I’m heading from Cochabamba, Bolivia to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the largest city in Bolivia when considered as a single city.
It’s long, so I’ll just shorten it to Santa Cruz.
It’s about 470km from red to yellow on the map.
There are two routes I can take to get to Santa Cruz: via Highway 4, north of the national park, or via Highway 7, south of the park.
I chose Route 4 because Google Maps suggested Route 4 and Route 7 goes through the mountains.
I head east in the morning sun.
The tunnel just past Paracti, where I arrived in about an hour, was pitch black.
I was glad I had fog lights installed in Tarija.
I had been going for about 20 minutes when I came across a road blockade near Locotal.
They let me through without any problems.
After that I’m good to go
However, about four hours after I left Cochabamba, there was another road block at Bulo Bulo, just beyond Entre Rios.
There is no road here that I can go north or south through, so I have to choose to go through here or go back to Cochabamba.
I told them I wanted to go to Santa Cruz, and they told me, “You can go through here, but turn off the engine and walk.”
I managed to get through there with my heavy luggage.
On the bridge, he told me, “You can ride your motorcycle from here on.”
I drove for about 2 minutes and there was a checkpoint.
A man came towards me, making a noise with a plastic bottle, so I handed him all the coins I had.
About Bs.3, about 0.4 USD.
From here, many checkpoints appear.
At this second checkpoint, I told them, “I only have Bs.100,” and they looked troubled, so I forgave them.
I thought they had a living too, so I gave them Bs.100, about 14 USD.
The third and fourth checkpoints allowed me to pass unconditionally.
Thank you.
At the last checkpoint, I told them, “I only have Bs.100,” and they said, “That’s fine,” and I took the Bs.100.
I don’t like this kind of behavior that shows no consideration for others, as I was forced to hand over money.
After that, there were no checkpoints and I continued on the empty road with no cars.
I left Cochabamba and arrived in Santa Cruz in about 7 hours.
This is a city street as expected
Now, due to the road closure, there was no gasoline sold anywhere between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, from Cochabamba to Montero, about 400 km away
I had a total of 20L of spare tanks, so it didn’t cause any problems, but if I hadn’t had them, I would have been stuck in a small town for days
And because the motorcycle was always idling, the fuel efficiency per liter dropped from about 21km to about 13km
This is pretty fatal here
By the way, I heard that long-distance buses and the like were running on Route 7 in the south due to the road closure
The road I passed through is an important road in Bolivia, so no wonder it was empty
*A few days later, Route 7 was also closed in the middle
Date of driving: October 17, 2024
Harvest this time
I believe it is essential to check the road conditions in advance
