Best of Bolivia: express Highlights (10 day adventure tour)

We’ll personally pick everyone up at the airport and settle you into a hotel in Santa Cruz.  After dinner we have an informal orientation & prep session and a good night’s sleep.

We get off to an early start this morning, first breakfast at the hotel, then a quick trip to our base just outside of the city where the bikes are waiting for us. We’ll spend the morning hours riding the slab on the “old” highway, expect plenty of curves and a few grades with plenty of beautiful scenery before arriving to the town of Vallegrande. In the afternoon we’ll leave the pavement and follow a dirt road all the way to the lonely mountain village of La Higuera, where the revolutionary “El Che” Guevara was executed in 1967. The road to La Higuera is a pilgrimage of sorts for the more adventuresome historians and admirers of “El Che.” Upon reaching our days destination we’ll settle into our rooms at the rustic, yet very comfortable Casa del Telegrafista, once home to the telegraph operator that informed the authorities of “El Che’s” presence in the area. 

After a wonderful homemade breakfast we visit the memorial room in the schoolhouse where “El Che” was executed. Afterwards we pick up where we left off yesterday, as we continue to ride the back roads, leaving the department of Santa Cruz and crossing into the department of Chuquisaca at a bridge over a huge gorge. Along the way we stop for lunch in the town of Villa Serrano and admire what the town boasts as the world´s largest charango (a small, stringed musical instrument of Andean origin that resembles a guitar). Once we reach the highway, we’ll pick up the pace as we make our way to the city of Sucre, Bolivia’s judicial capital. It´s also known as “la ciudad blanca” (the white city) for the whitewashed walls of its pristine old city center.  It's many churches and mansions from the 17th and 18th centuries still adorn the downtown streets.

After breakfast at our hotel, we saddle up and hit the road once again. Leaving Sucre at an elevation of 2,750 meters (9,000 feet), we’ll begin the slow climb up to the “Imperial City of Potosi,” which sits at an elevation of more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). The entire city is an architectural treasure listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and sits in the shadow of El Cerro Rico, the huge dome holding the richest silver mines in the history of the New World. No visit to Potosi is complete without a visit to the silver mines, so after sampling a typical lunch, we’ll do just that. Before entering the mines we’ll suit up in our miners gear and make a quick trip to the miners market to pick up a few gifts for our miner friends (ie: coca leafs, dynamite and alcohol).

Expect a lot of a climbing and descending today as we take the “new’ highway all the way from Potosi to the old railroad town of Uyuni that sits on the outskirts of the worlds largest slat flats. Along the way keep your eyes open for vicuña as this is one of the areas they call home. On our last descent we’ll get our first glimpse of the salt flats that stretch as far as the eye can see.

On the edge of town we’ll check out the train cemetery, before making the 20 kilometer (12 mile) ride to the village of Colchani, the entrance to the salt flats. We ride the salt flats following the Dakar route to Isla Incahuasi, the only island in the salt lake with ancient cactus plants, some over 500 years old. Lots of photo ops and lunch at Cactus Island. Our hotel tonight is located on the edge of the salt flats, so we can watch the sun set over the salt flats as we relax in the hotels pool. Make sure to bring your appetite as the food is gourmet and there’s plenty of it. 

Leaving Uyuni we head straight north, along the way expect to see plenty of wildlife, namely llama, alpaca and the occasional vicuña.   It’s a long(ish) day in the saddle but the roads are in good shape, so we’ll make good time as we ride to the city of Oruro, the capital city of the department of Oruro.

Pulling out of Oruro it's an easy ride cruising along the Altiplano (High Plains) region on tarmac to the city of La Paz, the highest capital city in the world, sitting at altitude of more that 3,600 meters, nearly 12,000 feet. We’ll get settled into our hotel and take a tour of the city. After a farewell meal, it’s time to pack our bags get a good night sleep before heading back home tomorrow.

Today we ride the infamous “Death Road.” We slip out of the city and climb to the summit pass at an elevation of nearly 3 miles (4,700m/15,500ft.) and then plunge down the “Death Road.” We’ll make a drastic drop in elevation as the temperature rises. Along the way we’ll try our hand at zip-lining high above the valley floors. After a quick lunch in the sub-tropical village of Yolosa, we’ll take the “new” highway back to La Paz.

For those who would appreciate the extra assistance, we’ll take you from the hotel to catch your flight home at the airport. You’ll want to stretch out your sore backside before you board your flight and flip through your pics as you grin (and groan) thinking of all the fun that was had.  From here it’s time to start planning your next adventure!