Second day cycling and some surprises

We left Tiahuanacu in the morning without any substancial breakfast. However this was not before we received a visit from "Richard", one of the owners of a local fast food stand where Kai got a bolivian hot dog the night before and when we started chatting and found out that his family produces cheese (in a place where none of the shops carry such an extravagant food). In short we wanted to buy a cheese from him and before we where even ready to find his place in the morning he came by at our place.

Richard, Kai, and Karsten with cheese in hand

Little did we know what else the day would have in store for us when we left just after collecting this local delicacy.

Having fixed a loose rack on Kai's bike just before we left Tiahuanacu, the first 16 km of cycling passed uneventful. 

We took the road in eastern direction towards El Alto/La Paz, then turning onto a gravel road after 16 km to avoid the larger road from now on and cut by some towns  (general direction Oruro). Just at that turn the left side pedal on Karsten's bike became loose. 

Trying to fix the pedal became a lengthy and increasingly disappointing endeavor. After 3 hours of increasingly innovative (and desperate) approaches it seemed time to declare defeat (and admit that the inside threads of the pedal arm where mostly completly destroyed) and the pedal would not hold. We took some deep breaths and evaluated our options: should Karsten take the pedal + pedal arm with him and then ride a taxi to the next (car) or bike repair shop in El Alto (40 km away), while Kai  would find a place to stay and wait over night?

Mulling these options, Karsten started a last (almost obviously desperate) repair attempt when suddenly two Argentinian "angels" arrived on their bicycles from the opposite direction!

In short two bicycle travelers , Eric and Autina ,who had been on the road for 15 month stopped and after a general pow wow and introductions offered to help us. Miraculously the last repair attempt succeed and the pedal was tight on the pedal arm, Karsten's bike ready for action again!

Eric, Autina and Karsten 

All of us

After the successful repair for both groups it was time to hit the road again with only a few hours of sunlight left.

Eric and A. turned west towards Tiahuanacu, while we went back to the road eastwards, towards El Alto,  because we would not want to risk to ride the stony gravel road not knowing how permanent the repair would turn out to be. 

After another 15 km on this busy road we declared the repair to be semi-permanent (aka good enough for now) and we turned south again to use local roads to travel towards Oruro. 

After a few km in a pretty area we found a perfectly looking camp site next to some older brick ruins on a hill. We decided to set up our camp here, cook and relax a bit early before dark (which is at about 18:30). 

However, it was one of those days when the unexpected should be expected... so the remainder of the story is best told at a campfire with ample time and drinks. Just so much about what happened next: we did have to move from our camp site, pack everything when dark, because a local farmer woman did not approve of us strangers staying there, which lead to other complications for us, involving being chased by some dogs in the dark along a earth road, Kai having a flat tire and finally searching and finding refuge at a local farmers families house to stay overnight, full stop 😀 and pewh.