Cycling from my wild camping spot near Tupiza, I fully enjoyed the landscape as I cycled towards Tupiza itself. Part of my bike tour through Bolivia.
Bikepacking Tupiza Bolivia
I was quite warm over night, but early in the morning there was ice on the top of the tent. A breakfast of porridge, and then I hit the road.
Towards the end of yesterday, I had cycled up to a ridge way, and I continued following it in the morning.
As it turned out, I must have all but peaked at the top the night before, and so soon, a wonderful downhill section began.
Bottoming out at a valley, I stopped at a tienda to get more water, and then continued along the rough track.
It was a road that hadn’t seen a grader in a long time, and the six inch high corrugations were spaced less then a metre apart, and stretched the whole width of the road.
That said, this valley had something unusual… water, and trees! I hadn’t seen trees in probably more than a month.
Ok, they may not look much to you, but this was the most amount of greenery I had seen in a long time. The valley also had some wonderfully crazy rock formation.
Along the way, I met two French cyclists coming the opposite way (Roger and Monique).
I have to say, that I didn’t envy their journey towards Uyuni… when they left me, they would have had a pretty tough uphill climb that would probably take them the rest of the day to reach my camp spot of the night before.
For me, the road continued in a generally downhill manner, passing by even more weird and other worldly eroded rocks.
Quite a phallic looking rock!
The dirt road seems endless!
Even the small trickle of water flowing through the valley makes a big difference to what life can be supported. Llamas change to cattle, birds and insects flew through the air.
Having descended a few hundred metres probably made a difference as well, but I am still above the 3000 metres mark.
Cycling into Tupiza, I spotted Heidi, who showed me the way to a nice and economical hostel. I will take a couple of days off here to get the bike sorted, and buy some clothes from the large market which takes place on Thursdays.
Read more about cycling from Alaska to Argentina
– Dave BriggsDave Briggs wrote this bicycle touring blog post during his cycle trip from Alaska to Argentina.
Check out more of his bikepacking blogs, tips and gear reviews here: Bicycle Touring Tips.
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