Jonesin for a Ride!

With they way we experienced the slow reaction and responses earlier in the day from the people at the BMW dealer and after the roof collapse, we realized that we were going to have to try and get the part ourselves.

Even if we could find a dealer in the USA that had the needed part, it would still take 10-14 days for it to get here with customs and all. Our only hope was to try and get one from another dealer in Chili or if by chance find a local mechanic in the La Paz area that had it. Tom decided to rent a car and if we could search the internet we could maybe find some info and the part and get it shipped to the dealership in La Paz and they could repair it. In the mean time, in the car we could tour the interior of Bolivia like we were going to do over the next few days, and return to La Paz and get the bikes, then head to the coast down to Chili and still make it to Santiago.

Tom researched that night and the next morning. He found the number for the Santiago dealer, but could not make the call from his phone. Posts on AdventureRider.com didn’t reveal any hope either for a quick turnaround. So we both changed our airline itineraries to return to the US from La Paz rather than from Santiago Chili. Tom would bring the part with him next time he continues his journey and get the bike fixed and head straight to Santiago Chili since we would be touring the interesting interior with the car on this leg.

So we loaded up the rental car and headed to Oruro to get out of La Paz.

Our plan is to spend one night in Oruro, then head to Sucre for two nights. Sucre is sugar in Spanish and this is Bolivia’s most beautiful city per the guide book. From there we will to Potosi for two nights. Potosi was once the richest city in South America because of it’s silver mines, but the Spaniard’s would use slave labor to extract the mineral. Miners would be in the mines for 4 to 6 months at a time without seeing daylight and only have a life expectancy of about ten years after entering the mine. Over 8 million people died in those mines. After Potosi, we will head to Uyuni where the worlds highest salt flats are. These salt flats also contain 50% of the worlds lithium supply, but it is currently not being mined. After Uyuni, we will head back to La Paz and then head home.

We head out of La Paz again heading up and out to the alto plano. Traffic again is insane here in the city. You are constantly hearing the tapping of car horns, ALL THE TIME! You hear it so much it means nothing. Driving and or walking is just a big game of chicken – don’t flinch or you will lose your spot or right of way. Tom is starting to get the hang of the different types of horn types you need to master – the very, very short tap, basically meaning “Look, I’m here” or “Looking for a ride?” (typical of cabs) or “Get your ass moving”. Then longer tap meaning “Get out of my way” or “You idiot”, then the real long one that just means total frustration.