Old CZ´s (Jawa) never die...they just end up in Bolivia! This guy was absolutely ripping up the desert with this old beast and its ¨cookie cutter¨tires but I couldn´t help noticing who was wearing the skid lid and hoped that his wife´s hat was tough!!
One cold campsite near Isla Pescado, on the salt flats of Uyuni (cold but gorgeous)
This isn't what we pictured when they said four lanes! Lots of lines and none of them good!
Laguna Colorado
Laguna Verde
washing the bikes
packing up camp Salar de Uyuni 
Lori does tricks in the salt flats - one tough Bolivian orange
One of the neatest junkyards we have ever seen...the tren cemetario "Asi es la vida" (Such is life)
a bag of coca leaves, 96% alcohol, dynamite & blasting cap - ready to go silver mining in Potosi
Valle de Luna (Valley of the Moon)..south of La Paz
The infamous ¨road of death¨from La Paz to Coricco. Nothing dangerous at all but some fantastic jungle scenery! (now that the drunks and lunatic bus/truck drivers are not allowed to travel this route)
Yup...some mountain in the middle of Bolivia
Lori and her good friend baby llama on the Isla de Sol, Lago Titikaka
La Paz the capital of Bolivia sits in a beautiful valley and is the fastest growing city in S America
thankful that Lori´s cute little friend didn´t end up a dried llama fetus in the Witches Market, La Paz city
Close up of an adult Andean Condor which has the widest wing spread of any bird in the world and now considered endangered throughout its range.
Just another ¨snake in the grass¨...Mr Boa does his best to intimidate!
A really easy, quiet crossing into Bolivia on the 2nd of June...the usual slow paperwork but not a single vehicle passed over the border during our 2 hr. visit! Our first stop was only 20 km away and consisted of a 10 plus km hike on the Isla de Sol (sun) on Lago Titikaka. This is supposed to be a very famous hike but to tell you the truth it didn´t do to much for us...the scenery reminds us of Baja and is actually very pretty against the vivid blue waters of Titikaka. Checked out a few Inca Ruins on the hike (this Isla is considered the birth place of the mighty Inca empire)
June 4th - A day later we checked into La Paz...a surprisingly beautiful city in a gorgeous setting! Despite not having any maps we managed to snag a ¨shed¨to live in that was right in the heart of the city. (Over the next few days we got to do alot of riding in the city...interesting to say the least...the clutch in the 650 is still complaining!) In the city we checked out the famous witches market (some pretty cool stuff including lllama fetuses, all kinds of pickled varmits, medicines and lots of pieces of rare and endangered animals! The La Paz zoo was surprisingly interesting with a fantastic jaguar and condor breeding program. The Valley of the Moon is just part of the sur-real landscape that surrounds this city. We missed getting into the coca museum in Puna (Peru) but got into the museum in La Paz. The idea here is that coca is a part of the indigenous life style in both Peru and Bolivia and these museums promote the continued legalization of coca and say that it is only the western demand for cocaine that has ¨demonized¨coca. (Right now personal use of the leaves is legal (I think because they are for sale everywhere) but there are forces (read USA) that are demanding actions such as widespread spraying of coca fields with various vegetation killers) I have to admit that although chewing cocoa leaves (with the ash like substance that activates the drug portion of the leaves is extremely wide spread and seems to have no negative effect on the people that use it. What is interesting is that the Catholic Church demanded the out-lawing of chewing coca leaves back in the 15 century BUT after the spanish realized that the workers that chewed coca could work 48 hr shifts without food and or rest they actually made in MANDATORY that all mine workers (slaves) chewed coca (and of course then took over the coca industry and made the slaves (workers) but coca out of their meager wages. More on this later!
June 6th - We then headed out of the city to tackle the ¨most dangerous road in the world¨which lead into the Yungas province (jungle territory which happens to be the leading cocoa growing area in Bolivia) and the nice little mountain town of Coricco. Nothing to dangerous about this road but gorgeous jungle scenery, waterfalls on the road and some long drops (but then again the idea is to stay on the road isn´t it!) We had a great time and loved the Hotel Esmeralda...the first time that I got to wear my shorts in S America...those brown legs of Central America are scary looking white sticks...saw a few gals toss on shades when I showed up!!!
June 7th - We then hit the road to southern Bolivia...some really cold riding but fantastic scenery and lots of old ¨ghost towns¨that at one time had huge mines. Actually many of the places were really eerie but made for some great exploring. Our destination after a few days of riding the high alpine-pampas plains was the mining town of Potosi.June 8th - The silver mines in Potasi started operation in 1558 and continue to this day! All the mining is centered on one mountain, Cerro Rico and it is estimated that 8 million Bolivians and black slaves have lost their lives over the years this mountain has been mined! (from accidents, posioning from cyanide-mercury etc.) So our idea is to take a mine tour but first of all we need to find a place to stay. This will be the first and last time that Lori sends me out on this mission as I selected a -7 star...to say Lori was NOT impressed is an understatement!
So our mine tour..first of all we stop by the Miners market to buy a few goodies to give to the miners we are going to see. The miners lunch (literally!!!) consists of a huge bag of coca leaves and catalysts (to get that good old coka going), 96% (not proof!) alcohol (with pop as a mixer), a few packs of hand rolled butts...and I though Mickey D lunches were bad for you! Obviously no big deal as the average miner starts underground at 10 to 12 years of age and is usually dead and guaranteed to be suffering from lung disease 10 years after going ¨mole¨. Next I bought a real stick of dynamite and blasting cap-fuse for 10 Bolivianos (or about 1.20 US $)...eat your heart out M80¨s! So what was it like underground?...surprisingly pleasant! No women are allowed in the tunnels (which after 450 plus years of mining make the mountain a chunk of swiss cheese) and the men work hard but have these little rooms where they go through a series of rituals to give thanks to mother earth etc. (to me seemed more like a party with booze and coca (by the way we tried out the coca leaves and catalyst and it really does give you a bit og a high...for about a buck!)
We got to climb through some pretty neat tunnels and narrow places and checked out a few miners at work! I can tell you we sure have it easy in Canada...this is downright depressing!
June 10th - On the road and its over one week of dirt roads, dust, rocks, sand, dust ,dust and more dust as we head to Uyuni and set up for a trip to the salt flats and Lagunas! The road from Potosi to Uyuni, although dirty and dusty covers some fantastic mountain-desert scenery and the Tren Cemetario (train cemetary) in Uyuni is awesome...hundreds of tons of old steam locomotives sinking slowly into the desert. What I would give to have one of those engines in our yard...lets see 40$ for 2kg to Canada...100 tons =??? I think I will let them rot in Uyuni! The trip to and across the Salt Flats is absolutely fantastic! Definitely a hi-light of our trip so far! The scenery is unbelievable and because we were doing it on our own we camped right on the salt on a completely deserted island..unreal (and increadibly cold as the salt is just like ice) I was able to shut my eyes and count to 120 slowly while riding...how many places can you do that and not pay the price!) After a couple of days on the salt we headed to the Lagunas...lets just say that Lori kissed the blacktop when we finally made it through to Chile!!! My map would have been good for bum fodder but would have gotten lost on the way to my butt! Talk about useless and of course I didn´t ask anyone about how one should actually get to the Lagunas. Lets just say we got lost a few times (ended up on the border of Chile twice...how?...no one knows including the border guards!!!), almost ran out of gas a couple of times (way out in the middle of nowhere), did a few good ¨get-offs¨(Lori really did her knee in and I just missed busting my ankle when a 2 foot deep stream crossing with 3 inches of ice went bad and 500 lbs of Japanese pot metal landed on my ankle pinning me hopelessly until some locals came along and lifted the Hondog off me (took 5 of them!). In between dodging rocks, sand, washboards and absolutely freezing our butts off in the tent we had a good time and saw some fantastic scenery! (sounds like fun doesn´t it?...it is after its all over!) One thing that was funny is that whenever we asked how long to the next place the locals would answer 2 hrs (etc:) but it would take us 4 or 5 hrs. They were basing their times on the local tour operators and the Toyota Land Cruisers they were driving! Man I have a new found admiration for Toyotas...Chad...if you drove a Ford at half the speed these guys drive their Toyotas you would need to drag a big magnet behind you to pick up all the Ford parts that would break or drop off!!!
All in all Bolivia was great...she is getting pretty cold and the Hondogs are not starting with it being this high (3600 to 4800 m ASL) and cold (well below 15 below...we are using our -25 bags and are wearing socks, longjohns, 4 layers on top and still freezing at night) Every morning we ¨cook¨the motos with the stove but they still sound like a cat being beat with a stick when they finally start up...hard on the motors...don´t ask! (and you can´t buy anything other than 20-50 weight oil here! As a result Loris 250 is smoking like a Mexican deisel...I don´t need to keep her in sight any more as I can smell the burning oil anytime I am downwind!!! (but she still runs great) Hey Ernie...I know what you mean when you ¨talk down¨the handling of the 650...she is death on wheels and every time you see sand you had better prepare to jump ship! (actually I have only dropped the bike once but I just about neutered myself at about 100 in a sand pit when she did the big swap about 5 times back and forth before I corraled the hog!!! (a guy right in front of us crashed and broke his leg on a Suzuki...ugly to say the least as we were 10 hrs from the nearest medical facilities!!!
