Uyuni – 7.45 am
The team Pedalpaca wakes up in an empty Casa de Ciclistas after 3 days shared with nice bikes travellers. Today we head up to the mythical Sur Lipez, a remote region in the southern east part of Bolivia, known for its incredibles lagunes and impressive high peaks. Most of the cyclists we met told us it was one of the hardest part of their trip and that we would need to carry a lot of food due to the lack of resupply along the way. The bikes loaded, the bottles filled, the legs ready, and off we go.
Road from Uyuni to San Cristobal
The first day was pretty easy. We luckily had a tail wind all day and managed to cycle about 90km even if we left quiet late that day. Linear, flat and long road towards San Cristobal, our first stop . We weren’t lucky long as the next day we had a really strong headwind all day. Welcome in the Sur Lipez !
We then entered the park and the off road cycle started ! What a feeling to be cycling in such a remote place, at over 4000m up, surrounded by peaks that stands usually over 5000m. For our first night camping we found an abandoned mine town and found a place inside to put the tent, protected from the wind and the cold.
We continued our way to those incredible landscapes on really bad and sandy tracks. The region is visited by a lot of tourists and 4×4 everyday, which creates a lot of tracks side by side despite always taking only one track. We’re always trying to find the best one but they’re all pretty bad.
After posing at the famous Arbol de Piedra, that incredible rock formation who looks like a tree, we continued our journey south and crossed a 4800m pass. Our highest altitude cycling since the begining of this trip. How amazing is it to be cycling at the altitude of the top of Mont Blanc here in Bolivia ! We even found some snow at the top and enjoyed some snow riding.
Road from Uyuni to San Cristobal