It turns out that Butch Casidy and the Sundance kid ´s last stand was not in Tupiza after all so we leave north and are soon told that the road to Uyuni is unpassable due to the height of the rivers. Roads out here some times don´t have bridges and you have to drive though the river bed. We can drive on the road to Potosi and turn off west much further north to get to Uyuni. The road to Potosi is about 8 hours by bus which is a good guide for us as if you ask a local the time they look at your speedo and tell you you can do it in 3 hours. At Uynui we can go on a 4 day 4x4 trip around the area including seeing the largest salt flats in the world which are 3 metres thick and we can stay in a hotel built entirely of salt. Dave and Roly have a disagrement over our destitation but in the end it is not a problem as we can not find the road to Uyuni which would have been closer than Potosi. The road is compacted mud and it has rained for the last two days, there is a little gravel but only where lorries and buses have been stuck or in the river beds. There are many river crossings and at one wide rivr there are long queues on both sides. The river is at least 400mm deep and fast flowing, lorries and buses seem to make the crossing OK but many cars get flooded and have to be pushed back. We stop and make a cup of tea and watch others for an hour after which a 3rd bike arrives. Together we push each bike though one at a time with the engine running to help and we are now wet though to the crutch. There are many more smaller river crossings which we drive though but at one Roly falls off at the edge and drives up into a pile of mud. Some local road side workers help me lift the bike back upright as Dave still crossing the river in a shallower section.
Progress is very slow and it seems unlikely we will make Potosi before dark and driving in the dark is the 1st rule we try not to break. The fuel pump on the Africa twin packs up and so we make a temp repair and feed the carb by gravity which is fine as long as I have more than half a tank of fuel. We also adjust the chain on Roly´s bike as it looks like the chain set has finally had it and needs changing. Roly just makes it to the next fuel station with the last one kms down to a missing 20kms per hour. The good news is that the road is now either tarmac or concrete but it will be dark soon and it is also cold. We have 37 kms to get to Potosi and we are rising into the cloud line. Potosi is at 5066 metres, the bikes are not running well due to the altitude and lack of fuel pump in Roly´s case and the best we can manage is 60kmph, it finally gets pitch black, wet in the clouds and foggy with very low viz and so speed is reduced to 40 kmph own into Potosi where we arrive at 2000 hrs. We chat to some locals and find a good 3 star hotel for US$45 a night which includes underground parking. We are now both tired, wet, cold and dirty as we have not stopped for over ten hours and have not eaten and Roly on his 4th day of water only. We shower and both go for a meal in a good resturant and eat too much. During the day we had another arguement about travel time periods, stress, accomadation standards, budgets etc.
26th Jan. Potosi is the highest city in the world and estabilished by the Spanish in the 1500´s due to the silver in the local mountain at about 5000 metres. The Inca´s found the silver and the city became the richest city in all of South America. There are some nice colonial buildings, churches and cobbled streets. The streets are very narrow with many flee markets selling very thing yu would nornally buy in the supermarket. The only Industry is still mining and tourists.
The meat market was an eye openner with oval of cow, bull, goat and sheep hanging including intestines, full headsand lungs all on display, with flys and customers handling the meat and sellers handling it along with the moeney given in exchange. Dave had to leave quickly.