Boy am I glad to be in Argentina. Bolivia offered stunning views, and my favorite parts were crossing Lake Titicaca and riding the Salar de Uyuni. But the gasoline situation, especially rising alone, made me ready to leave Bolivia.
Yesterday I left the Salar de Uyuni for Tupiza along Ruta 21. I could not tell from my research if this was paved or not. I eventually found a group on Facebook called Riders Bolivia. I posted my question there and within a few hours I had my answer - todo asfaltado. It was an amazing 200km ride through stunning scenery. Sometimes it reminded me of the Southwest US. You could see parts of the old road - damn that must have been an all day journey up and down, zig zagging through these mountains.
When I arrived at the hotel in Tupiza, they opened the gate and directed me to park under the carport. Good thing, beciae we got a solid downpour for an hour. The bad news is that someone stole my backpack from within the gated parking area while I was checking in. Thank god my passport was with me. They only got the water bladder and two chargers - and my documents from entering Bolivia (which are needed to exit!).
As I approached the Bolivian / Argentinian border, I was nervous about my missing documents. Will they send me back feo where I started to get new documents? That would take me three or four days in each direction, just to leave the country
Fortunately the guy at the Bolivian Aduana office was helpful and looked up my documents from my license plate number. With a few loud stamps I was free to leave! On the Argentinian side it was the first time the Aduana wanted to check all my cases and luggage. Overall the entire process was under three hours
After I crossed the border I headed to a rural village called Yavi. Here is a beautiful little hotel called Posada Tika. Dinner was served at 9pm (that’s normally my bedtime!). I enjoyed some lamb stew and Argentinian red wine!
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