I'm currently in Tupiza, Bolivia, having gotten here from Puno via Desaguadero, La Paz, Oruro, Potosi.

I'm not a fan of things Bolivian, so I'll be glad to be out of here. But I thought I should give you an update on the whole protests, fuel, gravel thing as I could only find this info in patches. Had I had it all in one place I would have gladly ridden the 1000 km extra and gone around Bolivia through Chile - but that's just me - you might love a bit of undefined chaos.

First the good news. Puno to Tupiza is all paved, and I am told it's paved all the way to Villazon and then onwards in Argentina. Here endeth the good news - La Paz to Oruro is being upgraded to dual carriage way. This means that section is 1/3 gravel where they are working, 1/3 town (i.e. more than one house) where the limit is 35 km/h and 1/3 normal road, where the limit is a mighty 80km/h. The only speed trap I saw in 10k miles of South Am was in Bolivia.....so plan accordingly when looking at sunlight these short winter days - I averaged 40km/h an hour this section. Oruro to Potosi is pretty unpopulated so you can go at a speed more appropriate to the conditions, but do watch out for the llamas! Also, it seems Potosi to Uyuni is all paved, though I didn't ride it.

Second, the protests. As of right now (May 9th 2013) there are EXTENSIVE miners protests all along the main route. To get from La Paz to Tupiza I passed 4 - Caracollo, just after Oruro (Cala Cala or Poopo not sure which), on the exit of Potosi and one on the entrance to Tupiza. Estimates of blockades between Tupiza and Vilazon currently range from 0 to 2. It's worth adding that even the locals have no idea where the blockades are - my hotel in Potosi insisted the road to Tupiza was clear despite the first blockade being at the exit of Potosi a mere 2km from the hotel.

The rules for what happens to a foreign plated bike at a miners' blockade are largely undefined. I went around one blockade (1 hour wandering around an unroaded desert trying to find a route through). At another I had a crowd of 20 miners grab the bike and I somehow managed to smile my way out of it. At a third I went to speak with them first and they said it was OK to push the bike through but not ride it. As I've made it through 4 so far, you can obviously get through, but it costs at least an hour a pop by the time you figure out the best strategy. And because of the chaos, it's a bit of a russian roulette whether you get through - the crowd is completely unmanaged and somehow congeals to an opinion - that opinion could well be "let the rich western guy wait like the rest of them". Try as I might I could not find a leader to speak with.

It also seems to be a pretty fluid situation - I have a feeling the blockade at Potosi was fresh as the queued up traffic there wasn't that big. However, if the situation continues longer, fuel will become a real issue, and being able to get through the blockades will become moot unless you have a Bolivian sized jerry can. Furthermore, at two of the blockades there were miners playing with dynamite (what else is there to do??) with explosions going off as I went through. And on top, 1 km from the blockade there's always a phalanx of police dressed up in full riot gear. Like I say - a fluid situation.....

Finally, on the fuel. Yes you pay three times the local price (which by the way is completely fair as I can't see why the Bolivians should be subsidising your fuel - all you're paying is a fair market price). However, to do so, the petrol station needs to fill in lengthy paperwork (minimum 15-20mins each time). As a result a lot of them can't be bothered to sell fuel to you. Certainly more of an issue in big cities - I didn't even try to get fuel in La Paz. My bike has a 300 mile range and I have been fine with my "start stopping at every station you see after 100 miles" strategy and I have been fine so far, but there are sections with 200 miles where there is no fuel. For what it's worth, I managed to get fuel in Patacamaya, just after Oruro, just before Potosi and in Tupiza, but only 1 out of the three stations I stopped at had and was willing to sell me fuel. Your best bet is the tiny station in the middle of nowhere - they don't get enough business to be able to turn you down. Avoid the big cities.

So all that and the bribes, and I'll be kissing the Argentinian soil when I get to it tomorrow....

Happy riding.

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