El Alto

May 25, 2025 to May 27, 2025

Sunday the 25th of May 2025

It was a fresh six degrees when we rode out of Tiwanaku at about a quarter past eight. Due to the change of time zones, that would have been a quarter past seven if we had still been in Peru so the drop in temperature was to be expected.

We had a wide hard shoulder for almost the whole way but it was rather rough. Nonetheless due to the heavy traffic that is where we spent most of the ride.

Just before the so-called wife-breaker hill we came upon a Polish cycle tourist heading towards Lima after starting in Ushuaia. His English wasn't too good and his Spanish even worse so without us being able to speak Polish the conversation was rather limited.

Soon afterwards the tightening mechanism of Leigh's helmet gave up the ghost. Five years of exposure to more UV than it was designed to handle (it was bought in cloudy old England five years ago) proved to be too much. One more thing to add to our to-do list in El Alto.

The climb itself turned out to be less of a challenge than we anticipated and soon we had rushed down the other side to start the slow poison climb up to El Alto.

Storm clouds were gathering over the Cordillera Real and the sound of thunder rolled ominously from that direction but we hoped we might skirt the storm sufficiently to be badly affected.

That was not to be and as we reached the outskirts of El Alto we were forced to take shelter for almost half an hour. The city extends about fifteen kilometers from the rim of the depression in the bowl of which lies La Paz. El Alto developed from poorer rural folk moving to La Paz seeking employment but unable to afford to live in the city itself. It now home to more than 800 thousand people and is a city in its own right.

It was a slow and dreary slog up to El Alto but our spirits were lifted when our progress was blocked by a wedding parade dancing down Avenida Buenos Aires on its way from the church to the reception venue.

El Alto is a crazy mess of a city and the roads are crammed with either street markets or log jammed by collectivos. Despite this we felt at home. Everyone, from drivers and passengers to vendors trying to sell all manner of goods seemed nonchalantly considerate of two weary cyclists trying to get to their hotel.

On that point, our digs for the next few nights, the Hotel Esmeralda, sits atop a small shopping mall specialising in the famous Bolivian traditional ladies clothing.

The pollera is a colourful, layered, pleated skirt in the style of a Spanish peasant. With the pollera, women usually wear a manta, which is a type of brightly coloured silky shawl, a frilly blouse and a practical apron. They use leg warmers to prevent themselves from becoming too cold. To finish the outfit, a bowler hat from 19th century Europe is worn. These are known locally as bombin. These hats are often also in different vibrant colours. These perch on top of the head, with no means to fasten them. The overall effect is very vivid and striking.

Most of the shops in the street outside are in the same vein but thankfully there are also a few food outlets.

The view from our hotel room window. A mixture of mess and marvelous.

At 4150 masl this is the highest we have spent a night.

Monday the 26th of May 2025

We shuffled through the various priorities for our time in El Alto and La Paz but finally decided riding the famous Teleférico trumped everything else. A ride on the purple line to the center of La Paz would be a good starting point because it would allow us to tick a number of things off our list.

The modern and sophisticated teleférico is a sharp contrast to the rest of the chaos. A ride on any of the ten lines costs a mere 3 Bolivianos.

Dropping almost five hundred meters into La Paz.

We managed to achieve quite a lot down in La Paz and have only to find a new helmet for Leigh. We have decided to extend our visas only once we get to Oruro because tomorrow we will have to venture to the southern end of La Paz to find a helmet, none of today's bicycle shops yielding anything worthwhile.

If the 3 Bolivianos is too much for your wallet you can always use the steps.

Two chores left for tomorrow - a helmet for Leigh (quite a long journey involving three teleférico lines) and a visit to the closest Western Union agent.

Tuesday the 27th of May 2025

All went according to plan today. The closest Western Union agent was only 200 meters away and within a few minutes I had a stack of Bolivianos in my hands at a rate of more than 50% better than the official rate (incusive of fees). Exchanging US dollars got me about 100% after bank charges and exchanging ZAR to USD is taken into account but I am keeping our dollar stash in case I can't get to a Western Union.

Then it was back to the teleférico to head to the opposite end of La Paz to find a helmet for Leigh. The bike shop was in a surprisingly upmarket area that despite it developed world appearance still seemed relaxed and "Bolivian".

Not the more modern MIPS design but perfectly adequate.

Then it was back to the teleférico and into the center of the city for an excellent lunch at an Italian restaurant. An enjoyable Bolivian red accompanied the garlic bread, lasagna (Leigh) and tortellini (me). A nice change from the menu del dias on which we have been lunching for the past month.

Once more the teleférico took us back up to El Alto. We have ridden 6 of the 10 lines in the past two days and to say that I am really impressed would be an understatement.

Tomorrow, after a lovely stay in El Alto / La Paz, we hit the road for Tolar, sixty odd kays from here.

Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 715 km (444 miles)

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