Day 192 – San Cristabol, BO to Laguna Colorada, BO

Day 192 – San Cristabol, BO to Laguna Colorada, BO     03/01/11      Mileage: 118

The first thing I did today was drain the float bowl on the carburetor again to see that the gas was clear and free of grit…which it was and the bike fired up without hesitation. Damn I love this bike…I always say that a KLR will run on llama piss if it had to, which I still think is true…just have to make sure it doesn’t have dirt in it. People always ask me if I’m traveling alone and do I have a wife or girlfriend, to which I always say “mi moto es mi novia”…”my motorcycle is my girlfriend”. They laugh, but there is some truth to that…and while she’s a little fat and not that sexy, she is trustworthy, built like an ox and has looked after me for almost 25,000 hard miles across two continents. So after packing up and buying some low-grade hooch we headed back out across the Altiplano.

The road was muddy and slick in a lot of places and after one particularly long stretch of mud, Marshall’s bike overheated and began to spew antifreeze.

We pulled off the road and he pulled the right side fairing off to check the coolant level. Luckily it seemed worse than it was and the level, while slightly low, was still OK.

We pressed on after letting the bike cool for a bit and luckily the road began to dry out too. After all, we are getting pretty close to the Atacama desert…the driest desert on earth…so if the roads are muddy there…It’s time to build an ark!

I also bumped into Alex again! I first bumped into Alex in Ollantaytambo back in Peru and now I bumped into him again in the middle of the Altiplano….small world…  😉

This cute little fellow came out of nowhere sporting an American flag air freshener around his collar…how random is that! lol!

Just past the town of Villa Alota we turned south towards Villa Mar. It was tough finding the right track but we eventually found our way crossing several streams in the process. The mud gave way to deep sand in spots so you still had to pay attention…as sand will toss you just as easily as mud.

Megan had a little wee-off in the sand. She is one tough chica…no muss, no fuss, she just picks the pike up and keeps going. What a woman!  😉

Megan and Marshall gittin it done…while keeping their boots dry….   LOL

All the while the scenery was constantly changing with each landscape more different from the next.

Marshall had a scary low-speed wipe out and had his leg pinned under the bike. Luckily he walked away with only a bad bruise…as it could have easily broken his leg….not something that you want to do in middle of nowhere on the Altiplano.

Marshall says….    Altiplano…fook yeah!

Late in the afternoon the wind was blowing with a fury and there was little shelter in the featureless landscape near the road.

Laguna Colorada

 Just past Laguna Colorada we found a small dry canyon sheltered from the wind that we were able to get the bikes up into and make camp. Marshall and Megan made a nice pasta dinner while handled the drinks…hot chocolate with a shot of $1.50 hooch…perfect to chase away the evening chill.

It was the perfect ending to amazing day of riding high on the Bolivian Altiplano.