Distance: 118.97 km
Ride time: 8:07:38
Average: 14.65 km/h
Altitude: 3558 m
Total: 28046 km
At the breakfast table at the hostel I was discussing today’s plan with the owner. “No problem, you will make it to Oruro today, it will take you 8 hours”. I’m not sure how he knew (he didn’t look like a cyclist himself), but the hostel owner’s estimate turned out to be spot on – it would take me just over 8 hours on the bike to reach Oruro.
I had checked the weather forecast so I knew there was a head wind to fight. That was why I was hitting the road early, leaving town at 7:30 as the locals were waking up and going to work. Normally I like being on the bike early, but these days it is a pretty cold experience.
It was one of these days where the goal was clear – to reach Oruro – and where things such as taking photos and chatting to the locals came in second. Oruro would be the biggest city I would reach since Salta a month ago, and I was eager to be back in civilization.
The road was mostly flat and had it not been for the wind it would have been very easy cycling. At some point I saw a cyclist coming in the opposite direction; it turned out to be Kevin from influenceanaudience.com on his own Round the World trip. We had a quick chat before continuing, Kevin to the south, I to the north.
It was just before sunset that I finally reached Oruro. It had been a long day on the bike, and for the last two hours I had been dreaming about what dinner I would enjoy while reaching the big city. As I got closer to the city centre the were plenty of restaurants, but I was so tired that it was too hard to choose one. Instead I grabbed two hamburgers from a street stall.
It was dark as I walked through the busy market streets next to the train station looking for a cheap hostel – very tired, but happy to be back in civilization.
