March 24, 2000
Day 154 To Tore Mayo Free Camping
We climb to get out of Potosi to the paved road. Beautiful view back to Cerro Rico and the city. We are told its “downhill” to Sucre—4100 meters to 2700 meters. We know that’s not true. It’s never all downhill. Tanya and Suzy and emailed about 2 climbs 700 meters and 1100 meters.
But for 50 km’s, it is pretty much down! We are on asphalt!! So even better for downhills. Nothing like having a downhill on a bad unsealed road where you have to go slow because of the rocks & ruts!! Leaves one feeling of being robbed of a downhill. But on asphalt! you can sail and even look around, don’t have to pay as much attention to the road.
The road takes us through more green, populated area, no longer the lone adobe hut with a herd of llamas being chased by a Bolivian woman. We even stop at a gas station for a break. It’s been awhile since taking rest stops at gas stations, the Copec’s I in Chile seem a long way away.
But then, nasty reality hits every once in awhile and there are climbs to struggle with. The mountains in the distance are huge, the valleys in between deep. The hills seem somewhat barren to us and reminds us of the hills around Boise.
Wow! Though when we hit this incredibly long beautiful downhill to the river, we become part of the scenery. We have been following a ridge and watching a thunderstorm build. Even had our rain jackets on when on the downhill it started to rain, we cross the bridge and reality again. We have to climb away from the river yet again. Patrick is waiting for me to catch up when a bus passes. He says he thinks the New Zealand girl from his mine tour waving to him.
We inch (Rachel inches, Patrick cycles) our way up to the town of Millares and take a break. This is where Tanya & Suzy stayed the night in the local hospital. We decide to continue on, they had mentioned a spot 15 km’s on that would be good to free camp. At 8 km’s, we crest a hill and see a bridge across the river, each end with a castle structure. Behind us is an area that looks like a possibility to camp.
Patrick investigates and finds part of the old road. We push our bikes up the gully, then along a ridge of scree. We’d had to unload the bikes for that part. But we finally are protected from sight, fix leftover takeout Chinese for dinner. What a treat!
Today's ride: 100 km (62 miles)
Total: 5,046 km (3,134 miles)
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