches, but where? The nearest hospital is in Uyuni or Potosi, several days away, or in San Pedro of Atacama in Chile, probably also several days of journey. We continued our trip to Quetena Chico were I would re-think the situation.
The downhill took us to another valley at 4200 meters of altitude. In this narrow valley is "Sol de la Manana", and "Eduardo Avaroa" Natural Park entrance. We were requested to pay 30 Bolivianos each, for park maintenance, they said. The guard at the entrance tells us that there is a doctor in Quentena Chico but Quetena is still 2 hours away. We barely had 1:30h of day light left and the road was getting worst.


Our progress was very slow, we felt weak due to not having a proper lunch. After a hard ascent we arrive to yet another valley and one more river to cross. The sun already had set behind the mountains and it was getting dark. A moments of decision, cross that frozen cold water and continue thru the night, or camp?

We didn’t know the distance that separated us from Quentena Chico and continuing thru the night with our feet freezing could have consequences that could jeopardize our climb to volcano Uturunco. After all, the climb to the highest road in the world was the main reason why were enduring these disastrous roads for days. We decide to camp. Despite all the pain I put my body thru at the end of the day it didn’t hurt maybe due to the coldness, maybe due to the tiredness, perhaps both - I don’t know, but I had a good night in deep sleep.

Day 36
From the banks of Lipez Grande river to Quentena Chico
5.7km
Maximum Altitude 4170m
Camp Altitude 4150m

We knew we had a short day in front of us so we waited for the day to warm up before crossing the river, we stayed late in camp admiring the beauty of the landscape that surrounded us. It was a nice day, full of sun without wind and an absolute silence. At 3:00 in the afternoon when we decided to cross the river and we pedal the remaining 5 km to Quentena Chico.
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Quentena Chico was a huge deception. We expected a town at least of the size of Villa Mar since it is the most important village in the southwest of the plateau, but we encounter ourselves with a small collection of houses sheltered by a mountain with a small and dusty plaza, a school, a military field and a few shops with barely empty shelves.
The only shop that looked to be decently stocked was closed, the owner was in Potosi, and so was the only doctor in town. We got a simple room in the hostel Condor where the pleasant owner informs us that in two days arrives the "flota" that comes from Uyuni and besides carrying passengers it also sells vegetables, fruits and other groceries. The "flota" is the only weekly bus that passes thru the village and the only form that the population has to buy fresh vegetables - the soil of the southwest of the altiplano is not fertile for cultivation. Without food to continue, we don’t have any other alternative but to wait 2 days and hope that the "flota" shows-up.

Joana helps me cut a little off the beard and disinfects the chin again. It will have to stay like that, a souvenir of the altiplano. Traveling thru the Bolivian plateau by bicycle is in fact a marvelous experience, but if things go wrong there is not much where one can look for help. The hostilities of the elements should not be underestimated. But I wasn’t very concerned; the worst it could happen is that I would end up with a scar for the rest of my life as reminder of this adventure. Not that I will easily forget this washboard roads though!

On the next and last blog of this crazy phase of 47 days without seeing tar and pedaling in high altitudes we enter a zone even more inhospitable whose desolation of the landscape resembles planet Mars. Our goal: to take our bike up to 5800m. But will we be able to "conquer" Uturunco with our loaded bikes?

Volcano Uturunco (6020m). Notice the road in the "cone" of the volcano. That road goes up to 5800m and will be the big challenge for the next phase.