BOLIVIA ON A SUZUKI DR650: PART 1

BY OLIVIER DE VAULX

If anything, you will not go to Bolivia by accident. To get to the city of La Paz, with its 13,400 ft of elevation that challenges even the biggest commercial airplanes, one should be ready for an epic trip. From Los Angeles International Airport, it’s a 26 hour journey, including a 15 hour stop in Bogota, Colombia, ending with a 3 am arrival. No time for a La Paz-by-night tour; the only thing you desire at this point is to find a bed! Yet, after a short night of sleep, visiting the city from the sky using the state-of-the-art cable car is a reward that already makes the trip worth it! Located on the edge of a bowl under the Altiplano plateau, La Paz is a city built upside-down, with the rich neighborhood being at the lower altitude in order to get maximum oxygen.

From the railway, the view is stunning. It doesn’t matter if developers save on taxes by not finishing their buildings, the unpainted red bricks of most construction give a visual unity to the urban area spread over the mountains. Reaching El Alto, the aerial railway flies over the biggest market in South America. Thousands of vendors sell and trade food, clothes, and automotive parts, and we can’t resist seeing it up close. We wander, incognito, in this busy but quiet open-air supermarket. It’s hard to evaluate things when we’re coming from another culture, and we’re careful not to assume anything based on visual clues. Indeed, with a growing population of 11 million, Bolivia is in full economic expansion, but is still a developing country and it would be an easy mistake to assume that everybody here has a rough life. Fortunes are made here, and smart and successful families are known for throwing wedding parties costing a few hundred thousand dollars! The women, in their traditional dresses, are in charge of the business side of things here and also manage the flow of money. Once you know the trick, you can tell who’s successful by looking at their silver earrings.

Being a tourist in this part of the world is an experience that you can take on many levels. One could sit at the terrace of a cafe and sip a cup of tea, enjoying the sun without sweating much. The other approach would be to go deeper into the country, to see further than the city... that’s where motorcycle riders like us have an edge. Discovering the fleet of DR650s at our guide’s house is like attending a 30-year high school reunion. These bikes have been around for most of our adult life and are like old friends, well known and perfectly dependable. It doesn’t take long for us to be grateful that Maurice Manco chose to stick with these lightweight and low seat dual sport bikes. Dealing with the morning traffic in La Paz is an exercise that no big motorcycle could achieve with such ease. In a flow of minivans that never care to stop or alter their course, where traffic jams are constant and traffic lights superbly ignored by all, a nimble bike is all that you want. After 30 minutes of crazy slalom in an atmosphere saturated by exhaust gas, we finally exit the city and get a glance of the wide-open space in front of us: the Altiplano awaits!

Maurice had many lives before starting this touring business, ranging from math teacher to airline pilot, and he knows how to build an itinerary as big as life and full of surprises. After a bit of pavement, we take a right turn to finally get some dirt. We’re in the desolated land of the Andes, the same one that pilots of the defunct Aeropostale once flew over in their antic planes. Still, the view is nothing like we imagined, due to a thick fog hiding the surrounding summits. The ambiance is oppressing, to say the least, and the lack of oxygen at 14,000 ft doesn’t help. On a wet and slippery double track on the edge of a cliff, our troop of six riders progress with caution. Visibility is limited to a few hundred feet, and the white snowy summits close by are nowhere to be seen. We cross torrents, pass by small lakes and become more familiar with our DR650s.

A man walks a few llamas and stops to chat with us. He sells the animals to the small catholic community down in the valley, where we expect to spend the night. Later on, the fog eases a bit and we reach a village with a little school. The kids wait in line outside, and we take their place in the classroom to have lunch. It feels weird to eat with the whole village watching, but nobody’s making fun of us or judging. You can see that adults and kids alike are just here to share this time with us, in a simple manner that is refreshing in many ways. At this moment, we realize for the first time the importance of Moto Trails Bolivia tours. Bringing visitors to these communities out of the traditional tourist areas is vital for these people. The money they make with our lunch is important for the community, and we’re happy to be the ones participating in their economic success by taking these less traveled roads. We wave goodbye as we jump on the bikes, going down through the valley.

The sun is now painting the hills with a yellow light that warms our hearts as we approach the world-famous lake Titicaca. We wander on the shore, watching fishermen taking off on small boats. It’s only a few moments before the night that we reach Escoma. We take our quarters in another school, sharing bunk beds and a single restroom with the students of this non-profit organization which offers lessons in wood carving and mosaics to young men of the area. The quality of their work is impressive, their dedication to their art real, and we feel really happy for them. A few weeks from now, we would discover that some 5-star hotels in La Paz use furniture made by these same students. Dinner consists of soup followed by rice and chicken, a menu that will be pretty much standard during the whole trip. A Trimate tea with a great percentage of coca leaves is welcomed as a dessert, as it helps deal with elevation and altitude sickness.

While we set up our sleeping bags, Maurice and his mechanics Hugo, Santos, and Pablo are changing the jets of the DR650s in the freezing night. It’s a grueling job made necessary by the change of elevation of tomorrow’s ride. We will be going down in the Amazonian forest, in what’s called the Yungas, at roughly 3,000 ft. The ten thousand foot change would have posed no problem for a fuel-injected bike, but the DR’s fuel system belongs to another era and there’s no way around some wrenching at the light of the Land Cruiser.

The next morning, we start our journey to the Yungas, and it’s pretty much as if we were in a totally different country. As we go down in elevation, the heat goes up, and we soon use all the features of our Fox Legion gear. Removing the sleeves of the jacket is easier than ever and the vents on the pants are doing an incredible job, especially on the LT version where the mesh in the rear keeps the air flowing around the legs. On the trails, surrounded on one side by abundant tropical vegetation and on the other side by some dizzy cliff above a wild river, you’re never truly allowed to lose focus. Alongside the unexpected rocks, ruts, and puddles, there’s always the risk posed by traffic. Since these valleys host many small villages, it’s not unusual to see little cars cramped with passengers drifting from the four wheels in blind corners in a cloud of dust. Sometimes, you cross a bus, whose driver applies the same techniques in curves as a WRC pro racer. For the motorcyclist, there’s no hope of a sudden change of line by the bus driver, who won’t even slow down. The wisest course of action is to aim for the side of the road and let the roaring monster pass. This is a bit frightening but less so than when you have to follow these trucks, blinded by a wall of white dust raised by the wheels throwing silt powder all over the place. In these conditions, overtaking is an act of faith!

Not everything is that brutal in the Yungas though. Our guide always takes care of suggesting meaningful stops in places where we can relax and learn a bit about the culture of Bolivia. That’s how we enjoy a bath under a 300-foot waterfall, listen to a detailed explanation by a charming woman about the techniques involved in growing the delicious Bolivian coffee, or take the time to press sugar cane and drink the nectar right from the plant! This is a pure delight for our taste buds, and an opportunity for a testosterone contest when the farmer takes the stopwatch to see how fast we can turn the press. If the record is set to 5.5 seconds, the recuperation time in this humid climate is well over a minute! We also ride alongside fields of coca, and through small villages where people are drying the leaves of coca. The legal production is used for tea, while the illegal fields are used to produce coca that will be refined into cocaine. Not knowing who is doing what, we don’t ask questions, and assume that whatever we can see is probably legal.

Apolo, Guanay, Chulumani: each village offers an authentic but different kind of lodging, from an in-town hotel with swimming pool, to bungalows all having in common the quality of the meals and the kindness of the people in charge. Every night our group would leave the bikes and walk through the streets of the little towns, looking for a place to buy ice cream. That ritual allows us to enjoy the charming little towns a bit more and to engage in small conversations with the friendly locals, always eager to laugh with us.

One day, a torrential rain puts a stop to our enthusiasm. On soap-like slippery trails, we have no choice but to test our riding skills in a no-traction world. Avoiding pedestrians, dogs, and 2WD cars sliding in the streets, we make it through the morning, happy to be on low and light bikes. A message sent via our Zoleo satellite communicator suddenly shows on our phones: the driver of our chase vehicle heard that the planned route is cut by a traffic incident, a truck laying down across the road. We find an alternative, thankful for this reliable way of communication that prevented us from wasting hours on a dead end!  When the sun finally comes back, we dry up in no time and find ourselves in need of crossing a large river. Waiting under the burning sun for the improbable ferry built with two small boats linked by planks of wood, we are offered free drinks by locals who probably take us dirty riders in pity. The wait with warm temps, close to 100% humidity, and not much oxygen is exhausting. We could have easily passed out without these providential good Samaritans! The crossing itself, with the boat drifting sideways in the fierce current, is epic but luckily uneventful, proof that even without modern machines, the Bolivians can still get the job done with efficiency.

After five days in the jungle, it’s time to go back to the mountains and cross the Andes once more. Climbing from 10,000 ft at Inquisivi to reach 15,000 ft at the first pass, we take our time to avoid altitude exhaustion. If riding is okay, any stop and walk on the side of the road to admire the incredible scenery is taking a huge toll on our energy levels. On the side of the road, proud llamas are looking down at us, disdainful of our futile efforts. The temperatures dropping at an alarming rate, we layer up with the Legion wind vest and the packable jacket. At the pass, the 360 panoramic view is an invitation for a snack, before going down to the valley in the direction of the big town of Sucre. It is striking to think that just a few hours ago we were in a vegetal environment, with tropical heat and humidity, while all we see now is a mineral landscape in the freezing cold and a lack of oxygen that makes us feel like astronauts on the moon. Land of contrast, Bolivia so far delivered its promises of culture shock, stunning visual experiences, and a tiring journey. Little did we know that the best was yet to come!

Riding in Bolivia

Flying to La Paz from USA requires at least one stop, usually at Bogota or Columbia, since the airport can only be reached by night because of the elevation. Visa requirements depend on the country of origin, with the US citizens having to pay a $100 fee. It’s easy to change cash at local ATMs, with one dollar being roughly equivalent to 7 bolivianos. High elevation, temperature change, and rough terrain are reasons why these motorcycle adventures are not for beginners but for experienced riders. The bikes are Suzuki DR650s in perfect condition and equipped with Trail Tech Voyager Pro GPSs. A 4x4 vehicle driven by two mechanics follows the group to provide assistance and carry the rider’s luggage. All information can be obtained on Moto Trails Bolivia’s website: www.mototrailsbolivia.com/en