After a good breakfast, we ride our bikes to Copacabinita (70km) or Corque (90km). Good
surprise at the exit of the hotel: the main street is cut to the
circulation, and the other streets seem deserted by the cars. At
first we think that it is because we are Sunday morning but once
arrived at the city ring road we note that it's empty. Only a few pedestrians and cyclists. Something is happening, even the buses aren't out. We ask a group of young people with bikes and they inform us: today is
the day of the paths according to the Bible, to preserve the path nobody must take his car, only bicycle or on foot.
Thanks to this day of paths, we leave Oruro with a disconcerting ease. As soon as we leave the city, we drive along Uru Uru lake. The lake is quite swampy, it homes many different birds. The road is very straight and flat, no doubt we're on the famous Bolivian Altiplano, a plateau at over 3500m altitude.
The road becomes very monotonous once Lake Uru Uru passed. We arrive at Copacabanita quite early. We ask for water but there're no more in the village, the reserves are dry. We were thinking on going to Corque anyway, that's good. At the end of the day, we reach a slightly more hilly area with small lakes and flocks of llamas. Once in Corque, we ask a school and the health center if it would be possible to sleep there, without success. We go around the main square to look for another place to welcome us. A nice lady asks us what we are looking for and invites us to stay in one of the municipal buildings. We're in what looks like a wedding or meeting room with many chairs and 3 straw mattresses in a corner, what more could we ask for?
