Sand, shovels and adrenaline.
But since I still had 100 km to go before I would reach the first town in Bolivia I had not to much time to waste. It was now two o’clock.
The next part was supposed to be easy, but it turned out to be very treacherous and after two wild but successful skids I lost control the third time, and sledded down the road.
Pam was fine but the tank-side-bag on the ground-side was ripped off. All the slings were broken, the clamps shattered. The cases were fine, only one attachment-clamp had been bend, but that would be easy to fix once I had a hammer.
I patched up the bag with straps and continued. Finally I crossed the border and the road became better.
The wider road made me ride a bit faster and this almost ruined the day. I came around a bend in the road and noticed a cattle-grid (a set of bars crossing the road covering a 50 cm deep trench). Just as I was about to cross it I realized the steel bars were gone. All what was left was a trench crossing the road. By now I was full in the bend doing 60 km/h. All I could think of was to slam the rear-beak to block the rear wheel and skid sideways of the road to barely miss the trench and come to a complete stop just before I would hit the trees. A crazy plan, but it almost worked. Almost, sine I did not come to a complete stop. The bike straightened itself up a little to soon and I was still doing two km/h, but the result was perfect. Not even a foot on the ground. More careful it still took me until late in the afternoon to get to the first town, which had a nice hotel. With a hot shower!
But no fuel! And no customs facilities.
It took two days and a lot of talking to convince both immigration and customs that I had legally entered Bolivia. But they believed me and ‘pre-dated’ my passport-stamps.