Asphalto, Asphaltis, Asphaltodo
What’s in a name?
We entered Bolivia from northern L’Argentina after traveling the 5200 or so required kilometers from Ushuaia across the north to south length of the country. Of course we zigged and zagged and eventually drove twice that distance. The border with Bolivia was a scratchy place without the usual niceties we had grown accustomed to. Plain ordinary and not very efficient. Lots of people and many lines! Trying to exit, first we were questioned about our motorcycle entry papers into Argentina. 
Evidently when we had re-entered Argentina from Chile something was not properly signed. So they made us sweat and sweat we did. 
The temperature was slowly climbing the further north we traveled and at this moment it had to be approaching 95 F After a few calls to the border crossing we had previously crossed the customs agent felt adequately assured and let us drive over the border. Arriving into Bolivia along with lines of Bolivians carry huge amounts of goods on their backs I proceeded to try and obtain my visa. It was very easy in a record 4 hours. Okay Dorothy, you are not in Kansas anymore! Bolivia was before us.
The temperature was slowly climbing the further north we traveled and at this moment it had to be approaching 95 F After a few calls to the border crossing we had previously crossed the customs agent felt adequately assured and let us drive over the border. Arriving into Bolivia along with lines of Bolivians carry huge amounts of goods on their backs I proceeded to try and obtain my visa. It was very easy in a record 4 hours. Okay Dorothy, you are not in Kansas anymore! Bolivia was before us.We checked our maps, realized that good road lay maybe 500 miles north of us.
By good road I mean ASPHALT. With only 5% of the roads in Bolivia being asphalt we left in a northerly direction. The asphalt seemed to be a mystical moving target for us. Whenever we would inquire where the beginning of the asphalt was we would receive varying responses. Some Bolivianos would just stare off into the distance euphorically and remember hearing of or seeing bits and pieces of it in the past. Others would be thinking if that was the name of their long last uncle, Asphalto. 
Wasn’t he the one that went to America in the 60’s. There are three kinds of asphalt in Bolivia. #1, perfect, newly laid, hardly trafficked, #2, Well used, changes texture every 100 feet with grooves worn into the surfaces where the wheels ride giving it the old up and over effect, # 3, Prehistoric, in the process of returning to sand, potholes that you drive into and emerge 45 minutes later.All that being said, mile for mile Bolivia has the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. Please check out some of the photos in folder number 34, Tupiza-Uyuni-Tupiza. We proceeded 
up the dirt road for 200 miles and came to a lovely town called Tupiza. We parked the bike for 5 days and four nights and embarked on a 4 wd tour with 14 other people from around the world. With four
elderly Land cruisers with drivers, cooks and guides we left on a 1100 mile magical journey. We ascended to 16,500 feet several times, saw many extinct volcano’s, lakes of green, blue and red.
Flamingo’s were abundant as were bubbling mud geysers. Stars like you wouldn’t believe. Llama’s, alpaca’s and ucuni’s were abundant. Ucuni’s are protected so of course we couldn’t eat them. We tasted our first llama meat though and saw local women hammering it prior to drying. We also visited the Salvador Dali desert. The Uyuni salt flats which are the largest in
the world, were awaiting at the end of the trip. Some 14.000 square kilometers the desert is impressive. Salt hotels rim the desert providing basic accommodations and furniture made out of salt. The cold desert was full of illusions. Distances were very hard to calculate, giving us some unusual photo opp’s. Mario our driver knew the place like his own backyard. Following a unmarked route here and there. We stopped in the middle and
up the dirt road for 200 miles and came to a lovely town called Tupiza. We parked the bike for 5 days and four nights and embarked on a 4 wd tour with 14 other people from around the world. With four elderly Land cruisers with drivers, cooks and guides we left on a 1100 mile magical journey. We ascended to 16,500 feet several times, saw many extinct volcano’s, lakes of green, blue and red. Flamingo’s were abundant as were bubbling mud geysers. Stars like you wouldn’t believe. Llama’s, alpaca’s and ucuni’s were abundant. Ucuni’s are protected so of course we couldn’t eat them. We tasted our first llama meat though and saw local women hammering it prior to drying. We also visited the Salvador Dali desert. The Uyuni salt flats which are the largest in the world, were awaiting at the end of the trip. Some 14.000 square kilometers the desert is impressive. Salt hotels rim the desert providing basic accommodations and furniture made out of salt. The cold desert was full of illusions. Distances were very hard to calculate, giving us some unusual photo opp’s. Mario our driver knew the place like his own backyard. Following a unmarked route here and there. We stopped in the middle and
visited a cactus island where the cactus were 500 years old, growing out of coral. We returned to Tupiza to continue north to Cerro Rico in the town of Potosi. Look for Kristi’s story on the silver mines.
Chau!
Todd
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