Tuesday, June 22nd: Road to nowhere

5:45 AM  - wake up call: on time.

6:30 AM - taxi to the departure point: on time.

6:55 AM - We arrive at departure point, bus ticket in hand

7:00 AM  - bus to Qutapampa: nowhere to be seen.

Our trek director Sam cannot believe her eyes. A few phone calls to the bus company shed little light on the matter, only that the bus doesn’t go out today and that Sam will get the bus fares paid back to her. She’s irate, with reason, because there are communities waiting for us. Back in Belgium one could take action, but this is Bolivia. If a bus company feels like not going out, then that’s pretty much the way it goes. The bus of the only other company that serves Qutapampa has left already, we are stuck. Then, one of the other people who has been waiting says that there’s a big truck carrying bricks and cement going past Qutapampa. A quick check with the driver confirms that the front cabin is completely full, but we’re free to get in the back with the cargo. I’m for a bit of unconventionality, Blandine has no interest in spending 7 hours being thrown about in the open dusty back of a truck, with bricks as our seat. Did I mention that the second half of the road up to Qutapampa is not paved? No begging Blandine helps, we’re not going to break our backs over getting to the start of this trek. Sam will call the people in Qutapampa, we take a “colectivo” back to Fuentes and move everything in our Bolivia itinerary one day back. The Argentina – Greece game this afternoon should cheer me up.

We check out the Coca museum in the afternoon. The museum is too small to be able to provide a decent experience, but provides an interesting view on the whole coca leaf dilemma. On my way out, I buy 4 bags of coca leaves as a present for the tour guides we will have on the Apolobanba trek, apparently the best gift to give to the locals there.