We managed with our limited Spanish and their very difficult accent and assured them that the other 99 cars were on their way! Of course none of the others were following that route but we had no idea. The road, Bolivia Highway 1, was a very rough road all the way to Potosi. We were comforted initially by a stretch of very high-standard road, but that soon petered out and we were in the jungle! I wanted to go back, but was outvoted! I felt very apprehensive the whole journey as we had nobody following us at all and therefore no back-up in case of emergencies. The road was appalling and there were high passes with no crash barriers. The scenery was wonderful but I couldn't appreciate it properly being so nervous about what lay ahead. It was very third-world but we didn't feel threatened by the people.
Lost on Highway 1!!
There were virtually no signposts and the villages had no signs to tell us the names of the places we reached. We stopped only for diesel and had no proper food. We realised we could not arrive in Potosi before sunset and the guidebook told us not to drive in the dark! Also, we were climbing rapidly and had to be aware of altitude sickness, particularly with Colin's health problems. I felt very vulnerable and became even more anxious because of the dark and the sheer drops. The lorries coming in the opposite direction, of which there were quite a few, covered us in dust and we couldn't see a thing. We drove through Padcaya and couldn't see which way to go, so turned round to ask and discovered a puncture! It took a very long time to change the wheel. Tim and Colin were both tired and a bit breathless. The car fell off the jack at one point and we were all covered in dust from the road as heavy lorries came thundering past and sent up clouds of dust and sand.
First of all, I covered my head with a towel, but after a while just gave up and we were all eating dust by the end. There were stray dogs barking, which just served to make us even more miserable. We finally got on to the final stretch 100 kms from Potosi when the same tyre blew. We also had another slow puncture on another tyre. It was pitch-black and 2 degrees C and we were all exhausted. In fact, I was near to panic, but Tim and Colin just got straight out of the car and started to change the wheel again! They were much quicker this time. We then contacted Paul Marsh and William Brown who were at our hotel and asked them to come and meet us and guide us in. We met them 30 kms south of Potosi and arrived at the Hostal Colonial at 3am. We had a nice room on the courtyard with heating. We fell asleep at 4am after Diamox, water and a biscuit (supper). We were woken at 6am by another guest looking for Jingers (also Tim).
Total drive distance of 525 miles on some of the worst roads we are ever likely to encounter.
