rini's notes day 3

Feb 26 : Sucre – Potosi - Tupiza

The third day of our trip was even way longer than the second day. Here's the story.

We had a long relax breakfast. We checked out around 10am and we found our car Papamovil1 (PM1) in the parking with flat tire AGAIN! This was the third time and it was getting our nerves.

As we started the day a bit late and had a quite aggresive agenda in Sucre (running some errands and a city tour), we decided to hire a taxi driver to guide us. We didn't want to lose more time of being lost in the city trying to find places because we had a long journey to make, a 456 km drive to Tupiza.

The taxi driver guide us to the tire shop where we changed the problematic tire with the brand new one. In other shop we bought a new wiper. All for PM1, the problematic car.

We went to Cal Orck'o Dinosaur Tracks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The place was closed. David flashed his charm and with 100 bolivianos the guard opened the gate for us.

"Sixty eight million years ago, dinosaurs tromped around what is now the Department of Chuquisaca. Just five kilometres from Sucre, visitors can see the dinosaur tracks from this period. Discovered in 1990s, these tracks have been luring paleontologists from around the globe who are coming and proclaiming it one of the largest sites of its kind in the world. It contains more than 5000 dinosaur tracks of 150 different animals." from Insider's Guide to Bolivia by Peter McFarren .

We went up to the Mirador for a city view and some souvenir shopping. Then we headed to the main plaza and realized that it was carnaval day! Water balloon WAR!!! Water balloons (globos) were thrown from and to all directions. Some boys from balconies threw globos at us . We survived and just got some damp spots in our clothes when we entered a pharmacy.

Some bought Sorochi pills (for altitude sickness). Some bought Redoxon, eye drops, and some other medicines. When we were heading back to the cars, out of nowhere Hugo ran towards us with a bag of globos and started throwing the globos at us. Such a betrayer!!!

On leaving the city, influenced by Hugo, PM1 bought two bags of globos. We stopped to buy ice when the PM1 boys attacked the PM2 boys with globos who in return attacked back with water from the bottles they had just bought. We had a little water splashing war on our own. However in no time we agreed on ceasefire. All changed clothes and we continued our journey to Potosi.


The road between Sucre (2190 masl) and Potosi (4070 masl) was heaven. It's a 162 km real national road. Smooth sail, we enjoyed the scenery. But arriving in Potosi, PM1's machine sounded weird and the car couldn't run fast. Slowly we entered Potosi and parked the cars. We decided to have lunch first and deal with the car later. PM1 was such a f#?@&*#!* car!!!

The moment we got off the car, the reality came back to us. It was carnaval day and the globos war was on the full swing in Potosi!!!

We ran under water splash around and on us. People on the street were throwing globos at us. Some of us were wet when we entered the restaurant. While we were having lunch, Hugo was out finding a car shop and came back with one mechanic. David and the mechanic brought PM1 to the car shop. The rest spent more time in the restaurant eating ice cream.

On the way back to PM2, we were like a sitting duck for the globos throwers. We all were totally wet when we got into the car. Eduardu couldn't help but immersed deeply in this water war. Edu vs local boys. The match of the day.

When PM1 arrived back, it turned out that we had to go back to the car shop because PM1 needed more serious repairment.

To kill time while PM1 was being repaired, we hanged our wet clothes to dry, we played card and Paola had mate.

Around 6pm the cars were ready. We left Potosi, filled up the tanks and headed to Tupiza (2956 masl) which we thought we could reach in 5 hours. Again like yesterday, it was another long dirt road (256 km) to hit.

After two hours, we stopped for a little rest. We were in the middle of nowhere in 4000 masl altitude with no other light except the new moon, we could see million stars in the sky. Quite spectacular.

We were about to continue when the accident happened. PM2 slipped and fell to one meter deep trench. No casualties. No a single drop of blood. Just a little shock. All five were safe and immediately got out the trapped car.

Together we emptied PM2 and moved all stuff to PM1.

Only few vehicles, mostly small buses and big trailers passed the road but none stopped to give us a hand. They just stopped for a while and gave us verbal support.

The ten of us instantly filling up the trench with rocks that we found in the area. We had been working for two hours and the trench was almost filled when one big trailer with the name Luis Miguel "Corazón Viajero" stopped and willing to help us pull up PM2.

We setup all the cables. David was ready behind the steer in PM2. We all held our breath. The moment of truth. When the cable was in full tension, we saw PM2 being pulled out of the trench smoothly. PM2 was back on track! We all jumped and hugged with joy. PM2 had no mechanic problem. It could run perfectly only the right side of the body was badly smashed.

It was an unforgetabble experience. How we worked it out was amazing. Excellent team work. Excellent preparation on the equipment that we brought. And last but not least, we can never thank enough to Luis Miguel "Corazón Viajero" for their help.


We moved the stuff back to PM2. We opened one box of chocolate to celebrate. Around midnight, we continued our journey.

Without any more problems, three hours later we entered Tupiza. We got lost a little bit in the city until one taxi driver helped us to find Hotel Mitru.

Having a long day yesterday and today even longer, we decided to take the next day for a total rest and to have the cars repaired.

Photos of the third day can be viewed here.