(September 17 – written by Dave) Yesterday and today we have been staying in the Butch Cassidy Hostel in Tupiza, Bolivia.  According to some historical tellings (there appear to be many), it was near Tupiza that Butch (Robert Parker) and The Sundance Kid (Harry Longabaugh) allegedly committed their last great robbery.  On the 3rd of … Continue reading Butch and Sundance in Bolivia

(September 16 – written by Nancy) Okay, this will be a very short post as we are both bushed from a long day on the bikes.  We left Atocha this morning at just after 7 am and rolled into Tupiza just after 5pm.  While the total kilometres today don’t seem all that much, we had … Continue reading Stunning SW Bolivia – Atocha to Tupiza (106k/20,816k, 5,500 ft)

(September 14-15 – written by Dave) We ended up staying an extra day in Uyuni so that Nancy could rest and get over her stomach issues.  Nothing really happened all day.  We rested, read, planned and watched CNN.  Sometimes you need a nothing day. With Nancy feeling much better this morning, we hit the road … Continue reading Nothing days (almost) – Uyuni to Atocha (92k/20,709k, 1,740ft)

(September 13 – written by Dave) I’ll start this post by saying that I am not a “train guy”.   Don’t get me wrong, I like trains.  Both Nancy and I rode the train daily to get work when we lived in Sydney.  I’m just not one of those guys who goes out of his way … Continue reading Uyuni trains

(September 12 – written by Dave) We were pretty slow moving this morning, not leaving our fancy hotel until 10:30 – we could get used those swanky digs.  We spent about 2 hours at the brekkie buffet, no rush and no limits to the number of times we could pass though.  I’m sure that the … Continue reading Into the wild west – Colchani to Uyuni (27k/20,618k, 90ft)

(September 11 – written by Nancy) Well, last night wasn’t quite as restful in the old refugio as we had hoped, though I guess that’s to be expected with that many people sharing a small space.  Actually I think it would have been fine but for the guy from the bus who joined us as … Continue reading Surviving the salt – Isla Incahuasi to Colchani (77k/20,590k, 200ft)

(September 10 – written by Dave) Today was all about the Salar de Uyuni.  We had about 25k of riding before formally reaching it.  We chose to go around the volcano on the far left side.  There are three routes, two besides the one we took, one on the right and one on the left … Continue reading Salt road – Salinas de Garcia Mendoza to Isla Incahuasi (87k/20,513k, 170ft)

(September 9 – written by Dave) What a difference a day makes.  We woke today to 4 bicycle tires all full of air.  This plus an earlier alarm meant that we were on the road by just before 7AM.  The dawn light was fantastic and we took lots of photos.  It was cool, but the … Continue reading No flat day – Huari to Salinas de Garcia Mendoza (132k/20,426k, 1,650ft)

(September 8 – written by Dave) I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that Nancy got a flat tire about 5k from the hotel.  Other than slow us down by about a half hour, no big deal, these things happen.  The flat was caused by one of those little stainless steel wires we always get … Continue reading Flat day – Oruro to Huari (134k/20,194k, 950ft)