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11 Jun 2014
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Sucre Bolivia
The 156 km drive from Potosi to Sucre is paved and incredible over the high mountains and plateaus.
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We passed through another toll and the ladies there were very interested in where we had come from.
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On the way there were several castle like buildings in the middle of nowhere.
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Sucre is said to be the most beautiful city in Bolivia and is considered the symbolic heart of the country. It has many white washed buildings hence it’s nick name “ the white city”.
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Our Moto concierge Charlie was checked into a cheep and nice Hostal 2 blocks from the square and where we could park our bikes in the courtyard. Lulu fit in just, but Dan had to remove a pannier to get in the door. This is where the mini metal tape measure his mom gave him comes in very handy.
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11 Jun 2014
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Sucre Bolivia
We did a small walking tour of the city center and climbed up onto the roof of a fancy hotel for an amazing view. You can also pay to get into the convent school and climb up the bell towers and onto the roof.
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11 Jun 2014
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Tarabuco Bolivia
Since today is Sunday we headed to the nearby town of Tarabuco for the famous Sunday market.
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Many people here are wearing traditional Yampara costumes. It is only 66 km by the route 6, which we found was blocked 10 km out of town for a car rally and so is 76 km away via rt5 and 10 k very bad dirt connector to rt6. The round trip was 144 km.
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The main square was filled with vendors selling traditional wares for tourists, but all the side streets were packed with vendors selling almost anything you can think of to the people who have come from the surrounding villages. The most interesting were the women with the bowler type hats and those with the caps with the fringe of white beads. We hung out just people watching until the road was open at 2 pm. Daniel made friends with two of the male vendor and talked with them for hours.
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11 Jun 2014
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Booking it back to Peru!
Back in Sucre the guys checked out the very good local artisanal  sold by a Belgian restaurant and then we had dinner for the second night in a row at the very good French restaurant La Taverna. They have amazing steaks with NYC service and presentation.
Now we need to get back to Peru ASAP. This meant back tracking the 156 Km on the RN 5 to Potosi and then going 303 km north on the Pan-American to Oruro.
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The entire distance is under construction with constant desvios (detours). We cannot understand why they don’t just do the road in 20 km stretches to completion and then move on. Now there is 300 km of mayhem. There are a huge number of transport trucks and busses too all belching black smoke. We saw some snow on the way too.
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Now we are in striking distance of the border.
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11 Jun 2014
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Got MUD?
The RN 1 goes directly thru La Paz. The road conditions are pretty bad and there are hundreds of mini busses jostling for position and passengers. We had decided to try to bypass as much of the city as possible and took the Rt 9 southwest to Viacha. There is then a connector road back to the RN 1 at the indigenous town of Laja.
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This is 20 km of dirt or as it was today mud for much of it. The dryer parts had two tracks to ride on except when the transport trucks were oncoming and you had to pull off onto the muddy shoulder. That said the first few km and then a few deep mud sections after this were the worst.
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11 Jun 2014
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Laja
The town of Laja is filled with people in traditional costumes. This was actually at one time the capital of Bolivia.
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11 Jun 2014
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Tiwanaku Bolivia
Then it was only another 35 km to Tiwanaku.
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11 Jun 2014
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Tiwanaku Bolivia
This town is set on the Altiplano as is the ruins of the ancient city of Tiwanaku or Tiahuanaco.
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It was founded 3000 years ago and lasted about a thousand years and had a population of about 50,000. In Bolivia and Peru the highlands and lowlands are divided by an imaginary northwest-southeast axis aligned by water bodies, making Tiwanaku the axis point. The city was the center of Andean civilization and was the inspiration for the Inca Empire.
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The site is fairly nice with signs and a guide paper in “English”.
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11 Jun 2014
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Tiwanaku Bolivia
There was an amazing sunken plaza where the walls were covered with stone masks.
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11 Jun 2014
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Tiwanaku Bolivia
There are several nice arches and statues too.
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There is also a museum housing artifacts of ceramic.
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11 Jun 2014
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Buying gas in Bolivia
Buying gas here in Bolivia can be stressful since we have had people tell us they have been denied gas. It is true that the price of gas is highly subsidized here and so the price for the locals is low. This means that foreigners pay 2.5 the pump price. The government YPFB stations all have the “official receipt” and will sell you gas. At the private stations they get all stressed out if they don’t have a receipt book. This may be why they “ wont sell you gas”. In the times we did not go to YPFB, we just said “no factura” (no receipt) and they sold us gas.
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The guy in the back on the phone had a 10 min conversation with someone about whether they could sell us gas…they did.
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Here they gave us a 2-page receipt.
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At this station it took 3 people to enter our info into the computer and then they took about 15 min to decide what price we should pay even though it was clearly posted on the pump.
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Must be my lucky day!!
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11 Jun 2014
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The border of Peru
After touring the archeological site and museum it was after 11 when we left to head the 45 km to the border and Puno in 191 km.
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The road is pretty bad with potholes filled with rocks. The GPS lead us to what is actually the truck crossing, but luckily some locals directed us in the right direction. Basically take the first right on the dirt road into the town and when you hit the paving stones take a right and then a left.
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Go straight and you will see the migration building. Park on the right side of the road. The migration is to the left. Enter the second door to the right where the signs list various nationalities. They will stamp your passport for exit.
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Then drive up to the end of the building and again park on the right. Go around to the left at the front of the building to the small aduana window and hand in your Bolivian temporary permit.
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Now drive over the bridge and the guard will direct you to park to the right.
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Just ahead and to the right is immigration. Inside the doors pick up a tourist paper from the guy at the desk. Then line up for the official who wants the paper and your passport for entry stamp. Next cross the road to the aduana office. They want your Passport, Driver’s license, and title. They will ask you the value of your bike and have you sign the permit stating that you owe this value if you do not leave Peru with your bike. The SOAT or insurance required in Peru cannot be purchased here at this border, but in Puno in 145 km. We made it very quickly thru the border and headed to Puno with our first view of Lake Titicaca.
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12 Jun 2014
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Puno Peru
Arriving in Puno it was a much nicer town than we had heard. Dan gave a lift to the bellboy who was taking us to the parking garage 3 blocks away. We went for very good Chinese food because we were missing Ellens’s cooking. There was a large parade of school children thru the streets to the Cathedral.
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12 Jun 2014
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Cusco
Before leaving town we went to a local auto lavado to get the layer of mud cleaned off the bikes. They have never been so clean. They did an amazing job.
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The next order of business after crappy Bolivian gas was to find some better octane fuel. We did have to settle for 90, but the bikes are happier.
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The views crossing the pass to Cuzco in 388 km are stunning with the peak at 4338 m.
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There are lots of herds of Llamas on the roadside, but they are quite smart unlike Vicunas and rarely run out in front of you.
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12 Jun 2014
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cracked oil pan
We came across 6 Brazilians at a rest stop and had to take a break for photo ops.
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We stopped for lunch Sicuani about 140 km from Cuzco. After eating we were just about to leave when Daniel noted a pool of oil under my bike! Taking off the bash plate we found that we had not cleaned out all the rocks from the border blockade and that one of the very high Tope or speed bumps in La Paz or Puno along with the rock had caused a crack in the oil pan. While we were taking the bash plate off a man came buy to ask if we really came from Canada. What are the chances a Peruvian Guy who lives part time in Richmond BC walks buy and that he owns a moto shop 2 blocks away where we could but some Motul oil and borrow a funnel. He also found a shop for us where we could wash out the oil and dirt from the bash plate so we could check for further leakage. Dan assessed the situation and got out his quick steel (yeah!). It is so lucky we had this. It only takes 60 min for full set and then we were on our way again. No leaking so far.
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Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
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