With our Salar excursion over it was time leave Uyuni and head to La Paz for the start of the next special stage. After our experience with the road from Tupiza to Uyuni, we decided to play this one safe and head for Potosi.
There’s a new twisty tarmac road all the way to Potosi, which pleased Sam’s bottom. And we got to cross off visiting one of the highest cities in the world.
True enough the road was billiard table smooth, and twisty with some great scenery. At over 4,000 meters high the bike ran as smoothly as ever, even on Bolivian fuel. I was glad for the fuel injection.
It was an easy ride, and we arrived in Potosi mid-afternoon.There we met Ross from the Hubb forums. He’d travelled extensively across South America and was able to provide some advice on lodgings, mechanics, bike shops and routes.
Over pizza the next he agreed to ride with us to La Paz (via Oruro), but 5 minutes into the ride I guess he decided it wasn’t for him, and headed off to Sucre instead. We continued onto Oruro. Although still sealed, the road between Oruro was rutted, and bumpy, nothing like what we’d enjoyed the previous day.
We spent that night in Oruo, which I suppose is a Bolivian town much like any other. There’s not really anything to say about it. Fortunately we only there the one night and it was back on the road on route to La Paz.
There’s now a four lane highway for most of the way from Oruro to La Paz, so we able to make good time. As we approached the city from the Altiplano, we were greeted with views of glacier capped mountains. And as we approached the centre from El Alto, we were treated to the following view.
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