Day 50
39,251 – 39,310 59 Miles today (16,610 Miles Overall)
La Paz, Bolivia – Coroico, Bolivia
Well after spending 4 nights in La Paz and hating every minute of it I was ready to get the hell out of here. After talking to the mechanics all week they told me to come by at 11Am this morning. I was super antsy to leave so I got there at 9 and luckily they had it ready. I started up the bike to let it warm up for a while and then turned it off and we chatted the whole time. The shop manager there was such a nice guy and his crew was incredible. He threw his two best mechanics on the bike and boy was it time consuming.
I took the bike out for a spin for about 20 minutes but he wanted me to go for an hour. I didn’t want to burn the fuel because the whole country has a fuel shortage and a big thing for me is getting fuel right now. It’s very hard for travelers to get fuel. We have to pay a lot more than locals do and 80% of the time they won’t even sell to us if we offer double or triple the price for the fuel.
Once I got back to the shop we went into the office. I was terrified of the price. They spent 3.5 days on it. They fixed the issue and luckily we didn’t need to buy any parts. It turns out it was all an issue with the ECU and they had to reprogram the whole thing and readjust a bunch of numbers for it. On top of that they put new spark plugs in, flushed the brake fluid, and changed the oil and filter. I wanted them to put my new chain and sprocket set on to take some weight off the panniers but they said I didn’t need them yet. I know I didn’t need them, I just wanted the weight off. They also were supposed to put in new wheel bearings but didn’t do that either. I’m assuming I was eating up all their time with the engine issues and they wanted me out of there. Looks like i’ll have to stop in Mendoza, Argentina for a day to get this stuff put on before I get to Santiago. Only 2600 kms away so I hope nothing else breaks until then that I can’t fix.
So the grand total for the bike I was assuming from $700 – $1300. The price ended up being $300. Holy shit I couldn’t be any happier. These guys made my month and I am so very thankful for all of them! I loaded up the bike and got the hell out of La Paz as fast as possible. I hit Coroico on google maps and got stuck in some horrible traffic on a steep hill going up right off the bat. It sucked. The guy Jesse I met at the hostel a few days ago went up there too and dropped a pin where he got some fuel pretty easily so that was my first stop. I pulled up and said “Effectivo sin fractura” and he filled her right up. The total was 37 Bolivianos so I gave him a 50 and he just said thanks and walked away. Hah Yeah change is all yours buddy.
It got cold real quick and I kept riding uphill for miles. Next thing I know I’m surrounded by snow covered peaks and my dash says its 43F out. I pull over for a few pictures and keep on riding. God damn am I happy to be back on the bike. I just want to ride for 12 hours right now and cover some ground so this feels like a bike trip again. Jesse said he wasn’t doing the death road until the morning after he got here because it usually rains here in the afternoon so I was waiting until I got to the turn off for it to decide what I’ll do.
The roads were so nice to ride and the temps weren’t even bothering me. Yak crashed on this road on his road trip on his way back to La Paz after riding the death road so it was creepy thinking about the whole situation. He always comes up in my head to remind me to slow down so I can finish this trip. I wonder if I can find the exact spot where he crashed. It slows me down for sure.
I got to the turn off for the death road and said screw it i’ll go for it now since its only 11:30AM. I started riding down it and it looked like the end was 35 km away. Not too bad. At the beginning of my trip that would have gotten me nervous but now it doesn’t bother me. I can sign up for 200kms of dirt roads and be fine. I love these roads because you never know what you’ll expect. It was pretty rocky at the top and the drop off was quite steep but not as intimidating as the one I did in Peru recently. I passed a ton of Mountain bikers going down the mountain and I was just crushing them on my big bike. These guys were all scared on their bikes. It was hilarious. My friend Moshe was here maybe ten years ago and doing this downhill mountain biking tour on the death road and some kid 2 years younger than him rode off the edge and died.
The road was pretty cool in the beginning but got quite boring after 5-7kms. There were a lot of overhanging cliffs with waterfalls coming off of them so while you’re riding youre literally riding through waterfalls. The road turned into. river at one point. It was nice to cool off since the temps went from 45F to 95F. I eventually got to the bottom and started looking for this guest house Jesse told me about back in La Paz. he said google maps doesn’t know there’s a road going up to it so I have to find my way without GPS. It got a bit frustrating since it was 95 degrees out and I’m wearing all my winter gear. I was getting really hot and antsy to get out of my gear. I eventually found a steep steep rock street going uphill and then it turned into dirt. I saw signs for Sol Y Luna and followed it for maybe a mile into the jungle. I pulled up and the man told me to pull my bike all the way in by the office and called me by my name. This was incredible. I told Jesse to tell the guy to save me his room he just left in case the place gets booked up.
I checked in and unloaded a few things in my room. This is the type of place where I don’t even have to take anything off my bike and I can just leave it on the bike for the few days up here. No ones going to steal anything up here. The guy told me the price is $100 Bolivianos a night which is about $14. Wild. I told Jesse I was going to do a night here but he went ahead and booked me two nights because he said he knew I would stay for 2. This guy knows me for 20 minutes of talking and hit that idea right. I had some food at the restaurant here, took a shower and then walked over to the pool a few meters up the mountain and that’s where I laid up the rest of the day.
I am such a lucky person to be doing this. I remind myself of it every single day and sometimes even hourly. I’m pretty happy to say that I’m a college dropout and doing this while most of my friends are at home working. It’s also such a common theme to not see any Americans while I travel. When I got here there was just one older French woman here and later on that night a few more French people showed up. Why aren’t Americans traveling that much?!?!? You guys are missing out on so much beauty out here.
A thunderstorm was building out in the distance over the mountains so I packed up my stuff and hung out in the hammock in front of my room for a bit reading my kindle. Grandpa Yak called and we chatted about his stay here and what he did. Turns out he did a nice hike to two viewpoints and that hike he did is on the property of the guest house I’m staying at. I packed up a few things after talking to him for a while and went down into town. About a 1 mile walk all downhill. I walked around for about 45 minutes and sat down in the little town center to get some fish, a coke and some ice cream. I got some fruit to bring back with me and started my walk back around sunset with a little rain hitting me.
This was one of those days that I’m so thankful for where I am. That’s all I was thinking about this whole last few hours. Such a nice quiet walk into town and out of town. I stopped at a little viewpoint and sat down to just take in the view for about 30 minutes watching the sunset behind the mountains. I was realizing I was actually getting pretty depressed being stuck in La Paz for 4 nights. Too much noise, traffic, people, pollution, and filth. I really am a much happier person in the jungle by myself. It’s really wild to see how much I have changed since the beginning of the trip spending so much time alone. I don’t need anyone else with me to stay happy. I just need to be in a good place like this. I’ll take this over the city any day of the week and I will happily be up here alone by myself. I also wish that I would have come right up here Tuesday morning and relaxed here until my bike was finished but it’s all good. I’m going to stay here for 3 nights I think. I could really use this relaxing time before I get to Uyuni where it’s freezing and high altitude.
Where was I? Oh yeah, sitting there watching the sunset. I took a bunch of pictures and videos of this perfect moment and started walking back to my place again. I was literally so happy and at peace that I felt drunk. I got back home, laid up on the hammock reading my kindle for a while and listening to nature with the birds and animals in the trees surrounding me. The weather was absolutely perfect. This is heaven. I wish you all could be here right now feeling and hearing everything.
After being thankful for so long I ended up in bed and passed out even though the bed is pretty rock solid along with the pillows. Can’t have it all!
