Big city traffic, again.

Jan 14 Cococabana to La Paz

The morning started with a nice breakfast at the hotel followed by a little unexpected tire repair. Somehow the valve stem sheared off the tube completely, and I don’t remember riding on a flat tire, so after about an hour of fiddling around I installed the spare tube and we were on our way. The other thing that needed fixing was the skid plate bolt again, this time the other side sheared off in the frame. It appeared I was in need of a drill one more time, but it would have to wait until La Paz because there was no power in Cocacabana today.

The next thing we added to our “list of firsts” was a ferry ride across a narrow portion of the lake. The word ferry is used as a general term describe  the  process of transporting vehicles across water, what we were actually riding in was a large flat bottomed boat, with a plank deck similar to the bridges in Peru. The ferry could hold two cars and a couple motorbikes and that was about it, some of the ferries were taking one truck or bus at a time, the cost was $20Boliviano (approx $3CDN) for each bike and the ride was about 5 minutes.

 

 

Shortly after the ferry ride the looming clouds opened up and we had to put on the rain gear again, this worked out well as it was a cold day anyway and the rain gear is nice and warm.  The first impression of La Paz was not very good, the highway brings us in through an industrial area and the sides of the road are lined with all kinds of ugly establishments, plus there is a wide mud section between the pavement and the business frontages. The only advantage was that we found a small machine shop where I could get the frame drilled and a new bolt installed. The guys were helpful and laughed at the size of the bike, and my boots. Apparently when I was installing the bolt they were standing behind me comparing foot sizes, then they all laughed when the shortest of the guys stood beside the bike, the seat was up to his chest.

One of the guys comparing foot sizes when I wasn't looking.

The next stop was in the motorcycle sales area to buy a new tube to replace the spare I installed, this was an easy task as there is typically an entire street of bike dealers and bike parts stores. Then it was time to tackle the insanity of La Paz traffic and it did not disappoint us in the slightest.

Our first view of La Paz.

The lack of street signs added with the aggressive drivers and just the shear volume of vehicles on the streets made is a huge parking lot most of the time. The traffic lights that do exist have a stop watch connected to them that shows how long until the light changes color, sometimes one car would get through a 90 sec light change. All this was topped by the fact that we could not find any hotels, anywhere. We went up and down a few streets in the downtown area and nothing could be found. We moved to an area outside of the core and still no luck, we ended up in a north east suburb in a hotel just before dark. It seemed to be the only hotel in a city of a million people. So needless to say that in the morning we packed up and went in search of the infamous “Death Road”.

This was fairly easy to find as there are lots of mountain bike tours that operate on the road so just follow the vans with mountain bikes on the roof and they led us to the starting point. We had been warned to be either in front of or behind the bicycles. We managed to get in front of them and just as expected the road was very narrow, windy, and with steep cliffs off the side. There were spots with waterfalls landing right on the road and a couple of spots with landslides either covering the road or removing part of the road. Fortunately there is a highway route on the other side of the valley so all the trucks and most of the cars use that route instead. We only met one small car on the road so there was plenty of space for us to get by each other. As we got farther along and lower in elevation the weather cleared enough to see the spectacular valley below, way below. Then as quickly as it started it was over and we were stopped by a little lady with a rope across the road, she was in charge of collecting the nominal fee for using the Death Road, about $4Cdn each. It was quiet warm by this point so  we took off our rain gear and rode the last 15km to the town of Coroico.

  

The last 9km of approach road into town was all cobblestone and we revelled at how much work it must have been to make, and wondered how long it had been there. Once in town it was quiet easy to find the central square and take a small break in the now blazing sun. Shortly after sitting down on a park bench a motorcycle with two police officers on it pulled up. The driver and the more senior officer approached us and made a comment about Brenda’s muscular arms. Then he asked if we were part of Dakar, we laughed together then he asked a question about his bike. The 200cc Honda was making a funny noise and I guess the Colonel figured I could fix it. I was shocked when he gave me the key and made a circular motion with his hand, I obliged and took his bike for a lap around the central park.

There were two issues I noticed, the first is that the chain needed lubrication as it was making a terrible rattle and the second was that every time I backed off the throttle the engine would stop. I told the subordinate officer to lube the chain and then adjusted the idle screw a bit to prevent the stalling. The officers were very curious about what I was doing with my leatherman tool, so I explained as best I could using hand signals and basic words. Turn screw this way=rapido, turn screw that way=despachio(slow). They got the message and were thankful for the help. After that we felt safe leaving our bikes as everyone within sight was watching us fix the police Chief’s bike. We really liked the town and decided to stay overnight, at least we could find a hotel , later on that evening finding supper was a bit more of a challenge as the power was out and some restaurants were closed.

The parking at the hotel also provided a great spot to perform a little maintenance. Brenda’s chain has been getting sloppy and the tensioner was almost at its’ limits. I had a spare chain in the luggage as well as a front sprocket so the replacement was done in about an hour. A nice enough way to spend the evening as there was no internet and nothing on TV.  I donated the old parts to the travel Gods and knew that they would end up on a local bike someday, somehow.