Saturday, November 3, 2007

Day 18: Patacamaya to Oruro 130km/8 hours

UPDATE: Oruro is a working town and it is unaccustomed to tourists...I tried in vain to find a good restaurant and even the better hotels have no English speakers...not a big deal but after the previous night I was craving a big steak, potatoes and some vino tinto :)

I sleep OK inspite of my accomodations...I was afraid of bugs and being robbed...there was no lock for door and it had access to the street.
I propped by bike to fall if someone can in unannouced ;)

My breakfast....a kinda of deep fried bread....much more appetizing after its cooked
The cook!

A brute of a day...road was nice and mainly lost elevation but the elevation and lack of good food took its toll...and of course I had a headwind for the last couple of hours. As there are no trees its hard to judge except by the wind on your face...I am sure I had a tail wind for a while as well.

Yes, i did see some but too far away to photograph


I now think New Zealand sheep are a lot luckier!

Tough terrian breeds tough people

This must be amonst the most boring road in the world...dead straight, flat, scenery doesn´t change...

I haven´t scene too many deserts so I still enjoyed the experience...hopefully not to be repeated too often though...

Bottom line...I made it here! This is a great Momument to the Virgin Mary protesting the miners.
The city many great statues and this one commerates the famous carnival held once a year (I missed it)
They love their Plaza here...they are extremely well groomed...I think if I had to work in mine in the middle of the desert I'd try and make my own green oasis :)
I eventually found my hotel (hotel Gran Sucre)...i was a bit bonky when I arrived and this town is not small and is a maze of unsigned one way streets. The hotel's hot shower was great! (best shower in Bolivia!) , clothes are being washed and just finished my early dinner...I'll give my self a couple of hours and have a late dinner...I feel like I am wasting away :)

Oruro is a pleasant town of about 200,000...mining is its reason to be but I am impressed with the beautiful green plaza's and tree lined streets...an oasis in the desert.

All the best and cheers,
Neal

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing like a good headwind to 'kick you when you're down'. A hard day, but I bet it feels great to be back on the bike.

As for wasting away (I don't think I've had that feeling for a very long time!) you might have to go to the top-shelf and find the local MacDonald's... carbo-load time!
A

Anonymous said...

You were well named - Grandad Neal was famous or infamous for being able to eat anything and survive.
You are now his equal.... He would be proud of you. You will remember the stories!!! Now you have some of your own.
However, Look after the old bod and eat well.
That's a long road ahead.
Take Care, LOVE Mum

Neal said...

Brother Alan...Bloody hell a McDonalds in Oruro would be be heaven sent...after findingsome good but interesting pasta I went in search of the best restaurant to treat myself...$$$ no object...after a big search and much bad spanish/mining I think I lucked out with meal num 1 :) This is not a tourist town - its here for mining and driving picky tourists to distraction :)

Mum....Grandad would have loved shocking the locals in Bolivia...Sheeps Head was the specialty of the restaurant I tried to find :)

Lots of love to all in NZ....see you for Christmas!

Cheers,
Neal

Neal said...

Brother Alan...Bloody hell a McDonalds in Oruro would be be heaven sent...after findingsome good but interesting pasta I went in search of the best restaurant to treat myself...$$$ no object...after a big search and much bad spanish/mining I think I lucked out with meal num 1 :) This is not a tourist town - its here for mining and driving picky tourists to distraction :)

Mum....Grandad would have loved shocking the locals in Bolivia...Sheeps Head was the specialty of the restaurant I tried to find :)

Lots of love to all in NZ....see you for Christmas!

Cheers,
Neal

Anonymous said...

hey,
I thought that bread looked pretty good. I dont think I woulda ate the other plate of stuff though. :-)