South American tour

[ErikGustav2]

The Argentina side of the border town.
It feels as getting back to another South America, after the empty Argentina I have been in.
A little bit like Ecuador and Colombia. But still not there.

The population has a large influence of indigenous people.
There is life in the town, on the streets and...

From the bus station :

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There are vendors at the streets. More selling of miscellaneous things. Not only coffee or food,

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And restaurants that is a "hole in the wall" Small places were local people come. Not made for tourism.

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It is a good place to spend some days. To rest after a lot of riding.
And enjoying the environment (And catch up with computer work)

I prefer to show what I see and hear. But I will add another item here.
I plan to ride through Bolivia and Peru towards Ecuador and Colombia.
There is no other way than through Peru.
(Amazonas jungle is not an alternative)

The news from Peru are bad. The situation is bad. With lock downs, road blockaded and...
You can't ride there now.
I will spend some time in Bolivia. But if the situation in Peru does not improve. I am in big trouble.

[ErikGustav2]

Waiting for the WC final:

I hope that I can watch it at a restaurant. Together with local people.

[Tonibe63]

Enjoy the match.
Back in 2009 a large group of us were in Barcelona on the night they beat Man Utd in the Champions league final, it was a very long and memorable night with many sore heads the following day

[Godspeed]

Congratulations on winning

[ErikGustav2]

Since the match Croatia- Maroco ended, there has been a constant broadcast about the Argentina-France match.
With a clock ticking down. First time I saw it was when the clock was at 18 hours.

Today´s final started at noon, Argentina time.
I went out in the village around 11 AM. I had a cup of coffee at the street around 11.30. It was very quiet.
A football supporter with dress, hat and horn passed by. I asked were people would gather to watch the game.
The answer was that he was on his way to a restaurant La Pacha, only one block down the street.
Nos vemos !!

I went there, and people arrived rather late. But when the match started, it was full.
The man I had asked was there. He greeted me welcome.

The questions came were I am from.....
Soon half the restaurant knew that I am from Sweden.
Photos were taken and congratulations shared.
A bit too much interaction in Covid19 times. But.....

It was a great time.
And that Argentina won made it extra special.

Final championship for the great Messi. And he could take the team to victory

[ErikGustav2]

After the match was over, there were a lot of people outside.
One march with a music band in the front. With people singing and dancing.
And a gathering in the park.

Young and old,
Male and female.
Happy, singing, dancing and greeting each other.

[Flintlock]

Really enjoying following this - trip of a lifetime

[ErikGustav2]

Time for another boarder crossing.
It happened that we were 3 MC travelers at the same time at the border to Bolivia.
One from Australia, one from Argentina and me. We passed the boarder together.The guy from Argentina spook good English. So he could help us with translations, when needed. It took 3 hours, even there were few people there.
I had planned to ask at the custom, how to get an insurance. But they checked the insurance for the Australian guy. Not for me, so I did not ask. I planned to bye one at first opportunity.

Just after the boarder crossing, we met with 2 guys from Brazil. They said that I do not need insurance in Bolivia. Who knows ??
They also said the we were not allowed to enter at gas stations with the bikes. That we needed a canister to buy, and then fill in the bike ?
I have been to several gas stations, with no problem. But I have been out of the tourist areas.
Payment for gas have been different procedures and prices.
No invoice or papers, just an extra fee. And ID card , invoice with ID number and very expensive. But I got petrol.
We will see when I am back to civilization, how it works.

I decided to stay one night direct after the boarder. In VIllazon. To think of were to go, now when Peru is closed.

I ended up with a idea like this :

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After Vallegrande, I would like to visit La Higuera. Than ???

[ErikGustav2]

The trip came to a stop after 3 km. At a check point. They requested a specific permission, to enter this area. A document that I could get at the customs. Back at the customs, I found one "officer" to ask. He said that my document was OK. No other document exists. But that I missed one stamp, that I could get on the other side of the street. But there they said that the document was OK. No more stamp. What to do? Back to the checkpoint and told them that my document should be OK. The boss took a long look at it, and then said OK. I could pass into the wildness.

It was getting late. So i just rode on. Nice road to start with. Up the mountains.

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I peeked at 4 240 m altitude. New record for the Himalayan

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Riding down was more tricky. And the rain came.

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In the end, I found a hotel 5 km outside of Tarija. That was more like an apartment as a part of a house. A man from Netherlands was the owner. He had built the house 26 years ago. After moving around at UN missions for long time. Now he was separated and one boy gone. One boy was student, and run the rental part as extra income. The place was very nice. Perfect condition and calm. I was happy to find it, since it was getting late. And the bike stayed in the garden,just outside my door.

Of course I got a lot of information from that man. No tourists come this way. And did you really ride over the mountains? He asked, No one does that, it is so bad !!

[ErikGustav2]

More or less the same story.

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Nice roads to start with. Green and beautiful mountains. A feeling of jungle,

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But even a tarmac road can have challenges
Than came a harder part were they had added a lot of gravel, to even out the road.

Till Villa Montes 03.jpg (113.44 KiB) Viewed 396 times

The last part was a nice twisty road and with balcony roads.
This is special for Godspeed. I know how you like the balcony roads France.
No protections here !
Take an extra look at the left side. Were the outer part of the road has fallen.
Many hundreds of meters down.