Bolivia Motorcycle Trip April 2024
At the end of April in the year 2024, I rode motorcycles for 3 days in Bolivia.
First a little bit of background on how I ended up in Latin America.
Picking a country within South America was inevitable from my point of view, seeing how it was part of my personal global motorcycle mission. I wish to experience each of the continents from behind the bars of a two wheeled machine.
At the time of this writing, I only have two left on the list: Asia and Oceania (We are excluding Antarctica). Bolivia quickly rose to the top of the list amongst its neighboring countries for one simple reason, the Salar De Uyuni. These salt flats and the altiplano surrounding them were known to me from the "Bolivian Special" from one of my favorite shows, Top Gear. Also, this region was part of the 2016 DAKAR off road endurance race. I knew there was no place south of the equator I would rather shred.
If you have read about my trip to Morocco previously, you will understand that sometimes I take a solo trip. But having many months to plan for Bolivia, I thought I would do my best to make this trip open to some friends of mine who are also well accustomed to motorcycles and traveling to hard to reach places.
So after finding a tour guide in Bolivia and determining some dates and prices I managed to convince two of my friends to meet me in Bolivia. I was very clear that this would be a "type 2 fun" trip with several overnight travel days and the negative effects of altitude sickness in addition to the usual risks of travel.
Friend 1: Willy, a reliable relaxed gringo born and raised in Albuquerque but well traveled and schooled in exotic places like Dublin and Vancouver. We used to ride dual sports around the deserts and mountains in New Mexico when I lived there. He had a crf250 and I was on my dr650 at the time.
Friend 2: Edward, A cheerful and friendly Italian national from Belgium who has lived in London the last decade or so. I met him last spring as a fellow solo traveler on the Moroccan motorcycle tour. We maintained contact with visitations in both NYC and London in the year between Morocco and Bolivia.
With this team assembled and the three day riding tour reserved, we waited for April.
Day 1: USA to La Paz
I located a reasonable flight with a single layover to Bolivia. Unfortunately it was out of Dulles, a 150 mile drive from my home. So I started my day by driving the 3 hours to the park and ride were I was leaving my car for the week.
Flying out of Dulles was easy enough, a brief layover in Bogata meant I was landed at one of the highest international airports in the world (13,325ft). El Alto, directly adjacent to La Paz (the highest capital in the world). Due to my poor planning, I was very dehydrated by the time I reached Bolivia. I found myself acutely ill with the altitude and luckily there was a restroom at the migration/customs area. After emptying my stomach and medicating for the headache/nausea I paid for my tourist visa (about 130 USD) and entered the country.
La Paz is a large sprawling city that climbs the surrounding mountains on all 4 sides. Nearly 900,000 people live in the in red brick multi story dwellings and the few skyscrapers in the central area. This metropolis offered me a lovely luxury, Uber. So after being sick, I slouched into an Uber and headed down the hill to meet Willy who had arrived a day earlier to La Paz. He was kind enough to offer his couch at this rental apartment for me to rest from 3a-mid morning.
After showering and crushing some coca leaf tea I was starting to feel about as bad as a typical hangover. But no worse. So with the confidence of this herbal remedy and a cup of instant coffee, Willy and I set out for some breakfast before checking out of his apartment.
After an "American Style" breakfast of eggs and toast grabbed our bags and went out exploring in La Paz. Luckily for me, Willy has pretty functional basic Spanish. Mine is rudimentary at best and my vocabulary is quite small, so many Spanish phrases have every other word sounding like gibberish to my under educated monolingual brain.
We got the see the El Mercado De Brujas (The witches market), and it was mostly underwhelming. But it was a nice tourist alley with many trinkets and llama related garments. It did offer some rare ingredients and mummified llama fetuses. Within this market we stopped at a lovely coca themed cafe in a lush side alley garden.
Our next big mission of exploration was to ride the Teleferico (a gondola transit system). Because of its narrow winding streets, and incredible sloping hills on all sides, La Paz has build a city wide gondola system in the last 10 years.
It was by far the most peaceful transit I have ever used in my life. We took it all the way to the south end of the city. I think this was when I had my first of many Empenadas.
The next item on the La Paz tourist agenda was to see Valle de La Luna (Valley of the moon). We caught a minibus cab up the hill at it was only 2 Bolivianos(about 25c USD)! This was a unique rock formation with a hiking trail through it. It was a nice short hike. However I pressured Willy to keep it short as we were exposed to the high afternoon sun and there was no shelter anywhere along the hike. After the hike we had an ice cream and took an uber back to town. We had another coffee to recharge in the suburb of Irpavi.
Next we went to see Willy's friend who is from Bolivia but studied with him in the USA at UNM in Albuquerque. He now lives with his family in La Paz. We took a taxi to his house and hung out with his mom, and grandma for a few hours. We had some lovely yucca/cheese bread. We also received some fresh aloe plant from their garden for our slightly sunburnt skin.
Last mission of the day was to meet Ed at the bus station in La Paz for our overnight bus to Uyuni. We got a taxi from the suburb to the bus station in what was truly one of the craziest taxi rides I have ever experienced. It was the bumpiest, narrowest, and most creative route across the city. 40 min and 50 bolivianos later, we arrived at the bus depot and met up with Ed. We had some more cheesy empenadas and celebrated our accomplishment of meeting together in Bolivia to ride motorcycles. Ed was quite the spectacle with his fully loaded backpacking pack, auxiliary day bag and his helmet dangling from his shoulders. He had come straight from the airport after spending a week in Brazil with his girlfriend.
We paid a small extra fee (4-5 USD) for "lie flat" seats on the overnight bus. This turned out to be a fantastic investment. We each had our own "seat" recliner, a blanket, and a usb charging port. Additionally, each pod had curtains for privacy. Slight vibrations and bumps, but I managed to sleep at least 5-7 hours on our 10 hour bus trip.
Day 2: La Paz to Uyuni
I awoke to sunrise peaking through the bus windows and hardly minding our 600km overnight bus commute. We caught a taxi to our hotel and were fortunately allowed to leave our bags there and freshen up before setting back out. Willy and I had a coffee and a bit of breakfast at a tourist cafe in Uyuni and then met up with Ed after he had a bit more rest. Coincidentally, A few of Eds friends from London were traveling through South America and happened to be in Uyuni the same days as us. So we walked the village markets and streets with them and had a nice local style desayuno (lunch).
After Lunch we discussed money. Our motorcycle guide required payment in USD cash, so we had brought it with us from our countries of origin. We arranged to meet him in the afternoon to settle up the payments and paperwork before we started the tour in the morning. Glad we went early!
So heres the thing with USD in South America, they love USD because their currency is so weak and inflation is so rampant. However, they will not accept any "damaged" USD. Our bills had small tears and were soundly rejected by the tour guide AND the money handler at the currency exchange. (Interestingly, my slightly torn 100 USD bill was taken in exchange at the black market rate of 8:1 BUT with 10% deducted from its value for the tear).
Luckily, we were able to exchange some of the slightly damaged USD and removed more Bolivianos from the ATM to make up the difference. The guide was nice enough to accept Bolivianos to replace the unnaceptable USD cash.
After the heat of the day walking around (70F, but at the altitude and intense sun felt higher), Willy and I stopped for a beer at at shady street side cafe. Turns out it was a tourist trap as EACH beer was 25Bs. That was nearly the same price as our overnight bus ticket! However, the beer and the shade was amazingly refreshing. So perhaps it was a fairly priced consumer experience after all.
We met up with Eds euro friends for some BBQ kebabs and more local beers. Was a nice selection of beef and chicken. I also took the opportunity to shoot some drone footage of the city with the setting sun.
The hotel was spacious and well furnished. Being on the 3rd floor did constantly remind me of how thin the air was as I huffed my way up the stairs.
A sound sleep was had.
DAY 3: Uyuni
Finally, after 2 days of travel, it was time to RIDE MOTORCYCLES. we had a lovely breakfast at the hotel and then walked 10 min across town to the workshop. Between 930 and 11 we got kitted out in gear, and learned our machines. Our guide, Robin, was an older gentleman(59 years), from London who has lived in Bolivia for 17 years and has become a Bolivian citizen. He also races motorcycles and had many trophies in his shop to demarcate his motor sport accomplishment in Rally and Motocross.
Ed and I were on XR400s and Willy was on a 400cc Honda Falcon. In other words, Willy was on a less aggressive bike than our proper dirt bikes. But the trade off was fair, because he was the only one with electric start! The XRs were tricky to kick start, requiring maximum follow through on the kick only after getting the piston to TDC(top dead center, the starting point of the combustion cycle. Achieved by pushing the kick lever down until the engine rotates to TDC). But before long were were motoring our way out into the mesa.
We followed Robin out past the airport and along this camel grass covered altiplano along the edge of the Salar de Uyuni (The Uyuni Salt Flats). During a pause, robin told us about how this area was not an actual road route and any tire tracks we saw on the ground were from narcos running drugs across the desert straight across the Salar and over the mountains into Chili and down to the sea port. He also told us that trying to access the Salar from this point was very unsafe because except at the designated entry point, the perimeter of the dried lake was a slushy salty swamp that regularly ensnared poorly navigated vehicles.
Somewhere about 1 hour into riding my clutch lever snapped off at the hinge and was floppy but usable. I showed the guide and temporarily mended it with some zip ties I always carry with me. I had a good chuckle that I had repaired the bike in the same way I would back home as if it was an ordinary Sunday ride and not a guided tour halfway round the world.
After a brief stop at a tourist depot showing how the salt was harvested and refined for sale, we rode right onto the salt flats. With the passing of the rainy season several weeks earlier, the lake was mostly dry. The few slushy puddles were easy to navigate and only lasted a few hundred meters before we reached the dry hard pack of the salt flat.
After our lunch and hike we got back on the bikes late in afternoon and I could tell our guide was getting anxious about how late it was in the day. We only had two hours left of daylight and we were 2 hours from Uyuni. As we took off from the island, a local guide was complaining about how loud our bikes where. People always jeer and moan about dirt bikes, in any country in the world ^_^ .
We only stopped once on the way back at the Dakar Memorial, I set up my drone to "follow mode" and took some tracking shots of myself riding around the memorial. They turned out very cool with the long shadows. We then motored out to the edge of the Salar and splashed our way through some big salty puddles. Ed stalled a few times, but no one fell into the briny slurry. By the time we were off the Salar it was properly dusk and our guide was briskly leading us back to town.
It was during this colorful spectacle of sunset over the altiplano that I learned about the cumbersome regulation of petrol in Bolivia. Gas is a highly regulated consumer good in the country. So for each vehicle you fill at the station, you must first provide verification that both your personal documents and vehicle documents are in good standing. Once the match is made with the computer with the gas station attendant, then you can have the gas pumped and paid for. We had four motorcycles to fill, so we had to repeat this process in quadruplicate.
By the time we got back to town it was dusk and our weak dirt bike lamps gave us little assistance navigating the dusty rush hour back to the shop. Bolivia is a very dangerous place to drive at night, even more so for motorcycles after dusk. So our guide was visibly relieved to get his charge safely off the bikes that night.
We had such a great experience with the salt, the bikes, and riding. We decided to celebrate with a large meal and a bottle of wine. We walked down to the city park where there was a live marching band, street vendors, and lots of local good cheer. We popped into a local street BBQ spot and had a massive "mixto" spread of chicken, steak, and sausage bbq with rice and veggies. The local red wine was also quite good. An amazing meal for just 50Bs each.
After filling our bellies we went back to our rooms at our new hostel for the next two nights. It was a new hostel full of the typical crowd of mostly European single travelers on gap years from school or taking sabbatical from professional work.
Day 4: Uyuni
After a morning breakfast at the hostel of toast, eggs, fruit, and some lovely yogurt drink we walked back to the workshop. Robin had cleaned and mended the bikes overnight and was eager for us to hit the road. Todays journey would be rocks, lakes, and wildlife viewing, with a hot spring thrown in to boot.
After about an hour of tarmac, we turned off into the mountains north east of Uyuni. Vicuña, which are the wild relative of llamas, littered the plains of the mountains. Slender, agile, and delicate. They seemed well adapted to the thin air of the altitude. Not fearful of humans(because hunting animals is illegal in Bolivia) and ever watchful for the key predator of this region, the Puma.
It was, frankly speaking, a stupendous day for wildlife viewing. As we criss-crossed the mountain passes and fertile canyons we encountered llamas, birds(hawks and condors), sheep, emus, flamingos, and a few small song birds. I never would have imagined such biodiversity at altitudes above 13,000 feet. The adaptation of these animals was so interesting.
We paused for a break at a pond in the mountains far along a small farm road, we chatted with a man who lived in a small farm house up on the hill. The locals were so cheery and welcoming to us travelers passing through their plots of mountain land. No sense of trespassing or disgust at our presence in their wild domain. Our guide said the folks enjoying the visit as many times it would be the only visitor they may see for several days or longer. These remote areas in the mountains have no through traffic and rarely see tourists.
As we sat in the shade of a big rock, Robin told us tales of his migration from London to Bolivia and his former life as a motorcycle courier in London during the peak of that industry in the 1980s. He worked delivering parcels to high and low society in London for 15 years. After that he worked various other automotive related jobs, specializing in repair and reconstruction. He has a lifetime of experience fixing things. His tales were as tall as any I have ever heard, but I was keen to believe that most of them were accurate (at least in his remembering of them).
The next miles of high mountain primitive road were tiresome not because of the road conditions, but just the thin air. I found myself working hard to stay focused in my mentation and getting quite gassed after only short technical sections of riding. The difference in my overall ability from 12000ft to 13500 was very noticeable. Again, when kick starting the bike, I was only allowed 2 or 3 attempts before I was breathing quite hard and my heart was pounding in my ears.
My error in day 2 was thinking we would have access to a small village or tienda. I had not brought enough water for the whole day and was very dry and dehydrated by the time we returned to town. The rate at which you lose water in the arid high desert is quite shocking. Reminded me so much of living in New Mexico. A slightly less extreme version of this Bolivian Altiplano region.
We made better on our schedule in day 2 of riding, we got back to town and gas filling before dusk and were back home for a more reasonable dinner time. At the guides recommendation, we went to a pizza place in town owned and run by an American from Boston. Definitely a gringo place, but the pizza was of good quality and I had mine with llama sausage on it.
After our pizza we went out walking and looking for a pool hall we had seen two nights earlier while walking the village. After much walking, and finally asking someone, we found it near the town park. It was a public pool hall with broken windows, busted tile, and seriously well used billiards equipment. Despite this description of decay, the hall was welcoming and cheery with its local Saturday night crowd. The beers were cheap, the music was peppy, and the all-ages patronage were grinning ear to ear. (Note: I do not mean to say all ages were drinking, in fact I think we were the only people in the establishment with beers in our hands). After two rounds of three-way(cut throat) games of pool we called it a night.
Day 5: Uyuni
Day 3 of riding was actually what my nerd brain was most looking forward too. We would be riding the same roads that were part of the 2016 Bolivia Dakar race route.
We set forth from the shop and had about 1.5 hours of tarmac before we got to the starting point of the off road route. We stopped for a photo after about an hour at an overlook, and when we got ready to set out again I noticed Willy had a flat on his front tire. So the guide did a tube replacement and we were on our way within 20 or 30 minutes.
We had lunch in the small town of Rio Mulatos. It was a very nice spread of peanut pasta soup with meat and chicken over rice. With full bellies, we set out to conquer the Dakar road! Very sandy roads today.
Against logic, it is easier to ride sand at a faster speed. When riding at a slower more cautious pace, the front wheel tends to push the sand around like a snow plow and the rear spins and slides from side to side. This results in the bike feeling like it will topple at any moment and the rider must paddle with their feet to keep the machine upright.
However, with practice, a higher speed results in great results in sand. The front wheel does not push through the sand. Instead it turns lightly and easily over the top surface and the rear performs similarly. By staying on just the top layer of sand, the rider enjoys great control over the bike and will have a pleasant experience of speed to boot.
I was genuinely impressed at how well Ed and Willy adapted to the sandy conditions on this track. Unlike me(who rides sand often), they had not ridden motorcycles in the last year or more and have very limited experience in the off road realm of riding. But within a few miles, they had mostly gained the knack for keeping the bikes nimble in the sand. Happily everyone was smiling and no one had fallen over by the time we reached the end of the sandy stretches for the day. In reflection, it was probably the overall lightness of our machines than made this section so manageable for all of us.
We rode on for many miles until we reached another lagoon. It was another red lake. But this one had loads more flamingoes. So we took a rest in the shade and set our drones to the sky once more. Flying and buzzing around I was able to capture some high quality footage of the birds.
As we packed up a shepard brought his herd of llamas right past us and said hello in some cheery Ketchuwan(the local indigenous language), we replied with smiles and waves.
As the shadows grew long during the last day of riding we encountered some very bumpy washboarding which suddenly changed into dried deep ruts from earlier rain. I narrowly dodged the ruts as I watched the guide nearly get bucked off his bike. It was a stark reminder at how the angle of the sun can obscure even some of the largest hazards on the road.
It was also near this area where a previous client of the guide had crashed just a week earlier. He had failed to notice the guide bike in front stop for a hazard and had crashed right into the back of Robin at +40km/h. This damaged his bike and sent the client to the hospital with a broken collarbone. Needless to say, Robin was quite happy to have an uneventful tour with our group.
After we made it back to town we gave Robin our thanks for guiding us safely and gave a tip in a value reflecting he should go out and have a a few nice meals on us. Willy had a hotel for his last night in Uyuni, and was kind enough to allow us to shower before we began our multi day trip home.
I was saddened to wrap up the motorcycles part of the trip, but also relieved that we had made it through without incident or injury. These risks are always somewhat high when you throw a leg over a two wheeled machine and point it straight into the desert.
Now for the long journey home. We had pizza again with the whole crew. Us motorcycle travelers and Ed's European friends. Ed and I said goodbye to Willy at the bus depot as we would be taking the overnight bus to return to La Paz and Willy would be taking a bus the next day to continue his Latin America ramblings. Willy was headed to Chili and then Argentina in the next few weeks.
The lie flat bus sure was a treat to cover massive distances in remote places.
Day 6: Uyuni to La Paz
I awoke to the bus pulling into the city as the sun was just starting to light up the world. Ed, myself, and his London friend took a taxi to a hostel where our bags would be kept. We then had one more tourist day in La Paz.
We had a great time riding the Teleferico all over town during the morning commute and watching everyone rush to school and work on a typical Monday morning. The transit is just so smooth and sublime. It was also so neat to see it working at full capacity, shuttling hundreds of people silently up and down the cliffs of the city.
I made one or two tourist purchases and enjoyed a lovely bimibap(Korean style) lunch over some fresh quinoa(which is one of the staple crops grown in the mountains in Bolivia). After Lunch we stopped at the state capital square and checked out the national art museum.
It was a nice cultural exhibit that allowed us a break from the sun. By afternoon I was quite tired. I settled into a cafe seat at the hostel and started working on uploading all my photos and videos from my recording devices.
After a (subpar) burger at a western style restaurant near the hostel, I took an uber to the airport. My flight was at 3am.
Day 7: La Paz to Philadelphia
I slumped into a chair at the airport and watched the hours tick by. Half Asleep, I filled in the appropriate visa forms and checked in after midnight for my flight.
Narcotics are no joke in Central and South America. Several members of our flight were pulled aside for personal searches and they even brought out the drug dog just minutes before we boarded for a final inspection.
I had one last cheese empenada before getting on the plane and promptly dozing off. We landed into Bogata just after sunrise and had to go through two more security checks before switching to the last plane to the US.
The final screening made me the most uncomfortable. It was conducted at the gate by a private security company (Securitas) and not a police or federal agent. They TOOK my passport and did a residue test on my clothes and items for gunpowder or drugs. I honestly didnt mind the thorough examination, I just felt very uncomfortable relinquishing my passport to a rent-a-cop in a foreign country.
By the time I landed in the USA it was 2pm. Oddly enough, despite all the travel, I remained exclusively on EST. So my communication with folks at home was in the correct time zone.
US customs were a breeze and before I knew it I was back at my car at the park-n-ride outside Washington D.C. The drive home from there was rather horrendous, but I took the long way through Delaware and skipped most of I95.
Home before dark and with Wednesday off of work like normal, I had a whole day to rest and recharge.
But with work and normal day to day activities it has taken me almost a week to update the written portion of my record. I apologize for the length of this story telling, I wish to keep it complete primarily for my memory and secondarily for your consumption.
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