Day 36 (257 km)
We needed gas, so there were only 2 gas stations in town and we already saw a long line with cars and after inquiring a little bit, it seems there is no gas and everybody is waiting on the tanker truck. Anytime fuel gets subsidized by a government, gas stations always run out of gas, same thing happened in Venezuela were gas is FREE, at least in Venezuela it is free for everyone, tourists included, but in Bolivia the official rate is 3 times more for foreign plates and in the bigger towns this is monitored with surveillance cameras. In smaller towns, the gas attendant charge only twice as much and pockets the difference.
So the local price is $ 0.50 a liter, foreign plates pay $ 1.50 and the crooked gas employee charge $ 1.00.
We drove to the next gas station 80 km away and filled up using a crooked gas attendant for $ 1.00 liter and soon again, we were up to 4700 meter altitude and were cruising 80 km p/h on an empty paved road to Potosi, 250 km further away. The moto's on this altitude loose at least 25% power and mine was sputtering up hill if I had it wide open, I guess it was short of gas or the carburetor was dirty or set wrong!
Over 4000 meter all you see on the roads are Lama's by the hundreds and they are not much smarter as cows, so we had to try to avoid them. Midday we reached Potosi for the second time this year, so we already knew the hotel and her parking lot and knew where to do our laundry. After a good lunch, it was siesta time and then do a little maintenance on our bikes.
Tomorrow to Oruro, what supposed to be a dump high up, but it is the only place 5 to 6 hours away between Potosi and La Paz.
Our friend Vicente, the Spanjerd sent us a nice picture, what happened with him in Chile, after we left!
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