Roadtrip Peru, Bolivia & Chili - Part 1
Airport Schiphol - Friday 01-09-2023
Out of bed at three. A nice shower a delicious black coffee and around four o'clock Daan and Paul take me to Schiphol Airport. It's quiet on the road so we can drive on.
The suitcase drop-off and checks go smoothly. At 9.50 am, we fly. I travel over Bogota - Colombia to La Paz in Bolivia. The flight to Bogota is about 10 hours. However, we have a tailwind and arrive more than half an hour earlier. Usually is this quit nice but my flight to La Paz has a wait time of over seven hours. But no complain. We have a beautiful trip to go.
São Paulo Airport - Friday 01-09-2023
Lara leaves from Marília/SP - Brazil. She takes the bus to São Paulo (6 hours) + 1 hour transfer to the airport. Lara departs São Paulo Guarulhos at 6.35pm. Lara travels via Santa Cruz de La Sierra to La Paz Bolivia, arriving at 02-09-2023 at 2.20am.
Bogota Airport - Friday 01-09-2023
Bogota airport is okay. Lots of shops and places to eat. Lara and I keep in touch. Lara travels by bus from Marília to São Paulo and waits at Saõ Paulo airport for her flight to Santa Cruz de La Sierra to travel on to La Paz Bolivia after a short stopover. Lara arrives there at 11pm and then has to wait three hours for me. I arrive around 2am on 02-09-2023.
Initially I am directed to gate B6, but every now and then it is good to check the signs again. A new gate A11. Fortunately, I don't mind stretching my legs and walk quietly to the other side of the airport.
At 21:15 Colombian time, I leave for La Paz. By the way, it's puzzling with all these different land zones 😜😜.
La Paz - Saturday 02-09-2023
After a long journey, I arrived in La Paz - Bolivia. Lara is waiting for me on the airport. Around four o'clock at night we arrived at the hotel. A quick shower and and quickly jumping in bed because at seven the alarm will go off again for a trip to an excavation Tiwanaku and Puma Punka.
Tiwanaku & Puma Punka – Saturday 02-09-2023
The alarm goes to soon. A little bit groggy. We had a long journey, a very short night and not forgetting the altitude of over 3600 metres. This leaves me feeling weak and dizzy all day. Lara feels okay.
Tiwanaku is very interesting with impressive statues and museums. Really worth a visit.
After a shared lunch, we visit Puma Punka, a small excavation.
Tiwanaku probably originated before the year 200 and was the capital of an empire that in its heyday (until about 1000) controlled roughly the southern half of the later Inca empire, i.e. southern Peru, northern Chile, a good part of Bolivia and part of northern Argentina. The northern half of the later Inca empire was dominated by the empire of the Wari, Tiwanaku's great rival, located in present-day Peru. The Tiwanaku empire probably numbered about a million subjects and the Incas later considered themselves descendants of this civilisation.
After a shared lunch, we visit Puma Punka, a small archaeological site.
La Paz – Saturday 02-09-2023
Around four o'clock we are back in La Paz. After a delicious cup of coffee, we go side seeing La Paz by gondolas 🚠!!! There is no metro but there is a gondola system all over the city. An amazing experience! La Paz is beautiful city, but seeing it from above is amazing. We catch a beautiful sunset. Finally, we go to bed very exhausted.
Deathroad - Sunday 03-09-2023
Once again, we wake up early at 6.30am. This time we are going to cycle the Deathroad. A trip from an altitude of 4617 metres to 1158 metres over a distance of 54 kilometres. The first 20 km paved and then only unpaved. What an experience!!! A little bit hard but wonderful to do!!! Great views, nature and some extra adrenaline!! In between we did a beautiful zip line. The journey back was about three hours. At nine in the evening, we were back at our hotel. Tired but very satisfied, we hit the sack.
