Getting out of that village

Salinas – Challapata – Uyuni – Tupiza at last!

It wasn´t a shock that the driver showed up late. We left for Challapata at 6.30, along with a big group of people, and arrived around 12, as the truck broke down for an hour. I wasn´t surprised, but I was happy to be going somewhere. We found a mechanic that fixed it all and gave me a place to crash, after I had hung out with him and his retired friends, for a few hours, as I didn´t find a car going until the morning. I sent my heaviest bag with the bus to Atocha, and left at 5.30 am. It was dark and lightning was up ahead, yet the locals were certain that it wouldn´t be a problem. It only rained for a little bit.








I figured out why I had ended up on a side-road: the tour van driver had brought me to another road just for us to cross the road. I didn’t see the road going left, back to the main road, and when I met the guys going to Uyuni, I didn´t suspect anything. The main roads going from Challapata to Salinas and from Challapata to Uyuni aren’t that bad in comparison to what I was driving. Still, as all the way to Atacha, there were many areas of sand where I just had to keep balance with my feet. Those roads are really tiring!





I got to the Salar, which is a pool at this time. And with delight, I watched the glassy, turquoise water which a lot of tour vans were bathing in, full of cheering tourists sticking out of the windows. After a celebrational popstickle, and passing through the dry desert town of Uyuni, I continued on to Atacha. I was tired midway. So tired that I was counting the kilometres and dreaming of a coffee. I allowed myself thirty minutes of rest, hanging out with the locals in Atacha, and shipping my bag further on to Tupiza. I wasn´t at goal just yet. The gas station is located in a ridiculous place. You have to drive through a kind of… beach, with little muddy streams to get there, and the guy filling gas sent me further up the streams. I was furious at this point, as he deliberately took a piss, while I was in a hurry to get there before night fall. I found the real road, some stormy clouds ahead and started to question if it was a good idea. I decided to listen to my better judgement, for once, and turned back. But on the way, I met two cars and asked a last time. They were tour operators and said we could ride together. I had a safety net!

The roads weren´t really bad from there. Actually they got quite good and with an improving scenery as I was finally leaving the altiplano! At one point I was driving on the rims of steep mountains, with incredible views and oxygen! The landscape was turning green. Green! I´ve missed it so much… When we reached the valley, I was stunned. It was the most beautiful place I could imagine at that point, lit by a colorful sunset. It wasn´t the worst place for the engine to refuse working. First I figured she was tired, then I thought: air filter.

I love the road mentality in Bolivia. Everyone´s so used to breaking down that everyone stops to help others. I think there must have been six different car drivers surrounding my bike, trying to diagnose it, and I was right. It had gotten dark when we were off, and another car was driving ahead in the colon to show the way. Unfortunately, the dust he left behind made it quite uncomfortable to follow, but I got there, and spoiled myself(paid 60 instead of 30kr) with a fancy hotel. Quite different from the mechanics place, all crammed of dusty clothes and motorcycles. I changed today to the hotel of the guys helping me out last night. I´m trying to find someone to go with me for a two day horseback trip. Today, I´ve had to do some chores, but I´m all shocked right now because two buyers are wanting Tornado.

Yesterday I replied to the two potential buyers, and one of them misunderstood that it was a done deal, and jumped on the bus here. He´ll be arriving in two hours and I´m all shaken up, because I was ready to hit the pavement and explore northern Argentina. I didn´t want to sell yet… Right now, I´m not sure about anything than that my luck has taken a U-turn! I love being here in a big city where incredible landscape is just a few minutes away, and horseback riding costs 32kr pr hour.

Salinas

The place that at first seemed so idyllic has shown its backside, yet I´ve learned a great deal about village agriculture and unfortunate drinking culture. Men drink from 1 am, and unfortunately, so does the mechanic, who in the end, ruined a part of my front break which they don´t have in the village. Couldn´t get him to fix it though. He was out drinking. No one had time to help me fix the kick- stand which suddenly broke, too. A part of me was relieved that I got stuck long enough for that to happen, instead of it happening on the way. Another part was pissed off, having to wait yet another day, and pushing my heavy bike around on the bumpy streets, while wearing all my hot gear because I was supposed to leave for the salt flats that morning. I was fighting for my way out of here, all morning. Seriously fighting, and asking everyone if they knew someone with a truck that could bring me to Oruro or Chatacalla. In the end, I was told that one could hitch hike from the main road, and there I met Grober. This is a little, little town, so everyone knows who he is. That’s comforting, as he loaded my bike onto the truck, and we´re off at four am. He´s bringing me straight to a mechanic, then I can go to Uyuni. Yet this town has turned me into a pessimist, and I´m expecting something to go wrong!







The reason why I´m now a pessimist is how unreliable people are. They really don´t mind making you wait, and often things don’t happen, to Ines´ dismay, as she´s relying on them to do her interviews. Yesterday, I went with her and the hotel owners family to another community, even smaller. We worked on their quinoa farm, which was murdering my back. I have a great respect for what they do. I followed Ines down to the houses for her to do her diet questionaries, before we jogged along towards Salinas. We got tired, started walking, rested, started walking, rested, and time just kept going without the others showing up. What had happened? We didn´t think they could work in the dark, but they did, and finally showed up 2,5hours after they were supposed to. We had been walking in the middle of nowhere, with only starlight, wondering if the car had broken down and how long it would take us to walk the 11kms to the next village.

Quinoa is everything here, which one could tell in the cooking competition, where everyone made quinoa soup and llama fricase. Its just that the people in the community have great areas of land, and are without right to sell it. Its decided that the land stays in the community, even though the kids don´t necessarily want to become farmers. Most of them don´t. Most of them want to get away, just like me and Ines. Maybe her attitude affected me a bit, but I really don´t have time to hang around! I´m going to New York on the 30th of April, and need to sell my bike. I´m all broke, because I needed to buy a brand new ticket, as the payment meant to change my ticket, several months ago, never went through.

She has saved me with a movie and sex and the city episodes, which was a nice break, after finishing all my books, too. I wrote today, instead, and felt at ease after rediscovering who I was again. I think this experience will be one I´ll have to digest, but I won´t forget or completely regret my wrong turn. At least I´m tan, at last!