Our suspicions that it had frozen that night were confirmed by several things:

1. There was ice in the water bottles
2. There was a thick layer of frost on the tent, our bikes and plants
3. Göran’s forum charger which had been in a bag (and ergo warmer than outside) said that it had been -4 degrees Celsius
4. My bad temper because I had barely slept as I had been so cold all night

But as cold as the evening and night had been, as scorching hot it was as soon as the sun came out. We had breakfast in the warming rays of the sun and enjoyed breakfast together. After everything had been packed and sunscreen thickly applied (the sun really did burn!), we prepared isotonic drink and took some coca leaves to help us in our steep journey up the mountain.

Once we were on the other side and thereby officially out of the Altiplano, we had lunch in the valley where it was slightly less cold and windy. Stale white bread with peanut butter. Yum. After lunch, the wind suddenly picked up, the sky turned dark and it was evident that heavy rain and a thunderstorm were coming our way. For some reason, Jacques and I were completely low on energy after lunch and dead tired. Since we wanted to sit out the storm anyways, Göran suggested that we set up the tent so that Jacques and I could take a nap before we would continue. So we turned ourselves into the talk of the town, especially for the children, as we set up our tent next to the soccer field (a large patch of flat rocky dirt with two goal posts) under the watchful, curious gazes and chuckle of the local children.

After a storm with hail, rain, and heavy winds, we packed our gear and prepared ourselves for the next mountain pass. We cycled until a small, ugly village which marked the end of La Paz and the beginning of the Cochabamba region. We had some overpriced carbs at a restaurant (a white bun with very greasy fries, mayonnaise and an equally greasy fried egg on it) for the whopping price of 12 Bs per bun. But it did a fine job in replenishing our energy levels and with how tired and cold we were none of us felt like cooking that evening anyway.

While we were waiting for our food to be ready, I played table football with some local kids which was quite fun 🙂
It’s moments like that you usually don’t get when you have to “fast travel” or do a pre-booked group tour from a company. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think those ways of traveling are bad, they are just different.

After dinner it was still quite windy but already quite late, but none of us wanted to stay in that ugly village in the tent and even less in the alojamiento that it had. So we decided to cycle on for another hour until we were lower where it would be warmer and where we would hopefully find a suitable place to pitch our tents. So motivated by the hideousness and unpleasant atmosphere of the town we were in, we got back on our bikes at twilight and continued onwards.

We went on for a while, cheered on by some very kind road workers along the way, until it became too dark and dangerous to continue. The road conditions were quite bad and despite our good lamps we usually couldn’t see bumps, potholes or other obstacles in time the darker it got. We decided to call it a day and were lucky enough to find a very beautiful spot to camp close to the road but mostly out of view and partially out of earshot. We were surrounded by bushes and trees but had a relatively even spot to camp, and two well-distanced trees for Göran to hang up his hammock in. From where we were, we had a breathtaking view over the moonlit mountain valley. And best of all? It was above zero degrees that evening, so we all slept warm and happily that night.

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