Acasio to Torotoro: The Road from Hell

We realize it's been a while since our last post, but we've had a somewhat hectic week. We're back in Cochabamba now, resting and recovering while staying with our friend Hache, world cyclist and warmshowers host. Check out his adventures at cyclingpeace.org

To finish the story of our most recent trip:

Thursday, Feb 18: Acasio to wild camp after Churutaca, 20km

We set off from our riverside campsite when the rain cleared, and immediately came upon one of the steepest climbs we've faced. Our climbs had been hard up to this point, but generally more for length and road surface than for steepness.We made it up, but soon realized that there was much more ahead of us: tightly turning switchbacks straight up a mountain. We'd finally found steeper than 10% grades, on rocky, loose dirt!

Looking back down to the valley where we camped. 

After a few hours, we reached a small town, where we chatted with a storekeeper while devouring some snacks. She told us that her mother used to walk to Torotoro sometimes, leaving at 5am and arriving at 8am. This was on a more direct footpath, but we assumed we'd make it in a similar amount of time. The woman told us there was one short steep section ahead but that the rest would be easy. Little did we know how wrong that would be...

Still smiling at that point!

We descended a few kilometers, only to reach an even steeper uphill than what we'd already climbed. We forced our way up, grinding at the pedals and pushing in the rocky streambed-like sections. 

Each time we reached a "summit", the road would descend briefly to cross a stream, then immediately go straight up again. We rode until 3pm, at which point, absolutely spent, we decided to make camp. 

All those people telling us we'd arrive in Torotoro easily that afternoon were such liars!

Friday, Feb 19: Churutaca to Torotoro, 45km

In the morning, we set off during a brief dry spell, knowing that we had to make it to Torotoro because we didn't have much more food. The rain soon returned, which kept us cool but also soggy for most of the day. The road was also even more like a river:

And just as steep as the day before! The one good thing about the rain was that there was plenty of fresh water flowing, so we never had to carry more than a bottle at a time. After the altiplano drought, this felt like heaven!

Unfortunately, my, Lucy's, knee had started bothering me the first day, and the pain continued to worsen throughout the morning. I kept pushing along, knowing we had little other choice, but eventually the climbing became too difficult for it and I knew I had to stop or risk serious injury. For the last hill, Adie pushed both the bikes in a tiring relay, while I limped up. 

Thankfully, the other side brought our first ridge section of the journey, allowing us to rest our tired muscles for a bit. At 3pm, we had made it 12km! 

The only two cars we saw all day passed us while we were eating a late lunch under a weak sun, and told us that it was 25km of mostly descent to Torotoro. It turned out there were still two hours' worth of ups and downs before the real descent, but at least there were beautiful rocks to look at!

The final descent was just as steep as all the ups and was very painful for the wrists and elbows! It's always a bummer when the descent is less fun than the climb... At 6:30, we rolled into Torotoro at last, dreaming of a pollo broaster (fried chicken).

We found the pollo broaster, and a nice hostel with a comfortable bed! Unfortunately, that night, my stomach illness reared its head again. I spent the next day in bed, and even broke my 14-year streak of never throwing up. (I evaded seasickness on the tall ships, but Bolivia did me in!) On Sunday, we went to the health clinic, where they put me on an IV for fluid replacement. I'm now waiting for lab results to know whether I still have salmonella, in addition to the stomach parasite that I am dealing with.

On Monday, I finally felt well enough for us to go out and explore Torotoro a bit, which is a national park filled with caves, dinosaur footprints, canyons and waterfalls. We went for a hike to a beautiful waterfall in a canyon, where I enjoyed soaking my hurt knee in the cold water!

The next day, Tueday, we headed for Cochabamba on a bus. This was mainly because of my injury, but it saved us from having to bike over 100km on cobbled roads! The bus ride was long and hot, and our bikes were injured a bit by all the farm produce that was shoved in the cargo space, but we eventually made it to the city and up the giant hill to Hache's house. 

Alix Wicker is visiting us here for a few days! We're searching for a decent bike option for her and discussing plans for the future. I'm not sure when or how Adie and I will leave Cochabamba, but we expect to be here until my knee is healed. At least it's affording us the opportunity to eat lots of good food for a change!

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Sunshine and Switchbacks Part 2: Vila Vila to Acasio

Monday, February 15: Vila Vila to Ochiri, 40km

We spent the day mostly heading south, following a spectacular road along a ridge, with views thousands of meters down to the valley floor.

It's unique to be riding up among the peaks instead of down below them.

Beautiful colors of rock and earth. We ended the day with a descent into the town of Ochiri, where we had a late lunch, found an incredibly grungy hostel to stay the night (also our cheapest, 40Bs or $6 for the both of us). The room was unpleasant enough and the bed uncomfortable enough, that we slept on the bed, on top of our own sleeping pads, and in our sleeping bags. We would have moved on and found a place to camp instead, but the long climb immediately after the town put us off. 

Tuesday, February 16: Ochiri to wild camp near Sak'ani, 45km

We started the day with a climb, bringing us across the valley onto a ridge parallel to the one we had ridden the day before. This time we rode north, making an enormous U over the course of two days' riding. 

Yesterday, we rode along the ridge visible in the background.

No camera trickery here, the rock and earth really were those colors!

Ridge-riding is great...all the views, little of the climbing.

After the town of Sak'ani we headed west and found this great campsite. It was a warm evening and we had great views. Our site did happen to be on a sheep herder's path, however...

Wednesday, February 17: Sak'ani to wild camp after Acasio, 45km

We had bought some really stale bread, so we tried making french toast (with banana and chancaca, raw cane sugar). It was hard to get the toast to cook rather than just burn the outside leaving the inside raw. 

The nice views continued until we eventually dropped considerably in elevation to Acasio.

Upon arriving, we looked for the first comedor. As we approached, Adie smelled the unmistakable scent of fresh guava! We had refresco de guayaba (think guava juice) with our lunch, and then bought about a dozen guavas for the road. So delicious! And so cheap, about $0.05 per fruit! The woman selling lunch was very talkative, and we learned a lot about local agriculture. The guava come from the river valley near Torotoro, our destination! She also told us that there wasn't too much climbing on the road from Acasio to Torotoro.

We camped by a stream after starting the climb out of town. It was a warm evening so we washed clothes and ourselves in the stream. The night was remarkable because three thunderstorms hit us, with torrential rain. Overnight, our little stream had turned into a raging brown torrent:

Next up: the end of the fun...

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Lucy's Reflections on the 1st Month of Touring

Well, this post is coming a bit late, but we felt it would still be worthwhile to give a review of our first month of touring: stats, reflections, and thoughts going forward. And some photo highlights from January.

The start of the trip, setting off from Tarija

First, a few basic stats about January:

# of days of riding: 21

Total kilometers: 1,083

Most km in a day: 101 (8 hours)

Least km in a day: 20.1 (3 hours)

Longest day: 8 hours (not including breaks)

Shortest day: 2 hours 40 min

Maximum speed: ~65kmh

An unexpected 1000+ m descent

# of days with climbs*: 8

(*On the summer cycling trip that Postyn led, his kids came up with the following definition of a climb: to be a climb, an ascent must include at least 2 of these 3 characteristics: lasts longer than an hour, has switchbacks, has grades higher than 10%. We have modified this to suit the terrain of our journey. For us, a climb must last longer than an hour and include 1 of these 3 characteristics: be dirt, have switchbacks, have grades higher than 10%. Or, if it includes all 3 of these things, it can be shorter than an hour and still count.)

The Salar de Uyuni (although cycling 200km accross it was actually incredibly tedious)

Total money spent: $385 (not counting the new tent)

Food spending: $7/day

Our private natural hot springs, Polloquere, Chile

Reflections:

January was a tough month for us in many ways. It began with a baptism of fire: we had a massive climb on each of our first 6 days, 3 of which were longer 1,000m. Then, on the 5th day, we lost our tent! This totally changed our outlook on the future of the trip, as we realized how greatly unforeseen circumstances could affect our plans. We could not ride the route we had planned, we had to put our bikes on buses, which is never very fun, we learned how unsettling it is to ride without the liberty and security of knowing that you can stop and pitch your tent pretty much whenever you need to. And then, when we finally had the new tent and were raring to go, we contracted salmonella and, in my case, a parasite! This made our trip through Chile one of the most challenging stretches of riding we've ever faced, one that was eventually cut short because of our lack of strength.  

The true extent of Lucy's exhaustion, collapsed next to her bike while Adie finds a campsite

Thankfully, through all of this, we have received the help and support from many wonderful people, both friends and strangers. There was the family that gave us a room to sleep in and warm soup to eat after our crazy unsuccessful search for the tent, the cyclist/bike mechanic in Tupiza who helped solve a number of bike issues, Janet and Rolando in Oruro, who took us in at 2am after losing our tent and again for 10 days when we were sick. Heidi, the SIT program director, who brought the new tent back from the US for us, Oscar and his mom, who also was willing to bring the tent to us, and many others. 

The highest point either of us have ever been, with or without bikes, 4650m (15,000+ ft)

I guess what I'm trying to express is how blessed we've been with kindness and generosity throughout this first, very eventful month. Every interaction that we have on the road is rewarding, whether it is a quick chat with someone that we pass, someone offering us a room or a space to camp for the night, someone providing us with delicious food, even all the kids who giggle and stare (well, most of the adults do that too). Even though most of our conversations include the basic questions of where are you going to/coming from?, don't you get tired?, where do you sleep?, each one is unique and special. I love when a shopkeeper or food vendor is shy and reserved at first but eventually starts asking questions and becomes wide-eyed at how crazy we are! Most of the conversations revolve around us, but it's fascinating when people start to talk about their own lives, such as a man we met on a motorcycle who told us how much he loved working in the US but how he can't go back because  President Morales has made it too hard to get a visa. These interactions liven up our daily routines and make the trip much more fulfilling. Sure, the views are fantastic, but I want to get to know the people who inhabit them, not just pass right through. Luckily, people have been very open and curious, allowing us to share about ourselves and learn a little bit about them. 

Rest day at the foot of Sajama (6500m)

Thoughts going forward: 

During our loop to Chile, we thought a lot about the struggles we were experiencing and how to improve our quality of life. For one, we decided that the work-to-reward ratio was not favoring the reward side and that we needed to change that. One easy way to do that will be to rest if we get sick again! And, more generally, to take care of our bodies better. We need to remember that we're people before cyclists, that living comes first. If cycling is taking so much of a toll on us that we're not enjoying it, than the trip is not worth it. Another way we can improve our quality of life is by splurging a bit more. We spent less than $200 each in January; a steal by most bike touring standards. So we've decided that we need to buy more and better food whenever possible, stay in hostels when we feel like it, and buy something nice for ourselves once in a while. If spending money on something is going to make our lives more enjoyable, it's probably worth it! This mainly applies in the food department, because we have been eating pretty crappily thus far. Granted, this was mainly due to the dearth of options on the altiplano, but, even so, we should be buying the best brand of crackers we can find! Our food spending was so minimal that we can definitely afford to indulge a bit more. 

If you count the hours, driven by exhaustion, cold and wind, we spent more hours in the tent than out of it.

Overall, we hit some low points, but we're not ready to call it quits yet. We're still holding out hope that this bike tour can actually be fun, if we stay healthy and find the right strategies for maximizing our enjoyment. And fun can be 1,000+meter climbs, if there's ice cream at the top! (We're still searching for that hill.)

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Sunshine and Switchbacks: Oruro to Vila Vila

Thursday, February 11: 18km, Oruro to wild camp near Cala Cala. 

We departed Oruro in the late afternoon, stopping on the way out for last minute food shopping and a final visit to the best ice cream shop in Bolivia (that we've found...). We were soon out of the city bounds and onto rolling hills, the atiplano breaking down.

We found an excellent wild camping spot looking over a wide valley, with Oruro just visible in the distance.

Oruro visible top right

After 10 days living a very lazy life in the city, it felt good to get back on the bikes.

Friday, February 12th: 37km, Cala Cala to wild camp near Bolivar

The next morning we followed a surprisingly hilly, curvy road westward.

We spent the night in another solid campsite, although the views were not quite those of the evening before.

Saturday, February 13th: 58km, near Bolivar to Sacaca

Curvy roads continued, with cool rocks and occasional small villages.

After Bolivar we climbed up and the landscape changed. Bigger views, less green.

Looking down from above.

We pulled into Sacaca around 5pm and discovered it was their Carnival! Within five minutes we had each been offered and drunk two tutumas (gourd cups) of chicha (the local home-brew alcohol, similar to kombucha, but more alcoholic) and a shot of something from a sprite bottle. We had also been told where the only hostel in town was, and then, instead, offered beds by a very friendly drunk old man. We followed him back to his little house, were introduced to his wife and daughter, put our bikes in the living room, and were told to get back out there. 

We were then beckoned into a parade of people singing and doing a shuffling sort of dance. The column was led by kids dancing with 12ft tall cloth and papier mâché puppet costumes on. We danced around the main streets of the town until all of a sudden were ushered into a stranger's house as a massive hailstorm hit the town. About a dozen of us filed into a storage room of sorts, where the dancing and singing and drinking continued until the storm blew over. Then it was back out for more parading! When it got dark and cold, we ducked out of the parse and ate a big dinner then tried to sleep, although the continuing festivities made the little town quite noisy. 

Sunday, February 14th: 12km, Sacaca to wild camp near Vila Vila

In the morning, we were fed breakfast by our hosts, a traditional local dish of boiled potatoes and very runny soft boiled eggs. We then went to the town's hospital, and spent a couple of hours procuring more antibiotics for Adie, who's stomach problems had returned shortly after finishing the first prescription. This time, double the dose, and 10 days not a week. The doctor also weighed me (Adie) and I have lost 25lbs. I haven't weighed this little since high school. We had been weighed by the doctor in Oruro but hadn't believed his scale (where could I have lost 25lbs from?), but this confirmed something else too: Lucy has also lost 25lbs, which is proportionally much more for her than me. It's unclear how much of this is due to huge amounts of exercise, bad quality food that makes it hard to eat enough, or stomach illness. And, in Adie's case, atrophy of the arm muscles due to drastic reduction in use! 

We had to fight to get out of Sacaca, as we had been befriended by another drunk old man. He gave us a tour of his house, while telling us most of his life story, the only perk of which was that meanwhile we ate a couple of incredibly delicious apples from his backyard apple tree! 

Upon leaving town we discovered plenty of climbing and unfortunately, cobbled road. We spent a while debating whether cobbles or washboard was worse, but were unable to come to a definitive conclusion. 

Thankfully the view from the cobbles was decent.

We pitched the tent on a warm sunny evening, not far from a small town. We felt a bit awkward camping so close to the village. Turned out it was the last day of their carnival too, and later in the evening, the whole village appeared on the hillside next to our camp, singing and playing music. A delegation of youths came over, and we chatted about the journey and were asked if we needed water or anything. 

We have been enjoying the greater availability of fruit and veg here, off the altiplano. Here is Lucy with our new favorite veggie, zapayo, a pumpkin-sized squash which you can buy slices of by the kilo. It cooks quickly and tastes great.

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Bike Trip Take 3

Once again, we are setting off! It's amazing how, after over a week of resting without touching the bikes, the prospect of setting out again feels like we're starting completely anew. Which seems to be a pattern for us... Hopefully this time we'll be hitting the road for long enough to achieve the long-awaited "groove" that we have yet to find with all the bumps we've been hitting. This time, we'll be taking it easy, going at the pace our bodies need without and time or food constraints pushing us over the limit. And hopefully we won't lose anything either!

 

(One from the last stage)

We are immensely grateful to the family that has hosted us this whole time in Oruro. Without their generosity, it would have been very hard to take all this rest and allow our bodies to recover. We spent the majority of our waking hours in bed, but did manage to get out and see some of the dancing of Carnaval and get trapped as innocent bystanders in the giant spray foam wars that raged in the streets. We also made sure to get out for our daily dose of ice cream, the staple of our current weight gain program! We're thinking that we'll have to up the ration now that we'll be burning calories, not just consuming them. 

The plan for the immediate future is to head to Cochabamba by way of Torotoro, a town and national park to the south of the city. This will be the last time we pass through Cochabamba, so we'll be saying goodbye to friends, finalizing the publication prep for Lucy's children's book, and savoring the familiarity of the place, which we will be exchanging for the new and unknown when we leave! We hope to eat lots more tasty fruit on this leg of the journey, as we are quite sick of eating crackers 24/7. 

With that, we're heading out, hoping that we will have only good news to report in the next installment!

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Volcanoes, Hot Springs and Gastrointestinal Illness: Part 3

Jan 29 - Feb 2: The Return from Tambo Quemado to Oruro

From Tambo, the excellent descent continued until we turned off onto dirt, into the Parque Nacional Sajama. 6500m, glaciated, and just an impressive looking peak. 

We found a cheap place to stay, with a nice woman who also provided dinner.

Jan 30: Sajama

 In the morning, Adie awoke to distant music and shouts of "naranja, naranja, naranja," a traveling fruit truck was in town! Most villages in the altiplano have no fresh produce available. So Adie jumped out of bed and jogged towards the sound, returning with mango, peaches, bananas and lime. We made a delicious fruit salad for breakfast, an excellent belated birthday present! 

Sajama, from Sajama. The mountain dominates the skyline and is visible from everywhere in town.

After the forced-march feeling of our time in Chile, we decided to take a rest day in Sajama, which we spent at the local hot springs, a 7km, unloaded, bike ride away. Rather than pay for entrance, we just lounged, ate and read in the stream below the hot springs, which was a perfect, relaxing temperature.

In Sajama, Adie also discovered a second rack-breakage. One side of the funky under-seat rack he had made was broken where it bolts on. Some rack-rethinking may be in order, but, as we discovered when looking for a rack for Lucy in Cochabamaba, options are limited. 

Jan 31: Sajama to wild-camp near Tomerapi

We decided that, rather than head back to the highway, we would bike around the far side of Sajama and join the highway further east. The weather had definitely changed. It was snowing on the mountains around, and threatening rain where we were, in the valley. 

We stopped at the church in Tomerapi, which had these very cool flying buttresses. 

While snacking there, a National Parks employee approached us and asked to see our tickets. What tickets? Where we had entered the park, there was a big sign and map, and a small hut, but it was closed up. Turns out we were supposed to have tickets, 100bs each for foreigners. Trouble was, we were again running out of money! The guard agreed to charge only one of us, in return for an extra 20bs "to not say anything." That left us with about 120bs to spare, and 150k to the nearest bank. Whoops. 

We continued biking but camped early as Lucy was exhausted. Perhaps her illness wasn't dealt with after all. In the evening the rain hit us, but we were comfy in our spacious tent. 

Feb 1: Tomerapi to Curahuara de Carangas

We emerged from the mountains onto the altiplano with the weather again looking threatening.

The ride to Curahuara was mostly uninteresting, except before rejoining the highway, we came across these amazing rock formations. They are actually part of the bedrock, and there were hundreds of them. As we walked around them, Lucy was overcome with a bout of exhaustion and had to lie down. Her appetite was also almost nonexistent.

And these rocks, in a valley as we descended towards Curahuara.

The last kilometers to Curahuara went slowly, Lucy was struggling. So in town, we loaded the bikes onto the roof of a minivan and drove an hour and a half to the city of Patacamaya, on the main La Paz-Oruro highway. We quickly found a hostel and some dinner, after which we had a frank conversation about Lucy's health and decided we would take another minivan to Oruro in the morning, and there visit a doctor. 

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