• Jacob Mies
  • Jacob Mies

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1 Jacob, 1 Moto y no destino final Meer informatie
  • Getting to the border

    21 mei 2025, Chili ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Llegando a la frontera. Quería cambiar mi dinero por bolivianos pero sin éxito porque todo estaba cerrado. Compré comida en calama y comí mi último completo y mi quedo en el primer camping del viaje. Manana cruzaré a Bolivia

    Getting closer to the border. Tried to change money but everything was closed. I stocked up on food and gas in calama and ate the last completo. I'm staying in the first camping of the night. Tomorrow I'm entering Bolivia
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  • Bolivia y una mierda de papeles

    22 mei 2025, Chili ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    El camino a la frontera era bastante lindo. Subí a 4000m, había Vicuñas, salares y volcanes activos. En la frontera pidieron otro documento. Un documento especial para Bolivia si deseas ingresar con un vehículo cual no es tuyo. Un chico me dijo que hay que hacer este documento en la presencia del dueño en un consulado. Otra chica me dijo que es possible que yo lo puedo conseguir en el consulado. Fui al consulado en calama y después de una hora de esperar me dijo que el dueño tiene que estar acá para hacerlo. Mañana voy a intentarlo otra vez y espero que hacen una excepción. Si no tengo que cambiar mi plan.

    The way to the border was quite pretty. I went up to 4000m. I saw lots of vicuñas, salares and active volcanos. But in the border they asked for a document specific for Bolivia, if you want to enter with a vehicle which is not yours. One guy told me that this document has to be done in a consulate in the presence of the owner. Another woman told me I could get the paper alone. So I went back to calama to the consulate but they told me that the owner must be present. I will try again tomorrow in the hope that they make an exception and if not I have to change the plan.
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  • Change of plan - Peru it is

    23 mei 2025, Chili ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Intenté hablar con el consulado otra vez en la manana pero sin éxito. Entonces a la mierda con Bolivia y voy a Perú. Tengo que apostillar unos documentos en arica. Una tarea para el lunes. La meta de hoy es Iquique. El desierto era bastante duro para andar en moto. Pero la honda puede. La bajada a Iquique era bastante lindo. Habia marcas en la calle cual he usado para andar en zigzag. Mala idea cuando la policía está al lado. Me dijeron que debería andar derecho y no más. Conocí un motoviajero de Colombia cual tenía muchas problemas encontrar bencina en Bolivia. Me ha dicho que peru es mucho mejor

    I tried to talk to the Consulate again in the morning but without success. So fuck Bolivia I'm heading to peru. To enter peru in have to get some documents apostilled in arica. A task for Monday. Today I go to Iquique. Crossing the dessert was quite exhausting in the afternoon sun but I made it. The drive down to Iquique was quite beautiful with the dunes and the ocean. I was playing around and doing some zig zag when the police showed up on my side and told me to drive straight. I talked to a motorbike traveller in the hostel and he told me that he had a hard time finding gas in Bolivia and due to that he couldn't enjoy the country. Maybe it was for the good that I'm heading to peru.
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  • The Motorbike embassy

    24 mei 2025, Chili ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Salí de Iquique con un Clima muy mindo. Podía ver todas las dunas. El mirador de los primeros fotos era un área bastante mala. Me fui rápido. En el viaje de hoy había varios geoglifos y cañones bastante grande. Con una bajada de 17km. Abajo en el cañón había un camión atascado. Un hombre estaba intentando liberar el camión y su amigo estaba camiando al pueblo para pedir ayuda. Le regalaba mi agua y lo dejaba llamar su amigos en el pueblo para pedir ayuda. Al final llegué a la embajada motera. Un lugar de una familia de Venezuela. Tienen un taller de motos y ofrecen un lugar para dormir a motoviajeros. Hoy es el día del completo. Hicimos completos venezuelanos. Tienen una salsa diferente y papas fritas. Un lugar muy lindo con gatos, perros una cabra y tortugas. Aca hacen una acción social en cual regalan comida a los pobres. Para este hemos hecho un livestream corto.

    I left Iquique with a great view of the ocean and the dunes. The viewpoint was in a bad area so I just took a foto and left. There were a few geoglyphs close to the road and some quite big canyons. The way down was 17km. At the bottom of the canyon was a stuck truck. One guy was trying to free the truck and his friend was walking to the next village to ask for help. I gave him my water and let him call his friends because I had a little bit of phone connection. At the end I got to the moto embassy in arica. The home of a venezuelan family. They have a repair shop for bikes and accommodate travellers on motor bikes. Today is the day of the completo. We had a venezuelan variant with chips. There cats, dogs, a goat and tortoises living here. 2 times a month they have an event where they give out free food to the poor. Preparing for that we did a short livestream.
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  • Unexpected adventures

    25 mei 2025, Chili ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Cada las 2 semanas la embajada motera hace una acción social. Cocinan y regalan 150 almuerzos a la gente sin hogar. Por coincidente era hoy. Entonces a las 8 tomé cafecito empezábamos trabajar. Preparar 150 almuerzos es bastante trabajo. Nos tocaba 3 horas con 4 personas. Después fuimos a distribuir la comida. Fuimos con 6 motojeros y un auto. La gente estaban muy feliz su primer comida buena en muchos días. Y yo creo también era muy lindo porque se sentían como humano. Terminábamos en la playa con un cafecito. Depsues fuimos a visitar amigos de la embajada.

    Every two weeks the motorbike embassy has a social event. They cook 150 meals and give them to the homeless. By coincidence it was today. At 8 we had a coffee and got to work. Cooking 150 meals takes quite some time. We worked with 4 people for 3 hours. Afterwards we drove trough the city and gave the food to the homeless. They were really happy about their first proper food in a long time. I think what was nice for them, is that they felt like a human being. We ended at the beach and had a coffee. Afterwards we visited some friends of the motorbike embassy.
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  • Finally leaving chile, by bus

    27 mei 2025, Chili ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Intenté salir chile por la frontera con Perú. Pero sin éxito. Un extranjero no puede salir a Perú en un vehículo chileno. Hablé hasta el jefe de la aduana. La única opción sería salir por argentina y cruzar argentina a Bolivia. Serian 1200km hasta frontera de Bolivia. Pero esta opción me dejaría al sur de Bolivia sin sufficiente tiempo para recorrer Bolivia. Entonces me quedaré otra noche en la motoembajada y tomaré un bus de la noche a la paz. Me fui a la playita, comí un helado y cambié un poco de plata. Todavía me impresionaba mucho la familia de la moto ambajada. No tienen mucho pero comparten todo y no quieren un pago.

    I tried to leave chile to peru. Without success. A foreigner cannot leave chile to peru in a Chilean vehicle. I discussed trough levels of authority until the boss of customs. But no. So the only option for me would be to leave to argentina and then cross argentina to Bolivia. This would mean an extra 1200km until the border of Bolivia and I would leave me at the wrong end of Bolivia. To do Bolivia from this side wouldn't leave me with enough buffer time to wait for gas or to solve other problems. So also not a feasible option. So I leave the bike in the motorbike embassy and take a bus to la paz for 15 bucks. But I'm quite relieved to be able to continue. I crossed the border at almost 5000m. I'm still super impressed by the motorbike embassy. The family lives a very simple live without a lot but they still share everything for motorbike travellers and are super caring.
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  • La Paz

    28 mei 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Llegué a La Paz. El Bus de Arica tomó menos de 9 horas. En la página decía 12. Entonces llegué a las 5 al terminal de buses sin Internet, sin un mapa y sin alojamiento. Buscé un sandwich con café, 1.25 USD, y una tarjeta de sim. Necesitaba una identidad boliviana para activar la sim. Conocía a un boliviano en el café cual me prestó una identidad falsa. Bienvenido a Bolivia. Buscaba un hostal para 4 USD la noche y hice una siesta. A las 10+1 fui a buscar una cafetería y pagué 2 USD para un desayuno, café y una empanada. Recorría la ciudad y encontré un protest con patrones artificiales. Creo que era por la situación mala del país. Hablé con muchas agencias para organizar los actividades de los proximos días. Al final encontré un operador de montanismo cual es un poco más caro pero usa botas de la sportiva y equipamiento bueno. Trabajan con el club montanismo de Italia y de ellos reciben las botas de montanismo. En Bolivia no existen. Los otros operadores usan botas plásticos (como los de esquiar). En la tarde fui a un show de wrestling de las cholitas. Un clásico de la paz. Habia 3 rondas con 6 peleadores. 4 eran chulitas (mujeres en la ropa tradicional). Habia un ánimo muy entretenido y me tocaba bailar con una de ellas. Era muy entretenido. Pero al mismo tiempo me hace pensar. Estamos 20 extranjero y cada uno pagaba menos de 10 USD. Con eso pagan el transporte snacks y 6 peleadores. Haré un tour de free walking los próximos días para entender la situación del país más.

    I made it to la paz. The bus was supposed to take 12 hours but took only 9. So i arrived at 5 in the morning at the bus terminal without internet, a map or place to stay. First I got a sandwich and a coffee for 1.25 USD. Then I bought a sim card but needed a bolivian identity to activate it. Luckily I met a bolivian that lent me a fake identity. Welcome to Bolivia. I got a hostel for 4 USD a night and took a nap. After the went I went to explore the city. Got a nice super cheap breakfast for less than 2 USD and ran into some kind of protest. I think it was about the situation of the country and the corrupt government. I spoke to a lot of tour operators to do some mountaineering and the death road. I finally found one that is bit more expensive but has good equipment and mountaineering boots. The others use plastic ski boots. And they collaborate with the Italian alpine club, from where they get the boots too. In the evening I went to a wrestling show of the chulitas. There 3 rounds and 2 male and 4 female fighters. They created a great atmosphere and I had to dance with one of them. It was super entertaining. But at the same time it made me think. We were 20 foreigners paging less than 10USD each. From that they pay transport, snacks and the show. I will do a walking Tour the next days to try to understand the situation of the country better.
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  • La carretera de la muerte

    29 mei 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    El plan es hacer un tour en bici por la carretera de la muerte. Esta carretera era una carretera principal para la paz. Habia mucho tráfico. Muchas personas murieron en accidentes porque en varios partes el abismo al lado tiene varios cien metros. Todavía mueren turistas si se caigan en un parte peligroso.
    Empezamos a 4600m de altura y después había 60km de bajado. Al inicio había 40km de asfalto para disfrutar y después un desayunito empezába la diversión. En unos partes era un poco técnico con piedras, baches y cascadas en la calle. Era muy entretenido. Terminábamos en una piscina y restaurante y después 3h de regreso a la paz. Esta actividad salía 27 Euro más menos. Muy barato.

    The plan is to ride the famous "death road" on a mountain bike. Back in the days this was an important road for la paz and a lot of people died in accidents. If you fall of the road it's a couple hundred meters to the ground. Until today stupid tourists on bicycles die here. We started at an altitude of 4600m and had 60km of downhill in front of us. We started with 40km of asphalt enjoying beautiful views. After a breakfast the fun began. In some parts it was a bit technical with lots of rocks, potholes and waterfalls in the road. Just a great experience. Everyone got to enjoy the road with their own speed. We ended in a swimming pool with a restaurant. The drive back to la paz was 3 hours. And because we are in Bolivia the whole activity cost around 27 euros.
    I was very skeptical of the zipline. I'm quite sure it was build without any standards and at least in Europe, the parts that were used are used to lift cargo, but are prohibited to use for everything including humans.
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  • Trying to understand bolivia

    30 mei 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    El plan para hoy es un free walking Tour. Quiero entender las protestas, la situación económica y el desarrollo del país. Los últimos días siempre había protestas en las manana y el policía y el militar cerraban el barrio con la sede del gobierno. Hay varias razones. Para trece años Evo Morales era el presidente. Para hacer 3 temporadas ha cambiado la constitución. Tenía bastante apoyo del campo y de los trabajadores y la gente eran relativamente feliz. Pero para los proximos elecciones el tribunal ha prohibido su participación. También la inflación muy alta y el escasez de gasolina son problemas grande. Tal vez es buena que estoy en moto. Las gasolineras tienen filas de 2km.
    Los últimos presidentes siempre eran corruptos y han robado plata del gobierno. La policía no entra el cárcel y los dejan crear su propia sistema. Si tienes plata tienes una vida buena en el cárcel con sauna y todo. Sale como 3000 USD por mes. Y la gente con plata pagan la policía y abogados y salen después unos meses. Siempre ganan las personas con plata en los procesos.

    Después fuimos a el alto. Una ciudad arriba de la paz. A una altura der 4000m. Allá hay un mercado para cumplir deseos. Si tu tienes un deseo tienes que quemar cosas diferentes para ofrecer a los dios. Queman todo. Los fetos de llamas, frutas comida y todo. También para cosas muy grandes, por ejemplo la construcción de un edificio, queman una persona. Normalmente son gente sin hogar.
    Al final me compré el poleron típico de la paz. Un poleron de patagonia para 20 euros.

    Today I want to do a free walking Tour to understand the situation of the country. The last days there were always protests in the centre and the police closes the area of the government. There are various reasons. For 13 years the president was Evo Morales. He was a socialist and the people were quite happy with him. He strengthened the economy and indigenous. He changed the constitution so that he could be elected three times. But at least he was always elected by the people. He was in power until 2019. For the upcoming elections in August his candidature for prohibited. This is one reason but also the lack of gas and the inflation lead to protests. If the gas stations have gas there's a line of several kilometers. Afterwards we went to the prison which is autonomous. The police doesn't enter. There is some kind of system from the prisoners themselves but obviously money rules. You can get a sauna in your cell for 3k USD a month. But usually the people with money don't stay in the prison for a long time because they just bribe everyone. Bolivia is a super corrupt country.

    Afterwards we went to the city of el alto which lays at 4000m. It's a new centre of la paz with a lot going on. There is a market where you can burn offerings so that your wishes fulfill. It's offered with some very weird things like the fetus of llamas. Also for very big occasions, as example the construction of a building they burn homeless people. At the end of the day i bought me the typical la paz souvenir. A patagonia Hoody for 20 bucks.
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  • Huayna Potosi - Day 1

    1 juni 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    Haré un tour de 2 días para la cumbre del Huayna Potosi. Una mintaña con 6000m. En la manana fui a la agencia del montanismo. Armé la mochila. Bastante pesado con botas de montanismo, 3 más capas de ropa, crampones, 4 litros de agua y el saco de dormir. Estoy en un tour privado para que no estoy dependiente de otros viajeros haciendo trekking para la primera vez. Dejan todos intentar porque así ganan plata. Independiente de la aclimatizacion y experiencia. De verdad dicen que es nada difícil solo esta muy alto. Tomamos el almuerzo en el base camp y empezamos la subida al high camp. Son 600m de desnivel. Logré en 2 horas. Teníamos que hacer varias pausas. Pero ya en esta parte había partes no tan fácil. Si te caigas es muy profundo. Y al final habia un terreno mixto de piedra y hielo. No lo recomendaría a gente sin experiencia. El plan para manana son 800m de desnivel. Empezaremos a las 12 en la noche.
    Pero high camp era la meta que quería lograr asi o así. Todo mas es opcional. El atardecer era una wea de otra planeta increíble.

    I will do a 2 day tour for the Huayna Potosi. A 6000m mountain close to la paz. In the morning I went to the agency to load the backpack. It's quite heavy. I carry mountain boots, 3 layers of clothing, 4 liters of water, crampons an ice axe and a sleeping bag. I booked a private tour to avoid being on a rope with unexperienced people. The agencies let everyone try. Independently of the acclimatization and experience. They tell you that it's not difficult and it's just the height that makes problems. We had lunch in the base camp and started the 600m climb to high camp. It took 2 hours. But already in this part we're some sketchy parts which were quite exposed and and had mixed ice/rock terrain. I personally wouldn't classify it as not difficult at all. Tomorrow is the summit push. 800 vertical meters and we are leaving around midnight. But high camp was the goal and everything more is optional.
    The sunset was from a different planet.
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  • Huayna Potosi - day 2 - summit push!!!

    2 juni 2025, Bolivia ⋅ 🌙 -7 °C

    Estaba bastante nervioso. Para muchas personas no alcanza llegar a la cumbre. Todos me dijeron que era la cosa más duro de su vida. El día empezaba a las 12 de la noche. Armámos las mochilas y desayunamos un poco. Mi meta era llegar al campo argentino. Esta 5600m. Casi la mitad.
    Empezábamos con 10 minutos cruzando piedras. Depsues pusimos los crampones, el harness y el picahielo. En el oscuro manejabamos el glaciar con muchos grietas. Llegábamos al campamento argentino. Estaba sin energía, con dolor de la cabeza y náuseas. Este punto era la primera vez cuando queria rñregresar. Bueno, tomaba una pastilla para la altura, un snickers y agua. Después de 15 minutos de pausa continuamos. Directamente después teníamos que cruzar el parte más inclinado con 50° de elevación. El sendero tenía un ancho de 30 centímetros y teníamos que cruzar una puente de nieve. Me daba bastante respeto y adrenalina. Por la adrenalina no tenía nada de dolor o náuseas en este momento. Después continuamos subiendo en terreno no tan difícil. Pero venia un dolor de cabeza y náuseas. Hicimos otra pausa. Descansaba 10 minutos, tomaba otra pastilla y comía un snack. Tenía mucho frío. Otra vez pensaba en regresar. Hablaba con mi guía y me preguntaba si el dolor es muy fuerte. Dije una 3 de 10. Entonces el me dijo que vamos a avanzar el terreno no esta difícil en el próximo parte. A las 5 y media llegábamos al último nivel antes de la cumbre. Pero nos quedaba más de una hora y media y otra vez un parte muy inclinado, muy angosto y bastante impresionante. Pero encontraba David cual también estaba haciendo cumbre con la mismo empresa y ya estaba su segundo intento. Formabamos el equipo de las tortugas. Los guías nos daban un aceite de menta para mejorar la aspiración. Entonces continuamos. Era muy intenso este parte. Unas veces había partes de terreno mixto con piedra y hielo. Pero con toda la fuerza llegaba a la cumbre. Justo con el amanecer. Era una vista espectacular. Podíamos ver el lago titicaca el amazonas, La Paz y todas las montanas. Habia muchos emociones. Disfrutábamos la cumbre para unos 20 minutos y emezaba la bajada. Durante el día la Montana es muy difícil porque la nieve es mucho más suave. Hicimos varias pausas disfrutando el paisaje y cruzabamos los partes difícil muy concentrado. En el high camp tomábamos una sopa a las 9 de la manana y armamos las mochilas y bajamos al base camp. De verdad una cosa increíble y los más duro de mi vida.

    In the beginning I was quite nervous. A lot of people don't make it to the summit. But everyone told it's the hardest thing they did in their life. So I tried breaking it down. Forst goal is the camp argentino. Which is almost halfway but not that difficult to get to. We started at midnight after 3 hours of sleep. We packed the backpacks and had a small breakfast. For the first 10 minutos we crossed some bigger rocks. Then we put on crampons, the harness and unpacked the ice axe. It's getting real. In the dark we started crossing the glaciar with quite a lot of crevasses. But we made it to campo argentino. I had a headache and was a bit dizzy. I felt very weak. This first time I thought about giving up. I took a pill for rhe altitude, had a chocolate and some water. I thought okay let's take it easy and we can always turn around. Well that was wrong. Me and my guide went in front of the other groups and directly afterwards came a very technical part where we a had to climb up a snow wall. It had an inclination of 50° and the path had maybe 30to 40cm. And on top of that there was a snow bridge to cross another crevasse. The good thing is it gave me so much adrenaline that I didn't feel bad at all. After this sketchy part the terrain got a bit easier and we continued. But I was not feeling good. We had another break. I took another pill, chocolate and water but was feeling very weak. My guide asked me if I'm okay and how bad the headache is. I told him a 3. I felt so bad and thought another time about giving up. But my guide said we continue because the terrain is not that bad. Around 5.30 we made it to the last flat area before th summit. We saw the summit for the first time. And there was still one and a half hours left and it didn't look easy at all. But I knew that the sunrise would start in 45minutes and this will give energy. We met up with David from the same company. This was his second attempt. And we continued another time. It was super steep, very narrow and sometimes we had to climb over some rocks in our paths. But the sky was brightening up, it gave us energy and we heated the first people screaming from the summit. That gave us enough motivation for the last part. Around 6.30 we made it to the summit. Five and half hours for 800 vertical meters. It was an incredible feeling to stand at 6000m. The sunrise was incredible and we could see from the titicaca lake to the Amazon rainforest. After 20 minutes on the summit we started to go down. You cannot stay to long because the sun softens the snow. But we took some breaks to enjoy the views. Around 9 we were back the high camp and had a soup. We packed the backpacks a last time and started our way down to the Basecamp. What an incredible experience. And it really was the hardest thing I have done so far.
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  • Welcome to the swamps

    5 juni 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    With the guys from Huayna Potosi we booked a tour of the swamps and jungle for a total of 3 days. It's a 2 hour drive from Rurrenabaque. On the drive there we already see Capibaras and Caymans. The lunchspot already had a Tucan and a parrot as pets. At the lunch we got into the bots and headed off. We saw a group of monkeys, caymans, a lot of birds and some river dolphins. In the sunset we played football and then went back to the lodge of the tour company in the swamps. We had a decent dinner and played some cards in the evening. In the morning some monkeys were jumping trough the trees in the lodge. We headed of the fish some piranhas, without a lot of success. Only the guide was able to catch some. We crossed paths with a giant cayman about 5m long and went off to search for dolphins. Several times we took a swim in the water when the dolphins were closeby. It was lovely. After lunch we packed our bags and headed back to the city.Meer informatie

  • Welcome to the jungle

    6 juni 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    In the afternoon we get onto a boat to get into the jungle. We get there around 6pm. We are staying with indigenous people. I'm quite surprised of their living standard. They have wooden houses, electricity, phones and tvs. They live of the nature growing bananas cacao, and also tourism. We eat dinner and afterwards head on a small walk to look for tarantulas. In 30 minutes we found like 15 tarantulas. Super impressive. Afterwards we go to the bed quite early. The hot environment of the last days is taking its toll. At 4 in the night I wake up with bad stomach pain and have to go to the toilet urgently. In the next 24 hours I'll have to do that 15 more times. I don't know exactly where it's coming from. My travel companion Joey also has been feeling very bad for quite a few days. Maybe I got something from him or I swalled some swamp water when we were swimming in it.
    However, after a quarter of a pancake for breakfast we made some chocolate from scratch. We roasted the beans and the grinder them down. Mixed with sugar and milk we got chocolate. But to be honest it was not the best chocolate so far. Afterwards we went a walk trough the jungle for a little more than an hour. I felt super nauseous, very weak and was sweating like hell. We saw some bullet ants, a lot of termites and the guide told us about the dangers of the plants there are. The conclusion is don't touch anything you don't know what it is. And he also got me the bark of the palo santo tree to make a tea to help with my stomach pain. After lunch where I didn't eat anything we made some sugar cane juice. It was quite sweet. Then it was already time to leave the community. On the way back to explored a small creek with some water running trough it and a lot of bats. In the evening we wanted to go to a small festival here. I tried to eat some pizza but felt really bad and tired. So i went to bed and took some medicine
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  • An unplanned night in La Paz

    9 juni 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    The bus from Rurrenabaque to La Paz was quite bad. It had rained recently so the road was even worse then normal. In the middle of rhe night we had to leave the bus because the potholes were so bad, so that chassis was sitting on the road. A couple of times the bus was stuck and we had to reverse a bit to build up more momentum. At 5 in the morning the driver had to repair the bus for more than an hour on the road. After 20 hours for the 400km we made it to la paz and found a bus connection to potosi, which later in the night was canceled due to road blocks. So I used the next day to watch the football game of chile vs Bolivia in the world cup qualifications. It was quite bad football and they didn't sell beer in the stadium. But the next try to get to potosi was successful.

    El bus de la selva a la Paz era pessimo. Habia lluvia, entonces las condiciones de la pista eran muy mal. Teníamos que salir el bus varias veces y el bus tenía problemas mecánicas. Tomaba 20h para 400km. Encontré una conexión a potosi la misma tarde, pero estaba cancelado por los bloques. Entonces me quedé una noche mas en la paz. El próximo día vi el partido de chile contra Bolivia en los calificaciones del campeonato mundial. Un partido pessimo y sin cerveza. Pero en la tarde me fui a Potosi.
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  • Potosi - the city of silver

    12 juni 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    Potosi was once one of the biggest cities in the world. In 1650 it had 160.000 residents. More than Paris or London at that time. In the 17th century 60% of all silver im the world came from Potosi. From the rich mountain (Cerro rico). Today there are only some minerals left in the mountain, but in a way lower concentration than back in the days. Today there are 1500 people working in the mountain and rough conditions. The only machinery they use are drills and dynamite. Without any safety regulations and a lot of climbing there are a lot of people dying there. This year already 50. But at least I didn't see kids working there, which at least means that it's not too common.
    They push the mining carts by hand and without any breaks. The support for the tunnels is more than questionable. The carts are loaded with shovels and only sometimes they use air filters. They usually work in the mine until the age of 40 because their body is not capable anymore or they get a lung disease. They chew coca leaves and mix alcohol of 96% with water or lemonade and use it as a normal drink. It's incredibly what kind of scrambling they do as a part of their job.
    Back in the days the Spanish told them that the devil lives in the mountain and will be mad and if they don't work productively. To please the devil they donate alcohol, coca leaves and cigarettes everytime they enter.
    In the city the Spanish were making coins. To melt the minerals they needed giant furnaces. Which were operated by slaves sleeping and living in the same room as the furnaces. Obviously they didn't have a high life expectancy. A very impressive city
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  • Sucre - the capital ol bolivia

    14 juni 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    The last stop in Bolivia is Sucre. The official capital. It's a city with a beautiful centre and quite some history. Right next to it, dinosaur footprints were found. To be exact, more than 12000 footprints of 15 different types of dinosaurs were found in 1994. They are approximately 68 million years old. Also the longest continous track of a Theropod were found here, they stretch over 400m. And footprints are the only evidence of living dinosaurs. Overall super interesting.
    During the night an equatorian stayed in our 3 bed dorm and stole cash of me and my travel companion. He checked in at 2 in the night and left before 7. In the morning he was looking trough our stuff but I guess that he was interrupted because he didn't steal all the things of value. I was personally was lucky and he stole only 20 dollars. He stole things of value in 4 hostels in Sucre and in total something like 500 dollars. We later reported him to the police with fotos and his passport that he used to check-in in one hostel. But I doubt anything will happen, it's Bolivia.
    In the evening there was a parade for a national holiday. The different faculties of the university presented some traditional dances and the people were celebrating.
    A bit weird while at the same time 5 people died when the police and military cleared the road-blocks.
    But at least the roads are free again and it's easier to travel
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  • Out of Bolivia !

    16 juni 2025, Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    The road blocks have been lifted forcefully by the police together with the military. 4 policemen and a civilian died in the process. But at least the buses have a free passage again. Spent the last day in LA paz eating some good food and getting a haircut for 3 usd. Even to refill your Jerry can, you now have to wait in a line of 200 meters. In the end it probably was better to travel Bolivia with a backpack. In the night at 2am we cross the border to chile.Meer informatie

  • Heading back south

    17 juni 2025, Chili ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    In the morning I got back to the motorbike embassy in Arica. They refused to let me leave without eating lunch. I'm still really impressed by their hospitality. It's a short drive to Iquique and then one more day until I get to Antofagasta. Most of the time I'm heading down the coastal line. Quite impressive and a nice drive. I wanted to take some pictures on the beach and almost got stuck. But with some leg power I made it out of the sand. The next 2 days will be quite large and a bit boring landscapewise, but it's all relative. Here I am riding my motorbike trough chile and complaining that the landscape is not as spectacular as in patagonia. Could be way worseMeer informatie

  • Ending a big trip

    22 juni 2025, Chili ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Made it back to the capital of chile. It's time to visit the family a last time. Always a nice place. Now I'm selling my motorbike. I already found a shop that's interested so I should be able to finish it tomorrow. And then on the weekend a last birthday of my cousin, a good chance to say goodbye to everyone.Meer informatie

    Het einde van de reis
    27 juni 2025