MASSIVE BOULDER
Pictures To Follow
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Sometimes shops are far apart, it’s almost desert conditions again. I arrived at some of the shops and was told there was no water. Later a Bolivian told me that sometimes shops don’t sell water as Bolivians are not too fond of drinking water, just sugary drinks. Once or twice people in houses told me they had no water when I stopped and asked for a water bottle fill. I admit to being a bit surprised when being told they had no water.
I finished in a small town called Vitichi to see that there were posters up for a cycle race that was due to leave here in the morning. A cycle race in Latin America, I often wondered if they have them and how they manage the dogs. Do they have an outrider motorbike cop with a rifle! Thankfully they seem to manage okay.
Luckily for me the riders were staying in a community hall, so I secured a bed in the towns only hotel, with a hot shower, a rarity!
Next day was hot and humid and I got a sore toe! My fault as I saw a stone in the shoulder and kicked it. The stone was concreted to the ground, the pain unbearable, wimp that I am, I don’t think I would be able to give birth to a baby 
Overgrown thorn bushes were pushing me out of my gravel shoulder and onto the road, some of the thorns were huge, about 10 cm long.
I got sharp reminders, literally, as I had my left hand scraped on numerous occasions after forgetting about them as they grew so far out of the hard shoulder, often stretching out onto the road.
I stopped for a break and asked a man in a shop why many people didn’t give me water at the houses, he didn’t know but offered to buy me water. I refused and just bought a 2 ltr bottle of soda. I drank it all also some water, biscuits and the free bananas they gave me. This man works in Argentina as a construction worker. He works a few weeks there before returning to his wife a children back here in this village for a few more days. The money is substantially higher in Argentina.
Later another man told me that indeed there possibly was no fresh water in the houses as many of the rural villages get their water tanks filled from a water truck which visits very infrequently. Upon hearing this I am relieved, I now believe that I did not receive a water refusal, most people are decent and would not see me in distress. Their needs are more important than mine.
Actually I was not in dire need for the water as I still had a litre, I just wanted to increase my ‘ comfort zone. ‘
Two kilometres out of that village the two litres of soda had a chemical reaction with the bananas and me running and violently exploded!
I will spare you the details but suffice to say that I had to jump off the road and under a bridge couldn’t get my pants down in time, massive explosion onto both inside and outside of my pants! A clean up using bits of paper and loose gravel! Probably more swears in this 15 minute period than in my previous six months over the Andes and that was more than the rest of my life put together!
My commitment to the environment was severely tested that time, another volley of swears as I kicked out holes in the loose sand and buried the paper!
And I need to commute tonight.. How can I?!
Indeed after first taking a photograph of my finishing location that night, my commute came in the form of a truck in which I was asked to climb into the back. I just hope they have a shower in the place I stay in tonight!
Yes they did but it was cold, very cold, dark and dirty… Yes the dream is great, all kinds of fun..running is easy 
Next morning I am trying to get back to where I left off yesterday at km 104 (km 104 sounds like an Irish radio station.. But for this runner it should be.. More music less talk!)
Big trouble as local transport is not departing back to last nights finish direction till noon, this kind of stuff can’t be figured into any research, it’s too local and besides one never knows when a commute is necessary till one hits the ground running..
Anyway I try to hitch a ride, it’s about 26km and after a while a nice Argentine couple Roberto and his wife Monika and their young daughter stop and rescue me in their nice sporty car fully equipped with a gps. They even had maps, a wifi tablet to check my website and most important of all Oreo biscuits for me!
Yes I am expecting great things from Argentina, It will be almost like being back in the west!
So I run the 26km to Colgaita where I slept last night, had lunch and ran a very nice and steady 14km after lunch before returning to Colgaita for another night.
The next day was a massive 66km long day finishing very late in Tupiza. It was a very tough mountainous day.
I stopped in a small village and once again asked for water as there was no sign of a shop. A friendly man and his ten year old son invited me into their back garden where he had a water well and told me to drink as much as I wanted. I noticed they were baking bread, a delicious aroma of hot freshly baked bread! Mooching I asked if I could buy some! Not at all he said and sat me down to a feed of the tasty bread. I was asked if I was an Olympic torch runner! Well I better hurry as the Olympics starts next week in London and by my route are almost 21,000km away.. It makes a change to be asked ” Wheres the torch? Your Olympic torch! “
This man refused a photo, only the second man to refuse a photo, the first being a Panamanian police officer, re: the latter there is a story there, reserved for the book!
On and on the road went, like a never-ending treadmill. The wind came and went, sometimes I had a tailwind but so strong was it that it was more uncomfortable than a help.
With every day’s I run I am getting closer and closer towards the end of the Andes, towards the road that runs right down to the bottom of South America, to the bottom of the world. It’s so, so, unbearably long. I am still more than 5,000 kilometres away from my stop sign, a stop sign at the end of this amazing American landmass.
The world is like a massive boulder, every day I take a small chip out of it, one day I will be able to lift that massive boulder high over my head, yes I will defeat it.
Finally I made it into Tupiza where I had a hostel night reserved in the International backpackers Hostel for tonight the 24th July. The managers name is Freddy, a very helpful and friendly man, as was the Bolivian International Hostel Association who told me I could have the Heavy Bag sent here. In the end I decided against using this address as the mail here is unreliable, it seems bus cargo is the most reliable.
However, It was nice to get a night here as one can always depend on a hot shower in a backpackers hostel!
I am very close to Argentina now.. I can almost smell the asado
My final day on the road in Bolivia was a 53km day. I had some more energy crises on the way but am motivated by the sight of Argentina in the distance.
I passed through a village where the locals were celebrating some fiesta or saint of sorts. They offered me chica, which here is a corn based soft drink, but in other parts is a strong alcohol corn fermented drink. Further on up the road one of the locals demands to see my passport! I just laugh and keep on running.
The dogs in the border town of Villazon give me a send off as does a local man who buys me a cola, yes I enjoyed Bolivia, wonderful people, but please no more cold food!
