So finally the day came for my first border crossing in Southamerica – from Chile into Bolivia via the Ruta 11 in Chile into Ruta National 4 in Bolivia. To be honest, there was a bit “butterflies” on how this would go.
Crossing a border in this region you have to bypass 4-600 heavy loaded trucks waiting in line for customs and border handling – all private vehicles and busses are allowed to pass the kilometer long queue and approach the border offices.
From the Chilean side new border buildings was being constructed, so until these are ready a simple joint venture of the two countries made the crossing fairly simple for me – one large office, stand in line with your personal and vehicle papers ready, and then just go from booth to booth and get your stamps. The border officers were very helpful and spoke english to assist, and within an hour I got the stamps needed for immigration and a new Temporary Import Permit for the motorcycle.
First thing was to refuel as I had no means of getting fuel in the Putre area – so I found the only one with less than no service. And then a Bolivian curiosity – fuel 95 octane is only 3.74B = 0.6 euro-cent per litre – if you are Bolivian resident. For tourists, double the price …
The pictures for today is only from the first 50km into Bolivia – most of it similar to the area in Chile but of course here you are now driving at the Bolivian Altiplano around 3.800-4.100 masl. The vulcano is the highest in Bolivia – the Nevada Sajamo reaching 6.542 masl to the top.
I made a reservation for a B&B in La Paz, the southern part of the LARGE city that should be the safest – but getting into this was really a maze. And the gps – well honestly I Don’t think it took the easiest way. Steep hills worthy of any nice italian mountain roads, but here central in the city. La Paz has several skilifts to transport people from city center to the urban areas on the mountain sides. Polution is not something you talk about – its just there. And garbage everywhere – this city and surrounding areas could be so nice with a little focus on the environment – just a very different culture.
And finally a note on the 270km driving from the border to La Paz – the country side and farmers are as I’ve experienced in eastern Europe – plows pulled by cows, children and the elderly keeping sheep, cows, alpacas within their areas, etc. The difference from high to low here is stunning, and humbles me with the background I’m raised from.
