Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA
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Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA |
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April 13, 14 - Potosi', Bolivia 170 miles, Tupiza to Potosi' |
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We're finding that in Bolivia, there are not many paved roads. This is a poor country, and that really shows up in their road system. Many of what are main roads for commerce in the country are gravel. On those roads travel many large trucks and many, many large busses, with very few automobiles. The scenery is of quite dry hills. Bolivia, and northern Argentina, are extremely mountainous.
Of the 170 miles we rode today, about 135 were on difficult gravel roads. These were as described yesterday, with difficult gravel and the big trucks and buses spewing out fine dust as they went by. Today was the day for MY crash. I came from the gravel part into a sand and dust pit, with no way to tell what was underneath. Unfortunately there was a bad rut under the path I had chosen. The rut grabbed my front tire, and Bang!, down I went in an instant. Fortunately I wasn't going fast, and landed in the sand, on my shoulder and helmet. After a few minutes, I was OK and the bike was OK, albeit with some new scratches. When we finally hit pavement, it was great riding, to the town of Potosi', which is high in elevation, about 12,900 ft., and the lungs and muscles tell you quickly that things must be done at a moderate pace here. Getting here, we went over a 14,000 ft. pass. One of the drinks that the people living here use for high elevation considerations is "Coca Tea", so we are all drinking Coca Tea. They also chew the Coca leaves. In the form of tea or leaves this does not take the form of Cocaine. Potosi' is a large town built on very steep hills. It has had a mining economy since the 1500's, when the Spanish found gold and silver. The Spanish were terrible, enslaving the local and regional natives, along with importing black slaves to work under subhuman conditions. Apparently the current conditions still leave much to be desired. The town has the typical colonial narrow streets and brightly colored buildings, and colonial style churches.
One thing we started to see as we went through northern Argentina and now Bolivia, is the native ladies wearing the "Bowler - type" hats. This lady is typical of those bringing their things to market and hoping to sell, things like fruits or hand made items.
Potosi' can be a dangerous place, however. One of our riders was walking in the town alone, in daylight, and became the victim of two scams. The first one was with pickpockets. There were three in the gang, two women who blocked the victim's way on the sidewalk, pretending they had dropped something, and giving him a bump. Then the pickpocket grabs the wallet just as the bump occurs. Luckily our rider felt the pickpocket, grabbed his arm and got back his wallet AND passport. The second one was for either a robbery, away from the main part of town, or for a kidnapping. First one man asks directions, and our man said that he didn't speak Spanish. Then up comes a "plain clothes policeman" showing his police ID, and asks to see the passport and visa from our man, and for a visa from the other man. Then the "policeman" calls up an unmarked car and directs our man plus the other one to get into the car. Fortunately, our man is a large man and he refused to get into the car unless a uniformed policeman confirms the "plain clothes policeman". Then the scam came apart, and our man got away. - Scary!!!! Tomorrow its on to La Paz, Bolivia. Thank goodness the road is paved between these two important cities. |
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