Yesterday was one of those days where you except very little but get rewarded with sights you never anticipated. We left Challapata and headed for Salinas De Garcia. I was anticipating a long, somewhat boring ride through flat arid land which was partly true. However, after we left Highway One and turned west on 630 we started to encounter llama. First just one or two then herds of them. Mixed in with the herds of llamas in several cases were sheep. There was often a man or woman watching over the animals.

It was amazing to see so many and almost impossible to tell what they were eating as there appeared to be no grass that I could see. After several kilometers, llamas became second nature and we rode on hardly glancing at them.

Then another special thing happened. Julie, Gloria’s daughter who is twenty and working with us as the social media person and assistant driver decided that she wanted to ride the second Official EVELO eBike Owners Group bike. She has very little experience riding but she rode for 30k and loved it. It is going to be hard to keep her in the van and off the team’s bike.

Next, came the El Cráter de Jayu Quta a crater that is 2k in diameter. It was an impressive hole in the ground.

Next, we arrived in Salinas and had to pay five BOB (Bolivian money, about 7 to a dollar), The town is not much, not big, dusty and it did not look like it would be a good place to stay. Boy, I was wrong.

We drove up a rough, dusty hill to our accommodation. Albergue Sura Kani, is special. Hugo the owner built his hotel using local materials. Adobe outside, rocks and stones inside to create a special Bolivian establishment. Not only was the hotel special but we got views of the town and the sounding mountain. One of the mountains is Tunupa, about 5400m. Hugo told us the story of how he, a teacher and farmer built this hotel. He finished it in 2007 and struggled for a few years until the French Ambassador and high team came to study the Quinoa growing operation in the valley. That turned the corner for him and now he gets bikers both motor and pedal kind, hikers, and others.

The day was capped off with dinner of soup and your choice of chicken or llama and a bottle of Bolivian red wine. Bernice chose llama and said it was ok.

Yesterday was a good day.