Monday, September 26, 2011

if only i could have captured all that I saw

i take copious amounts of pictures, and yet still manage to miss so many wonderful sights. the last couple of days I've been riding the world's most dangerous road - half of it in fog and rain, and have now made it to the glorious shores of lake titicaca on my way out of Bolivia. technically my 3 month visa expired yesterday, but I think i'll just have to get a couple of days on the isla del sol before i say goodbye to this country of extremes, beauty, wonderful people and good memories.

The road between Caranavi and Coroico - thankfully quiet as the construction blockade meant that there was no traffic. Don't want to think about being overtaken by a bus with an oncoming truck bearing down on me.
so here's some of the things i missed:
  • an old man piled up with firewood strung to his back climbing up out of the dense trees into a cloud of dust left by trucks
  • grandmothers, mothers and daughters pushing wheelbarrows with the remains of cold drinks and snacks after the daily construction 'blockade' was opened (they close this main road for roadworks from 7am to 12pm, then 2pm to 6pm. as a result there's an impatient line of trucks, buses, taxis and cars waiting tocharge through when it opens)
  • chilling out and being transported off to the future of idiocracy - watching a movie at a roadside restuarant while waiting for the road to open
  • impatient beeping by cars literally when I was 1 second late from following the trucks moving in front
  • seeing the eye of a cow peep through the slats of wood of the truck waiting in front of me
  • going dangerously close to the edge of a gravel road - to see a drop of about 200m
  • working out which side to drive on - for safety reasons you swap sides, so that means the driver is on the cliff edge to make sure he doesn't fall off. rather confusing as it doesn't always hold true.
  • driving downhill on dusty, muddy road with a 12V headlight after sunset (literially about a 3m throw of light - on high beam!)
  • twisting my way up a hand laid cobblestone road in the dark and mist
  • the 200m of beautiful, flat, grippy asphalt that I zoomed along before heading up the cobblestone mountain
  • driving in fog and mist at about 4deg with -2 windchill in a 1 lane highway with oncoming traffic without their lights on
  • 3 little boys squashed against the back window of a minibus waving back at me as I curved my way around lake titicaca

Beautiful Yungas driving
2 lanes down to 1, no visbility and some cars didn't even have their headlights on


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