From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

Report on Peru (Sebastien)

Traveling through Peru was a bit of a strange experience, not altogether unexpected. We met wonderful people, generous, warm and friendly. We also met people we really could have done without, people who were mean, unfriendly and dishonest. Well, you say, they are all sorts of people in world. That’s true, but it seemed like Peru was a country of extremes – there was no middle ground. We are leaving with a good impression of the country though, especially of the beautiful countryside which we had lots of chance to admire.

Bienvenidos en Bolivia! (Sara)

We crossed over our 12th border. Sebastien kept an eye on the biked while I went to see about leaving Peru. First to the Police Station to make sure we didn’t have any outstanding fines, and then to Immigration. Then we got back on the bikes, and rode up a little hill and through an archway, passing into a different time zone. We set our watches ahead an hour and now we are only 6 hours behind France.

Getting into Bolivia was easy – just one stamp in our passports. The customs officer stamped my passport first and I saw that he put down “30.” Oh no, I thought, only 30 days in Bolivia – that’ll be rough! I took a chance and explained to him that we were biking and that 30 days wasn’t enough time. The officer crossed out 30 and wrote 90 – welcome to Bolivia!

As soon as we passed the border, the traffic was a lighter on the roads, and those cars that did pass us gave us a wide berth. No more honking – to the great relief of our ears. And the road, which we had thought would be bad, was quite well maintained.

Copacabana & Isla del Sol (Sara)

Our first stop in Bolivia was Copacabana, a super touristy town. We had plans to meet Ingo and Birte for dinner, a German couple travelling in a little RV. We’d run into them a couple of times along the way, and each time they stopped to make sure that we were ok and asked if we needed anything. That evening we met two other cyclists, Joyce from Ireland and Philip from England. They didn’t eat with us, though – Philip were feeling a little sick – but we planned to see them the next evening. We really enjoy spending time with other travelers, and share stories and ideas.

On our day off, we went to Isla del Sol, a beautiful, tourist island destination. We chose to get dropped off on the Northern part of the Island (2.5 hours by boat) and to walk across the island to catch the boat back to Copacabana (1.5 hour trip). The landscape was fantastic. The only downside was the local “tolls” for passing through the villages. We only paid 2 out 3, following the instructions of the tourist agency.

Lake Titicaca, Bolivian side (Sara)

The view was spectacular: the clear blue sky was reflected in the lake, the highest navigable lake in the world. We went around with Joyce and Philip who we met in Copacabana. They had started their trip in Cuzco and are heading to Ushuaia, hoping to get there by mid-November. They’re still so excited about their trip that they forgot to buy food or drinks, or to take out enough Bolivian money (Bolivianos) to make it the two days to La Paz! We talked a lot and they asked us all about our daily life on the road: what we eat for lunch and dinner, what medications we have, our stops in Bolivia, etc. It was like we were seeing ourselves as we were 15 months ago! We told them as much as we could, and assured them that in a couple of weeks they would be experienced cyclists that other people would ask for advice!

La Paz (Sara)

We were meeting Nicolas in El Alto. Nicolas is Kevin’s Dad, the cyclo-tourist that we met in Nicaragua, when he was helping Sylvie, the cyclist who was mugged. It turns out that Nicolas works in Microfinance (he even started a MFI), and he said that we would introduce us to some people in the field.

This German-Bolivian guy didn’t want us to bike across La Paz to see him, so he came to meet us, which we really appreciated – the last 5 km coming up to El Alto had been pretty strenuous. On our way to his place, the bikes on the roof rack and our bags safety tucked away in the trunk, he told us all about the city and sites that we were passing. La Paz is situated in a valley – 4100m at the highest point, and 2800m at the bottom. Dizzying!

The incredible view from the top gave the impression of a modern city, bigger than the other cities have we’ve been through in Central and South America.

Up Next  (Sara)

We had meeting today and we have another one on Monday with some Microfinance Institutions. We’ll also take the time to see the city. And we’ll bike down the “most dangerous road in the world.” It’s now open to bikes – starting from 4000m and going down to 1750m, beside a cliff 100 to 600m high. The road will take us to Coroico, a little village where Nicolas has a house and where we’ll spend the weekend.

We’re taking the shortest route through Bolivia as we are a bit late in our schedule: La Paz, Oruro, Uyuni, Tupiza. But we’ll take a side trip to Sucre and Potosi, and through Lipez with motorized vehicles.

Sara & Sébastien