We arrive in the heart of the country, in the altiplano and its surreal landscapes, huge temperature differences, its UNESCO cities, and its lamas!

scenic lamas

We leave Santa cruz to the west, on a beautiful road under construction. In Bolivia, it means that the roads doesn't exist and that you have to make your way in between the trucks and mechanical shovels, and sometimes passings by improvized fords. On top of that, the slopes are steep, and local fuel of bad quality. Our 4WD produce a dense cloud of smelly smoke (sometimes black, sometimes white) just like all the few other diesel vehicules. Along the road, we notice that the population is more in favour of the current government, with a lot of painting "Evo si 2020-2025" !

evo si

As soon as the brazilian border is crossed, we are welcomed in Bolivia by a muddy track in bad condition, a foretaste of what we’ll encounter in the country, and teenage soldiers chewing coca... Checkpoints (sometimes handmade) are plentiful in this area were a lot of drug is smuggled. Controls are eccentric as these soldiers don't get to see foreigners documents very often

bolivia checkpoint

After a stop in a very nice hostel in Corumba where we drank with 2 swiss couples and ate good home-made sorbets, we give up on traveling by boat up the rio Paraguay with the car, and start a long detour on the road to the north of Mato Grosso. The only points of interests on this part were ostrich farms, cotton fields, and a tropical rain shower.

chapada