» The Che, David and the welding shop. Landtrek.net

Out of Santa-Cruz, the old road to Cochabamba is “paved”, well, in some section it is. Strangely, town streets are often unpaved. Like here in charming Samaipata.

In Matara, I cut straight south towards Valle Grande where pavement officially ends.

And it’s probably an hour of rough road later that the roof rack support breaks for the zillionth time.

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This will have to hold until Sucre. I’m not turning back.

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Without even knowing it, I find myself on “Ruta del Che”.

Did you know Che Guevarra was executed (assasinated) here in the mountains of Bolivia?

La Higuera is just a few kilometers away but here’s a safe spot for tonight. Nothing can happen to me here. I’ve got full protection.

Welcome to la Higuera.

Where everything is about the Che.

Got my picture taken with the Che. Didn’t realize the guy was so tall…

And it is here, in this one classroom little school that, by 11:00 o’clock, on the morning of october 9th, 1967, Che Guevarra and his best man, who had been captured the day before and kept here all night, were cold bloodedly executed by the US army while still restrained.

“I prefer to die standing than to live on my knees.” Che.

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Back on the road, I see Canada helps Bolivia in some way. Good, Bolivia needs it.

I stop to camp in the desert near Tomina and I am treated to a thunder and lightning, full sound effect spectacle. Probably one of the most violent storms I’ve been thru so far. I have just enough time to pop open the top and take refuge inside before it comes down. In between thunder strikes, I can hear shots. Loud shots. Almost like cannon shots… Is the Che back?

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Near Tarabuco, I pull over to check the GPS. A motorcycle stops by, in the middle of the road (normal parking spot down here). It’s David. A Yankee going south on his mighty Yamaha WR 250.

Once again, the “travelling alone?” question comes around and, once again so do the tears… David says we should be “moving forward” and I suggest having lunch in town somewhere. After a nice discussion around a decent meal, we agree to meet again in Sucre.

Here’s me, holding up traffic (happens all the time) on the way to Sucre.