Our plan to check in the evening before fell through, because American Airlines only accepts luggage 3 ½ hours before departure at the earliest. So back to the hotel with all our luggage, and another attempt the next day.

Surprisingly, check-in early on Saturday morning goes well and quickly, and 9 ½ hours, two hot meals and two films later we land safely in Philadelphia. We have 2 hours to collect our bike boxes and the 4 pieces of luggage holding the panniers and check them in again. 10 minutes before boarding everything is done. Another 2 ½ hours later we land in Miami.

Welcome to Miami, with a 5-hour wait for the connecting flight. Slowly getting tired, we try to sleep, which is only possible on the floor. The phone alarm is set, so nothing stands in the way of sweet dreams. 1 hour before check-in the phone wakes us, and we discover that the terminal has changed. So back via the Skytrain. We have to wait 5 minutes for the first one. Just as it pulls in and we get on, an airport official walks through and says it isn't running any more; another one will come along on the opposite side in 10 minutes. When we reach the right gate, we can already hear the announcement „last call for Naegeli/Keller“, so hurry up…. We make it, take our seats, and a little later we are in the queue of planes waiting for clearance to take off.

At last, take-off, we're in the air. After about ¾ of an hour comes the announcement that something is wrong, and about 5 minutes later that we are flying back to Miami. The cabin crew walk through the plane with tight faces, and there are repeated announcements telling us to fasten our seatbelts; the crew have strapped themselves in too. A really queasy feeling comes over us, because it isn't clear what is going on. Finally we can make out the lights of Miami. But the uneasy feeling is still there, and not without reason. On the airfield, left and right, stand masses of fire engines, police and everything that flashes and can help. So it is clear to us that something more serious must have happened on our flight.

We are taken off the plane and sent into the terminal. There we are kept quiet with meal and drink vouchers and calmed down with the news that the flight crew and the plane have to be replaced. The flight will not continue until about 6.00 in the morning, but from the same gate. Everyone settles down on the floor as best they can and gets ready for a short, uncomfortable night. 3 hours later comes the news that the gate has to be changed after all. So off on another trek through Miami airport. The planned departure is put off by another 2 hours, and then… we board after all. We take our seats and listen to the announcement that we still have to wait for oxygen for the pilots (landing in La Paz is only allowed with oxygen masks) and for flight clearance for the cabin crew. So now we have been sitting in the plane for over an hour, the air conditioning is dripping on our shoulders and we are „dog-tired“. Finally, we're ready to go. After a fairly calm flight, with only one meal, 6 ½ hours later we are rewarded with a spectacular approach into La Paz.

After 36 hours of travelling, about 20 of them in the air, the driver of our hotel bus is waiting for us and takes us to our home for the next 5 days. At 15.00 local time we fall into bed and, with short breaks, sleep until 07.30 the next morning.

The sudden change of climate took its toll on us. The difference in altitude from 400 m to 4000 m, the very dry air, and temperatures ranging from up to +30 degrees by day to almost freezing at night put a heavy strain on the body. In La Paz we had to extend our stay from 5 to 7 days because of stomach trouble and a cold. Getting into the first „cycling days“ was not easy for us.

In Oruro (225 km), Alexandre's cold turned into flu, which only antibiotics could cure. At the same time Claudia had to be treated for a viral inflammation of the lips. After 5 days of recovery in the hotel room we could swing back into the saddle and carry on towards the Lagoon Route.

We make good progress. Unexpectedly, though, on the afternoon of the second day a haze moves across the sun. An uneasy feeling creeps over us, so we decide to put up the tent at once. Just in time! For the next half hour a sandstorm rages, and we are glad to be sitting in the shelter of the tent.

As the kilometres go by it gets sandier and dustier, and 30 kilometres before Salinas the tarmac ends for good. A highlight lies ahead. The Salar de Uyuni, with its huge expanse, really snow-white, is coloured more brownish than white by the sandstorms that sweep across the country. Even so, the surface reflects the sunlight and strains the eyes. After 50 kilometres on the salar we reach Isla Incahuasi. As there are only a few tracks across the salar, and at night the jeeps drive criss-cross, some without lights, camping on the salar is not advisable. So we spend the night in the refugio with 5 other people. In the morning we leave the island and ride another 50 kilometres across the salar. Simply unbelievable, this vastness. After the salar the road gets rougher and demands more and more of us. Cycling on the unmade ground is out of the question. The track is strewn with bigger stones, shaped into corrugations by lorries, or full of deep sand. We sweat, push, and decide to ride to Ollagüe (Chile). On this route we expect less pushing than on the Lagoon Route, which we already saw 7 years ago on a guided jeep tour.

When we reach the border town of Avaroa in Bolivia, we have been on the road for 10 days since Oruro. The formalities are quickly done. Less quickly do we get through the 5-kilometre border corridor. The wind blows head-on against us with incredible strength. Cycling is impossible. A foretaste of Patagonia?

Biker info for the route