tupiza
slow, slow internet here and i can't upload photos. i'm getting so behind in photos. maybe in argentina the internet will be really fast and i can just do a total photo entry.
i've had a rough couple of days since leaving uyuni. i'm not sure why, but my map failed to show that there was a road between this town atocha and tupiza. when i got into atocha, i couldn't find the way out of town. the train went directly to tupiza, but my map didn't show the road, so i assumed i had to take a round about route through quechisla and cotogaita. i kept asking people were the road was, and they told me there wasn't a road, but i could just follow the river. i tried that. it was totally crazy. like i was just pushing my bike through mud. so i back tracked to the town, and finally figured out that there was a road to tupiza. this guy just told me to bike along the train tracks until i saw the highway. biking along the tracks was fine, except i was worried about a train coming. my plan was that i'd just toss the bike down the embankment and roll down after it if i heard a train. perhaps not the most awesome plan. below me i could see trucks and buses driving along the muddy banks of a mostly dry river. eventually there appeared a road along the tracks, and i started biking on it. after a couple hours i saw a truck coming the opposite direction. i asked them if i was on the road to tupiza. they said i wasn't. they offered to drive me back the way i'd come and take me to the junction were the tupiza road started. i wish whoever was in charge of roads in bolivia would put up some road signs.
the road to tupiza was really isolated, but super beautiful. i biked past clifs and strange rock formations that looked like mini-grand canyons except that they were white, pink, green and red. i saw a lot of llamas and some more vicuñas as well. the climbs were really, really hard. i guess i'm still not totally used to the altitue. i'd bike for a little bit. then have to stop, rest my forearms on the handlebars and lean over my bike hyperventilating until i'd catch my breath. climbing at over 12,000' is challenging! going downhill wasn't any easier because the grades were insanely steep, and then the roads were dirt so you had to keep your eyes on the road the whole time watching out for potholes, loose rocks, and creeks that crossed the road. at some point i came across and zinc mine and stopped to have a soda. as i started the next ascent, i noticed that it looked like it was going to rain. i made sure i had all my rain gear handy and kept climbing. by the time i got to the summit, it was raining, hailing and there was lightning crashing around me. there was no where to take shelter, and there were sheer drop-offs down to the the river valley below me. i figured the best thing to do would be to try and get down to a lower elevation. as i started the descent, the storm got a lot worse. pea-sized pieces of hail pelted my body, and the dirt road quickly turned to mud. i started to feel really cold. as i got nearer to the valley floor, the rain and hail got so bad, that i couldn't even see the surface of the road anymore. i was pretty much biking through a river of hailstones and water. it was a really steep grade, and i had the breaks on as hard as i could, but my bike still fishailed out behind me as i continued to descend the mountain. at one point there was this river of mud and water pouring out across the road. i debated taking my shoes off before crossing it, but decided time was of the essence and i needed to get out of the storm before i got hypothermic. i started to wade into the water, and the current knocked me off balance and started to drag the me and the bike towards the cliff edge of the road. i regained my balance, and thought, "i'm going to die out here." finally i got to the valley floor. i set up my tent ontop of about three to four inches of hailstones and water, and threw my sleeping bag and therma rest into the tent. i blew up the therma rest, threw off my wet clothes and climbed into the sleeping bag. i started to warm up, but was worried about the hailstones ripping through my rainfly. fortunately they didn't. i stayed huddled up like that until the storm stopped. then, i opned up the rainfly and watched the road to see if any cars would come by. there was pretty much no way i was doing any more cycling that day.
after about a half an hour, a jeep came by, but they had no room for me. then a while later i saw a truck coming, and they said they had room for the bike. i was sandwhiched in the cab between two guys chewing coca leaves. parts of the road had washed out, and i had to close my eyes as we drove over the hailstone covered road. the guys were carting around used metal like dead batteries and cans. we'd stop any time they saw a beer can along the side of the road. once we got out of the area where the storm had hit, there were cactus plants, and then the guys would also stop to pick cactus fruit. at one point they asked me if i knew what a "quirquincho" was. i told them i didn't. they said it was an animal that ate meat, and asked me if i wanted to see one. i said sure. they guy on the passenger side said, "now don't be afraid." and he reached underneath the seat and pulled out a burlap sack. inside was some kind of animal that looked a lot like an armadillo. they said they'd seen it by the side of the road and captured it to take back to la paz as a pet.
we got into tupiza as it was getting dark and stopped at a restaurant for dinner. i showed the guys my camera, and they said they wanted to bring the quirquincho into the restaurant to have it's picture taken. so... i now have a lot of pictures of a bunch of truckers holding a quirquincho inside a restaurant. i gave the truckers postcards of california, which they loved, and then bought their dinner. they didn't want me to buy the dinner i guess, and so they bought me a 2 liter bottle of coke as a way of saying thank you. i¡m not sure what i'm going to do with all that coke.
i'm taking a zero day here in tupize because i just feel really wiped out from yesterday. i feel a little bit bad about hitching that ride because it's the first time i've hitched the whole trip, but i was really freaking out and thought that i was going to die. i wonder if maybe i over-reacted because about 5 km down the road from where i'd pithed my tent, there was no more hail. so if i'd just kept biking i might have been ok. anyways... i'm here now and i'm ok, so that's the important thing, right?
-jessie
i've had a rough couple of days since leaving uyuni. i'm not sure why, but my map failed to show that there was a road between this town atocha and tupiza. when i got into atocha, i couldn't find the way out of town. the train went directly to tupiza, but my map didn't show the road, so i assumed i had to take a round about route through quechisla and cotogaita. i kept asking people were the road was, and they told me there wasn't a road, but i could just follow the river. i tried that. it was totally crazy. like i was just pushing my bike through mud. so i back tracked to the town, and finally figured out that there was a road to tupiza. this guy just told me to bike along the train tracks until i saw the highway. biking along the tracks was fine, except i was worried about a train coming. my plan was that i'd just toss the bike down the embankment and roll down after it if i heard a train. perhaps not the most awesome plan. below me i could see trucks and buses driving along the muddy banks of a mostly dry river. eventually there appeared a road along the tracks, and i started biking on it. after a couple hours i saw a truck coming the opposite direction. i asked them if i was on the road to tupiza. they said i wasn't. they offered to drive me back the way i'd come and take me to the junction were the tupiza road started. i wish whoever was in charge of roads in bolivia would put up some road signs.
the road to tupiza was really isolated, but super beautiful. i biked past clifs and strange rock formations that looked like mini-grand canyons except that they were white, pink, green and red. i saw a lot of llamas and some more vicuñas as well. the climbs were really, really hard. i guess i'm still not totally used to the altitue. i'd bike for a little bit. then have to stop, rest my forearms on the handlebars and lean over my bike hyperventilating until i'd catch my breath. climbing at over 12,000' is challenging! going downhill wasn't any easier because the grades were insanely steep, and then the roads were dirt so you had to keep your eyes on the road the whole time watching out for potholes, loose rocks, and creeks that crossed the road. at some point i came across and zinc mine and stopped to have a soda. as i started the next ascent, i noticed that it looked like it was going to rain. i made sure i had all my rain gear handy and kept climbing. by the time i got to the summit, it was raining, hailing and there was lightning crashing around me. there was no where to take shelter, and there were sheer drop-offs down to the the river valley below me. i figured the best thing to do would be to try and get down to a lower elevation. as i started the descent, the storm got a lot worse. pea-sized pieces of hail pelted my body, and the dirt road quickly turned to mud. i started to feel really cold. as i got nearer to the valley floor, the rain and hail got so bad, that i couldn't even see the surface of the road anymore. i was pretty much biking through a river of hailstones and water. it was a really steep grade, and i had the breaks on as hard as i could, but my bike still fishailed out behind me as i continued to descend the mountain. at one point there was this river of mud and water pouring out across the road. i debated taking my shoes off before crossing it, but decided time was of the essence and i needed to get out of the storm before i got hypothermic. i started to wade into the water, and the current knocked me off balance and started to drag the me and the bike towards the cliff edge of the road. i regained my balance, and thought, "i'm going to die out here." finally i got to the valley floor. i set up my tent ontop of about three to four inches of hailstones and water, and threw my sleeping bag and therma rest into the tent. i blew up the therma rest, threw off my wet clothes and climbed into the sleeping bag. i started to warm up, but was worried about the hailstones ripping through my rainfly. fortunately they didn't. i stayed huddled up like that until the storm stopped. then, i opned up the rainfly and watched the road to see if any cars would come by. there was pretty much no way i was doing any more cycling that day.
after about a half an hour, a jeep came by, but they had no room for me. then a while later i saw a truck coming, and they said they had room for the bike. i was sandwhiched in the cab between two guys chewing coca leaves. parts of the road had washed out, and i had to close my eyes as we drove over the hailstone covered road. the guys were carting around used metal like dead batteries and cans. we'd stop any time they saw a beer can along the side of the road. once we got out of the area where the storm had hit, there were cactus plants, and then the guys would also stop to pick cactus fruit. at one point they asked me if i knew what a "quirquincho" was. i told them i didn't. they said it was an animal that ate meat, and asked me if i wanted to see one. i said sure. they guy on the passenger side said, "now don't be afraid." and he reached underneath the seat and pulled out a burlap sack. inside was some kind of animal that looked a lot like an armadillo. they said they'd seen it by the side of the road and captured it to take back to la paz as a pet.
we got into tupiza as it was getting dark and stopped at a restaurant for dinner. i showed the guys my camera, and they said they wanted to bring the quirquincho into the restaurant to have it's picture taken. so... i now have a lot of pictures of a bunch of truckers holding a quirquincho inside a restaurant. i gave the truckers postcards of california, which they loved, and then bought their dinner. they didn't want me to buy the dinner i guess, and so they bought me a 2 liter bottle of coke as a way of saying thank you. i¡m not sure what i'm going to do with all that coke.
i'm taking a zero day here in tupize because i just feel really wiped out from yesterday. i feel a little bit bad about hitching that ride because it's the first time i've hitched the whole trip, but i was really freaking out and thought that i was going to die. i wonder if maybe i over-reacted because about 5 km down the road from where i'd pithed my tent, there was no more hail. so if i'd just kept biking i might have been ok. anyways... i'm here now and i'm ok, so that's the important thing, right?
-jessie
posted by jessiebikes at 7:51 AM
2 Comments:
I, for one, am Very Glad that you hitched. That sounded really, really harrowing and I'm glad you are okay.
I also miss you a hell of a lot.
alice
o my freakin god! That's totally bananas. I can't wait to see the armadillo thingy.
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