March 9, 2000
Day 139 to Tupiza
It rains and thunders during the night, but nothing heavy enough to make us concerned about flooding. Everywhere in this landscape are signs of the destructive downpours this land receives, deeply carved narrow canyons and wide flood plains covered with rock and boulders. We are camped behind some thorny bushes, about 100 meters from the road. We found a level spot on sand with no thorns. In the morning, we pack up, let our tent dry in the sun and eat our Cornflakes breakfast.
We push our bikes back to the road and carefully check the tires for thorns or goats head before we set off. We halted just in time last night. Over the next ridge is a small town (we heard the carnival and barking dogs last night), and then one more ridge before a long steep downhill to the Tupiza river. A couple of schoolboys accompany us for awhile, they keep up with us running while we labor up and over that last hill. Over the crest, we get treated to an awesome view of the wide Tupiza canyon. Barren hills with cactus stretch all around us, deep below is the blue water and green farmland visible. On the horizon more barren mountains still shrouded in the remains of last nights thunderstorm.
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We start going down, frequently stopping to take pictures or just gaze at the view. About halfway down we pass through a village, adobe houses, some occupied, others abandoned and slowly dissolving back into their original elements of mud and straw. It looks extremely poor. After about 7 km of downhill in which we lose about 600 meters, we reach the river. What flows through it could sooner be described as thin mud than be called water. We cross a bridge and turn north, starting to follow the river upstream towards Tupiza. The town is still about 30 km away and the road frequently leaves the valley to venture up and over steep hills. All along the river are good-looking fields, mostly planted with corn. A lot of people live along the road, it would have been hard to find a secluded campsite here.
About 20 km’s before Tupiza the road turns into a wide valley to cross a saddle before returning to the river. The landscape is all of a sudden volcanic. We can smell the sulfur in the rock Its beautiful. We expect to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidd come riding through a canyon at any time. They sought refuge in these parts after being chased out of America and Patagonia but did one hold-up too many and were killed in San Lorenso near Tupiza.
We are very tired when we reach the town. Before we cross the bridge and go looking for a room, we fill up the gas bottle at a pump station. We ride into town and are just consulting our guidebook, when a girl comes up and invites us to check out their residencial. It’s also in the book, nice enough and we appreciate the initiative. She says she will go to Holland in May to marry her Dutch boyfriend.
Just as we are moving in, two women cyclists appear, an American and a Kiwi, Tanya and Suzy. Tanya is the girl that traveled with Viveke, the Danish girl we met in l’angostura, and they did split up eventually. Tanya and Suzy plan is to ride to Tarija and then up to Potosi. Maybe we can meet there again and team up to Sucre and Cochabamba. Tonight, we go for dinner together and exchange information. They have a LP of Bolivia and maps we can copy tomorrow, we have the footprint guide they are interested in.
Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 4,605 km (2,860 miles)
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