Hobobiker Recent Stories

Bolivia Wrapup

rfay — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:14:27 -0700

Marchers in the new-constitution march on La Paz (View on flickr)

Our pictures for Bolivia are up on flickr - Here's the slideshow of Bolivia and here's the slideshow of the Salar de Uyuni. Also, all our route maps and elevation profiles are updated.

Since we've been in Argentina for weeks, I guess it's time that I wrote a little something to wrap up our time in Bolivia!

We had a delightful time in Bolivia, despite the fact that we were lazy and only rode the bikes two fairly easy days (from the Peruvian border to La Paz). After that we took a bus to Uyuni, a tour of the Salar de Uyuni, and then a train to the border at Villazon. (We did get back on the bikes to ride to where we currently are in northern Argentina, in Salta).

Something is always going on politically in Bolivia, and our time there was no exception. You've probably heard about the tension between Bolivia (and Venezuela) and the U.S., and just before we arrived the US Ambassador was asked to leave the country because he was accused of instigating demonstrations in favor of breaking up the country. The current president, Evo Morales, is a campesino (he started his career growing coca!) and is clearly a populist leftist, and has lots of challenges ahead of him. And he is often poking at the US, along with his compatriot Hugo Chavez, of Venezuela.

Of course, the US is poking back, as always. Maybe they were involved in those demonstrations. Probably they were involved in making Bolivia look bad by pulling the Peace Corps out of the country and shutting down airline flights and acting like they were going to evacuate all Americans when there really wasn't taht much happening. You may have seen the headlines about American Airlines canceling all its flights... But did you see any headlines when they started flying just two weeks later? Or any analysis of why they stopped flying? There wasn't any.

Anyway, when we were there, there was nothing very radical going on. There was a huge campesino march on the capital to support a referendum about a new constitution. And it was all peaceful. Nancy went out to talk to the folks and take some pictures. We saw parades. La Paz was just a very nice, very tourist-friendly place, with an enormous number of services for tourists. We were astounded. Bolivia probably had more tourist activities available than Quito, Ecuador, and was probably on a par with that Disneyland of all Latin American tourists, Costa Rica.

Parade in La Paz (View on flickr)

Some prices of things:

Hotel - nice room with private bath and cable TV: About $14
Internet - About $0.30/hour in La Paz, more expensive elsewhere.
Set meal for lunch or dinner: About $1.00. However, we ate a delightful meal at a Middle-Eastern restaurant for less than $5.00 for the two of us.

Our route notes and pointers to route resources and maps are on the Bolivia Route Page.

Bike-Dreams: A Supported Ride from Quito to Ushuaia

rfay — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:56:47 -0700

If you want to ride the length of South America, you don't have to do it self-supported! We ran into a group, Bike Dreams out of Holland riding from Quito, Ecuador to Ushuaia at the tip of Argentina. They are fully supported and having a grand time. For just 8,900 Euros (about $11,400 right now) you could do the entire ride without having to carry gear. It sounds like a pretty good deal. They also do Paris to Dakar.

Putting Your Bike on a Bus in Latin America

rfay — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:21:52 -0700

We have now used buses in Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru, and Bolivia, and have used the train in Mexico and Bolivia.

In the US it's quite a lot of pain to transport your bike by bus or plane - they want you to disassemble it, put it in a box, etc. It's a big deal. But we've had generally good and easy experiences.

The size of the bus's storage compartment is often the biggest issue. If the bike won't fit, it will have to be disassembled. On a dangerous road in Costa Rica we decided to bail and take a bus and we had to wait overnight for a larger bus with a larger storage compartment.
Sometimes the bike goes on top. In that case, we try to supervise how it's fastened down. But they seem to be experts. However, it's our bike, and therefore our responsibility. We care about it more than anybody else does.
Sometimes they have charged us a bit for the bikes, which seems reasonable. It is generally negotiable. Sometimes we haven't been charged at all.
There is some risk of damage to the bikes, as they rattle around. Normally they come out with some scratch or something that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. On a couple of dirt roads they have gotten extraordinarily dusty.
Sometimes when things are very busy you may have to make advance reservations and wait, since baggage compartments may be all full.

Overall, our experiences with buses have been quite satisfactory and easy.

Safety: Riding on Sunday

rfay — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:14:59 -0700

Drunk guy at Sacapulas (View on flickr)

One thing we heard repeatedly in various people's blogs: "Sunday is a big drinking day in Latin America, so you should avoid riding on Sundays".

Well, they were certainly right about Sunday being a drinking day for the men. Wow, have we seen a lot of blasted men on Sundays. And I'm sure some of those men were driving.

But most people in Latin America do not drive private vehicles, and there is far less traffic on the road on Sundays. So our experience, over and over, has been that Sunday is a great day to cycle. It's also the day that the local sports-cyclists get out and ride. It's the perfect day for cycling.

Latin American Highway Etiquette and Cyclists

rfay — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:35:53 -0700

Nancy riding with the big rigs (View on flickr)

We've heard many people complain about motorists in Latin America, we we haven't had a lot of trouble. We actually have quite a lot of respect for the drivers, especially the professional drivers, as they seem to know what to do with us and often do it with courtesy.

However: The more you stay on the busy roads, the more complaints you will have. For example, we often say that there are two experiences cyclists have in Mexico. Those who come down the main highway on the west coast feel like Mexico is one big, busy, ugly highway. Those who mosey down the small roads in the interior of the country feel like it's a wonderful, welcoming, interesting country with reasonable highways.

Here are some of our observations about highway etiquette and getting along on the roads in Latin America:

We think Latin American drivers are far more skilled than those in North America, since they're used to avoiding all manner of obstacles in the road - not just bicyclists, but also donkeys, dead horses, kids, and the like. They're far more defensive and ready to avoid an obstacle.
In many countries, there is a specific routine of honking the horn to let cyclists or pedestrians (or anyone else) know that a vehicle is coming from behind. Often this is a quick tap of the horn, but it may be more. It is generally not meant to be offensive, but rather to let you know they're coming. In Guatemala the buses have enormous air-horns, and are honking them all the time, but it's not necessarily to tell you to get out of the way - they're letting people know that the bus is coming and they'll want to get on. However, I don't want to be in the way of any of those Guatemalan buses!
There is a myth among US cyclists that the bicyclist needs to just take his lane and make the motorist pass. Our opinion is that this just doesn't work in most places, and especially where a motorist may approach suddenly - they won't have enough time to avoid you and you'll be dead. The roads in Latin America are shared, and getting along on them is a matter of cooperation. We get out of the way for the trucks and buses, and they give us a little room. It's all about cooperation.
If you are riding on a busy, fast road, remember that visibility is crucial. If a motorist has just a fraction of a second more notice that you're there, an accident is that much less likely. When we rode several hundred miles on highway 15, a straight, fast toll road in Sonora with no shoulder, we wore "screaming yellow" vests and could tell the difference. Motorists had just a little more time to move over and get ready to miss us.
Nancy wrote about riding safety here - one of the key things she said was that when riding together, the partner with the higher tolerance for traffic should ride in back. That way the cars start to get out of the way earlier, and the more-tolerant partner can handle it.
All that said, the busier the road, the more it all breaks down. If there's too much traffic in too little road, it will just be a nasty experience. That's yet another reason to study the roads ahead, have good maps, and avoid the big roads.

Toll Roads and Cyclists in Latin America

rfay — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:16:44 -0700

Cyclists occasionally ask us about our experience on toll roads in Latin America, so I thought I'd give a little overview. We've ridden on many of them without trouble.

Throughout Latin America roads have been "privatized", giving a concession to a private company to operate them for a period of years. In general, this means better maintenance on the roads.

We have never been asked to pay a toll on any of the roads we've traveled from Mexico to Argentina. However, we have heard of cyclists being required to pay on some roads in Mexico.

Also in Mexico, we avoided the toll roads but occasionally took them. (We find that the toll roads there are fast and fancy, but you get no sense of the culture of the country.) There was one road (from Pueba to Oaxaca) that was rumored to exclude cyclists. Also, the road from Tijuana to Rosario in Baja California is supposed to rigorously exclude cyclists, forcing them onto a very dangerous, narrow alternate.

In our experience, though: We haven't been excluded from any toll roads, and we haven't been charged tolls.

On occasional, in Mexico and again in Peru, there were specific procedures they wanted us to take when approaching a toll booth. They did not want us to go through the auto lane (because we'd register on a camera?) but rather go completely around the toll booth installation. One time in Mexico, not understanding this, I approached too close and the guard did raise his gun for my benefit.

First impressions of Argentina

nancy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:01:54 -0700

Cacti everywhere - Valley of Humahuaca (View on flickr)

Now that we have been in Argentina for a bit over a week, I have noticed some differences I would like to share. Wine flows more freely than water and is way cheaper than bottled water. I haven't really found good wine since the USA so this land of wine and honey is a great place to buy very good wine at a fantastic price. I wish I knew which wine vineyards are the best. (If you have a recommendation of some of the better wines let me know.)

Water can be drunk directly from the tap all over Argentina! No more buying plastic bottles of water and adding to the world's plastic waste.

We have entered into the land of refrigerators so we can buy cold cuts and cheeses, and refrigerated yogurts. We are now preparing sandwiches for lunch instead of the lunch specials or menu del día found in most of Latin America. The lunch specials usually consisted of rice, french fries, yucca, chicken or beef with a soup as an appetizer with rice, potato, stock and some kind of chicken or beef all for an amazing price of a dollar or two. Argentina's lunch specials are far more expensive than we've had in the rest of South America, at 3 or 4 dollars. They eat around 2:00pm, take 3 hours off and then start the evening feasting and entertainment around 9:00. We went out for dinner the other night to have our first Argentinan steak. At 8:15 we were the first ones in the restaurant that night and they had to turn on the lights for us. Most Argentinans eat dinner about 9 o´clock or 10 o´clock at night. There are more people roaming the street at midnight than at 5pm.

Other differences are the bathrooms. They have flushing ones with water. The kind you push down on the handle and the water disappears and fills up with clean water again. There are toilet paper and soap in some of the rest rooms. Also all the hotels have bidets and a separate toilet. We have found warm water for showers in all the hotels we have stayed in so far. The hotels cost have been about $12 to $15 on average.

the cathedral in Salta, Argentina (View on flickr)

Finally, since so many Argentinans are of European descent, we can't spot the gringos! I started talking to a guy in shorts the other day in English, just because he looked like a gringo. But he was a local!

The one bad thing that is hard to adjust to is the smoking of cigarettes. It is everywhere. In the hotels, Internet cafes, restaurants, streets. It is really disappointing. The wasted butts are everywhere, on the computer tables, in the urinals, in the streets. It seems where there is more money, there is more spending on more vices.

bike in Salta, Argentina (View on flickr)

There are more bookstores and newspapers. Less music in the streets. There are larger box stores and less sales by individuals trying to sell an armful items or a sack of fruits or vegetables. I do not hear all the laughing I heard north of the border. People take themselves more seriously or are more into their heads.

It feels like a European country and very different from the rest of the countries in Latin America we have visited.

A perfect ride down from the highlands of Bolivia into Northern Argentina, Jujuy

nancy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:54:29 -0700

Nancy with Lllama crossing sign (View on flickr)

We started our descent from the Altiplano at about 3800 meters where the air is thin and sometimes seems almost non-existent. I never did get acclimated to the high elevation even after almost 3 months. So riding down to the lower lands was very exciting to me, I had hopes I would get my health back and my motivation to ride. This section was going to be downhill. Yes down, down, down. I enjoyed the ride downhill for all 4 days. It had a very satisfying feeling. The road was paved, smooth and no traffic to speak of. The land was open range with llamas grazing everywhere. Instead of having the yellow road signs, "watch out for cows", there were a signs with black silhouetted llamas. I think llamas have about the mental capacity of cattle. Llamas must have suicide tendencies because herds of them keep running across the road just as cars where coming. I imagine they dared each other to run across just as the biggest, fastest bus was approaching and cheered each other when they made it alive to the other side and just went back to grazing when one did not make it.

Camping at the chapel - Capilla Vieja (View on flickr)

The first day, the winds were quiet and we got in about 100 kilometers. At the end of the day we found an little old adobe church and set up our tent on the quiet side out of the wind and out of sight from the traffic. We cooked dinner inside the bell tower, and watched the sun setting over high grassy plains. The landscape had an odd ruby purple glow which deepened the blood colored shadows. It felt good to be alone with Randy and let the night settle around us in our secret haven.

The following day, a lady wandered down from a far away field to say good morning, wondered what we where doing. I don´t think she was impressed by our trip. Buy the look in her eyes, I think she thought we are a little crazy and why would anyone leave home to do something like this. She was more concerned in finding her dog. We did see the dog an hour before because it came barking at us and got bored and wandered. For some reason dogs like to bark at me and I like to throw rocks at them (but I didn't throw one at this one, honest). After ten minutes of conversation, she wandered off also.

The morning ride proved to be calm, the sun was bright. The riding downhill was again fantastic. I regained some more enthusiasm for touring. We stopped for a couple of hours at the small tourist town of Humahuaca. We toured the archeology museum and had a picnic lunch in the thriving plaza which was filled with artist stalls, dogs, tourist and playing kids. We intended to continue riding, but after a nice lunch and still wanting a shower, we got lazy and found a hotel.

The next day we started off well, but after lunch, pedaling into the famous Argentina wind, we only made 10 miles before we decided to hide behind a tree for protection and read our books and wait until the wind died. Well it never did calm down so we camped there for the night. We had a visit from the police around 11:00 pm. but it was just a courtesy visit. When I greeted them in the dark "buenas noches", one replied as they approached with their flash lights blaring, De Donde son? (Where are you from?). I guess they figured we where harmless and let us be for the night.

One the forth morning, again the wind was calm and we made it to Jujuy. The ride was beautiful through a green valley with trees, red rock mountains on each side of the valley and green stuff called trees, which we have not seen for months. Jujuy is not as beautiful as I had imagined but we stayed there for a couple of nights as Randy came down with a cold and needed a couple of days in bed.