tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89147811775601563002024-03-05T02:25:09.444-08:00Hermanos en biciAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092521629343187357noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-34260978776546536672014-08-12T18:00:00.000-07:002014-12-27T12:48:24.913-08:00Nasca to Lima - Riding along the coast<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We decided not to fly over the Nasca lines (I think it's not ecologically worthwhile...), but on our way north we came across the viewpoint from where we could still observe two of the famous figures.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVn4rRONy2ByPXJwywR_U-N39kW7PIHhxeGs_dymlFmcd3U771OQjhlC2DQCrugIguzpcJpC5aKid7EehTrbc_PtvX-bwdxX3E0WD0lKKm5WglcdDMd3qsDwqh0fwR3L1cKklcq-BkdYA/s1600/DSC_0750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVn4rRONy2ByPXJwywR_U-N39kW7PIHhxeGs_dymlFmcd3U771OQjhlC2DQCrugIguzpcJpC5aKid7EehTrbc_PtvX-bwdxX3E0WD0lKKm5WglcdDMd3qsDwqh0fwR3L1cKklcq-BkdYA/s1600/DSC_0750.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nasca lines: The frog or hands</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Nasca lines are geoglyphs in the desert, created by removing the reddish pebbles from the ground, exposing the lighter ground below it. However, no one knows what for the Nascas created these figures, there are lots of theories, none of which could be confirmed so far...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After leaving from the viewpoint, we soon reached Palpa, and as we were told that after Palpa there's nothing but desert all the way to Ica, we decided to spend the night there and continuing the next day to Ica. Leaving Palpa we had one last little pass to cross; it was pretty special, as the mountains are completely dry, while in the valleys on each side of the mountain ridge there's a green valley along a at this time of the year dry river...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisJJbTlOq_Guxoo0aQ1hjYPSpB0L4NQdaPp-kioXHCi3mO3gsS39zCgnOMcTd9cAxfDH8GLaib6nZJEEgU45O1dzVEs4clIr9yDADS3LE6jOsPdPLwdsYvK8zdPUV1coPGmTGSw6aeUYY/s1600/DSC_0767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisJJbTlOq_Guxoo0aQ1hjYPSpB0L4NQdaPp-kioXHCi3mO3gsS39zCgnOMcTd9cAxfDH8GLaib6nZJEEgU45O1dzVEs4clIr9yDADS3LE6jOsPdPLwdsYvK8zdPUV1coPGmTGSw6aeUYY/s1600/DSC_0767.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our very last mountain pass: just about 600 masl...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After leaving the pass behind us it got really boring: There's a lot of sand everywhere (we're in the middle of a desert) and lots of cars on the road (we're back on the Panamericana), but otherwise there's pretty much nothing and it's completely flat...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fjHyhbAqO35mGlk8q63d1XxOV7DN7GBMQIhxQfLf0kR3ckzLH1gte6DGY-Z8gYEHjhpMZZ2Cyw2RoYnEkBS5fJFTLveocpzro5afwZL9LERy4tEZh-rxETlTWxy6hojmTXyRMwtp8IA/s1600/DSC_0775.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fjHyhbAqO35mGlk8q63d1XxOV7DN7GBMQIhxQfLf0kR3ckzLH1gte6DGY-Z8gYEHjhpMZZ2Cyw2RoYnEkBS5fJFTLveocpzro5afwZL9LERy4tEZh-rxETlTWxy6hojmTXyRMwtp8IA/s1600/DSC_0775.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now we're definitely in the desert!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few km before Ica we reached another valley and it became a bit greener again, and then we made our way through the suburbs of Ica, looking for the place of Berly, our WarmShowers host. Initially we didn't plan to spend a day in Ica, but it came different: On our way to the oasis Huacachina we got lost and ended up in a weird neighbourhood where several dogs followed me (nothing special, dogs don't seem to like bikes). As they seemed pretty aggressive I stopped (usually they stop barking and turn around as soon as you stop), but one of them didn't like that either, jumped up and bit me in my ass. Now that wouldn't have been too bad, it just bled a tiny little bit and well, it hurt, but as it was dog from the street, we knew that we'd have to get anti-rabies treatment. This turned out to be pretty difficult, in the first hospital we spent over an hour waiting for this and that until they finally told us that they didn't have the vaccine I needed (and they even told me that it's not that important, that you should only start treatment if you show symptoms, clearly telling me that they had no idea, as by the time you show symptoms you're condemned to death...). At least they told me that I should be able to get the vaccine at the local anti-rabies center, so we decided to first go and visit Huacachina and care about the vaccine later. Huacachina was very touristic, but truly gorgeous! It really looks exactly how I always imagined an oasis: a little lake surrounded by palm trees in the middle of huge sand dunes...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2IhtclcOGMmW1kqBVM_YFDAlFC9iLLFuBeKm4-3SBQBQ2c7c2NH7oQGewopR6OaNfKO3MN_BVzsq9z9SrIdnw1hHddKHvZ1Ww5uzEfC6JVLRW0e1JhO9SRk9Ooi-AHewlRJH7KXdSJpo/s1600/DSC_0791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2IhtclcOGMmW1kqBVM_YFDAlFC9iLLFuBeKm4-3SBQBQ2c7c2NH7oQGewopR6OaNfKO3MN_BVzsq9z9SrIdnw1hHddKHvZ1Ww5uzEfC6JVLRW0e1JhO9SRk9Ooi-AHewlRJH7KXdSJpo/s1600/DSC_0791.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't think that an oasis really looks like this!!...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Huacachina - Just amazing!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in Ica we went to this anti-rabies center which of course was closed, so we had to return the next morning again... There they took it more serious and sent me to the next hospital where finally it was no problem to get the shot. The next problem, however, is that now I need another shot exactly 3 days later, so we have to be in a city with a hospital again... In the afternoon we finally left Ica and cycled towards the coast. On the way we passed lots of vineyards, it was really weird to see all this agriculture with the sand dunes in the background... In the evening we finally got to the coast again; we stayed in the touristy town of Paracas in a very cute little hostel with amazingly kind hosts! From there we took a tour to Islas Ballestas the next morning. These are some islands out in the sea with lots of wildlife, therefore also named poor mens' Galapagos.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22fhqHJjW1Y1TuM6TYdsYDqe73NrDGAFhLjxwGo4D1jrNt2esZnB54yEsF_V3TnED2wIJwHxxaOe4Erm9lRVbKoPVYZ5KLEkMhGIgsnxQ__rD8Dn01YqQtvKaAieBu-Ejo1nWQzuCPE0/s1600/DSC_0811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22fhqHJjW1Y1TuM6TYdsYDqe73NrDGAFhLjxwGo4D1jrNt2esZnB54yEsF_V3TnED2wIJwHxxaOe4Erm9lRVbKoPVYZ5KLEkMhGIgsnxQ__rD8Dn01YqQtvKaAieBu-Ejo1nWQzuCPE0/s1600/DSC_0811.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sea lions on Islas Ballestas</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJnLJGvzSLI86dGTcppQ0NeNaFi7PxyxBVuZsEjmbzs6VAKDxT3xc3JtnRB-ihveucsiKDCidzNu3GbI_wA6VWJ_Bo1DIRG1FOM_yryfm-AVNs0aB4R4Pq490vo_D_y1aEVdr68RPQgr8/s1600/DSC_0819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJnLJGvzSLI86dGTcppQ0NeNaFi7PxyxBVuZsEjmbzs6VAKDxT3xc3JtnRB-ihveucsiKDCidzNu3GbI_wA6VWJ_Bo1DIRG1FOM_yryfm-AVNs0aB4R4Pq490vo_D_y1aEVdr68RPQgr8/s1600/DSC_0819.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They almost seem to be posing...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzbN0HDT2lx1MfH5U-1SehSxfOfBX66N9cxRAZcpTioR24f_zyljtthyoOhYX0PW742mF84zwMmkc2BCjqwQt7d2GKQPm_IL1anA3ryWzaxjjeFqQGfsRlxxii5JvsFVfVIQnrzoh_GE/s1600/DSC_0825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzbN0HDT2lx1MfH5U-1SehSxfOfBX66N9cxRAZcpTioR24f_zyljtthyoOhYX0PW742mF84zwMmkc2BCjqwQt7d2GKQPm_IL1anA3ryWzaxjjeFqQGfsRlxxii5JvsFVfVIQnrzoh_GE/s1600/DSC_0825.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Humboldt penguin :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITzSMeGVVwTKL4Mjyw0jDfXMMS4W79UlZkzv0cHCmNM-qL6mxAFADKiRON1e9YQSgyZ-htTlNLXUMOCOco7-CKspDLFbAN-BelX8b6FKu6YxLquBozAzYeZ4vXeD6Bh-UxstSlsyKW0Q/s1600/DSC_0829.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITzSMeGVVwTKL4Mjyw0jDfXMMS4W79UlZkzv0cHCmNM-qL6mxAFADKiRON1e9YQSgyZ-htTlNLXUMOCOco7-CKspDLFbAN-BelX8b6FKu6YxLquBozAzYeZ4vXeD6Bh-UxstSlsyKW0Q/s1600/DSC_0829.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">El Candelabro - A geoglyph on the Paracas peninsula</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we returned to Paracas, Stefan went to bed immediately as he didn't feel well at all. However, he still wanted to leave later in the day in order to reach Lima soon, so I went for a short ride to the national reserve on the Paracas peninsula while he slept for a while. If we'd had more time it would have been great to spent more time on the Paracas peninsula, as the landscape was just amazing! I only got to see one of the many beaches, but I'm sure the others would be at least as gorgeous as this one!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvVvlxaHaT20EfmdGYDBJE1ejtXoiYR5OmsV63A2m3-fcr_uPVN9E3jsNdd8XA73heElEJaYH7jPiUSPnklIrXHuJiBVOKlYAdK0V1GTv7pQ0AI2ZUGdWCjoclmRv2RRRQbzTxHwXLbPA/s1600/IMG_9664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvVvlxaHaT20EfmdGYDBJE1ejtXoiYR5OmsV63A2m3-fcr_uPVN9E3jsNdd8XA73heElEJaYH7jPiUSPnklIrXHuJiBVOKlYAdK0V1GTv7pQ0AI2ZUGdWCjoclmRv2RRRQbzTxHwXLbPA/s1600/IMG_9664.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paracas National Reserve</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7HEAwCIB3b6rgBX48fL7_GE6shVOqbzr38kdiC5J4ow1GYd_gbVzN6Xcr6KHV7019YurtLJViasD_TOjQrSPYSTt1UtiCXl4MMZ0vz6xNojs5e1FPwzkJLkB4mBD4RtCyQTSvp9etLVA/s1600/IMG_9669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7HEAwCIB3b6rgBX48fL7_GE6shVOqbzr38kdiC5J4ow1GYd_gbVzN6Xcr6KHV7019YurtLJViasD_TOjQrSPYSTt1UtiCXl4MMZ0vz6xNojs5e1FPwzkJLkB4mBD4RtCyQTSvp9etLVA/s1600/IMG_9669.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This red sand is just amazing!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwb1mbov1iWdMiJPI2op7QzzH-VJ7oDUViynKmnj0kNNv5UqkZ7CoTdoZRJPcrq0rGkfKYp9H36autfI6m8nMX4S4R9tBsEReGgyzA2KA2ademiqIDUuDnhNI2nKyghgirHb422VNLBs/s1600/IMG_9675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwb1mbov1iWdMiJPI2op7QzzH-VJ7oDUViynKmnj0kNNv5UqkZ7CoTdoZRJPcrq0rGkfKYp9H36autfI6m8nMX4S4R9tBsEReGgyzA2KA2ademiqIDUuDnhNI2nKyghgirHb422VNLBs/s1600/IMG_9675.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beautiful bay with a red beach!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD5nYSLoCMWSAM0PoftVpWEF4-nzLzeLX6Nhyco7gBGWWXFj2SHyumClimAXQV3bVQcS5boxXyN5Rl9WG253kPkYdVDTI-bNJrAg1bbSsjCheUe8MbkymPx3I0fpLW94WI8_-dEy0S29o/s1600/IMG_9679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD5nYSLoCMWSAM0PoftVpWEF4-nzLzeLX6Nhyco7gBGWWXFj2SHyumClimAXQV3bVQcS5boxXyN5Rl9WG253kPkYdVDTI-bNJrAg1bbSsjCheUe8MbkymPx3I0fpLW94WI8_-dEy0S29o/s1600/IMG_9679.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazing colors!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpqS3siQpTG2Vb0GZ-tPmCLhIq-ltcb4E1JuVS0AUOv2DfFbGLhbwn1CRiUWBGpGrCwF_uXts5XsG5N3bTd8HyC4jA4VmRBWL83KNW7LQNyMMom1M_95NhCJWaBP_97W62sXPd2OcReng/s1600/IMG_9680.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpqS3siQpTG2Vb0GZ-tPmCLhIq-ltcb4E1JuVS0AUOv2DfFbGLhbwn1CRiUWBGpGrCwF_uXts5XsG5N3bTd8HyC4jA4VmRBWL83KNW7LQNyMMom1M_95NhCJWaBP_97W62sXPd2OcReng/s1600/IMG_9680.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess I could have spent quite a while there...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I got back Stefan really wanted to continue, so we packed everything and went on to Chincha Alta, a very non-touristic city a few km from the coast. The next day Stefan felt so bad that we decided to stay the day there for him to recover. Luckily I could get my second anti-rabies shot at the local hospital the next morning before heading on towards the north. But Stefan still didn't feel well and after a long ride along a busy highway we stopped at a gas station where we only found a closed restaurant. So we ate our last cookies and then tried to get a ride to Mala, were we had a Warm Showers host waiting for us. Pretty soon an empty yogurt truck agreed to take us and our bikes to Mala for 20 soles, which we were more than willing to pay, as Stefan seemed to be falling asleep soon. Once in Mala people soon figured that we were looking for Lula, our Warm Showers host, she seemed to be known for hosting cyclists... She welcomed us very warmly and after a lot of story telling Lula showed us her little town and we went out to eat Chinese dinner. Later that evening I learned a lot about Lula and all her travels and experiences while Stefan went to sleep early in order to finally recover! It would have been nice to spend more time with Lula, she seemed a very interesting person telling us lots of thing about Peruvian people and customs, but Stefan was determined to finally reach Lima. So the next morning we hit the road again. It wasn't a particularly nice ride: Along a busy highway through the desert; passing several abandoned "holiday villages" of the rich Limeños, but luckily there was a wide shoulder so the passing cars didn't bother us too much...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQm5fN25hF05OFX5Z_HAOCMoO-IlKVaCvSweXLWzD-7fMDiETe_yTSQ9zEAC1Zqk6t5dxOYLsP-YGhNpxUeKWpfFqtWtH8vWJ9f8neImpm_PsAxATDfrangqmtYJg2nZrIj1DubtD_cc/s1600/DSC_0831+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQm5fN25hF05OFX5Z_HAOCMoO-IlKVaCvSweXLWzD-7fMDiETe_yTSQ9zEAC1Zqk6t5dxOYLsP-YGhNpxUeKWpfFqtWtH8vWJ9f8neImpm_PsAxATDfrangqmtYJg2nZrIj1DubtD_cc/s1600/DSC_0831+(2).JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Entering Lima on the highway: Lots of ads, cars, fog and pollution :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soon we reached the southernmost parts of Lima, from one minute to the next the desert was replaced by houses, but we still had lots of kilometers to head north along the highway. And once we finally left the highway, we got lost pretty immediately and only with the help of several kind Limeños and police officers we reached the Jesús María district. Once in this district we soon found our hostel where we both enjoyed a warm shower before heading out to find some good food and celebrating our arrival in Lima!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day we met Jihyun and Sungjong again! :-) As they have been in Lima waiting for a package from South Korea for over 2 weeks, they knew the city pretty well, so we had our personal city guides. After eating Ceviche at the local market in Jesús María we took a bus downtown. After visiting the mandatory Plaza de Armas with all the government buildings I finally got the chance to buy some souvenirs! (We decided not to buy anything before reaching Lima because of space issues...) Towards the evening the streets got filled with artists of all kinds and we spent quite a while observing them. Once our legs didn't want to carry us anymore (it seemed that by now our legs preferred cycling rather than walking), we made our way back to </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesús María the four of us went for Chinese dinner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One touristy day in Lima had to be enough; the next day we had lots of things to do: First, we had to find some bike boxes. Natalia, the women who invited us to her house in Nasca, gave us the contact details of a certain Andrés. So after contacting him, we set out to find his little bike shop (which turned out to be pretty difficult in a city as big as Lima...). But finally we found it and Andrés proofed to be a very helpful guy! He didn't have bike boxes in his shop, but he promised to organize some and to bring them to our hostel! He also showed us a good seafood restaurant where Stefan and I had lunch before heading to the sea. But it was all so gray (we never ever saw the sun during our time in Lima) that we didn't really get the "beach-feeling"... So we took a bus back to our hostel and just the moment we got there Andrés arrived with two perfect bike boxes! I want to use this opportunity to thank Andrés and all the other helpful locals we met during our time in South America; all of them our trip special and unforgettable, it would never have been the same without meeting them!!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfqBVq30bZWrihoug_FQRBjceUdp7dvhbi7-KCDscj4w8SYCfSYsUY915Fg6y8B9Fyhu7Gxt7Wydfc6bVLnDuiJGLG6PCd_-OtpxpQl0o6psktxecHdrVe0KP58RxJec5-_BzeWF4318/s1600/DSC_0838+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfqBVq30bZWrihoug_FQRBjceUdp7dvhbi7-KCDscj4w8SYCfSYsUY915Fg6y8B9Fyhu7Gxt7Wydfc6bVLnDuiJGLG6PCd_-OtpxpQl0o6psktxecHdrVe0KP58RxJec5-_BzeWF4318/s1600/DSC_0838+(2).JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Andrés, a friend of Natalias', organized two bike boxes for us :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later we went to the nearby supermarket for some duct tape and after asking around for a while we even got the Styrofoam of a fridge. Soon our bikes were safely stored in the boxes and I finally started to realize that our adventure is coming to an end... But we still had one last evening left in South America, so we headed to the Miraflores district where we met Alice, a French cyclist we first met in Susques, Sungjong and Jihyun, and Thomas and Corinna, two German backpackers we met on the Laguna route in Bolivia. After a last Chinese dinner we spent the evening in a cozy little restaurant having some drinks and replaying the last few months with all the unforgettable experiences each of us will take home...</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Lima, Peru-12.046374 -77.0427934-12.108488 -77.123474399999992 -11.98426 -76.9621124tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-34904418520651118422014-08-01T18:00:00.000-07:002014-08-07T13:25:24.465-07:00Cusco to Nasca - Cycling a seemingly endless series of mountain passes<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually it was time to say goodbye to Sungjong and Jihyuan, as they continued by bus, while we started cycling towards Nasca... Leaving Cusco meant cycling up our first pass on the way towards the coast, which gave us a good view over Cusco as soon we were high above the city.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQrm320XEJEBlcITXmXm3HDcWcR7t8iNzCi3WChrIFCwSkBN4t5tuyPNNFeudMP7bEEZ17fmOfVTcWIIyXJFv-oHFPv2lcvRbGYo6qiOUC7Or_owmy0lwsl1nqXdUzgUP5Dp5967cG2M/s1600/DSC_0542.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQrm320XEJEBlcITXmXm3HDcWcR7t8iNzCi3WChrIFCwSkBN4t5tuyPNNFeudMP7bEEZ17fmOfVTcWIIyXJFv-oHFPv2lcvRbGYo6qiOUC7Or_owmy0lwsl1nqXdUzgUP5Dp5967cG2M/s1600/DSC_0542.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leaving Cusco we got a nice view over the city</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmwU6RHQzhuB4_kyNVymTE02NIkVji1vL5rPjJ6G2ndkPRwNTI_Y-BaogtVGmEidSOnOhfmjBHA235c-J4zkhIip1WRRBRaLkk7kzIXcV-6v3xhTjuMX8f5tirGs2aCBIFuC3br7_cz0/s1600/DSC_0546.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmwU6RHQzhuB4_kyNVymTE02NIkVji1vL5rPjJ6G2ndkPRwNTI_Y-BaogtVGmEidSOnOhfmjBHA235c-J4zkhIip1WRRBRaLkk7kzIXcV-6v3xhTjuMX8f5tirGs2aCBIFuC3br7_cz0/s1600/DSC_0546.JPG" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first time since quite a while we seem<br />to be in a pretty fertile area...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Astonishingly fast we got to the top of the days first pass, from where we cycled quite a bit down again, before having lunch in the next village... Then it got pretty flat for a while, before the road started to climb again. And then we found ourselves on top of pass number two and had a 25 km downhill in front of us, that we definitely enjoyed!!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUZ7wmfZoQ270mKgK2sD33gwC-rAzdaMZsL-x_QzMSfZKM7HgixxVPSaf-C_ilJmQ_fsxJLs6JqpfK7L5uJXcwBAZNP-xWLRsYL7js74VvHAUSG73pyeFoQ7oXZcGalrDuvcOBuqsp9A/s1600/DSC_0554.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUZ7wmfZoQ270mKgK2sD33gwC-rAzdaMZsL-x_QzMSfZKM7HgixxVPSaf-C_ilJmQ_fsxJLs6JqpfK7L5uJXcwBAZNP-xWLRsYL7js74VvHAUSG73pyeFoQ7oXZcGalrDuvcOBuqsp9A/s1600/DSC_0554.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our way down to Limatambo</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The road took its way down along the hills on which suddenly everything seems to grow, something we haven't seen in quite a while! The view into the valley was amazing and slowly the temperatures rose, so that by the moment we got to Limatambo it was really warm. After checking a few hospedajes we finally found the Hospedaje Rivero, where we immediately had a whole clutch of children around us. Our bikes seem to have been really interesting and soon I had 4 girls on my bike :-)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2t-POXE7LX1ME6aWVC6RAKUuviXviifrhQhmvaLRr2xva6_ouGrQ_wia7Ay4JhcaPLmHq9yVplw2E2WR5rKkey440DbAQqznXRuNyMAGg0NdZ0Scl7Uu2CuBd1p9aMDnyIwx8UlXCak/s1600/DSC_0560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2t-POXE7LX1ME6aWVC6RAKUuviXviifrhQhmvaLRr2xva6_ouGrQ_wia7Ay4JhcaPLmHq9yVplw2E2WR5rKkey440DbAQqznXRuNyMAGg0NdZ0Scl7Uu2CuBd1p9aMDnyIwx8UlXCak/s1600/DSC_0560.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The kids at the hostel in Limatambo were fascinated by our bikes... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Limatambo the downhill continued for another while, but most of it was under construction and the road was accordingly dusty...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihsJWS3fCuWCH-XeNtQrVHgqKUIBUVYSK4zvzL8xA5k_7jyaiJzvqD5m4gX-d59EfC0YmD2bVT1Z9znXhphrrMNDCHXpTH8RICiMcBYXXFM-eFfgUwqlQkrkLl22O_h5Boa8tA-XdvHj8/s1600/DSC_0561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihsJWS3fCuWCH-XeNtQrVHgqKUIBUVYSK4zvzL8xA5k_7jyaiJzvqD5m4gX-d59EfC0YmD2bVT1Z9znXhphrrMNDCHXpTH8RICiMcBYXXFM-eFfgUwqlQkrkLl22O_h5Boa8tA-XdvHj8/s1600/DSC_0561.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Construction sites can be REALLY dusty!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soon we got to less than 2000 masl, where we reached the Apurímac river and where the road started to climb again. For the first time since a whole while it got really hot and we were both cycling in shorts and t-shirt and soon we got to Curahuasi, were we had a late lunch and later dinner in a Chinese restaurant (we figured that Chinese food is a more than welcome change from the usual rice and chicken you get in the "normal" restaurants...). Luckily, we found a nice little hotel with a working hot shower, that was great!! Even though we thought that we were on our way up the next pass, the next morning we first cycled down for a while, just to climb these meters of altitude again a while later. Then it climbed higher and higher, giving us a nice view over the valley where we started in the morning. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually it started raining, which led to the shock of the trip for me, as on the wet road a crazy driver lost the control over his vehicle and crashed into the guardrail just abo</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ut 10 m behind me... Luckily we found a place to hide during our lunch break when the rain got pretty strong. By the time we finally made it to the top of the pass the weather was pretty nice again and far below where we were we could see Abancay, our goal for the day...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmMuga9wfPrIxZG34TOrXt3oTpgo8CQ3G-aDLq56QuzzwDCrPJN1d4gTDfSRcTyupcnv9JOdn65o17LC7aR88JJ_KA81dXxc6NMC2Gacuf1GPBzUEOy-4uIffzpj2nRes26ZzZMM9dkw/s1600/DSC_0570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmMuga9wfPrIxZG34TOrXt3oTpgo8CQ3G-aDLq56QuzzwDCrPJN1d4gTDfSRcTyupcnv9JOdn65o17LC7aR88JJ_KA81dXxc6NMC2Gacuf1GPBzUEOy-4uIffzpj2nRes26ZzZMM9dkw/s1600/DSC_0570.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View down towards Abancay</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But as soon as we started our downhill, the weather changed and very soon we found ourselves in thick fog where we hardly saw anything anymore...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ouY7Htq1YK3C0tymptk2zOikYEvPh7UpaLEERNf0y5exrL6PENYtQf5pNrrh5YpBMHx4kKbeA0PKJh_hkuiyFce0ErHeaoKlvQ4UDz3mmO6OKDlwMP1qo6lW-CVxIiT6kc9mSouYSJQ/s1600/DSC_0573.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ouY7Htq1YK3C0tymptk2zOikYEvPh7UpaLEERNf0y5exrL6PENYtQf5pNrrh5YpBMHx4kKbeA0PKJh_hkuiyFce0ErHeaoKlvQ4UDz3mmO6OKDlwMP1qo6lW-CVxIiT6kc9mSouYSJQ/s1600/DSC_0573.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, on the other side of the pass it was foggy...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Abancay we checked in at the "Gran Hotel Abancay" which happened to be our cheapest accommodation in all Peru...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Abancay we had another few km of downhill until we reached another river, that we then followed for about 150 km, meaning that the next uphill was very slight but steady. However, the landscape was breathtaking, the valley was sometimes really narrow, the river gorgeous and there was hardly any traffic...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6NEr3TNMJrARdJO4-cPsbpVCbwGuQg2PywjDTppDqtUi2AWV-TXG9xvXkFdcaFEVz1hBS3Fd7BztylllInpSs_e5nuqRv6VnB_E4XXQvW_EtbgZEPxHBWe5pF6cKPX9uPKRVK-reJrTA/s1600/DSC_0577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6NEr3TNMJrARdJO4-cPsbpVCbwGuQg2PywjDTppDqtUi2AWV-TXG9xvXkFdcaFEVz1hBS3Fd7BztylllInpSs_e5nuqRv6VnB_E4XXQvW_EtbgZEPxHBWe5pF6cKPX9uPKRVK-reJrTA/s1600/DSC_0577.JPG" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beautiful valley!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVZwXONcRhJKn1Bz-QY2cdEVLJXUcgTUDjlgVkmRXQZyH8_Fk9sV5KU1BsO9zhItCx_ig2vSCmIYw5_JI3Hr5PzTE7jpbOjmwKPk24sKfQbD_vZLY0fmVlT6GoTd9YhdjF9DvxhaLRGs/s1600/DSC_0590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVZwXONcRhJKn1Bz-QY2cdEVLJXUcgTUDjlgVkmRXQZyH8_Fk9sV5KU1BsO9zhItCx_ig2vSCmIYw5_JI3Hr5PzTE7jpbOjmwKPk24sKfQbD_vZLY0fmVlT6GoTd9YhdjF9DvxhaLRGs/s1600/DSC_0590.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not the worst camp spot I guess ;-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLi-D3CIvdEGPX8_IsZO4Xwv3HhNVFwV_SkSgRXIV_fOKws5gztIw2Km1LoIduMsw8fYI-2-97qZ1x2IdTQAL-U5B9V3m67elGuHT9e6xWEOFa7rSHEkOtZMXoTSf8CDjDW4JblNAC9M/s1600/DSC_0596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLi-D3CIvdEGPX8_IsZO4Xwv3HhNVFwV_SkSgRXIV_fOKws5gztIw2Km1LoIduMsw8fYI-2-97qZ1x2IdTQAL-U5B9V3m67elGuHT9e6xWEOFa7rSHEkOtZMXoTSf8CDjDW4JblNAC9M/s1600/DSC_0596.JPG" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our lunch break location :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCfeLzA13OqDQGm10gjfc33AU7-41hSIgtAY50uiEZwiLL1jIeopNqifB9pTUy3XeDpWfMn5UGGdM5ySC7KJ5l1OUgyQxFIrpZGcHD6ZdWwSi5wN1e7ByDCv6o9YxyFx_MlXqJ6SLS5c/s1600/DSC_0605.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCfeLzA13OqDQGm10gjfc33AU7-41hSIgtAY50uiEZwiLL1jIeopNqifB9pTUy3XeDpWfMn5UGGdM5ySC7KJ5l1OUgyQxFIrpZGcHD6ZdWwSi5wN1e7ByDCv6o9YxyFx_MlXqJ6SLS5c/s1600/DSC_0605.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Camping with huge rock walls on either side</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our third day after Abancay we finally left the river in order to cycle up the next pass... </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnJQdxuhv4HoLDawmMzHkBIqZUfQ8Q3b1AevHhC1BzpzZl2ZEx4vocpmoHENcv8T6KFYxyIff6Inz6qfCBI3anbGkn8uFh3z8kpGCpuEMerY-9XyDJudHa-RtAXKZZkusGQEI31os6yU/s1600/DSC_0617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnJQdxuhv4HoLDawmMzHkBIqZUfQ8Q3b1AevHhC1BzpzZl2ZEx4vocpmoHENcv8T6KFYxyIff6Inz6qfCBI3anbGkn8uFh3z8kpGCpuEMerY-9XyDJudHa-RtAXKZZkusGQEI31os6yU/s1600/DSC_0617.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just another pass...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, after quite a few days of cycling one pass after the other I was dead by the time we made it to what we thought was the top, but obviously it wasn't... Additionally, it started raining again and soon it turned into sleet and eventually snow... So when it stopped snowing for a while we set up our tent next to the street and Stefan continued to the next village where he found delicious lama meat and roasted corn.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih9qW6pyJW9K0ZnWmXC43mv-jyChsrYM7zoJP-Fi51lBZkatmERtqgkyf5w8WOOwgSdg3hsM7pfVh2Vaf3j8hX0nHsgp9hiVrJCDNnHTaOMm91CFM5BXGR0-1fLMQPiDLSr7nADOM7PMk/s1600/DSC_0633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih9qW6pyJW9K0ZnWmXC43mv-jyChsrYM7zoJP-Fi51lBZkatmERtqgkyf5w8WOOwgSdg3hsM7pfVh2Vaf3j8hX0nHsgp9hiVrJCDNnHTaOMm91CFM5BXGR0-1fLMQPiDLSr7nADOM7PMk/s1600/DSC_0633.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting dried lama meat and roasted corn in a tiny village<br />-> It was delicious!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we hid in our tent and soon it started snowing again, the next morning we woke up in the middle of a completely altered landscape: The sky was blue and there was snow everywhere! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZzg-rh_Laz7mNxE44L3IiwGWQjD-0BAwJBNGLcLEVolZWXqXRDxsf_ltZw7ZYIWUJpU3Sg6dHNKVjK9fWlQ4fc3SHQPi5lPJAxoFWrXiVdPAeefYR2_UmSIxNx3lJ8AC2VXUCDTL1XVc/s1600/DSC_0639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZzg-rh_Laz7mNxE44L3IiwGWQjD-0BAwJBNGLcLEVolZWXqXRDxsf_ltZw7ZYIWUJpU3Sg6dHNKVjK9fWlQ4fc3SHQPi5lPJAxoFWrXiVdPAeefYR2_UmSIxNx3lJ8AC2VXUCDTL1XVc/s1600/DSC_0639.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It didn't look so comfortable the night before...<br />-> getting snow at 4500 masl</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we waited for the sun to dry our tent and then continued in a pretty hilly landscape. From time to time we crossed a herd of lamas and alpacas, then we had another steep downhill that led us into the next village and obviously, leaving the village we just climbed again to the same elevation where we started in the morning...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqb9yW9fpE0k3tB9GgIkO_miP9cWHFNeKSrDJoG8y4cFFPlRQHn8WcioXu9U_sMLIyeXnXzghVL1cwY6MxTn__v7VlKlQZ-UMLj-_2F96Dnacra0ZEelgg44Y-sGqMhjDSAXQKHvdzy8/s1600/DSC_0652.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqb9yW9fpE0k3tB9GgIkO_miP9cWHFNeKSrDJoG8y4cFFPlRQHn8WcioXu9U_sMLIyeXnXzghVL1cwY6MxTn__v7VlKlQZ-UMLj-_2F96Dnacra0ZEelgg44Y-sGqMhjDSAXQKHvdzy8/s1600/DSC_0652.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aren't they cute???</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then we stayed high for quite a while, always at around 4500 masl, we came across lots of lamas and alpacas and eventually there were tons of lakes (no idea where they suddenly came from...).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzlvfpSuyN4Qe1Frn7nG9bQX822IPuaYzUYWT_SvTnfff2kmr0T63oAec_h4TyQ_7Wuyq3zeNIf8PoDCHwQ4PQStFJYD1eQMoqnLfwadhiC9kddhGoOJY9FuOSUs-JniH4eIQBQynl9hI/s1600/DSC_0696.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzlvfpSuyN4Qe1Frn7nG9bQX822IPuaYzUYWT_SvTnfff2kmr0T63oAec_h4TyQ_7Wuyq3zeNIf8PoDCHwQ4PQStFJYD1eQMoqnLfwadhiC9kddhGoOJY9FuOSUs-JniH4eIQBQynl9hI/s1600/DSC_0696.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The landscape at these extreme heights can be gorgeous...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then, finally, the next pass, from which we had a loooong downhill leading to Puquio, where we arrived early and just realxed a bit, as we both knew that the next day will be hard.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpjmViTgMLRLlcFWwoYmZipko_D6uPR_lKre_o0xeIej2uwKRDsh0_dWK4IuJKxkDlQnyFhVhNeEXFTd4UACPfLEAAj7KZBFNaVhQy0jGGKLgwRltCPQlR8lUrMlwlgp0QHOWu6ztN-n8/s1600/DSC_0704.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpjmViTgMLRLlcFWwoYmZipko_D6uPR_lKre_o0xeIej2uwKRDsh0_dWK4IuJKxkDlQnyFhVhNeEXFTd4UACPfLEAAj7KZBFNaVhQy0jGGKLgwRltCPQlR8lUrMlwlgp0QHOWu6ztN-n8/s1600/DSC_0704.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arriving to Puquio</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leaving Puquio, our warm-up was a first, small pass, just about 500 m in elevation gain, from there it went down into the next valley. And then the last long uphill of our trip started, slowly the landscape got more arid and at some time in the afternoon we were again and for the last time above 4000 masl. From the highest point it continued to be hilly for a few km until finally the longest downhill of our trip started: Over 60 km of continuous downhill!! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZPMiaeI7ME3-_dw39Rz6WvSnPl7IJ6rU3UklXkBs-SSLdSwcdz2KXaGTnuoOVuesRSQ0QrSYvvcUzfDJjLd1OFZWkgOEgUBXne4UFZsbKPjSJsCN371XGA6egUsPIM3CDZ7mZwsMKWNg/s1600/DSC_0730.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZPMiaeI7ME3-_dw39Rz6WvSnPl7IJ6rU3UklXkBs-SSLdSwcdz2KXaGTnuoOVuesRSQ0QrSYvvcUzfDJjLd1OFZWkgOEgUBXne4UFZsbKPjSJsCN371XGA6egUsPIM3CDZ7mZwsMKWNg/s1600/DSC_0730.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting closer to the coast!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJ6Rr2Rdxx7GZloga-KMVyWDINVWobFqXx_voKRhNl7YOfFCHkwOxqvbEU919AKGkdlR_-vaxS7j36kCV9-bC4dtoORV6tIQAszsgT6so3S0LsTU6NI0OomEv4x65BuIslvxeUPWW_rk/s1600/DSC_0736.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJ6Rr2Rdxx7GZloga-KMVyWDINVWobFqXx_voKRhNl7YOfFCHkwOxqvbEU919AKGkdlR_-vaxS7j36kCV9-bC4dtoORV6tIQAszsgT6so3S0LsTU6NI0OomEv4x65BuIslvxeUPWW_rk/s1600/DSC_0736.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our way down to Nasca</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was late already, but the view was gorgeous as we cycled down and down and down and eventually, short after dark we got to Nasca, situated at only about 600 masl!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OxzZIqhZlHUYUeq5YvHpKt2DB7tLoyiDHNMwJNlLhJaz_OGC0FhwRBom56zBTlZDXArYB8-gzVfETN_cHn3ABTPeEMdl6EB1SS8pLypy3rrjMhbzsb25uuCabpKbrPiS9rMFyEHq5GU/s1600/DSC_0747.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OxzZIqhZlHUYUeq5YvHpKt2DB7tLoyiDHNMwJNlLhJaz_OGC0FhwRBom56zBTlZDXArYB8-gzVfETN_cHn3ABTPeEMdl6EB1SS8pLypy3rrjMhbzsb25uuCabpKbrPiS9rMFyEHq5GU/s1600/DSC_0747.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arriving to Nasca</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was the longest day of our trip, 160 km, but we arrived luckily in Nasca and somehow it's weird to know that there are no more high mountain passes to cross on the way to Lima...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once in Nasca I definitely needed a day of rest, and even though there would be a lot to do and visit around the city, we just did nothing the next day, but Stefan met a local family at a restaurant that invited us for a drink in the evening and we spent an amazing evening with them! They were extremely kind, told us a lot about Peru, showed us lots of ceramics from the Nasca culture that the father of Natalia collected and we just talked for hours!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Nasca, Peru-14.8358687 -74.932758299999989-14.8972662 -75.013439299999987 -14.7744712 -74.852077299999991tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-31795791674568064242014-07-22T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-22T18:00:02.653-07:00Around Cusco - Getting drenched in Machu Picchu...<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It looked like we made a good choice with our hostel in Cusco: Even though we had to leave before they officially served breakfast, we got the normal breakfast just half an hour earlier! :-) Then we got picked up by a mini van in front of the hostel that took us to Hidroelectrica. It was a 6 hours ride and once again the driver was terrible! I really think that here in South America, cycling might actually be safer than travelling by bus... We got to Hidroelectrica pretty late, meaning that we had to hurry up on our hike along the train rails if we wanted to make it to Aguas Calientes before dark. The hike was nothing difficult, it was mostly flat, through the forest, and along a nice river...</span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg31hWWsQUHghLSoy7gBD-zuEeVeYpMDiW4Jpy0y6Q-NfKaZNSwuw7ILqL8l7s3-FTDnNxJAmNFgIm5SUyZt1HVq_WYqVV1aN1IGsmpflumnsQNHs9WZBFu3Q4GSucjgSbDFD7i_XSNW5I/s1600/DSC01840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg31hWWsQUHghLSoy7gBD-zuEeVeYpMDiW4Jpy0y6Q-NfKaZNSwuw7ILqL8l7s3-FTDnNxJAmNFgIm5SUyZt1HVq_WYqVV1aN1IGsmpflumnsQNHs9WZBFu3Q4GSucjgSbDFD7i_XSNW5I/s1600/DSC01840.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hiking along the train rails from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we reached Aguas Calientes, we were brought to a pretty nice hostel, where we enjoyed a really hot shower before dinner. It became a short night, was we had to get up short before 4 am, in order to leave Aguas Calientes at half past 4, hike up an uncountable number of stairs to the entrance of Machu Picchu in slight rain, and get to the entrance by 6 am. There were hundreds of tourists doing the same as we did, and even though we got to the entrance by 6 am, the time it opens, we still had to stand in line for about 45 minutes until we finally entered Machu Picchu. Luckily, the rain had stopped, so we didn't get wet while waiting. Once inside, we didn't see too much, it was all cloudy and foggy, but we anyways had a 2 hours guided tour first, where we learned a lot about the history of Machu Picchu and how we believe the Inkas lived here. Among other things, we learned that actually we have no idea, what Machu Picchu was once called... Machu Picchu just means old mountain and is the name of one of the surrounding mountains, and as we have no clue about the real name of the city, we just name it the same as the mountain... For me it was extremely impressive to imagine how they built this whole city; the rocks they used for the houses are huge and they used no mortar but carved the rocks so long until they fitted exactly on each other. In addition, they knew a lot about architecture, as most Inka buildings survived the many earthquakes in the region, while most colonial buildings collapsed... </span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaLLVuasmzARWPoUa9PSe2aWKI7R82F6Q1M_UuJGykkQOTxgIlXueFNGfrfSkoaj8IEQZCk3wJYmnkdCGIQnvBU6httbs8C9i8x1f6tiquxFWENpPaprkorsyAmbGNH1ZfujYKIs0v-0/s1600/DSC00520.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaLLVuasmzARWPoUa9PSe2aWKI7R82F6Q1M_UuJGykkQOTxgIlXueFNGfrfSkoaj8IEQZCk3wJYmnkdCGIQnvBU6httbs8C9i8x1f6tiquxFWENpPaprkorsyAmbGNH1ZfujYKIs0v-0/s1600/DSC00520.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mystic Machu Picchu in the morning</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGtorFd20Q9Q9uXUyKrRlkidT2n6l5hmOEvdoRprkJB9b5Y0ir0Akqecx8uK4n4YuIssnA61HrfgpZ-kRNv6eBs21wVGPs0SsIoxmllXWOv2vNJ6_vIBngImoMBZ5MsdtN00g-6JVUxY/s1600/DSC00557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGtorFd20Q9Q9uXUyKrRlkidT2n6l5hmOEvdoRprkJB9b5Y0ir0Akqecx8uK4n4YuIssnA61HrfgpZ-kRNv6eBs21wVGPs0SsIoxmllXWOv2vNJ6_vIBngImoMBZ5MsdtN00g-6JVUxY/s1600/DSC00557.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is it maybe clearing up???</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the guided tour we could still not see a lot, and in the hope of the sky clearing up, we started to hike up to Machu Picchu mountain, from where you're supposed to have a panoramic view over the whole area and the surrounding valleys. However, by the time we reached the summit, the only thing we saw was a whole lot of white, or, as some other tourist told us on our way up: Todo blanco...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3lllZk8Lhm0tGoBQRbI7IfvTFvVVBbTr1TQVhOysV40wkS_DC_VwxPvp8CyMOnIgQ5EXAhyphenhyphenSVBV7V4FS8AB6qikvpPad0osR06wvhrICEHAWEIJvwP9xfn2LAfb4ktbzJ38TMBfCS6DE/s1600/DSC00576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3lllZk8Lhm0tGoBQRbI7IfvTFvVVBbTr1TQVhOysV40wkS_DC_VwxPvp8CyMOnIgQ5EXAhyphenhyphenSVBV7V4FS8AB6qikvpPad0osR06wvhrICEHAWEIJvwP9xfn2LAfb4ktbzJ38TMBfCS6DE/s1600/DSC00576.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, maybe it's not clearing up... :p<br />But we got a panoramic view of the clouds :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was still a nice hike, the rain forest was just beautiful! On our way down it once cleared up a little bit and we got a slight idea of how Machu Picchu might look like from high above...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUdeE21lwdsxQywp3-6i0JTL9Mk0X1_epLX-mM-8-Qz9m73ycmnv6Xby79n1neSWr24QCocPWYeu1aZYJvxCAINha0PhMndJ5X1W3ZgkdPITX6uSg6X_Q1Wu4tU2JTVJ7T09tf2bt5t-Y/s1600/DSC00587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUdeE21lwdsxQywp3-6i0JTL9Mk0X1_epLX-mM-8-Qz9m73ycmnv6Xby79n1neSWr24QCocPWYeu1aZYJvxCAINha0PhMndJ5X1W3ZgkdPITX6uSg6X_Q1Wu4tU2JTVJ7T09tf2bt5t-Y/s1600/DSC00587.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the hike down from Machu Picchu mountain we got an idea<br />of what you might be able to see without clouds...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back down again, the lower hanging clouds vanished and we got the classic view over Machu Picchu with Wayna Picchu mountain in the background. We were really glad we planned to spend the whole day in Machu Picchu, otherwise we wouldn't have seen it in it's nicest way. And the good thing about the "bad" weather was that by the later afternoon most tourist had left and we could enjoy the view over the ruins without thousands of tourists around...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLsMvnsS61yOJI6z5SHvCYETqqeunAAOFwqFGmZqY48b6wRj-Vx30x-c5c99wv_hjVmTlUAOuKX-_PXGOqlMe-HaRef-HT_bkYjz8zsm3gjYqaUqHUzLvSOldWE8oBwkNC615LnxyzMk/s1600/DSC00660.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLsMvnsS61yOJI6z5SHvCYETqqeunAAOFwqFGmZqY48b6wRj-Vx30x-c5c99wv_hjVmTlUAOuKX-_PXGOqlMe-HaRef-HT_bkYjz8zsm3gjYqaUqHUzLvSOldWE8oBwkNC615LnxyzMk/s1600/DSC00660.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then the clouds moved enough for us to get the<br />classic view of Machu Picchu! :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAXpOxYisIEusXGVxJCGChXJGTxqDhGwPtRKH6mcJ9TYzCzjPAgxewYUJ-s3ZEc8IBVlNEUbKFM5TCR7YYJdvN3jHWJ0rGhlARji80O-r9WVwbkrp0udAeQZzQ8a3kgJm8RW68y3154E/s1600/DSC00663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAXpOxYisIEusXGVxJCGChXJGTxqDhGwPtRKH6mcJ9TYzCzjPAgxewYUJ-s3ZEc8IBVlNEUbKFM5TCR7YYJdvN3jHWJ0rGhlARji80O-r9WVwbkrp0udAeQZzQ8a3kgJm8RW68y3154E/s1600/DSC00663.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Due to the weather, most of the tourists were gone in the afternoon...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwxOREGoxuyy7c4guhF9ltQICf9TH6f-zSnWG4TSnr1T1B394RpADdCJlIximKeL-pWktH7RLEs4UDcYQ7XQ9vv2k8zrSjQ7UDJnduB95XVwJIZViZ6IdmfbpoQncIiz8FjNvCdZxabpo/s1600/DSC02024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwxOREGoxuyy7c4guhF9ltQICf9TH6f-zSnWG4TSnr1T1B394RpADdCJlIximKeL-pWktH7RLEs4UDcYQ7XQ9vv2k8zrSjQ7UDJnduB95XVwJIZViZ6IdmfbpoQncIiz8FjNvCdZxabpo/s1600/DSC02024.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before hiking down to Aguas Calientes again, we decided to quickly visit the Inka bridge, an ancient bridge built into a very steep wall of rock.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEcvb9m2cCe_1o3DOk0VoBi6BBkk62LwCmHR7BuK-Xbac4dOXN9_nDilGa50Hdwc8T1yNYyjBZXF8FWQdTKSzeT1kIywO77VZZxo5e6pEwUoZN9FJt_YDmD_Ap8ZZrD46zfJds1OwX9Q8/s1600/DSC02072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEcvb9m2cCe_1o3DOk0VoBi6BBkk62LwCmHR7BuK-Xbac4dOXN9_nDilGa50Hdwc8T1yNYyjBZXF8FWQdTKSzeT1kIywO77VZZxo5e6pEwUoZN9FJt_YDmD_Ap8ZZrD46zfJds1OwX9Q8/s1600/DSC02072.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No wrong step please!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-83uyl8zWqRsSpl9A4wccCCcOr5Hz7ZJkXM14hCT4z0zPJJcMnAEuWMR55Wegfc9uJNSM4NQB_QxCUWIzZirrj9Ge9UyiGNcmfNkbGMcCow9W9_WmtCiuMBD5ccV1EAScGmVPvk1gl8/s1600/DSC02054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-83uyl8zWqRsSpl9A4wccCCcOr5Hz7ZJkXM14hCT4z0zPJJcMnAEuWMR55Wegfc9uJNSM4NQB_QxCUWIzZirrj9Ge9UyiGNcmfNkbGMcCow9W9_WmtCiuMBD5ccV1EAScGmVPvk1gl8/s1600/DSC02054.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Inka bridge</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipoerd8aDDbvTeH2VtYPz0c0U5tZ19uG5Yfjt1yBomFbNhYig78OUEQMdnc2t8jldwz5267rPHc-AJ0lmnktzAHqUgN6GClamMl8GKoc0nLSQu_cxICHUiwMV5XJG4lkDCKC363ZD_s7c/s1600/DSC02051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipoerd8aDDbvTeH2VtYPz0c0U5tZ19uG5Yfjt1yBomFbNhYig78OUEQMdnc2t8jldwz5267rPHc-AJ0lmnktzAHqUgN6GClamMl8GKoc0nLSQu_cxICHUiwMV5XJG4lkDCKC363ZD_s7c/s1600/DSC02051.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taking in the view</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then, just before we started our hike back down, it started raining. Actually, raining is an understatement, it was pouring down like crazy. The stairs converted themselves into something between a river and a waterfall and soon we were completely drenched with lakes in our shoes. So by the time we reached Aguas Calientes, the only thing we wanted to do was enjoying a really hot shower. But we were disappointed, when we reached the hostel we were told that our rooms were already occupied, that we'd have to change to another hostel.. We got really angry, but it seemed like there was nothing we could do about it. Of course the shower in the other hostel was freezing cold and I had to complain several times until I finally got a hot shower... As all our cloths were soaked, we didn't leave the hostel anymore and just hoped for the stuff to dry over night. Of course it didn't, so the next day we had to hike back to Hidroelectrica in our still wet cloths...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg26o7S3MY8d06scNSwaJm1HsD407t5Q09D1-y3YonpbCkM1w3Xdtdl0kVpg7wWFP5_U8ce2H8V2MfLMfva7snsqL1E_4ObTYSslUNPitG_9bztSxjSaGTaYEBD8rkc5KNjil3QGsLU-wY/s1600/DSC02120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg26o7S3MY8d06scNSwaJm1HsD407t5Q09D1-y3YonpbCkM1w3Xdtdl0kVpg7wWFP5_U8ce2H8V2MfLMfva7snsqL1E_4ObTYSslUNPitG_9bztSxjSaGTaYEBD8rkc5KNjil3QGsLU-wY/s1600/DSC02120.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And back along the train rails...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the time we made it to Hidroelectrica, most of us had more or less dry cloths again, except for the shoes that were still completely soaked... On the drive back to Cusco we were luckier with the driver, but less lucky with the car. It was already late and we were still more than an hour away from Cusco when the front right tire deflated. Of course the car jack didn't work, so it took the driver half an eternity to change the tire and we got back to Cusco really late... But at the hostel they awaited us and our room was ready, so we could just fall to bed :-)</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day was a lazy day with a lot of eating, I did a walking tour around Cusco and in the evening we went out for dinner with Nicolas and Alice, two of the French cyclists we rode together over Paso Jama and who arrived in Cusco while we were in Machu Picchu...</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBbygIH72qWTP8JAV84Z_0RxWs78W8XRJWE1vcXRbzrkAE4caKwWJ_4aBTx8YZOZ7U2rUzvOFLTC8z2uFH6D3jqg0N-MjuT2FU5ywtmKnJT3HpmhH1-1rIRM3qpFTBE71HsuuNeyiziY/s1600/DSC00475.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBbygIH72qWTP8JAV84Z_0RxWs78W8XRJWE1vcXRbzrkAE4caKwWJ_4aBTx8YZOZ7U2rUzvOFLTC8z2uFH6D3jqg0N-MjuT2FU5ywtmKnJT3HpmhH1-1rIRM3qpFTBE71HsuuNeyiziY/s1600/DSC00475.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cusco at night...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4hXnRNOSahH6vy9xCrSf07ucR66CSPfnlF7s-HdH6P-Nyq_XN7n-WyPPy8BjLApO_3H8l-R7sZcM27rM7ZU8rqLMZNwFwZLv0nMd3uQlBaEzzk2IMrcRSTc5i9mPninUWrfYBBbxDVMk/s1600/IMG_9661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4hXnRNOSahH6vy9xCrSf07ucR66CSPfnlF7s-HdH6P-Nyq_XN7n-WyPPy8BjLApO_3H8l-R7sZcM27rM7ZU8rqLMZNwFwZLv0nMd3uQlBaEzzk2IMrcRSTc5i9mPninUWrfYBBbxDVMk/s1600/IMG_9661.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...and during the day</span></td></tr>
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</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Cusco, Peru-13.53195 -71.967462599999976-13.6561215 -72.129511099999974 -13.407778500000001 -71.805414099999979tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-9773472086653776252014-07-16T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-22T09:36:19.886-07:00Juliaca to Cusco - Cycling the Altiplano together with a South Korean couple<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we were all ready to leave Juliaca, Geovanni and his brother accompanied us to the outskirts of Juliaca, to make sure that we didn't get lost.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPp67nu7AUtFtRwui_i0G4ki7Ruj2eM5gOBDbXLFiEtAMaALuBrgH4r0ezsgba7mNYz3fDthgyE3SmtwDBSr1noU2WvzT2FBJ_M6YLLeYvB-BkTI_ZVv1q3hdZSLdIwI81eRl5nocjLa0/s1600/DSC_0474.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPp67nu7AUtFtRwui_i0G4ki7Ruj2eM5gOBDbXLFiEtAMaALuBrgH4r0ezsgba7mNYz3fDthgyE3SmtwDBSr1noU2WvzT2FBJ_M6YLLeYvB-BkTI_ZVv1q3hdZSLdIwI81eRl5nocjLa0/s1600/DSC_0474.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stefan, Geovanni, me, Jihuyn, and Sungjong<br />in front of Geovannis house just before leaving Juliaca</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From there the four of us continued on our own and it was really great to ride together with Sungjong and Jihyun. We took lots of breaks, enjoyed the landscape together and talked and talked and talked.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_pXagokkC1UbeKqCf04Wr4pBJcG61Ayl1B1GGOokWF95AbU1iL59iAnCJB8H7UvLj1vgVOV2T7KBl5qs9n3jrDxMQYYVkYT4p2K57Kcs95GGUxxVGmJvLi_jGGBZ5-fnC1tB6Qivcf0/s1600/DSC01534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_pXagokkC1UbeKqCf04Wr4pBJcG61Ayl1B1GGOokWF95AbU1iL59iAnCJB8H7UvLj1vgVOV2T7KBl5qs9n3jrDxMQYYVkYT4p2K57Kcs95GGUxxVGmJvLi_jGGBZ5-fnC1tB6Qivcf0/s1600/DSC01534.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beautiful landscape on the way to Ayaviri</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUjkoU7qBoUMk_i0DaJZg5xzz-FaS8lXcTaS71Wz6_MgJHb7Hb_0j4SAqgxjBx6mb1UFc1QEbkfpgCkaNEeDyTbNGacTiCuctkjM71pFJ_JicJq9_zc_Ywk_YyFYlixJioU5Bop2Kt5UM/s1600/DSC01558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUjkoU7qBoUMk_i0DaJZg5xzz-FaS8lXcTaS71Wz6_MgJHb7Hb_0j4SAqgxjBx6mb1UFc1QEbkfpgCkaNEeDyTbNGacTiCuctkjM71pFJ_JicJq9_zc_Ywk_YyFYlixJioU5Bop2Kt5UM/s1600/DSC01558.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stefan just never looks tired...</span></td></tr>
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<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a lunch break in front of a small store in the middle of nowhere we tackled the second half of the days stage and short before dark we made it to Ayaviri, a pretty big, but very non-touristic city where we stayed at the first hotel we found. </span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibxBkF6_waYdD3Fgu35eJbusMm4O-UDu6TvKenVHz6wEFY2aE0KQNI_kF5_vfEp7JCZLaJ5-JDryCBN3ZBnVXJbzoh5UAM2TWpCtZtEciJy-WGnufpCGMIZ0iH_1G_qBfUXe0WE7Yrmck/s1600/DSC01575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibxBkF6_waYdD3Fgu35eJbusMm4O-UDu6TvKenVHz6wEFY2aE0KQNI_kF5_vfEp7JCZLaJ5-JDryCBN3ZBnVXJbzoh5UAM2TWpCtZtEciJy-WGnufpCGMIZ0iH_1G_qBfUXe0WE7Yrmck/s1600/DSC01575.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I slowly start to appreciate the arid altiplano landscape as well -<br />but just as long as there is some water around... ;-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG7EvMdFJ93tmNoliWIcTck_GK_XWbfVifnXfDEW3O77f69dAKXrFZInb5f9oRKe5JlR6jJQPKel5aDyPzPCaa6V6DPIt2ETKJXlC-iFBKdDZcjts4e1R4cKOAsGD79gH2MKV5xYNw2Dk/s1600/DSC01604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG7EvMdFJ93tmNoliWIcTck_GK_XWbfVifnXfDEW3O77f69dAKXrFZInb5f9oRKe5JlR6jJQPKel5aDyPzPCaa6V6DPIt2ETKJXlC-iFBKdDZcjts4e1R4cKOAsGD79gH2MKV5xYNw2Dk/s1600/DSC01604.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clear sky, lots of sun, and luckily the wind can't be captured in a picture...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkEYgTSAIfnGPgqHKjJqz5YWu3SdLv4-wPfQxFIX19X50H48yge4q9iLbDlTY9hV8h1o1H7JXaCsZ230D4qveoVm91ZQRu31pwa4pzFvcVhT09PQ6_Pev-QHiWbVfxJi5p_LZ4Df2GN00/s1600/DSC01629.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkEYgTSAIfnGPgqHKjJqz5YWu3SdLv4-wPfQxFIX19X50H48yge4q9iLbDlTY9hV8h1o1H7JXaCsZ230D4qveoVm91ZQRu31pwa4pzFvcVhT09PQ6_Pev-QHiWbVfxJi5p_LZ4Df2GN00/s1600/DSC01629.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The light up in the altiplano turns unique before each sunset!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning we went to look for something eatable in the city center. It was really funny, was our Korean friends use to eat something completely different for breakfast than we do. While we always looked for some kind of bread, they prefer a good soup with rice and meat in it... And find soup for breakfast seems to be a lot easier around here than finding bread. However, after a while we found a woman on the street where we could get some cheese and egg sandwiches and some jugo de maca, a hot juice made of maca, a strange Peruvian fruit. After leaving Ayaviri we had a long stretch of flat road in front of us, until we reached Santa Rosa where we had lunch and enjoyed the festivities due to the local schools anniversary.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha9iFeYC1HwyN-0rfERTtgh73ewq-w3iSiCJ6cboinSsoRWn82FiU2wDvUq9cJr9oJtmS5-N0CwqUpa4Xkd5IKF7C4SLPJ33m4TEvU7csE5481iV_aiOMTjjEY7A6QsdyR5NKqZYiJYAs/s1600/DSC00229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha9iFeYC1HwyN-0rfERTtgh73ewq-w3iSiCJ6cboinSsoRWn82FiU2wDvUq9cJr9oJtmS5-N0CwqUpa4Xkd5IKF7C4SLPJ33m4TEvU7csE5481iV_aiOMTjjEY7A6QsdyR5NKqZYiJYAs/s1600/DSC00229.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The festivities for the local schools anniversary in Santa Rosa</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leaving Santa Rosa behind us, the road continued to be pretty flat, and for once I longed for it to start climbing, as we knew that eventually we'd have to climb to the Abra la Raya, a mountain pass between Santa Rosa and Aguas Calientes, our destination for the day. But it turned out that the climbed never got very steep and soon we found ourselves at the highest point, and as for once there was even a sign indicating the altitude, we had to take some pictures before continuing on the downhill...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLVezqEdTG6F_Tsem0zMtJDjP3oo5YiuEBKjvcfpICSUx56XrNBvml8vFoQdHi4RDhyXJ6cIP5QHzli1VmI418Dcc4RAbiuoozbY48hlc4h7bNkYHv0fvgImap8OQIrUovlNFgPcrdNN8/s1600/DSC_0491.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLVezqEdTG6F_Tsem0zMtJDjP3oo5YiuEBKjvcfpICSUx56XrNBvml8vFoQdHi4RDhyXJ6cIP5QHzli1VmI418Dcc4RAbiuoozbY48hlc4h7bNkYHv0fvgImap8OQIrUovlNFgPcrdNN8/s1600/DSC_0491.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One more pass climbed...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soon the sun vanished and it got freezing cold, but it wasn't far anymore to Aguas Calientes, a place that basically consists of some hot springs and some little stores. We stayed at the hot springs, had dinner there and then, in the dark, took a bath in the nice and hot water :-) Unfortunately the showers weren't hot at all, so after warming up in the hot water of the springs, we took an ice-cold shower and then soon headed back to our room to warm up in our sleeping bags...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only thing they offered us the next morning in the restaurant was trout with rice and french fries or some meat, but we didn't really feel like eating any of it. So we just drank a tea and bought some boiled corn and fried cheese from one of the ladies outside the springs and it turned out to be an exotic but very tasty breakfast! Then we continued the downhill towards Sicuani, the next bigger city. On our way we could observe how the vegetation slowly changed: There was more and more green, trees everywhere, rivers coming down from the hills, lots of agriculture; all in all, I liked the landscape more and more! Once in Sicuani we found an ATM to get some money (a scarce thing in non-touristic places...) and had a very good lunch at a local restaurant.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6Pc_e3iyRJsOaetcmS6WcgHrah_L83_TGJl3rxaTra_iGIOzbVPZvvfJJahDUsM3rFwsqf5RDjDJpJN3xc61QkgSv-HF7ZgafSScJTIgZhL9TLV2mKHJxD_OC7Yd0eiDny0uVMSo3Lg/s1600/DSC_0500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6Pc_e3iyRJsOaetcmS6WcgHrah_L83_TGJl3rxaTra_iGIOzbVPZvvfJJahDUsM3rFwsqf5RDjDJpJN3xc61QkgSv-HF7ZgafSScJTIgZhL9TLV2mKHJxD_OC7Yd0eiDny0uVMSo3Lg/s1600/DSC_0500.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh yeah - Riding a bike in this weather can be a lot of fun!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Sicuani it wasn't far to Combapata anymore, where we decided to stay for the night. It was nice to once arrive at plain day, so we could enjoy the sun for a while before heading for dinner and spending the rest of the evening talking. The other morning we went to the same restaurant where we had dinner the night before, and they were really kind, preparing just what we asked for: Sungjong and Jihyun got chicken soup and Stefan and I got some egg sandwiches :-) From Combapata to Urcos the road follow a river, just that it didn't follow it directly, but we had to climb lots of hills in between. But still it was a nice road and after a night in Urcos we started our last day before reaching Cusco! We passed a nice lagoon just after Urcos and then continued towards Cusco. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWwpcmutbt7TinCeo5LYKmslBgfZa9iMCTNWzgA3Pc8Jy0yLe3opeLOCBrxThUpbUUXR0Kzt0abUlNMbhQd6wyoR1DFhY8AP7puOOIgxdDjJYshFwwoOzSePbIi8yUCOFmsrDkvYH3Z94/s1600/DSC00321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWwpcmutbt7TinCeo5LYKmslBgfZa9iMCTNWzgA3Pc8Jy0yLe3opeLOCBrxThUpbUUXR0Kzt0abUlNMbhQd6wyoR1DFhY8AP7puOOIgxdDjJYshFwwoOzSePbIi8yUCOFmsrDkvYH3Z94/s1600/DSC00321.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lagoon we passed just after leaving Urcos</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soon we reached Tipon, where we were told that they had good "cuy" (guinea pig). We really wanted to try it; and even though it was pretty expensive, we decided to share one among the four of us. While waiting for the cuy to be cooked, we had the luck to witness the festivities for the Virgen del Carmen: While some older men played traditional music, the girls in their traditional cloths performed their dances in the patio of the restaurant...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiROfHmoiCDYBVZ74r4kDh9O_fVA5U3F_ITM5SivdJlvq_uNZ8yaoBP2DMZ9obmvPiJWGmxBBxnwRf4lcN1QV_qQy2dGD0tp8eKfrZH-dPTXvDL1gtrhl-usV_vN4BoLxGOgfMmXBPN8PE/s1600/DSC00329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiROfHmoiCDYBVZ74r4kDh9O_fVA5U3F_ITM5SivdJlvq_uNZ8yaoBP2DMZ9obmvPiJWGmxBBxnwRf4lcN1QV_qQy2dGD0tp8eKfrZH-dPTXvDL1gtrhl-usV_vN4BoLxGOgfMmXBPN8PE/s1600/DSC00329.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Festivities for the Virgen del Carmen in Tipon</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZky6J0dIjyld4pbFaiU5UPsIYMm08m5csgl7MJNPxo9ojI3fbrqAFpvBSDsnSs5Gk46xok-JpoEeFOq3Fvc8xluDBJWjvyQLm3JGD24Lp0-pPumhYTCLgW3Spf2JRM6rN2EoJ_BWp1w/s1600/DSC00346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZky6J0dIjyld4pbFaiU5UPsIYMm08m5csgl7MJNPxo9ojI3fbrqAFpvBSDsnSs5Gk46xok-JpoEeFOq3Fvc8xluDBJWjvyQLm3JGD24Lp0-pPumhYTCLgW3Spf2JRM6rN2EoJ_BWp1w/s1600/DSC00346.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Traditional dance in honor of the Virgen del Carmen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then we got it, our cuy... It doesn't taste bad, but it's also not the best thing we've eaten; the skin is very leathery and there's really not a lot of meat on it...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51ptWncdyUC1aYif9GEldGgK4atl5Z7CzhUVIw_wD6jGy-5mtzEpvdZ_e1RlIB3nXMK4eoGZCbv9WI6ZKNVfaG1sbxJl6z1HEkyp5BFVL5rLlmFYeCcd40Qmv3B68HAsYDWjxFph-3c8/s1600/DSC00362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51ptWncdyUC1aYif9GEldGgK4atl5Z7CzhUVIw_wD6jGy-5mtzEpvdZ_e1RlIB3nXMK4eoGZCbv9WI6ZKNVfaG1sbxJl6z1HEkyp5BFVL5rLlmFYeCcd40Qmv3B68HAsYDWjxFph-3c8/s1600/DSC00362.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We just had to try "Cuy" (guinea pig) once!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjftmv_EKNhgkZrf-MosxNo4OcayvUGXhGMeyamOWTJlQ6lDkuwoFixf2Bg7TaimYf8doEABc6h5sH3EvTKThFLS3UyC52BFaEEilaOghQwNjKJVERBvqOCx8eAvGaoSPx7iEsH7Bo6yzc/s1600/DSC00378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjftmv_EKNhgkZrf-MosxNo4OcayvUGXhGMeyamOWTJlQ6lDkuwoFixf2Bg7TaimYf8doEABc6h5sH3EvTKThFLS3UyC52BFaEEilaOghQwNjKJVERBvqOCx8eAvGaoSPx7iEsH7Bo6yzc/s1600/DSC00378.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not just for the picture, I really tried the head and it was tasty!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After leaving Tipon, we soon reached the outskirts of Cusco, but it was still quite a bit until we got to the city center, especially as it was all uphill... There we stayed at a hostel known among cyclists, enjoyed the hot shower and explored the city center for a while before booking a 3-days-tour to Machu Picchu... The next day we spent mostly in the hostel, just relaxing, enjoying to do nothing for once and in the evening we went out for pizza (and afterwards to a cheap restaurant as we weren't full yet after the pizza... :p)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvOClv3BWHNu6HPI8K-f0X2ba68Y8eJuJcyB4JosIQyt1klKe79x-UTqBU71PrxBR5jWt8qmn-43vDcn_vQxpONuZt8qjael7TC_10vHNL84IJRKlQ3XUWKvh_WycsKcHOrV_KcUNvzs/s1600/DSC00405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvOClv3BWHNu6HPI8K-f0X2ba68Y8eJuJcyB4JosIQyt1klKe79x-UTqBU71PrxBR5jWt8qmn-43vDcn_vQxpONuZt8qjael7TC_10vHNL84IJRKlQ3XUWKvh_WycsKcHOrV_KcUNvzs/s1600/DSC00405.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Cusco we once had to eat something else but meat, rice,<br />and potatoes again, so pizza seemed a good option...</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Cusco, Peru-13.53195 -71.967462599999976-13.655454 -72.128824099999974 -13.408446 -71.806101099999978tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-60133980609111930862014-07-11T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-22T08:05:41.467-07:00La Paz to Juliaca - Getting to know beautiful Lake Titicaca<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leaving La Paz meant cycling up to El Alto again, meaning about 500 m of altitude gain in only about 12 km... And on our slow ride uphill we had plenty of time to enjoy the amazing smell of the exhaust fumes of the cars and the sewage :p However, eventually we made it to El Alto and after a long ride through this town we finally made it out of the agglomeration of La Paz and soon found ourselves in the middle of nowhere again. On our way towards Lake Titicaca we had beautiful views of the Cordillera Real and could now enjoy the view on Huayna Potosí from another angle.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMm_TMRfEmuqM5V-BGgbyX1qqVzm8u2fCFzaMLzEfXP2Y6-e__xQaX-Z9I07OA-9X1tDCMtFOvkypUkcs708rzViZ59KQd_sBQDsnaNqn-1mCnPxcVJA6vqkx7UYDc3fRuyU1GFwEIz0/s1600/DSC_0410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMm_TMRfEmuqM5V-BGgbyX1qqVzm8u2fCFzaMLzEfXP2Y6-e__xQaX-Z9I07OA-9X1tDCMtFOvkypUkcs708rzViZ59KQd_sBQDsnaNqn-1mCnPxcVJA6vqkx7UYDc3fRuyU1GFwEIz0/s1600/DSC_0410.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Huayna Potos<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">í from the backside</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, I suddenly felt sick again, so we had to stop at the little village of Palcoco, where we didn't find a hospedaje, but after talking so the people at the local health center, we were allowed to camp in the backyard of the health center. After leaving Palcoco the next morning, we soon spotted Lake Titicaca for the first time :-). However, for the first few km we rode along the shore of the lake, it didn't look very spectacular yet... After lunch it got more and more hilly and soon we found ourselves above 4000 masl again. It was hard, especially as I still felt sick, but the views over the lake got more and more spectacular!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHMkA3aR5iVxB-hWIyxC5k6m4CYF-bBsSR4Ffx_nBaqAJz0oGqgPRv6Hxh_H4-mN3A9Gkmgxv87cVIVKGFwVwrNL7wvO-9u_tuAIzflCNQ55wixmC06MLDK9VoXemz6G0TLGJz206ieo/s1600/DSC_0420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHMkA3aR5iVxB-hWIyxC5k6m4CYF-bBsSR4Ffx_nBaqAJz0oGqgPRv6Hxh_H4-mN3A9Gkmgxv87cVIVKGFwVwrNL7wvO-9u_tuAIzflCNQ55wixmC06MLDK9VoXemz6G0TLGJz206ieo/s1600/DSC_0420.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The good thing about climbing passes is that usually you also get a good view...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the last pass the road led down to the lake, where in San Pablo de Tiquina we had to take one of the may little ferries to get across to San Pedro de Tiquina. It was really strange to see on what kind of ferries they transport all kinds of vehicles across the lake: Cars, buses, trucks, bikes...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o4nVuEaKdDRQ4rRMI5-Mku4zaGwvQB_CvxK8ZdgExFnopb_9c9jALwRM02YVAijylLkyg4mnVlzhmylztpLGkvFRVLB5nvDYEEkzTfsB3L0m7hNSONtjJZN-4UJBJaacPSQIYSdBrYQ/s1600/DSC_0451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o4nVuEaKdDRQ4rRMI5-Mku4zaGwvQB_CvxK8ZdgExFnopb_9c9jALwRM02YVAijylLkyg4mnVlzhmylztpLGkvFRVLB5nvDYEEkzTfsB3L0m7hNSONtjJZN-4UJBJaacPSQIYSdBrYQ/s1600/DSC_0451.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interesting ferry transport from San Pablo de Tiquina to San Pedro de Tiquina</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From San Pedro de Tiquina the road lead uphill again, and after a few km I was just too tired to continue. So we set up our tent a little hidden from the street, with a gorgeous view onto the lake and the Cordillera Real. The next morning the street continued to lead uphill, we climbed higher and higher and in between we always got some good views onto the lake again. And then, after a long time we finally reached the highest point. From there the road led down toward Copacabana.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUBxgjkRkMXizS_veoOiVdg2DfDciPjSLRsKhp_F__q-CgyT3ck8LCZf_7x5WtBuoqiiJNPsxYyC1kylVsKltCMtE-E4o7XiVw9VpL913VAI09P1MUnn6RZmc3Oandsc7XOUTEotqW0M/s1600/DSC_0461.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUBxgjkRkMXizS_veoOiVdg2DfDciPjSLRsKhp_F__q-CgyT3ck8LCZf_7x5WtBuoqiiJNPsxYyC1kylVsKltCMtE-E4o7XiVw9VpL913VAI09P1MUnn6RZmc3Oandsc7XOUTEotqW0M/s1600/DSC_0461.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our first view of Copacabana</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After checking into a hostel in Copacabana, we headed to the Costanera and had lunch on the roof of one of the many restaurant just next to the sea. It was beautiful, but with the wind we soon got cold and left for a walk along the shore of the lake. Later in the afternoon we made a small trip to the Islas flotantes (floating islands), but we figured that they were really nothing special and the best thing there was a nice rock we could climb to get a good view over the lake... After a good nights sleep we headed again to the harbor, this time we wanted to get to the Isla del Sol. The weather was nice and we enjoyed the long boat ride. Once on the island, we started hiking across the island. First we got to a nice bay with lots and lots of fishing boats.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMwX7MMnZlLuUHEaGlIn3WuNibPmmE6rosgYKL-i0vUFbAnSv7A8n6XgKSzrNDZNiAtdfirr7HjNwVlri0TsPY_cdsrC4k9lbhanplZElsiSR3yvIJTzZHyddWu00Z77lDoWYRoGRqjm4/s1600/IMG_9626.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMwX7MMnZlLuUHEaGlIn3WuNibPmmE6rosgYKL-i0vUFbAnSv7A8n6XgKSzrNDZNiAtdfirr7HjNwVlri0TsPY_cdsrC4k9lbhanplZElsiSR3yvIJTzZHyddWu00Z77lDoWYRoGRqjm4/s1600/IMG_9626.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Little boy on Isla del Sol</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then the trail led uphill, we came across some Inka ruins and soon found ourselves on the ridge of the island from where we had amazing views over the lake! There were so many small islands all around, turquoise bays, and of course the Cordillera Real in the background...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfwikAvp8ezGmN7OihGTq1_hJdV26DiZVlBYJtmF4TRfWVNJSzRZEF2yeSagznL16NfbwvUzxWJAqXql5eYzCyIUignq0ybXEp4uVpMg_NRSjjf1xZm8Dt3adTTMvJHW5dDvwIXDeuLmI/s1600/IMG_9627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfwikAvp8ezGmN7OihGTq1_hJdV26DiZVlBYJtmF4TRfWVNJSzRZEF2yeSagznL16NfbwvUzxWJAqXql5eYzCyIUignq0ybXEp4uVpMg_NRSjjf1xZm8Dt3adTTMvJHW5dDvwIXDeuLmI/s1600/IMG_9627.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isla del Sol - The view over the lake with the Cordillera Real <br />in the background was breathtaking!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The end of the day we spent in a small restaurant drinking hot chocolate and enjoying the sunset. At the hostel we met a French couple that joined us to Isla de la Luna the next day. There we visited some more ruins and hiked to a sleepy, little town located on the opposite side of the island than were the boat took us. On the way back to Copacabana, my stomach made me feel really bad again, so that the only thing I did once we got back to the hostel was sleep...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After leaving Copacabana it didn't take long to get to the border; and soon we found ourselves in Peru! :-) It was still pretty hilly and by the time we made it to Juli I definitely needed a break, so we decided to stop for the day.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXLy5zHoNg_TDSiBM4dNtQV_B2a5V4iAREDZ1kRGEWUTtwQ4nzeiUt1rCIwINxi2n0Cv7SGyMN2wY76jvKW8mvEs7fnmxsvsx4SAXGMvRlchQnRFxIPP_S18M7S1v_AokhgNT7gL6JXE/s1600/DSC_0463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXLy5zHoNg_TDSiBM4dNtQV_B2a5V4iAREDZ1kRGEWUTtwQ4nzeiUt1rCIwINxi2n0Cv7SGyMN2wY76jvKW8mvEs7fnmxsvsx4SAXGMvRlchQnRFxIPP_S18M7S1v_AokhgNT7gL6JXE/s1600/DSC_0463.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes! We made it to Peru<span style="font-size: x-small;">!</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Juli we had a days ride left to Puno. For a long time we saw nothing of the lake anymore. After climbing another hill we saw this amazing lake again and then Puno was just a short ride away.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2CPS0aemi2Hw82JU-T0lOtzcr1e1RpZOPdlVkPSnW28XiSOPJ3S5gnOJ8lIiXxVnGFz98xISo0I0fe9FXsi74Qcty_aipMamH8YMHDMa2hwcmhOHxWPzw3_CGnW1UXKnNu0kF6T52sU/s1600/IMG_9633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2CPS0aemi2Hw82JU-T0lOtzcr1e1RpZOPdlVkPSnW28XiSOPJ3S5gnOJ8lIiXxVnGFz98xISo0I0fe9FXsi74Qcty_aipMamH8YMHDMa2hwcmhOHxWPzw3_CGnW1UXKnNu0kF6T52sU/s1600/IMG_9633.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our way to Puno, very hidden but just next to the road<br />I found this beautiful place...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we got to Puno, I decided to get medical advice, as I was still feeling bad all the time. It proofed to be a good idea, as the antibiotics I got finally seemed to help! The next morning we made a trip to the famous Uros islands. These are about 80 floating islands in the middle of the lake inhabitated bythe Uros people. Although it was one of the most touristic places we visited, it was extremely impressive to how these people still live without toilets (they have to take a boat to get to the "toilet island"...), without drinking water (they have to boil the water of the lake for everything), and mostly without electricity (some now have a solar panel that gives them enough energy for one lamp inside their hut...). However, they are completely dependent on the mainland, as they need trunks to anchor the islands, ropes to construct their boats, wool for their handcrafts, and much more...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBhyphenhyphenfaMT7SBz3sdTuOauTBkSg25cV4jyCuK0oVJYAN8so5ynYBGQu9OL7tieZ67GavmJoLgsI5jBQWqA2Jra0XC04rIX0KSSGk59L98Icffcy1-RptqhvNAAT9GILoufDF06Bwq3fp3A/s1600/IMG_9637.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBhyphenhyphenfaMT7SBz3sdTuOauTBkSg25cV4jyCuK0oVJYAN8so5ynYBGQu9OL7tieZ67GavmJoLgsI5jBQWqA2Jra0XC04rIX0KSSGk59L98Icffcy1-RptqhvNAAT9GILoufDF06Bwq3fp3A/s1600/IMG_9637.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The one of the Uros islands we visited...<br />People really still live like this out here!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPohXbaZUtSgxUYRtCI1PSO_WDzMGbeic91Ivs_nZDyUXsE8_rlhuhazmLHoALVr5kLomGKlyhHcPkxcpvYhF4_YCH6I-1Pqqh1vnVMtzV572r9sVHE1cp4KXT6ThPqs7v1wjj85K0f4/s1600/IMG_9648.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPohXbaZUtSgxUYRtCI1PSO_WDzMGbeic91Ivs_nZDyUXsE8_rlhuhazmLHoALVr5kLomGKlyhHcPkxcpvYhF4_YCH6I-1Pqqh1vnVMtzV572r9sVHE1cp4KXT6ThPqs7v1wjj85K0f4/s1600/IMG_9648.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another Uros island</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixeUc_IckZb6oNpMHRB4EpvHJzbp_NvR0uol-Bgcjp7ED4wE5W1kiZaKyXB_vl3SqeVnNsgOsG5rL7faP8tozNsQrW6520o4g9LzO3sP1zgYQ5K51iDKNHoxETrr9RF0-P06ThtjaGuGw/s1600/IMG_9651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixeUc_IckZb6oNpMHRB4EpvHJzbp_NvR0uol-Bgcjp7ED4wE5W1kiZaKyXB_vl3SqeVnNsgOsG5rL7faP8tozNsQrW6520o4g9LzO3sP1zgYQ5K51iDKNHoxETrr9RF0-P06ThtjaGuGw/s1600/IMG_9651.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the luxurious reed boats</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3oTpbh5e-gy39DM1e8Fk9MPLr8WZr6WCgynj_xR7NkTRFAOpLmU0f9A6Zu5Ztp4aQejQNnYUWfkYFiRWV80EwtDyztnmCqaIxd-aFwwF7Q8a_15NRqkL-M_NXlTH7M_JB_Wm7R8cfnw/s1600/IMG_9655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3oTpbh5e-gy39DM1e8Fk9MPLr8WZr6WCgynj_xR7NkTRFAOpLmU0f9A6Zu5Ztp4aQejQNnYUWfkYFiRWV80EwtDyztnmCqaIxd-aFwwF7Q8a_15NRqkL-M_NXlTH7M_JB_Wm7R8cfnw/s1600/IMG_9655.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Uros island with typical houses and one of their "taxis", a simple reed boat</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day we left for Juliaca. It was a short ride and in the early afternoon we got picked up the the plaza by Geovanni, our WarmShowers host in the city. And there, together with Geovanni, the two Koreans we already knew from La Paz, Sungjong and Jihyun, showed up as well. What a pleasant surprise! We spent the whole afternoon talking to them and then decided to tackle the remaining few hundred km to Cusco together. In the evening we went out for dinner with Geovanni and then he told us a lot about his life in Juliaca and his experiences with all the other cyclists he already hosted. It's always amazing how openedly we are welcomed in these peoples houses and this time I was completely speechless as Geovanni came back up an handed us both a little present... I thought that in any case we would have to be the ones to give him a present, but no, he wanted us to have a souvenir of Juliaca and so I got an alpaca-scarf and Stefan got some alpaca-gloves! :-)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Juliaca, Peru-15.4996879 -70.129652999999962-15.7445214 -70.452376499999957 -15.2548544 -69.806929499999967tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-19305717796000484422014-07-02T18:00:00.002-07:002014-07-21T15:43:39.698-07:00La Paz - Being sick, climbing Huayna Potosí, and visiting the Yungas...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The first few days in La Paz we didn’t do a lot. It
was great to meet lots of other cyclists once again, so we spent a lot of time
talking, walking through the city, or just doing nothing. Eventually I got
really sick too, a thing that seemed to be really common here in La Paz, so
another few days of rest were necessary. Through David, an Austrian cyclist we
met at the Casa de Ciclista, we also got to know Christian, a Swiss backpacker.
The four of us decided that we’d like to climb Huayna Potos</span><span lang="EN-US">í</span><span lang="EN-US"> together, one of the easier 6000ers around La Paz.
So on the 28<sup>th</sup> of June we all met in the office of an adventure agency, however, they had some problems with the transport, so we had the chance to go for a second breakfast before we left in a minibus towards the base camp at 4800 masl. After lunch we hiked up to the high camp at a bit more than 5100 masl, it was a rocky hike, lots of loose stones but nothing very difficult. Nevertheless, we could feel the altitude, it's a lot more exhausting to hike up there than back in Switzerland and I noticed that I was breathing like crazy! At the high camp we got some hot tea and cookies and shortly later we were already served our dinner and at around 6 pm everyone was in bed, as the alarm was set to midnight...</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTzdGwIZnrEoi0ZPolsbu9BC_JNxqw2AaB7emt7pJnIvphK5PCMt2AkBXfgMov8sAAn6j1EgN6jxD5FZlSaNsVBOSAFLREbn8tkIL4Xm8Sg-0idSlFAad8iktc7mt5U0Gb0CUuXsyxvs/s1600/IMG_20140628_161458.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTzdGwIZnrEoi0ZPolsbu9BC_JNxqw2AaB7emt7pJnIvphK5PCMt2AkBXfgMov8sAAn6j1EgN6jxD5FZlSaNsVBOSAFLREbn8tkIL4Xm8Sg-0idSlFAad8iktc7mt5U0Gb0CUuXsyxvs/s1600/IMG_20140628_161458.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">High camp toilet at 5130 masl</span></td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">However, as warned by our guides, none of us could really sleep. Apparently people are hardly ever able to sleep at altitudes above 5000 masl if they are not used to it. So when the alarm rang at midnight, all of us were still really sleepy. It was good to get a coffee before leaving the high camp in the middle of the night at around 1 am. Stefan and David formed a rope team together with their guide, Franz, and Christian and I, together with our guide David, formed another rope team. David turned out to be the better guide, as he insisted on hiking really slowly and therefore we hardly had to take any breaks. Franz, in contrast, hiked much faster and took lots of breaks... The climb wasn't difficult, there was just one spot where we had to use our pickax and the last slope was pretty steep, otherwise the only difficulty was the altitude.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6GRG-ymy2cIKdMliEOEkw7qcMdwhdM94IXP6Ia8TpFWf_CLDrsMGCd1vDbmYSLjq6u35Hh-yaUzPmRNd9x3iRe-wRgAPLzNSVOE6T3wRc5740Fdq2wEFB3yoMSzPK9d2WuBROdS1xnVg/s1600/IMG_9602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6GRG-ymy2cIKdMliEOEkw7qcMdwhdM94IXP6Ia8TpFWf_CLDrsMGCd1vDbmYSLjq6u35Hh-yaUzPmRNd9x3iRe-wRgAPLzNSVOE6T3wRc5740Fdq2wEFB3yoMSzPK9d2WuBROdS1xnVg/s1600/IMG_9602.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On our way up to Huayna <span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: left;">Potos</span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: left;">í</span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjfWKc_BbKULPf41zm2AaWfYsM0can1FqMnO6qqfxueJ2ydkUbVY9DdCcZAvdusEq9GAz0PjVBJB4Mcudop5CulaxmG_cttwo6VVC7KlG4-j-haqbzk5IApaLu5otHpdki2uiIoqbBU4/s1600/GOPR4646.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjfWKc_BbKULPf41zm2AaWfYsM0can1FqMnO6qqfxueJ2ydkUbVY9DdCcZAvdusEq9GAz0PjVBJB4Mcudop5CulaxmG_cttwo6VVC7KlG4-j-haqbzk5IApaLu5otHpdki2uiIoqbBU4/s1600/GOPR4646.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After hours of hiking, finally the sun rose... :-)</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Astonishingly, Christian and I were the first to made it to the summit just before sunrise; shortly after us Stefan and David arrived as well and then more and more people joined. We had some hot tea at the top to celebrate our success, but soon it was so crowded at the summit and we were so frozen that we started our hike down again.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjOZclQEQSM5CuNHEHuaVM_s2UIW4DhTjfFz7yiwWYQx2xFGZwIOJgqeoRw_-qNKEHpNgzN-SP4KzGwF52uI2viHIgxLvw8ntd-GPwZHF9H4AXNzxHC28i7heK4Enm6QFBDu7cX6ZUNM/s1600/IMG_9607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjOZclQEQSM5CuNHEHuaVM_s2UIW4DhTjfFz7yiwWYQx2xFGZwIOJgqeoRw_-qNKEHpNgzN-SP4KzGwF52uI2viHIgxLvw8ntd-GPwZHF9H4AXNzxHC28i7heK4Enm6QFBDu7cX6ZUNM/s1600/IMG_9607.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally! We made it to the summit! :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJITHw3Azou8c4W1_vy4ZRBXTSnzzWky-yIwbIelkhj0InapaQBLaKExSGQfUF8P2BX33J7qbqR1TV5VQvPH7jO2HNwrOjCzGpNxsF4Yd_-gELv3rIy-byIIcQ0MX4GKB33UDO9C7I_j8/s1600/IMG_1365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJITHw3Azou8c4W1_vy4ZRBXTSnzzWky-yIwbIelkhj0InapaQBLaKExSGQfUF8P2BX33J7qbqR1TV5VQvPH7jO2HNwrOjCzGpNxsF4Yd_-gELv3rIy-byIIcQ0MX4GKB33UDO9C7I_j8/s1600/IMG_1365.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gorgeous view from the summit of Huayna Potos</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: left;">í</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHVn-19IdzTL5uxNTlnwwJ9BzU56veuH3NqwKjiYyShokMd44CJXmPkq9urLKBBOKLIJi1rr8XcYGq-2ub2fHbSYM0n9Ju8_bM5DFb4FiApk9bGKvL1dpHM6MENkwicU-mt_G0O9ERrOU/s1600/IMG_20140629_065420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHVn-19IdzTL5uxNTlnwwJ9BzU56veuH3NqwKjiYyShokMd44CJXmPkq9urLKBBOKLIJi1rr8XcYGq-2ub2fHbSYM0n9Ju8_bM5DFb4FiApk9bGKvL1dpHM6MENkwicU-mt_G0O9ERrOU/s1600/IMG_20140629_065420.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the sunrises I enjoyed most...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8VPE5ME4-eaY2_w6uuEnr3LRZ84MrbKeo2OLkk2zsfGWJdm-9ihRgSC2D5UJCk-Ruo4MQgKDQP_110-V0Xwg7eKJ-5lagAaWRlkccDfpS5qqb7uro5k4F4SIjHfml46YkP0Mw60q6uM/s1600/IMG_9613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8VPE5ME4-eaY2_w6uuEnr3LRZ84MrbKeo2OLkk2zsfGWJdm-9ihRgSC2D5UJCk-Ruo4MQgKDQP_110-V0Xwg7eKJ-5lagAaWRlkccDfpS5qqb7uro5k4F4SIjHfml46YkP0Mw60q6uM/s1600/IMG_9613.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our way back down we finally saw how beautiful this mountain is...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">We were all really happy that we made it, it was a great experience!</span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8qnub5FPn6y0QUYbeu9b40Xi6bbuZBoXoXk7Xe-8xk5zauNGcX2GniKZJDJKRGw2EQH8WlTiEvAsFyYrjRHrZjtAHyhDQzKSiw2v8GjdN9feZGzIG-xlhvqsu_L5xhs99kF14qcYzv2I/s1600/IMG_1403.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8qnub5FPn6y0QUYbeu9b40Xi6bbuZBoXoXk7Xe-8xk5zauNGcX2GniKZJDJKRGw2EQH8WlTiEvAsFyYrjRHrZjtAHyhDQzKSiw2v8GjdN9feZGzIG-xlhvqsu_L5xhs99kF14qcYzv2I/s1600/IMG_1403.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The four of us: Me, Christian, David, and Stefan -<br />Happy but tired once we were down again...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Back in La Paz the four of us went to a restaurant and cooked a delicious lasagna in the evening, as we definitely had something to celebrate! After this we needed another day of rest, especially as we really needed to sleep a lot, the night before climbing Huayna </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Potos</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">í</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was quite short... After going that high up, the next mini-trip led us quite far down: We wanted to cycle the most dangerous road of the world, also named "Death Road" and spend a day in the Yungas... So together with a German cyclist we met at the Casa de Ciclista in La Paz, we left early in the morning and cycled up to the Yungas bus station in La Paz. From there we took a bus to La Cumbre, a pass north of La Paz, as we were to lazy to cycle up these 1000 m of altitude... Up there we took our bikes of the bus and unlike all the "normal" tourists who cycle this road with a tour agency, we didn't take the new, paved road to the entrance of the death road, but the old, unpaved "road" (or what's left of it...), where we had no traffic at all and where we could avoid the hundreds of tourists who cycle the death road every day...</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLdtfiLc6mJthIGyGozwW-a18TjQSz7RJoo08yJ9SN7hS6WmJ8IsOY1B1CXln8_wh3LhYhh6ttAo7MwZqAyEnjhqHiGxw4y9w4-3JWQtwvZpxTckOhZyW_OChokUDMUJ32KHz7M7LSvk/s1600/DSC_0293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLdtfiLc6mJthIGyGozwW-a18TjQSz7RJoo08yJ9SN7hS6WmJ8IsOY1B1CXln8_wh3LhYhh6ttAo7MwZqAyEnjhqHiGxw4y9w4-3JWQtwvZpxTckOhZyW_OChokUDMUJ32KHz7M7LSvk/s1600/DSC_0293.JPG" height="400" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hmmm - And where's the road???</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdgtQw1gHQ1Uhe1gDkLt0jtABCsegFHqS94YutQk40ov7kqoodwHfKmHiMSDmqg8U-f0AgGNJkbu54_IJ0i3eAyZ92RQKe5c-OZ0lsrEY7hxgYXJ2ekOAVLhiyNrucY1dZl2nHIGM9wRM/s1600/DSC_0294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdgtQw1gHQ1Uhe1gDkLt0jtABCsegFHqS94YutQk40ov7kqoodwHfKmHiMSDmqg8U-f0AgGNJkbu54_IJ0i3eAyZ92RQKe5c-OZ0lsrEY7hxgYXJ2ekOAVLhiyNrucY1dZl2nHIGM9wRM/s1600/DSC_0294.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The old road down towards the Yungas</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though we were constantly cycling downhill we didn't advance very fast, the road was too bad for that and we were pretty happy to have good brakes. It was pretty fascinating how the landscape changed: From one moment to the other we didn't find ourselves in the arid altiplano-landscape anymore, suddenly we were surrounded by lots and lots of vegetation and by the time we got to the beginning of the famous death road we were in the middle of a rain forest.</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqQgMpfqN5amYEKQa0BxQAQaXhsJ3jPkWcKcY-pV9x9_8iPD3A3pu-yFIR1k7rbltc-E-8HN9WVAgLo8Vl8crErPsLr6We-jGNycAthn2C6eqmUZPD_HCp12ff7dQgSsq58y-J3fZ-oRc/s1600/DSC_0317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqQgMpfqN5amYEKQa0BxQAQaXhsJ3jPkWcKcY-pV9x9_8iPD3A3pu-yFIR1k7rbltc-E-8HN9WVAgLo8Vl8crErPsLr6We-jGNycAthn2C6eqmUZPD_HCp12ff7dQgSsq58y-J3fZ-oRc/s1600/DSC_0317.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Entrance of the death road - By now we were already in the rain forest :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were lucky, as all the commercial tours were ahead of us, so we had the road for us and could really enjoy the beautiful, green, and wet vegetation surrounding us. It was easy to imagine that this road was extremely dangerous when all the cars had to us it, as there's a single lane and often all there is just next to the street is a huge cliff...</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFO9pPssakQO9aZkTEZXKDeC7nuk98tmBC3nK0GwznJyuGF30o8Zs4fxxqYlmhiTYFf3roRk7Y5r3cjCNBVeb-pOaEqF085VLxEmZ3mlAf6PLkfBPDMr5UA6eypwPSSHJBvlvbIRDRhg/s1600/DSC_0323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFO9pPssakQO9aZkTEZXKDeC7nuk98tmBC3nK0GwznJyuGF30o8Zs4fxxqYlmhiTYFf3roRk7Y5r3cjCNBVeb-pOaEqF085VLxEmZ3mlAf6PLkfBPDMr5UA6eypwPSSHJBvlvbIRDRhg/s1600/DSC_0323.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once below the clouds we had a beautiful view over the Yungas</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmaykDl6snLQ7Z_oFS3AkPltezlczb-wJHAz5d680De4fa_c5fTQ1KT1oFZR-GriXEV7Jv1A-xse3y3p2LkRxdh7Kc8JfUMDpjH1SV3Xj3sfKrG-4ZvbOyZDg2qAx7ctX5wujKa4Ny4EA/s1600/DSC_0328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmaykDl6snLQ7Z_oFS3AkPltezlczb-wJHAz5d680De4fa_c5fTQ1KT1oFZR-GriXEV7Jv1A-xse3y3p2LkRxdh7Kc8JfUMDpjH1SV3Xj3sfKrG-4ZvbOyZDg2qAx7ctX5wujKa4Ny4EA/s1600/DSC_0328.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From time to time it was better not to look down...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYI11HOjfp8i9uajjMTboniSpqdjPi3BNecimnjR995Ege9Pgkso_U9QbMMB5pO9mcMeOW5wl-5vQQIdBpC3ZUrgoq3VrPdi7qwRzrYYDxoyu-bK4poNpH82i3UBF-xaqB0xu304r9oKg/s1600/DSC_0335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYI11HOjfp8i9uajjMTboniSpqdjPi3BNecimnjR995Ege9Pgkso_U9QbMMB5pO9mcMeOW5wl-5vQQIdBpC3ZUrgoq3VrPdi7qwRzrYYDxoyu-bK4poNpH82i3UBF-xaqB0xu304r9oKg/s1600/DSC_0335.JPG" height="400" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adventurous bridge...</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Additionally, the road is pretty bad, we were shaken a lot and honestly, once we made it to the end of this street I was glad no having to control my handlebar constantly anymore. </span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKln7LwS4AhQVRB9CtXAXLPg1wNXm21a976QZFBCp0DWjRZpW5T_HlJJOejYli8-pto_4TAQtJ0T_rBiIAusd6fb3lliTACkazcB4ZL1Sdl5ury94cbT4Dy0HDO3q4LeV8eMTENscXCeU/s1600/DSC_0339.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKln7LwS4AhQVRB9CtXAXLPg1wNXm21a976QZFBCp0DWjRZpW5T_HlJJOejYli8-pto_4TAQtJ0T_rBiIAusd6fb3lliTACkazcB4ZL1Sdl5ury94cbT4Dy0HDO3q4LeV8eMTENscXCeU/s1600/DSC_0339.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After weeks in the Altiplano all this green was like balsam for our eyes!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSr5ZeZoso_S1ajc7gcFEup5UsgkuxR01tojB2redzcvy1b6MpM1eyHmJR3lcV-AC6cGwE94yBDqyiLEGTik_JfGJSxsh92wafzr0MY1G8CUzvpIca5vXnquOZxFawex9AzLhxczUvg8Y/s1600/DSC_0360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSr5ZeZoso_S1ajc7gcFEup5UsgkuxR01tojB2redzcvy1b6MpM1eyHmJR3lcV-AC6cGwE94yBDqyiLEGTik_JfGJSxsh92wafzr0MY1G8CUzvpIca5vXnquOZxFawex9AzLhxczUvg8Y/s1600/DSC_0360.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Water and dirt road = a lot of mud</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQSzhfnAL2lQJDoMdo47TW9EB1AIsR9enpQjfnfCTckJubwPQzTvS0tSpTSyVaYPnbWaa40cxUKshBlj1xXQs9jtqsTuiVelLZp9l7I4qHepsMWGDBz6k4WBKHin-7yE-iMboGIswc69c/s1600/DSC_0371.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQSzhfnAL2lQJDoMdo47TW9EB1AIsR9enpQjfnfCTckJubwPQzTvS0tSpTSyVaYPnbWaa40cxUKshBlj1xXQs9jtqsTuiVelLZp9l7I4qHepsMWGDBz6k4WBKHin-7yE-iMboGIswc69c/s1600/DSC_0371.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our first sight of Coroico</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, at the end of the death road there isn't a lot, so we had to climb another 500 m of altitude on awesome cobblestone to get to the handsome town of Coroico.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnDflWZuX17jlgrs4usZAvpH52c0SuXqHS-nb2kwupTGNnYGRpRFwu71cZuDOzqVrJ7QpIAre3plH6PUBy6wMSV0qSySZYbyjXtmQyX49w1ZApqyQHRfT81b9y0_His0sksoSp-fnqI8/s1600/DSC_0393.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnDflWZuX17jlgrs4usZAvpH52c0SuXqHS-nb2kwupTGNnYGRpRFwu71cZuDOzqVrJ7QpIAre3plH6PUBy6wMSV0qSySZYbyjXtmQyX49w1ZApqyQHRfT81b9y0_His0sksoSp-fnqI8/s1600/DSC_0393.JPG" height="400" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The steepness was actually enough of a challenge,<br />it wouldn't have had to be cobblestone too...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our way up we met a Czech couple of cyclists and we spent the evening with them...</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEhWe7__1zqlVvPow1duWwFEYRtrwOZ2QBigpIm2MPapmn5NXUz-5DjXfVAeNoWwTBDD1h378NbLg0z-e4d-vaZqDNoUGU26I4vyV9k7CSjbcUQDon-pS4Lc5F63iNfjtgDUD_v0ab_Gw/s1600/DSC_0400.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEhWe7__1zqlVvPow1duWwFEYRtrwOZ2QBigpIm2MPapmn5NXUz-5DjXfVAeNoWwTBDD1h378NbLg0z-e4d-vaZqDNoUGU26I4vyV9k7CSjbcUQDon-pS4Lc5F63iNfjtgDUD_v0ab_Gw/s1600/DSC_0400.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coroico</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day, Lars, Stefan, and I decided to hike to some waterfalls close to Coroico, which turned out to be quite an adventure, as the trail wasn't really a trail anymore and the waterfall (there were supposed to be three, but we only found one) was a joke, it looked like it was the drinking water supply for the surrounding villages and accordingly there was a big fence around it and lots of pipes all around... From there we walked to the next village and took a bus back to Coroico and then another bus back to La Paz. The bus driver was driving so terribly that actually I was more scared on the new, paved road than the day before on the death road... :p</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0La Paz, Bolivia-16.5 -68.149999999999977-16.74357 -68.472723499999972 -16.25643 -67.827276499999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-14946343481802284922014-06-23T18:00:00.001-07:002014-07-17T16:47:33.869-07:00Puerto Chuvica to La Paz - The Salar de Uyuni and the non-touristic southern part of Bolivia<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Together with all the others we got up really early
and had a pretty poor breakfast before all the others left in the Jeeps for the
Salar, while Stefan and I climbed a close rock to enjoy the sunrise from there.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDHCt5tKVO3kwLeGgfLcZ2LemdUKUSOtYQavZEsn6835ZKvmv5LHs1lqpKWDVMmMtamz2kkkMHgyBMr0b684I5fk61ie7N9PQKOdRTnLJaU89AG0fxrG2M-_7smYf1cP6FFI_JWJMjgM/s1600/DSC_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDHCt5tKVO3kwLeGgfLcZ2LemdUKUSOtYQavZEsn6835ZKvmv5LHs1lqpKWDVMmMtamz2kkkMHgyBMr0b684I5fk61ie7N9PQKOdRTnLJaU89AG0fxrG2M-_7smYf1cP6FFI_JWJMjgM/s1600/DSC_0003.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunrise at Puerto Chuvica</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJLz52kEAjihj1i0M5qm2DMEjPOQOKIyfkwzjZ_QYpEu_Rd6Ph6z3KtddGuD0Gp-9MEYL5hyzCIYTVOw4sLBSZn8lNnrJAVzlG_zRu5F-BZeBEKs0FTYbjZoE9g_ENejaaPfXdWPiULP0/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJLz52kEAjihj1i0M5qm2DMEjPOQOKIyfkwzjZ_QYpEu_Rd6Ph6z3KtddGuD0Gp-9MEYL5hyzCIYTVOw4sLBSZn8lNnrJAVzlG_zRu5F-BZeBEKs0FTYbjZoE9g_ENejaaPfXdWPiULP0/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Puerto Chuvica</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Once the sun started to warm up the air, we also left Puerto Chuvica and soon
we found ourselves on this huge salt lake where we were really happy to have a
GPS, as our goal, the cactus island “Isla Incahuasi”, stayed out of sight for
quite a while and in the beginning we didn’t follow the main Jeep tracks, so we
had to trust modern satellite technology…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisy_grH_qNFEd3F1fk01lAF4mlf6esM3OVc2Q5EV0jtT6RY6YYEvgRXuSL7k_SVm-7WccnZpo9iwzPjkyi_86HU7SqAx6rV88ZR5HONLmPtdO-bl1_JJFLAhp5MfKq8QDJyek0Tb1S4wo/s1600/DSC_0045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisy_grH_qNFEd3F1fk01lAF4mlf6esM3OVc2Q5EV0jtT6RY6YYEvgRXuSL7k_SVm-7WccnZpo9iwzPjkyi_86HU7SqAx6rV88ZR5HONLmPtdO-bl1_JJFLAhp5MfKq8QDJyek0Tb1S4wo/s1600/DSC_0045.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which way should we go???</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqyW-0Mn3hVBIM18DR4opVsHDR-V-QzpxhekQjelbsQqxBsgmTvyGBgke9zHiG-H0uqDUYrDBVCok9YEzs7QY8xJEVXjP1R1W6FGDgpgGAhNqxiyA3Msga86-Jxad-XzVIRv0RpcpYFu4/s1600/DSC_0051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqyW-0Mn3hVBIM18DR4opVsHDR-V-QzpxhekQjelbsQqxBsgmTvyGBgke9zHiG-H0uqDUYrDBVCok9YEzs7QY8xJEVXjP1R1W6FGDgpgGAhNqxiyA3Msga86-Jxad-XzVIRv0RpcpYFu4/s1600/DSC_0051.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There it is: Isla Incahuasi in the far distance...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">To ride over such a huge area of salt
is pretty impressive!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBAyHYdRsaXzDpGZ0oi8aHrQWKB321DTQ86QfcLEhia-Jstzckac3bckBI3ARRLI4peZf3rLWm9BatBnW8icxNlcDz7D_H6hPsXiO06VVGvvP6i2z5HH3jGjzHBGy78Hj_sjprffWJ1yc/s1600/DSC_0070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBAyHYdRsaXzDpGZ0oi8aHrQWKB321DTQ86QfcLEhia-Jstzckac3bckBI3ARRLI4peZf3rLWm9BatBnW8icxNlcDz7D_H6hPsXiO06VVGvvP6i2z5HH3jGjzHBGy78Hj_sjprffWJ1yc/s1600/DSC_0070.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The gorgeous pattern of the Salar...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Soon we reached Isla Incahuasi, where wee first eat a
tasty quinoa soup and then enjoyed the sun and the view for a while before
setting up our night camp.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKV_f9aWKPvhvE4l5nVFRxlUJ10THLVb-zjnzvV-NxGexbVBL2Gc3qVmwklcK3iEKI5k2rMxP04uLtmj8civ2riV6zy2RUizPc3W5iyljxrHhkrdmLitE2LGfCCAT1UkWxv1cgoQiu-W8/s1600/DSC_0068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKV_f9aWKPvhvE4l5nVFRxlUJ10THLVb-zjnzvV-NxGexbVBL2Gc3qVmwklcK3iEKI5k2rMxP04uLtmj8civ2riV6zy2RUizPc3W5iyljxrHhkrdmLitE2LGfCCAT1UkWxv1cgoQiu-W8/s1600/DSC_0068.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isla Incahuasi</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Then we hiked up to the highest point of the island
in order to observe the sunset and moonrise. We were unbelievably lucky, as it
was full moon and the moonrise coincided exactly with the sunset in just
opposite directions on the sky. To observe the moon so big and bright at dusk
from this cactus island was definitely a highlight for me!!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnJ_JJQaTPap81A1Hly622-lSB6kHwzGUG6ZgDlaHSs-00MYttWOqeVjV0N-bYPfaqd35eeUU0Swe-uajxUIFhXXK-zaiVOiGxqPi3xmfP46IbKF9LVQ_jgCoG9nqwDdGQdNg5NwkH7wQ/s1600/DSC_0079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnJ_JJQaTPap81A1Hly622-lSB6kHwzGUG6ZgDlaHSs-00MYttWOqeVjV0N-bYPfaqd35eeUU0Swe-uajxUIFhXXK-zaiVOiGxqPi3xmfP46IbKF9LVQ_jgCoG9nqwDdGQdNg5NwkH7wQ/s1600/DSC_0079.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There we are: On top of Isla Incahuasi</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWAWz2cTFttYiRjKZkGaKdrfXHxqlzRwwfqbWWSJJha7VquCHoMY4zXr-iudatAlPoCXNdVs04HLadWFpw9orFnLkEbB2oq8jjoMD6Z35IUule3JHi_gB-qcKLL-Wmya1hKGPbSibObEs/s1600/DSC_0093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWAWz2cTFttYiRjKZkGaKdrfXHxqlzRwwfqbWWSJJha7VquCHoMY4zXr-iudatAlPoCXNdVs04HLadWFpw9orFnLkEbB2oq8jjoMD6Z35IUule3JHi_gB-qcKLL-Wmya1hKGPbSibObEs/s1600/DSC_0093.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rising moon at sunset - just amazing!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXqx2JecyBKNlsX7tNCT-xpc83kx9J0CY3YOC63mtAUEjmXMnXgWnaPNIstOovvViJQqfWow_hfv10-Uu8jkL9tZF79BpLtdnCaHXhc2LLxNQTgb71kAdY3wuSDXqoCMOpKuQZyt9Tfc/s1600/DSC_0106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXqx2JecyBKNlsX7tNCT-xpc83kx9J0CY3YOC63mtAUEjmXMnXgWnaPNIstOovvViJQqfWow_hfv10-Uu8jkL9tZF79BpLtdnCaHXhc2LLxNQTgb71kAdY3wuSDXqoCMOpKuQZyt9Tfc/s1600/DSC_0106.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the cacti make it even better...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3Ap-mwI7TVi-WT6S1QM5xoAinmIoX6eeFVma03LrImoEhyphenhyphenZ6K6q0kQfsxu6Ygdw2ANtnww2kwwkIiipCz_xIuKmnbBqxYSJu62dkKZXpqRC4a2IHQHX4364EPefiZ588HWPSz9jWqiU/s1600/DSC_0119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3Ap-mwI7TVi-WT6S1QM5xoAinmIoX6eeFVma03LrImoEhyphenhyphenZ6K6q0kQfsxu6Ygdw2ANtnww2kwwkIiipCz_xIuKmnbBqxYSJu62dkKZXpqRC4a2IHQHX4364EPefiZ588HWPSz9jWqiU/s1600/DSC_0119.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just gorgeous!!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Back down we cooked
in the dark and then prepared for another night under the free sky… In the
morning we got up in the dark and hiked up to the top of the island again, as
we wanted to see the sunrise as well. It was definitely worth it to get up
early, as now the sunrise coincided with the moonset, which again was just
amazing!!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr5fQ42NrYkoI5YDo7dS6lXu-dN9t3p6yiqW2rrWGh9mpvEhq9A5nUFHlPxiuNpEuo_q3uLZkB3lrCbV0ue9wpoZFdTm9JAeGfWSHVe1eM1l-uA-u7bZz5ftCp4CR0oOkFL3ZBEEKIfg/s1600/DSC_0121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr5fQ42NrYkoI5YDo7dS6lXu-dN9t3p6yiqW2rrWGh9mpvEhq9A5nUFHlPxiuNpEuo_q3uLZkB3lrCbV0ue9wpoZFdTm9JAeGfWSHVe1eM1l-uA-u7bZz5ftCp4CR0oOkFL3ZBEEKIfg/s1600/DSC_0121.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting up early to witness the sunrise was definitely worth it!!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Back down the first inhabitant of the island came to talk to us for a
while and gave us some “Flor de Amor” to make “mate” (herbal tea) for
breakfast. Soon we were on our bikes again cycling across the endless seeming
salt lake. Eventually we stopped for a photo session in order to take the
obligatory fun pictures…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfhTbQ36LXH7vlh9O4CtzNf2oBPLkvKEnN6_G56WN0gaJvT8hGBEB5muX_ogGjT1zqikkIYjwFhuVbwk9EtWUDImIPlZj5Zn2nXSmwfdnJjw7aKQeKUSkQXVY5wj4NZIGb6j8HNXI3Dfw/s1600/DSC_0163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfhTbQ36LXH7vlh9O4CtzNf2oBPLkvKEnN6_G56WN0gaJvT8hGBEB5muX_ogGjT1zqikkIYjwFhuVbwk9EtWUDImIPlZj5Zn2nXSmwfdnJjw7aKQeKUSkQXVY5wj4NZIGb6j8HNXI3Dfw/s1600/DSC_0163.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some fun pictures were just mandatory...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwrsusu0dQEwrRbN-wJmIzl6J9jDr3ITtfk_D9_gN9PucTZn54oJzO6X5NRUBL-h_7EBJ0mlH-e2HQcTBiot8tcz0LCSTFbdyCO__OhFRE0cDmRyRvVhm0lOsu6Wz2Wkx20wJ5N2_4NqM/s1600/DSC_0165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwrsusu0dQEwrRbN-wJmIzl6J9jDr3ITtfk_D9_gN9PucTZn54oJzO6X5NRUBL-h_7EBJ0mlH-e2HQcTBiot8tcz0LCSTFbdyCO__OhFRE0cDmRyRvVhm0lOsu6Wz2Wkx20wJ5N2_4NqM/s1600/DSC_0165.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd say we have a pretty good balance, don't you think so???</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">After a while we got to a Jeep where the guide and all
tourists were sitting on the floor, so I stopped to ask what they were doing
and the guide told me that they were looking for salt crystals on the lower
side of the salt crust and as he found a really big and nice one he gave it to
me as a present! :-)</span><span lang="EN-US"> After a short lunch break we could soon guess
where we’d leave the Salar and after another while we made it to Colchani, a
little town at the shore of the Salar, where we stayed at a very basic hostal
where they only had fluent water during a few hours per day…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxn_UHysq_JBjxFTKbvCwjtB2EfvsAeAOP6IxnQKdCKGT1SvYklcFyHGLw63MuobBfZHvn71b-8P819qakp5fUaeKi40qkaBcCOKf2HXYdp8R4BDfahqIbe7uU81pIbyBmAoQOzAgRfc/s1600/DSC_0184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxn_UHysq_JBjxFTKbvCwjtB2EfvsAeAOP6IxnQKdCKGT1SvYklcFyHGLw63MuobBfZHvn71b-8P819qakp5fUaeKi40qkaBcCOKf2HXYdp8R4BDfahqIbe7uU81pIbyBmAoQOzAgRfc/s1600/DSC_0184.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Salt cones close to the shore of the Salar</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The night was
freezing cold and the blankets in the hostel not too warm, I should have used
my sleeping bag instead! When I got up I figured that at night a dog broke into
the common area of the hostal and stole our sandwiches from the table! So we’ll
have to get something else for lunch today… After breakfast we cleaned all the
salt off our bikes before we headed north again. I’m surely not exaggerating if
I’m saying that the road was in a pretty bad condition.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi400XUPK5av3poTHOaFBV7Ly3IU8C1KVF-JjYku0Y6qay6t4aMd6Q4Gz_9riEyjboGPGxVnTLmWf7MTlmxl4-yJM2pQCLSgSEHlyNTw5PKokvITsDsxfOSVypC0tJmbQgtCAj7tk2DXrM/s1600/DSC_0191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi400XUPK5av3poTHOaFBV7Ly3IU8C1KVF-JjYku0Y6qay6t4aMd6Q4Gz_9riEyjboGPGxVnTLmWf7MTlmxl4-yJM2pQCLSgSEHlyNTw5PKokvITsDsxfOSVypC0tJmbQgtCAj7tk2DXrM/s1600/DSC_0191.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Riding on the Salar was definitely a lot more comfortable...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But we got lucky: Soon
we crossed a new road that was still in construction and officially closed, but
it’s condition was so much better than the one of the old road, that we
immediately decided to ride that road instead, even if we had to push our biked
across some earth wells preventing cars from using the new road from time to
time… However, from time to time we either ended up pushing our bikes through
mud on the new road or had to turn around as there simply was a huge gap in the
road.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0HjRwyCENdP4uLQSq3k48RM20K8OHB_xbWHmq9XnLh_KqTp5bRAVnHGBz1GZMxr1r5Kep1MTU3JnW0EvvTOUa1EwQZnZi4uz3MYslNgPkG8C2vSfxvbrJIdCCGeiNXscyvovHlCN5Rc/s1600/DSC_0242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0HjRwyCENdP4uLQSq3k48RM20K8OHB_xbWHmq9XnLh_KqTp5bRAVnHGBz1GZMxr1r5Kep1MTU3JnW0EvvTOUa1EwQZnZi4uz3MYslNgPkG8C2vSfxvbrJIdCCGeiNXscyvovHlCN5Rc/s1600/DSC_0242.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looks like part of the street is still missing...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Eventually the new road ended and we permanently had to use the old, bad,
sandy road again… We fought our way along this road for another while before we
set up our tent next to the road.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilp_aUXfFF8E0nJHosJnaCywMG_HHG5T6sTTYfQwRwyalh64Zzu2UquZTlJmGDgV3kVU-Gg6b52HlhxBmmTBTzPhNlqvIHjTeCTC6pFqcrWqyOs7-qEdD790b7AKzqgqW-A3yqatjb700/s1600/DSC_0207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilp_aUXfFF8E0nJHosJnaCywMG_HHG5T6sTTYfQwRwyalh64Zzu2UquZTlJmGDgV3kVU-Gg6b52HlhxBmmTBTzPhNlqvIHjTeCTC6pFqcrWqyOs7-qEdD790b7AKzqgqW-A3yqatjb700/s1600/DSC_0207.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sandy roads are horrible - paired with an uphill it's even worse!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It seemed to have been another cold night, as
when we woke up in the morning, we had lots of frost in our tent...</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLd7ss0Om0hZ8nMXFX7f1KbzdOVqCAJvkxCB92PlZbDMD4yPloyKlFGoAwj5UzwO2GSfGz7bQvyOiz4aBqSBvjLBoQgafrqKXAQ0C2L_K3u3uE-y-0478o6lksqUZNgm8asE8Gork8R2U/s1600/DSC_0213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLd7ss0Om0hZ8nMXFX7f1KbzdOVqCAJvkxCB92PlZbDMD4yPloyKlFGoAwj5UzwO2GSfGz7bQvyOiz4aBqSBvjLBoQgafrqKXAQ0C2L_K3u3uE-y-0478o6lksqUZNgm8asE8Gork8R2U/s1600/DSC_0213.JPG" height="400" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looks like it was a cold night...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Luckily the
warming sun was soon shining strongly, drying our tent and sleeping bags. As
everything was dry again, we continued our way, the road was terrible, actually
this should not even be called road, it was more a mixture of beach volley field
and corrugated metal. Soon a train appeared in the middle of this vast
emptiness, it was terribly slow but really interesting to observe!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdExikoF2AGP_3hlMQPYQxFS7uo9Jua6R1TzkBxBP2xLTPJoiI7s4zNwkJQ1ittpw-jQPRtEDbOq0pX67X9uxLZn7LTf-Hwuy1yK8HipkJyhjGCpaTuEwgWk_pjuYx8TsVp_KRoWxu4xA/s1600/DSC_0215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdExikoF2AGP_3hlMQPYQxFS7uo9Jua6R1TzkBxBP2xLTPJoiI7s4zNwkJQ1ittpw-jQPRtEDbOq0pX67X9uxLZn7LTf-Hwuy1yK8HipkJyhjGCpaTuEwgWk_pjuYx8TsVp_KRoWxu4xA/s1600/DSC_0215.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A train in the middle of nothing...! :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Then we came
across the rescuing new road again, so we made it to R</span><span lang="EN-US">í</span><span lang="EN-US">o Mulatos pretty soon. However, a few km after this
little town the new road disappeared again and we had to fight our way through
the sand again…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaWyH8HPNbOqVuRbCbXkpWbdQyiNaGL5qWfVZaP-uOS6I6YjM0FtNPSMqSw1kmj823PUw_Gq9IsHO6V2gu-8-IsdngzoCFKJq7YicdMOE4Dhyphenhyphen6v_CveUUc35vt0x1NhsY9HVRn0SQ5E9E/s1600/DSC_0219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaWyH8HPNbOqVuRbCbXkpWbdQyiNaGL5qWfVZaP-uOS6I6YjM0FtNPSMqSw1kmj823PUw_Gq9IsHO6V2gu-8-IsdngzoCFKJq7YicdMOE4Dhyphenhyphen6v_CveUUc35vt0x1NhsY9HVRn0SQ5E9E/s1600/DSC_0219.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sandy, bumpy roads - I love it...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Eventually we came to a bridge over a real river; the sound of
the water was like music in my ears, it was so nice to see freshwater again
after weeks in the desert where every bit of water was salt water!!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGn1SGl1r6VJgj5WYfuWwN3F8WBQanmz9xcuPtUZVsYfGu4gBMTndwndU07f2joEEa2ZVY2p_ax-xNGhahiyhnHl2iYNkSHhmcZVcflTdatxj-BXugqwYAKyWK2nfiMIhvhEnnDq4RoOI/s1600/DSC_0230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGn1SGl1r6VJgj5WYfuWwN3F8WBQanmz9xcuPtUZVsYfGu4gBMTndwndU07f2joEEa2ZVY2p_ax-xNGhahiyhnHl2iYNkSHhmcZVcflTdatxj-BXugqwYAKyWK2nfiMIhvhEnnDq4RoOI/s1600/DSC_0230.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, a river!!! :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">After
another while we got to Sevarujo, however, to enter the village we first had to
cross a pretty big river in an adventurous manner, as there was no bridge but
just the train rails, so we balanced our bikes across the rails. :-)</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3gGUFZq0awjxQ1UOzLoWLGQPSGKnfJdBqrD-cbiardWAR4Q5-gyirmU37xGoWy_SgoSnf7BYIJh5QCG_c4LIkeRvn-vr_dE0Z-ZzA-x_qxBxcfAia-iANVC_cMJT3g2OkGT9uQFi22E/s1600/DSC_0245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3gGUFZq0awjxQ1UOzLoWLGQPSGKnfJdBqrD-cbiardWAR4Q5-gyirmU37xGoWy_SgoSnf7BYIJh5QCG_c4LIkeRvn-vr_dE0Z-ZzA-x_qxBxcfAia-iANVC_cMJT3g2OkGT9uQFi22E/s1600/DSC_0245.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An interesting river crossing... Bridges seem to be a scarce good...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The next day there was no new road to use anymore,
so we fought our way through the sand again, until in the far I could spot cars
without a huge cloud of dust around them, which meant that the asphalt wasn’t
too far away anymore! Once we reached the asphalt, we got to Huari pretty soon,
a real village with a plaza, market, and even a brewery ;-). As soon as we got
to the center of this village, a very nice women led us to a restaurant for
lunch and even brought us some fresh apples of her garden, that tasted way
better than the once we bought the day before in R</span><span lang="EN-US">í</span><span lang="EN-US">o Mulatos. From Huari it was then a lot less far to
Challapata than indicated on our map, so we had some time to walk around the
village, eat ice-cream on the plaza, to take a long desired shower and then we
both ate 2 menus for dinner… By now we were already used to the fact that the
water pipes were always frozen during the colder hours of the days, so I was
really surprised when there was water when I got up the next morning. Soon we
got to Paz</span><span lang="EN-US">ñ</span><span lang="EN-US">a, a
small village with some hot springs, which were really interesting: We got a
really small pool for ourselves, but the water was very nice and hot and it was
just amazing to once relax for a while! Afterwards we continued our way toward
Oruro, passing many small villages and slowly the landscape seemed to be a
little less dry, as there were cows all over… When we reached Poop</span><span lang="EN-US">ó</span><span lang="EN-US"> in the afternoon, we took a room in the only hotel
of the town that had 7 beds but no working shower; however, the hotel also had
a swimming pool filled with water coming from some nearby hot springs; so we
took a thermal bath for the second time that day…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpvzFx1rjCBdweOykk0bpNqQjw2q8DB48KVQZWPnWvGWdn29K2DUU01zYuxmhLWB1OmH_jbzXNuNhCsEfLLTTTDpPqPaNZKSXOwYI69PTswutqgPjqkFtpFn4tTk-9VDwebhBlJkGbr8/s1600/DSC_0270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpvzFx1rjCBdweOykk0bpNqQjw2q8DB48KVQZWPnWvGWdn29K2DUU01zYuxmhLWB1OmH_jbzXNuNhCsEfLLTTTDpPqPaNZKSXOwYI69PTswutqgPjqkFtpFn4tTk-9VDwebhBlJkGbr8/s1600/DSC_0270.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh yeah; accidents happen from time to time...<br />Luckily we're travelling by bike - makes it easier to get through...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The next day we got to Oruro,
the first city we passed in Bolivia! However, tourists usually don’t seem to
stop in this city, as it was pretty difficult to get our laundry done and Wi-Fi
also doesn’t seem to be asked for here… Nevertheless, we stayed a day more in
this city, went for breakfast at the Mercado Campero where we got traditional
api (a hot drink made of corn) and a lot more. Obviously Stefan wanted to climb
the closest hill again, so we climbed an uncountable number of stairs to get to
the monument of the holy virgin of the city. However, my body still had some
troubles with the altitude, so that I had to take a rest every once in a while…
From the top we had a gorgeous view over the city and just spent some hours
lying in the sun reading. For dinner we returned to the Mercado, it’s always
really cheap there and you get local food… When we left Oruro, we advanced
pretty fast until noon. After lunch, however, it got more and more exhausting: The
road got pretty hilly (although altiplano would suggest it to be flat…), there
were lots of construction sites we had to bypass on ripio, and the headwind
grew steadily stronger… Once we reached Panduro, we asked for a hospedaje, but
we were told that we should continue to the next village, that it was at most
10 km away and all downhill. The distance was surprisingly exact, it was also
mostly downhill and as we were told we found several hospedajes there. Still we
were unlucky, as all the hospedajes we could found were either closed, full, or
the owner wasn’t there. By that time I was already terribly tired, but well, we
still decided to continue to Lahuachaca, as we knew from other cyclists that
there is a hospedaje there. But it was a lot farther to get there than we
thought and the hospedaje we finally found there was cheap, but also more than
just basic: no water, a half-working toilet outdoors, and the beds were simply
straw mats on some wooden planks… Accordingly, we didn’t pass the most
comfortable night. The next morning, Stefan felt sick; however, we didn’t want
to stay in that little town, so we still packed our stuff and continued to the
next bigger town, Patacamaya. There we found a better place to stay and while
Stefan spent most of the day sleeping, I went to explore the town a bit and had
lunch with a local farmers’ couple that was just on their way to buy cattle. It’s
always really interesting to hear how the people here live and what their
concerns are all about! The next day Stefan still felt sick, but he decided
that he felt good enough to go on at least a bit. The road was pretty hilly and
we got over 4000 masl again. In the early afternoon we reached Calamarca, but
against what our bike book said, there was no hostel there. However, as Stefan
still didn’t feel well, we did not want to continue any further, and after
convincing the local priest that we’d leave early the next morning, he let us
stay at his place! :-)</span><span lang="EN-US"> The next morning it was still pretty cold when we
left, but soon the sun started to warm us and as we were getting closer to La
Paz, the scenery got better and better: The snowed peaks of the Cordillera Real
suddenly appeared in the distance… And then, after rolling over a small hill,
we were immediately surrounded but thousands of houses; welcome to El Alto…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAnmY8IuhDc9Er5hEaGW4oyTjzjgEtuJICRJ9cgvUVtB60NGwdFWtyEquTlSzZd90FDTvCwawReptRjSym1vLdd7634Xv30EErOSbCz3Tns2T8i7DmFBwja3nmWdRC4AtqCpZOjcr9sw/s1600/DSC_0278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAnmY8IuhDc9Er5hEaGW4oyTjzjgEtuJICRJ9cgvUVtB60NGwdFWtyEquTlSzZd90FDTvCwawReptRjSym1vLdd7634Xv30EErOSbCz3Tns2T8i7DmFBwja3nmWdRC4AtqCpZOjcr9sw/s1600/DSC_0278.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our first view of El Alto</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It
still took us a felt eternity to get to the other end of El Alto and the
beginning of the “highway” leading down to La Paz, but when we got there, the
view over La Paz was unforgettable!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSslg76x8TMUpAgytbal88E3urRLrxx9VDtTHBFxamlHCVs0HwWz3ay9q4RwhvAmT6l3euTBa-rvrjvXJHUYVqXkMVaADSgE24nhyphenhyphen3jkPezWLHM8ewFXwCCoiHEbOCNA2f8HOPq4FRxnA/s1600/DSC_0279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSslg76x8TMUpAgytbal88E3urRLrxx9VDtTHBFxamlHCVs0HwWz3ay9q4RwhvAmT6l3euTBa-rvrjvXJHUYVqXkMVaADSgE24nhyphenhyphen3jkPezWLHM8ewFXwCCoiHEbOCNA2f8HOPq4FRxnA/s1600/DSC_0279.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">La Paz! :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">After a long downhill into the city, we
soon found Christians Casa de Ciclista, were we met two other cyclists who
joined us for a huge Pizza in the evening…</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0La Paz, Bolivia-16.5 -68.149999999999977-16.74357 -68.472723499999972 -16.25643 -67.827276499999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-18635285538490602562014-06-11T18:00:00.001-07:002014-07-17T16:38:59.971-07:00San Pedro de Atacama to Puerto Chuvica - Banning our bike onto the roof of a 4x4<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The 10<sup>th</sup> of June it was time to say
goodbye to Chile as we’d definitely leave for Bolivia. As agreed on, at half
past seven a van came to pick us up at the hostel. However, the driver knew
nothing about our bikes, so after some phone calls a pickup was organized that
would take the bikes to the border… After a pretty good breakfast and all the
paperwork at the Chilean border we were driven to the border, where we accommodated
our entire luggage as well as our bikes on top of a Jeep.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcFkWu_QeCTPGf42JhtmUYtXbikr1thH8q2oQo1GqO0CqV7mHbQvWhIIgziaLQOexenMN0Yh_6uxe7joXi-khZd_FfJWhLO4nKi4U7wwtr4fLF8hqd4VT3Yx1n4q4THeACcyyrhSaW0XI/s1600/DSC_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcFkWu_QeCTPGf42JhtmUYtXbikr1thH8q2oQo1GqO0CqV7mHbQvWhIIgziaLQOexenMN0Yh_6uxe7joXi-khZd_FfJWhLO4nKi4U7wwtr4fLF8hqd4VT3Yx1n4q4THeACcyyrhSaW0XI/s1600/DSC_0003.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loading our bikes onto the Jeep...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWT6EzbtCyjRxd5JlplOdJUlOyn348mKyeAP0b8ZHYZLmlmpjZVydU_WC_Nsxzpp533KPjMFrAJSG_JSplOJgASyNgrzWViGov4lcfMy8kevrSWH21QDvmknt3_LIKLerw2WXRXPfOC0/s1600/DSC_0010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWT6EzbtCyjRxd5JlplOdJUlOyn348mKyeAP0b8ZHYZLmlmpjZVydU_WC_Nsxzpp533KPjMFrAJSG_JSplOJgASyNgrzWViGov4lcfMy8kevrSWH21QDvmknt3_LIKLerw2WXRXPfOC0/s1600/DSC_0010.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our Jeep taking us through the desert</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">After a short drive
we reached Laguna Blanca, where we took a short walk on the ice before we
continued to Laguna Verde.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXROUmTL5lPUM_8FzUBLhqYO4tnl5s8okxUIjZW5lNyo2QVLVKGLQ6lzvKXaIehs5sQxtQ0IoCUrYc9WX0XBqEclUBDUzrmUCNB2nGJp0r2cWuoYh_IVqmnZSnhjTmyQ_gJB-h73rX-M/s1600/DSC_0012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXROUmTL5lPUM_8FzUBLhqYO4tnl5s8okxUIjZW5lNyo2QVLVKGLQ6lzvKXaIehs5sQxtQ0IoCUrYc9WX0XBqEclUBDUzrmUCNB2nGJp0r2cWuoYh_IVqmnZSnhjTmyQ_gJB-h73rX-M/s1600/DSC_0012.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frozen Laguna Blanca</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9nBQrT_IJxCtvcO3KdZM-6pj6sPksk-wteeKRrsUhGqICKx7XRVFqe-GnfUdy6bJV3-OiNo3kmuWrjVbEPRr-cVq_XNWIxwpkrPzxf2pSD7QD6YFXiuxZQefcWUUvh07LdipEvOUx1U/s1600/DSC_0014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9nBQrT_IJxCtvcO3KdZM-6pj6sPksk-wteeKRrsUhGqICKx7XRVFqe-GnfUdy6bJV3-OiNo3kmuWrjVbEPRr-cVq_XNWIxwpkrPzxf2pSD7QD6YFXiuxZQefcWUUvh07LdipEvOUx1U/s1600/DSC_0014.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Laguna Verde</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8Rr5hjrrAaMZEu8gAxbg_Ow09ACxIz7LO9L2RBxJ77FsxOkgYR-vdzXeMemoNJzhMKf2DG8YoGDnFyTizMTT6dV6J0Fs_nsRw2JGFXejSog8odYWUxIiNxu7oHAH-nPCxUjA11oy8Ec/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8Rr5hjrrAaMZEu8gAxbg_Ow09ACxIz7LO9L2RBxJ77FsxOkgYR-vdzXeMemoNJzhMKf2DG8YoGDnFyTizMTT6dV6J0Fs_nsRw2JGFXejSog8odYWUxIiNxu7oHAH-nPCxUjA11oy8Ec/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our Jeep group: Two Chileans, a South Korean, Stefan and I</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">A few km further, we passed all the cyclists we knew
from the hostel in San Pedro and who decided to cycle to the Salar (however,
seeing them assured me that it wouldn’t have been a good idea…). Soon we reached
some hot springs which we enjoyed for quite a while: It was just great to sit
in a pool with water heated to 38</span><span lang="EN-US">°</span><span lang="EN-US"> C by nature if it’s freezing cold outside! After
that we continued to the geyser field Sol de ma</span><span lang="EN-US">ñana,
which to me looked a bit like a destroyed industry neighborhood…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmQYir1_IKTfpDAdr4-Wflufnx0wqA8VgvpQ_iswsfA3PDEN4WbcaEhrXW56QNrgSnxrhZpZF-_Pi9aH61J8NgfwQ4U4tyiVWwoU3qSN6y1cLHsPYfLJsC1AJpTm6cqcOzOgcwVRwSCc/s1600/DSC_0020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmQYir1_IKTfpDAdr4-Wflufnx0wqA8VgvpQ_iswsfA3PDEN4WbcaEhrXW56QNrgSnxrhZpZF-_Pi9aH61J8NgfwQ4U4tyiVWwoU3qSN6y1cLHsPYfLJsC1AJpTm6cqcOzOgcwVRwSCc/s1600/DSC_0020.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blubbering mud at the geysers</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvp5NICOil-XBmc2NPVhDv3w_XvbJB8WkP9C4MUY7eUu3gN1mzceXgSLvGWdXLnvpMY6mF2lf57Zx2VuiPfkH3jJkjgQJhByYi3cWDpwd6kGsmfAVGJ8XG2RnUoGvb8HhuUTWLdYOhZOE/s1600/DSC_0028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvp5NICOil-XBmc2NPVhDv3w_XvbJB8WkP9C4MUY7eUu3gN1mzceXgSLvGWdXLnvpMY6mF2lf57Zx2VuiPfkH3jJkjgQJhByYi3cWDpwd6kGsmfAVGJ8XG2RnUoGvb8HhuUTWLdYOhZOE/s1600/DSC_0028.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah, from time to time it even spits mud...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxXOPshTiffVRk3bWelT8kpJzHWyN6C6OCv2cQIilcXmwNXxRj42iCJPRXOXqCOJhOlWsyXQinyh3aUMxSjj091ee-Gfp6efRnf32VNmsPuc7K30NfYcmGccFrp68Tly9TmuTvyEicCM/s1600/DSC_0034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxXOPshTiffVRk3bWelT8kpJzHWyN6C6OCv2cQIilcXmwNXxRj42iCJPRXOXqCOJhOlWsyXQinyh3aUMxSjj091ee-Gfp6efRnf32VNmsPuc7K30NfYcmGccFrp68Tly9TmuTvyEicCM/s1600/DSC_0034.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And lots and lots of vapor...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">From there it
wasn’t far (at least in a Jeep) to the Laguna Colorada anymore, a red colored
lagoon where we watched the sunset and observed lamas and flamingos.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqBfHoQivMKcPGwsVQpSZ808Mp7Ee9dK34fQ4KWjEAbUmKihyphenhyphenSCO0NcKEILBauv6ihYnH4MslhWhbCiqSVTBy85f36P-HaaZi8TtCq5FSZYHJ_1kDHGMaj__FCJyEoSWWu6K9INi-kKY/s1600/DSC_0039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqBfHoQivMKcPGwsVQpSZ808Mp7Ee9dK34fQ4KWjEAbUmKihyphenhyphenSCO0NcKEILBauv6ihYnH4MslhWhbCiqSVTBy85f36P-HaaZi8TtCq5FSZYHJ_1kDHGMaj__FCJyEoSWWu6K9INi-kKY/s1600/DSC_0039.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wildlife at Laguna Colorada</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmizttfFt-rHdDI-fghJlL0sf25_Z3eKPbQUC891HEXFFrlMe-5xa4kq0UHLVIf_mY_85tKe62QRDBphWL-LGkalcFh-JosOT-23PSVIkgYbmeb6C3Q1xlWtbcaeoNa3fXJeD-iE-3WM0/s1600/DSC_0044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmizttfFt-rHdDI-fghJlL0sf25_Z3eKPbQUC891HEXFFrlMe-5xa4kq0UHLVIf_mY_85tKe62QRDBphWL-LGkalcFh-JosOT-23PSVIkgYbmeb6C3Q1xlWtbcaeoNa3fXJeD-iE-3WM0/s1600/DSC_0044.JPG" height="400" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Laguna Colorada</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP1VWftdmeVAGZUrWi0d7CZogvoSRztK8V09Dh1uvf-1gHPMaPStrP9r186Pesfhgn3fmwHYDWrwBM_mf2BgrsXyY1gXty8URVAWypGtFhic-HZCjiqkQz6Yc-g11HG6cOlWJv-1ZO2-k/s1600/DSC_0051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP1VWftdmeVAGZUrWi0d7CZogvoSRztK8V09Dh1uvf-1gHPMaPStrP9r186Pesfhgn3fmwHYDWrwBM_mf2BgrsXyY1gXty8URVAWypGtFhic-HZCjiqkQz6Yc-g11HG6cOlWJv-1ZO2-k/s1600/DSC_0051.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looks like we trained them... ;-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Back at
the refugio we got some hot tea and later on we were served Spaghetti, and as
some of our group got acute mountain sickness, there was even too much food for
Stefan… ;-) The night was a lot warmer (okay, less cold would probably be more
appropriate) than expected and in the morning our whole group was ready at the
time agreed on, but our driver wasn’t anywhere around… It turned out that he
simply slept in, and after waking him up he was ready pretty soon. Our first
stop that day was the Arbol de la Piedra, a rock in the middle of the Siloli
desert that has an astonishing similarity to a tree.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIKqA8ZHUn0N3IUQift-sU-ryx3gRuXMU66I7_TuY3LkwbQl05LJON9EuP8Kzb0AZXletoHg7WNf4qDRnbILR2O8ncOAc2Rd2ydLRNQ08Lv8aPcIXLJJKUiZKvZjWXMh71bhKZZqSZ-0/s1600/DSC_0069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIKqA8ZHUn0N3IUQift-sU-ryx3gRuXMU66I7_TuY3LkwbQl05LJON9EuP8Kzb0AZXletoHg7WNf4qDRnbILR2O8ncOAc2Rd2ydLRNQ08Lv8aPcIXLJJKUiZKvZjWXMh71bhKZZqSZ-0/s1600/DSC_0069.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arbol de Piedra in the Siloli desert</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bTHlL9sz92p9FkSDHkeZ7h-hiIieqKPiWUr13momxT10kRkqU_YoY51vNo88FinBVNt1kvGYzP_e56i6ONGZiFh-yyTZoJQTY9K-4n-jgYYgbxBa9xTJtcMtFxEn6GrC2lv_-BVVgAw/s1600/DSC_0077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bTHlL9sz92p9FkSDHkeZ7h-hiIieqKPiWUr13momxT10kRkqU_YoY51vNo88FinBVNt1kvGYzP_e56i6ONGZiFh-yyTZoJQTY9K-4n-jgYYgbxBa9xTJtcMtFxEn6GrC2lv_-BVVgAw/s1600/DSC_0077.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I had to play a bit... :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">When we then crossed the
Siloli desert, I was more than glad that I was in a Jeep and not on my bike, as
I would definitely not have enjoyed it!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-JcDFq8rA5eU2clHN51wsNa7qUp-xUhxyKJ-STIIhzRmXvUt5QKx3sQONMkScBngbWAHdBVDsLNMiK29Dh_Tx14MgCfRygDj_pYdxSeGmkQEhnTeYhd6p2t_aO_3h3305RY8X1N0PG3I/s1600/DSC_0086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-JcDFq8rA5eU2clHN51wsNa7qUp-xUhxyKJ-STIIhzRmXvUt5QKx3sQONMkScBngbWAHdBVDsLNMiK29Dh_Tx14MgCfRygDj_pYdxSeGmkQEhnTeYhd6p2t_aO_3h3305RY8X1N0PG3I/s1600/DSC_0086.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Siloli desert - No streets, no water, no nothing...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">When we then drove through a narrow
valley, we could observe several Vizcachas, some kind of mixture between a
rabbit and a kangaroo.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGJp_YCseHjQWSx-8roAjOD0G_AS2KUwwczZ-p-5vPAcTI9-FWhuhM41IoV7kLpNmikcM12vs9oAZnPyyygnbnKHcIC1MyyfDEKvCdh9nOe2rpWg_ERxoKe3MMjbMtBChIvP0nBWXQu8/s1600/DSC_0088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGJp_YCseHjQWSx-8roAjOD0G_AS2KUwwczZ-p-5vPAcTI9-FWhuhM41IoV7kLpNmikcM12vs9oAZnPyyygnbnKHcIC1MyyfDEKvCdh9nOe2rpWg_ERxoKe3MMjbMtBChIvP0nBWXQu8/s1600/DSC_0088.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A vizcacha!! :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Passing some more lagoons, we made our way to Villa
Alota for lunch and then drove through many tiny Bolivian mountain villages
until we got to Puerto Chuvica short before sunset.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5EtxVX-DzMaTsooH3_8UZcSYGxmWHy9LpWJ28c3hJxq-upA11X5n3SyI_QjHqscjKbSyNbripvutz8HKMoCSaW4a5XwwluOQ7shGa3hbtawjCJdBSv4WYSfLHDva_2KL1KtRYdn1mrkY/s1600/DSC_0096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5EtxVX-DzMaTsooH3_8UZcSYGxmWHy9LpWJ28c3hJxq-upA11X5n3SyI_QjHqscjKbSyNbripvutz8HKMoCSaW4a5XwwluOQ7shGa3hbtawjCJdBSv4WYSfLHDva_2KL1KtRYdn1mrkY/s1600/DSC_0096.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And another lagoon...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">There we stayed at a salt
hotel where we even got a hot shower and a pretty good dinner.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWxip-RTvVTnZdVLbtF78_fkD4tLczfz8h8pF_IDts3NFB2EM8AmTvZ6L8wrdikK_Jywc1KWKyeb-FdJm34Ov_PLLCzJZ7496MYMnEnxmVWJ8XfvnAjyVKMrqUpniXjCulBonqCHBNxI/s1600/DSC_0024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWxip-RTvVTnZdVLbtF78_fkD4tLczfz8h8pF_IDts3NFB2EM8AmTvZ6L8wrdikK_Jywc1KWKyeb-FdJm34Ov_PLLCzJZ7496MYMnEnxmVWJ8XfvnAjyVKMrqUpniXjCulBonqCHBNxI/s1600/DSC_0024.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The salt hotel we stayed at in Puerto Chuvica</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Puerto Chuvica, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia-20.4603534 -66.8260649-20.519860899999998 -66.9067459 -20.4008459 -66.745383900000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-33364299692625077482014-06-09T18:00:00.002-07:002014-07-17T16:04:58.828-07:00San Pedro de Atacama - Recovering and exploring its surroundings<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">After our first night back in civilization, we
first enjoyed a huge breakfast, before we took a bus to Calama, the next bigger
city, in order to get some stuff done that we needed a city for… On the way
back to the bus terminal, someone tried to steal Flo’s (one of the French guys)
backpack, so we spent the rest of the evening at the Police station, which in
fact was quite funny (at least for me, as I was the only one who really spoke Spanish…),
as the police officers seemed to be more interested in the soccer game than in
working and that didn’t even care that I constantly made fun of them... However,
eventually I had to tell these police officers that they definitely should
hurry up a bit, as we had to catch the last bus back to San Pedro… The next day
we didn’t do a lot, I was still physically and mentally completely wasted from
the last few days and after long discussions we decided to find a way to get to
Bolivia without cycling, as I was just not up for another week fighting against
the wind… The next afternoon we and most other cyclists staying at the hostel
(we were almost 10!) wanted to cycle to the Valle de la Luna (moon valley) to
watch the sunset. However, already at the first crossing we did not agree on
what direction we should go, and obviously we didn’t end up in the Valle de la
Luna, but at a nice viewpoint over the Cordillera de la Sal, a mountain ridge
covered by a layer of salt, so it looked like snowed mountains in the middle of
the desert…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdjKgWT0vziW9V-6B1V45Q75KfWYxfSCT9p_TR8D3vkP_dMgLDvSwEW5TWf6Ca3mMS8h2bZN0r0jpCMATl_qXaes8SiY7iSbzZbAVNS8wCLjTDWfDoxIF8TOyzv4YAZFk5WyCURMbPA5Q/s1600/DSC_1000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdjKgWT0vziW9V-6B1V45Q75KfWYxfSCT9p_TR8D3vkP_dMgLDvSwEW5TWf6Ca3mMS8h2bZN0r0jpCMATl_qXaes8SiY7iSbzZbAVNS8wCLjTDWfDoxIF8TOyzv4YAZFk5WyCURMbPA5Q/s1600/DSC_1000.JPG" height="262" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cordillera de la sal</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLq4DmHVnTghq4Z1g5DwFFBgUNExLzFZr56dcOg2tHdje27tNNnnF0yYbhy24MMuLvGnPP3xdQgkzGOwFey47bbMvGhavALO0zLbq949IhChhXUGUdmy0pCA6RVdbSIrsCNjOK8L93g6E/s1600/DSC_1009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLq4DmHVnTghq4Z1g5DwFFBgUNExLzFZr56dcOg2tHdje27tNNnnF0yYbhy24MMuLvGnPP3xdQgkzGOwFey47bbMvGhavALO0zLbq949IhChhXUGUdmy0pCA6RVdbSIrsCNjOK8L93g6E/s1600/DSC_1009.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It really looks like these mountains were covered by snow...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">However, we were not alone up there, hundreds of tourists joined to
witness a beautiful sunset with amazingly colored clouds.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZGuOEKkPnHQOqu6aT_o9V9Pbb6eS041sMKjAx2K4G1HYZgl0V76LzC1p0OhT9PiJoGSVxqq4EmnkMpuwAePrAqRRInBkktzcCjyXy17Sv2KNJm2poaJ2fAI3rc-iKVpq8HWBA74Apys/s1600/DSC_1029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZGuOEKkPnHQOqu6aT_o9V9Pbb6eS041sMKjAx2K4G1HYZgl0V76LzC1p0OhT9PiJoGSVxqq4EmnkMpuwAePrAqRRInBkktzcCjyXy17Sv2KNJm2poaJ2fAI3rc-iKVpq8HWBA74Apys/s1600/DSC_1029.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beautiful sunset!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLyC0At_upBcD7B4X-LVypQdoRQvXmj7ZjwRzP2uOALEYjHlQv-4j5dw0AoYlxCFyDIa3x_gk4dkv9vbYl9bCTA24mnJs12rSqzZDcsEO-zzT-MHbzfPmTAnDglgCkbGR4iXdfWHst2FI/s1600/DSC_1039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLyC0At_upBcD7B4X-LVypQdoRQvXmj7ZjwRzP2uOALEYjHlQv-4j5dw0AoYlxCFyDIa3x_gk4dkv9vbYl9bCTA24mnJs12rSqzZDcsEO-zzT-MHbzfPmTAnDglgCkbGR4iXdfWHst2FI/s1600/DSC_1039.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I could look at this sky forever!! :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">After everyone left,
Stefan and I set up our sleeping bags below the sky and hoped that the clouds
would vanish eventually to let us enjoy the stars… It became a cold but great
night: The first time I woke up, there were no clouds anymore, but a huge moon
shining brightly. The second time I woke up, the moon was gone behind the
mountains and the starts were incredibly impressive!! I just stared up at the
sky enjoying its beauty and thereby I was able to observe several shooting
stars, it was just amazing!! :-)</span><span lang="EN-US"> In the morning we observed the sunrise from our
sleeping bags, went back to sleep until the sun warmed our bags and then we
cycled towards the Valle de la Luna. The Caves in the moon valley were
extremely impressive; it was so easy to imagine how a long time ago vivid water
made this stony formations look so surreal!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8AuzCll6PZ2w3M_gOWBTuv2XkVKHjTIBrlCgbYAMd61m0TnO3Iaa30OFe6mDhTgGOPtSQeS4NZAbP6ftfXBuHpFNnVHi1-Z9MOHkKlWIJrOtmwyG5yacJ8-SJ7sjHX1CsoTZSoZw91Sc/s1600/DSC_1044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8AuzCll6PZ2w3M_gOWBTuv2XkVKHjTIBrlCgbYAMd61m0TnO3Iaa30OFe6mDhTgGOPtSQeS4NZAbP6ftfXBuHpFNnVHi1-Z9MOHkKlWIJrOtmwyG5yacJ8-SJ7sjHX1CsoTZSoZw91Sc/s1600/DSC_1044.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interesting stone formations next to the caves in the Valle de la Luna</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Also the Major Sand Dune was really
great to see, the view from the top was just amazing.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqz6UQIDAkH7UXpGqzevUIR1QvkhUP66gnE_lRiEpyK8l-0Ruvn8TUOWdXuZFa7FwuPRb2RB3yToE0YyZ2rMrAvSx65Fe3YtJaYXEsDMJaGxmEk2BU9OJiYUhcP2Pxzj4LQMI4hL1WJ9I/s1600/DSC_1057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqz6UQIDAkH7UXpGqzevUIR1QvkhUP66gnE_lRiEpyK8l-0Ruvn8TUOWdXuZFa7FwuPRb2RB3yToE0YyZ2rMrAvSx65Fe3YtJaYXEsDMJaGxmEk2BU9OJiYUhcP2Pxzj4LQMI4hL1WJ9I/s1600/DSC_1057.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stefan on top of the Duna Mayor - He's soooo tiny :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtlMfKN9ZskWtXlantqWjvW_BXzO8H3WJ_WXiunEDUlEbxZX7IW_z-s6IpPhQj1EE2o_huzVqrZ_WjQVHTH4iqXkw8A242gydueOGnu_bl0FyyaZA8sD9fUnoN8bKCUZNlIEtWbdEP_Y/s1600/DSC_1069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtlMfKN9ZskWtXlantqWjvW_BXzO8H3WJ_WXiunEDUlEbxZX7IW_z-s6IpPhQj1EE2o_huzVqrZ_WjQVHTH4iqXkw8A242gydueOGnu_bl0FyyaZA8sD9fUnoN8bKCUZNlIEtWbdEP_Y/s1600/DSC_1069.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surreal formations of stone and sand...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But soon the wind was
growing so strong that we found ourselves in the middle of a sandstorm, so we
decided to head back to San Pedro. In the afternoon we surprisingly met Beat
and Luzia in town, the two Swiss cyclists we travelled with on the southern
Carretera Austral, so we had to drink something with them as there was a lot to
tell each other! The next day we didn’t do anything fancy, just got lots of
stuff done in the village. The following morning we got up pretty early in
order to make a day trip to Laguna Cejar together with Guilherme, the
Warmshowers guy in town, and his dog Sariri. As soon as we left San Pedro we
found ourselves in the middle of the desert; and once again I figured that the
desert is not my thing… However, when we got there I was completely fascinated:
Several lagoons in the middle of the desert, some almost a perfect mirror and
others very deep, reflecting the sunlight in all kinds of colors and so clear,
that one could see every single stone on the ground…</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM_OegQpysRgZF0P4JeZUSHyXEYSx932Skf9rr9gphl9GadrBBL-wGA95Op0nxHRjp1Bkb4ZI8N_FPlPm52h652yoZjGljiW4H55ByrfRCCwzZxDbHQDUeOVwf1mD_-hqYguX3AI2_Kyc/s1600/DSC_1091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM_OegQpysRgZF0P4JeZUSHyXEYSx932Skf9rr9gphl9GadrBBL-wGA95Op0nxHRjp1Bkb4ZI8N_FPlPm52h652yoZjGljiW4H55ByrfRCCwzZxDbHQDUeOVwf1mD_-hqYguX3AI2_Kyc/s1600/DSC_1091.JPG" height="400" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still think Laguna Cejar is a magical place...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvTT3jADfLu8IUDduC6Ir_vgal06_Jhw2ZGn6jC2HHmZANkYDzmlO5oAdej3aVXkpGou0Ma7xixmLkHKX-U-TZXo0UcL5YzIhLV1BQKYCEE2S6woPPslIJ80RNgpjYQeXWnrhK7i8VZLs/s1600/DSC_1129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvTT3jADfLu8IUDduC6Ir_vgal06_Jhw2ZGn6jC2HHmZANkYDzmlO5oAdej3aVXkpGou0Ma7xixmLkHKX-U-TZXo0UcL5YzIhLV1BQKYCEE2S6woPPslIJ80RNgpjYQeXWnrhK7i8VZLs/s1600/DSC_1129.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The almost perfect mirror of Laguna Cejar</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0KZTgn88niJehr93g1eiaBRqPzV64Vzsit79SV_owK9ZH4lxytK1z5fYCcJiWvUGrD61q_jfMSK-uYvDgw7eqxUA8IZvPuBl9S2w90b4dSL3rJyyMAZut85YMwhpQbN-y9-9tlnWLipw/s1600/DSC_1148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0KZTgn88niJehr93g1eiaBRqPzV64Vzsit79SV_owK9ZH4lxytK1z5fYCcJiWvUGrD61q_jfMSK-uYvDgw7eqxUA8IZvPuBl9S2w90b4dSL3rJyyMAZut85YMwhpQbN-y9-9tlnWLipw/s1600/DSC_1148.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just amazing this place!!!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">After the mandatory photo
session, Guilherme and Stefan both went floating in the salty lagoons; for me,
however, it was too cold. In the afternoon we just enjoyed the sun for a while,
before Stefan and I continued to the Ojos del Salar, two almost perfectly round
holes in the desert filled with freshwater!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIJGJ8NEFPTRouC6Xi2hC2_Q5S5sV7crq5E9MAwcxrvvmEwiqi6SgYTlUckDuqyvibX1g2-pIQnsPp5GCvVu6xD2VXVLrWiz-ZkEphb03MRF2isGUtm2ua3hiY8J5MVomn8GVEkUtyIw/s1600/DSC_1125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIJGJ8NEFPTRouC6Xi2hC2_Q5S5sV7crq5E9MAwcxrvvmEwiqi6SgYTlUckDuqyvibX1g2-pIQnsPp5GCvVu6xD2VXVLrWiz-ZkEphb03MRF2isGUtm2ua3hiY8J5MVomn8GVEkUtyIw/s1600/DSC_1125.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ojos del Salar - Freshwater in the middle of the desert...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Back at the lagoons, I was able to
observe two flamingos before we started our way back to San Pedro. It took us
quite a while to get back, as Sariri’s paws seemed to be hurt and he didn’t
want to run anymore… As we’d leave San Pedro the next day, we went for a beer
with Guilherme in the evening to say good-bye and then fell to bed really tiredly.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0San Pedro de Atacama, Chile-22.908707 -68.199715999999967-24.774231 -70.781502999999972 -21.043183 -65.617928999999961tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-46044798632384553502014-06-03T18:00:00.001-07:002014-07-17T15:51:26.484-07:00Susques to San Pedro de Atacama - Wind, Altitude, and Desert...<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">From time to time I really ask myself what
I’m doing here… When we pushed our bikes out of the hostel in Susques the wind
blew into our faces; and surprise, surprise: It was once again headwind… This
diminished my motivation dramatically and as everyone else just cycled ahead
and left me behind, my motivation was completely gone. When I suggested hitchhiking
once again, Stefan was not excited at all and for a reason still unknown to me,
I gave in and continued cycling. The wind grew stronger and stronger and even
on our way downhill after a small pass we hardly advanced. But luckily Stefan
for once let me cycle in his slipstream, which made my life a little bit
easier.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpT4Ssivl-0xS034xgiJWn09IVPH8umxSgm0s14fn55OTX1_gzOgtEj-bZ9O2AbTNZyNHEvvuWMgk7-EqTXlRcF9KyMfDcWZqEMMhgHcFjmFXpTfO9p63OWsTZY0q8fH8rixVahR45D4/s1600/DSC_0914.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpT4Ssivl-0xS034xgiJWn09IVPH8umxSgm0s14fn55OTX1_gzOgtEj-bZ9O2AbTNZyNHEvvuWMgk7-EqTXlRcF9KyMfDcWZqEMMhgHcFjmFXpTfO9p63OWsTZY0q8fH8rixVahR45D4/s1600/DSC_0914.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If there wasn't any wind it would be pretty nice...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhTXjwbJSvBul4bhzVXV98Ishrx_h-Rzd_YyDRpiZ-FBPwlXfxCgJBUNnL0x188DFZ3X3tXMh3iVPbVB25FKjwRI_Dk_8JQ0thWutAQmLpuIer3SC4YuZHZa_PyoW_xQt2rWScnT_fVM/s1600/DSC_0917.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhTXjwbJSvBul4bhzVXV98Ishrx_h-Rzd_YyDRpiZ-FBPwlXfxCgJBUNnL0x188DFZ3X3tXMh3iVPbVB25FKjwRI_Dk_8JQ0thWutAQmLpuIer3SC4YuZHZa_PyoW_xQt2rWScnT_fVM/s1600/DSC_0917.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's salt everywhere!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">After over 9 hours on the road we finally reached an old, destroyed
house that we used as a wind protection and there we also met the 3 French
cyclists again. At that point I only wanted to do one thing: Eating something
and sleeping! Trying to avoid the wind at least a little bit, we got up before
sunrise the next morning. But the wind did not calm down all night and it was
freezing cold when we had our breakfast in the sleeping bags. We left towards
the border as soon as the sun rose, but the wind grew incredibly strong very
fast, so soon we hardly advanced. When we interrupted our fight against the
wind for a short while, suddenly a car appeared out of the nowhere and as they
reached us, we were told that they live on a hill out in the nowhere, where no
street leads to, so they just drive through the desert to reach the street…
After we assured them that we were okay, the children waved at us as they left
and we continued our fight against the wind. As we finally reached the border,
we first warmed up at the gas station, before we looked for a place to pass the
night.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPt4W1p9onJxy1IflJQb727wRBcn63PspBv4M-YGoWdUsfPuM1ayJuuy3KZeBxMNQr7zYx8QKXjqDfFs22V4A8ar_WTe1C8w4ISB6_2miDOwbu-nkK6OcOaEhPa_3CwWRX3tv4ljbLJB0/s1600/DSC_0924.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPt4W1p9onJxy1IflJQb727wRBcn63PspBv4M-YGoWdUsfPuM1ayJuuy3KZeBxMNQr7zYx8QKXjqDfFs22V4A8ar_WTe1C8w4ISB6_2miDOwbu-nkK6OcOaEhPa_3CwWRX3tv4ljbLJB0/s1600/DSC_0924.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, the border<br />But unfortunately the road will still climb and climb and climb...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">However, they didn’t let us pass the border anymore and we were told
that they are expecting snow in the next days, so that they will maybe have to
close the pass again. Therefore, we organized a few trucks that would take us
to San Pedro the next morning. However, the next day everything came
differently: It was beautiful weather when we got up and there was hardly any
wind. After crossing the border (fortunately they didn’t find any of the
forbidden food we still carried…), an Argentinean police officer told us the
exact opposite of what we were told the day before, namely that the weather
should stay good and no snow was expected. Therefore we decided to continue by
bike and not to hitchhike with the trucks. However, as soon as we finally hit
the road, the wind started to pick up again, so that soon we hardly advanced
anymore. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8ceeSN70fZ4xZ1FlOpbAi-XsMC92iLQlV0UVGQrMafvm7r1rZjjfaPEgWp0xWWC83oIwSmjOpm3-hwXBZZh5iE6mEtbNd_aHrUrdEgabwAPqDJkQrfYA-Wov9oCUiuKZMToDBCLjX9Q/s1600/DSC_0926.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8ceeSN70fZ4xZ1FlOpbAi-XsMC92iLQlV0UVGQrMafvm7r1rZjjfaPEgWp0xWWC83oIwSmjOpm3-hwXBZZh5iE6mEtbNd_aHrUrdEgabwAPqDJkQrfYA-Wov9oCUiuKZMToDBCLjX9Q/s1600/DSC_0926.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the many salty lagoons...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">At the next walls we found next to the street we decided to camp, as
some protection from the wind was absolutely indispensable and we didn’t want
to risk having to ride into the dark…</span></span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz09CaNiDMhchx9Lop-XY-ewxhs8BFlSXGgzdFu2WdKfTHyVUufPOGP3ABtQj3tz0BrUP2wB5u4AJkP8Th6rvzkyR_D3KGv8bMZspqAb7VXM_aeWJq-wHXfLB_R_v-rwZgLd5VbFRp37E/s1600/DSC_0928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz09CaNiDMhchx9Lop-XY-ewxhs8BFlSXGgzdFu2WdKfTHyVUufPOGP3ABtQj3tz0BrUP2wB5u4AJkP8Th6rvzkyR_D3KGv8bMZspqAb7VXM_aeWJq-wHXfLB_R_v-rwZgLd5VbFRp37E/s1600/DSC_0928.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I wouldn't have been dead at the time I guess I could even<br />have enjoyed this landscape...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHGcOqPVQ97kzJKYVJY_ndRTy1WYZXw_FQ87Sqdd0YkovBukKFBoGiNeIrfK2l9dNH4hEiNI7dkvQ-RnRNkrKNkDxeTAHMm6UlZ-_YLbIJsiok459VErMWb8e0YLbOm8WGyVbdyB-yLE/s1600/DSC_0935.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHGcOqPVQ97kzJKYVJY_ndRTy1WYZXw_FQ87Sqdd0YkovBukKFBoGiNeIrfK2l9dNH4hEiNI7dkvQ-RnRNkrKNkDxeTAHMm6UlZ-_YLbIJsiok459VErMWb8e0YLbOm8WGyVbdyB-yLE/s1600/DSC_0935.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some wind protection was indispensable to camp...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHjuVvZeXrZw9vbG5AznGFE-jpPd957aoe56q4uH0ILRXCa6AzyKZ5i6V998nJpj9wSM9CTsKCjJg8ZPOE_7e7NcDa-xhhAy3GMKv6-eMrEcKkkHRZ5txMqea_Dqxzu1mHpiipNbCXcqg/s1600/DSC_0938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHjuVvZeXrZw9vbG5AznGFE-jpPd957aoe56q4uH0ILRXCa6AzyKZ5i6V998nJpj9wSM9CTsKCjJg8ZPOE_7e7NcDa-xhhAy3GMKv6-eMrEcKkkHRZ5txMqea_Dqxzu1mHpiipNbCXcqg/s1600/DSC_0938.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some more salty lagoons</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It seemed to have been a wise decision,
because as soon as the sun set, the temperatures dropped below freezing, so
drying our pots wasn’t necessary anymore… :p Due to the freezing cold we hid in
our sleeping bags really early and just hoped that the night would not get too
cold and mostly, that the wind would finally calm down and eventually let us
advance a little bit... As it was still dark when we got up the next day, we
eat our warm porridge in the sleeping bags, but after that it was still
freezing cold… And the worst was that getting up in the dark and cold did not
even allow us to cycle a few hours without wind: Again we head strong headwinds
from the early morning on! In addition to our slow advancing due to the wind we
also had to fix two flat tires on Stefans’ bike that day; obviously in the
middle of nowhere and fully exposed to the wind. These two incidents completely
destroyed our time-planning, but we didn’t really have a choice, with the
strong winds we had to continue to the next protecting walls… Finally the
street started to climb and several short breaks later we reached the highest
point shortly after 4 pm. This will most likely be our altitude record by bike
4827 masl, that’s higher than the Mont Blanc!! :-)</span></span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbxBkQ71dq1hmuOExuRQ2N_5G6P-mSsutdJJ3T_Fc8Q_FLzzB3uw5EIaLfvXsVLmkVJFYffXpY2Yxqh3lFey8OQRH0ya5OUkndV37F1Ek8lUeU8VS3xzJVbQn6qaQo8A_fSHWW1SFMogE/s1600/DSC_0954.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbxBkQ71dq1hmuOExuRQ2N_5G6P-mSsutdJJ3T_Fc8Q_FLzzB3uw5EIaLfvXsVLmkVJFYffXpY2Yxqh3lFey8OQRH0ya5OUkndV37F1Ek8lUeU8VS3xzJVbQn6qaQo8A_fSHWW1SFMogE/s1600/DSC_0954.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Vicu<span lang="EN-US">ñas at 4800 masl!</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The
first few km after the pass we advanced pretty fast, but as soon as it was flat
again, the wind hit us hard and the last 10 km to our campsite were absolute
horror: We were both tired, did hardly advance against the wind and were
completely freezing.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCwIDB2YWjyIhv2_CSOsCYzvruPyLMRPYloAGninrEVonuguGYZ5BiIU_t9PFjU2xhl1Vig695nLr-u2tuKvKtXujVmS1j_SdBp_PVqQjFzGe7gt85Onm4B3DopOF85p7wPYE_pDhyBow/s1600/DSC_0969.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCwIDB2YWjyIhv2_CSOsCYzvruPyLMRPYloAGninrEVonuguGYZ5BiIU_t9PFjU2xhl1Vig695nLr-u2tuKvKtXujVmS1j_SdBp_PVqQjFzGe7gt85Onm4B3DopOF85p7wPYE_pDhyBow/s1600/DSC_0969.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What the heck are we doing in this desert?!?!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">When we finally arrived, it was already so cold that we
just sat up the tent and decided to eat nothing else but cookies, as we both
just wanted to get into our sleeping bags as soon as possible! That night was
probably the coldest of our whole trip (as our odometer with the thermometer is
still broken, we don’t know how cold it was, but I assure you that it was too
cold to be camping…), in the morning Stefan and me as well as the three French
cyclists all stayed in there sleeping bags until the sun rose. Fighting against
the still blowing headwind we attacked the last 20 km to the last pass, but it
was a heavy fight: With the wind constantly working against us it was also very
hilly. After lunch we finally reached the last pass, again over 4800 masl, but
that wasn’t enough yet, after that we couldn’t enjoy the long anticipated
downhill to San Pedro de Atacama yet, no, for another few kilometers the road
continued to lead up and down, until we finally reached the intersection to
Bolivia. And now the best part of the day started: An almost endless downhill
lay in front of us, so steep that pedaling was definitely not necessary
anymore!</span></span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVK49qCrHG7VjPltKseXKbecKZjmaMQfkYZlyxWfBgq6ziXAeIokeJ7yMYAHbvz0Tw_-vb8s92nMtIRC4v1drdhMkqz5Unx5v_4s2XhXY7JAtlQtiT5i-pYXvL6F91SjQhQkIbjruFoN4/s1600/DSC_0994.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVK49qCrHG7VjPltKseXKbecKZjmaMQfkYZlyxWfBgq6ziXAeIokeJ7yMYAHbvz0Tw_-vb8s92nMtIRC4v1drdhMkqz5Unx5v_4s2XhXY7JAtlQtiT5i-pYXvL6F91SjQhQkIbjruFoN4/s1600/DSC_0994.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally - the steep downhill into the Atacama desert!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It was crazy to roll down that road, thinking that all these meters of
altitude we had to climb earlier… Slowly the temperatures rose again,
eventually gloves and beanie were not necessary anymore and very slowly I
started to feel alive again! When we arrived in San Pedro, more than half of
our water bottles were still frozen (this might give you some idea of how cold
the last night really was…)! We immediately went to a bike shop, where we met
Guilherme, a guy from Warmshowers, with whom we went for a beer and who gave us
some tips for our stay in and around San Pedro. Later we went to a cheap hostel
and then went out for dinner, as we definitely had to celebrate our successful
crossing of Paso Jama!</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0San Pedro de Atacama, Chile-22.908707 -68.199715999999967-24.774231 -70.781502999999972 -21.043183 -65.617928999999961tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-56919139253505436522014-05-29T18:00:00.000-07:002014-08-07T09:37:50.006-07:00San Salvador de Jujuy to Susques - Climbing over 4000m for the first time...<div dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We left Jujuy quite late as we still had some stuff to be done before hitting the road. Once we left, we didn't get very far, add soon I had a flat tire. As Stefan was way ahead with all the tools I first waited quite a bit until he came back and I could finally fix the tube.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijc8oSmMM5VFi5p-B5xfhkyAF6Zd04Opn1kTNZdRdEyYmi2WxNrvYUr3CQJbK0q59W5e-G59E1L2k_q5mwhalU8PPsXrkA3ujq_KjA8F3QO90-Mf7BAn9Ltwo8hj_81yAEpASwrtrAT_0/s1600/DSC_0791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijc8oSmMM5VFi5p-B5xfhkyAF6Zd04Opn1kTNZdRdEyYmi2WxNrvYUr3CQJbK0q59W5e-G59E1L2k_q5mwhalU8PPsXrkA3ujq_KjA8F3QO90-Mf7BAn9Ltwo8hj_81yAEpASwrtrAT_0/s1600/DSC_0791.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fixing my flat tire in the middle of nowhere</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once my bike was fixed again we continued but again didn't get too far, as we met two Australian cyclists and chatted a while with them. Soon after we continued, the road got a lot steeper and by the time we reached Volcán, we had already climbed about 1000 m of altitude.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5NzP9w8RLd1PeaLhJQOqxCxCuP_EX3S1fcAyJgGce48F_CDCnNiDTfcMomtMi0Sp4yLuqbuXnUJ2_ShGvc4AHv5XPPpNx3swBUf0uwUmcoG12pynEH-swjpUyr5jOIpZ8dc4ayAoryQQ/s1600/DSC_0794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5NzP9w8RLd1PeaLhJQOqxCxCuP_EX3S1fcAyJgGce48F_CDCnNiDTfcMomtMi0Sp4yLuqbuXnUJ2_ShGvc4AHv5XPPpNx3swBUf0uwUmcoG12pynEH-swjpUyr5jOIpZ8dc4ayAoryQQ/s1600/DSC_0794.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess once there was a river here...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From there the road continued more or less flat, so we advanced quite fast.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeSFOpcjrG3Lko5mGQwiRIIu1_XDTICaymu8381835DkIoxWPRg3jCbmG_2XOFwxW8LJ4LtIPX-TWKdD0Of_2nOrv687M1bkyDoAgMyfQQjNOGZ_CN2ifH6LHVCVXBYyXqAt-_BxllZD8/s1600/DSC_0806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeSFOpcjrG3Lko5mGQwiRIIu1_XDTICaymu8381835DkIoxWPRg3jCbmG_2XOFwxW8LJ4LtIPX-TWKdD0Of_2nOrv687M1bkyDoAgMyfQQjNOGZ_CN2ifH6LHVCVXBYyXqAt-_BxllZD8/s1600/DSC_0806.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Beautiful landscape and nice and warm weather on our way to Purmamarca</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, by the time we reached Purmamarca, it was already pretty late, so we decided to spend the night there and climb the remaining 2000 m of altitude to Paso Lipán the next day.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJhwd7cYqsdPa3L0OlvIRk3GCvWeO-wxpRn76Ewg_i2pJD1KIXvujx8IiY828WPvmXV1i0fn2hrEHCKpi5G_EaCTBCKmZrs9gwyzutyM9qQITkBM5RdUuUfUbalV8c9EeU9bKcnMIkm0/s1600/DSC_0813.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJhwd7cYqsdPa3L0OlvIRk3GCvWeO-wxpRn76Ewg_i2pJD1KIXvujx8IiY828WPvmXV1i0fn2hrEHCKpi5G_EaCTBCKmZrs9gwyzutyM9qQITkBM5RdUuUfUbalV8c9EeU9bKcnMIkm0/s1600/DSC_0813.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The "rainbow-hill" in Purmamarca</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we went out for dinner that evening we met Nicolas, a French cyclist we already knew from Jujuy and decided to continue together. So the next morning we were three cyclists heading west. As we left Purmamarca, the landscape was gorgeous, cacti all over and many narrow little valleys that often looked as if some giant would have cut himself a piece cake out of the surrounding mountains... The road was leading uphill and steadily getting steeper... Soon we passed a truck that was already struck on the road there for 8 days waiting for some spare parts to arrive from Paraguay - Welcome to South America!! ;-) As we continued, the passing cars and trucks always animated us by honking, bit every time we saw a bit further there was a new hang we still had to climb...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRB-kzBsvLOaf9Eje4jpSRdTs8gV1P-ux2X22tU4XWus4A4E6V05WZae0vcK8E_Xrt9wqqhpXW_jyURliKLAfrYkKsPDLx6Pcp35G35cpIz7dcfZa_rR4kJ9mJtFx9flZejxWD3StD3U/s1600/DSC_0837.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRB-kzBsvLOaf9Eje4jpSRdTs8gV1P-ux2X22tU4XWus4A4E6V05WZae0vcK8E_Xrt9wqqhpXW_jyURliKLAfrYkKsPDLx6Pcp35G35cpIz7dcfZa_rR4kJ9mJtFx9flZejxWD3StD3U/s1600/DSC_0837.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yippie, I'm already higher up that half an hour earlier... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUAZQJD_OzBatsLJy5pOAPpiVjWY66gxgIyV66dxqwh4cfdfks04Ybva7Gv7zpk_IlV0AXiowGCWE_6bRVUKuVMXQAUF_nUjD6lt1QGUfeplGk_RMkmBNLYjk4xmTVad-XMMNvV5jr20/s1600/DSC_0854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUAZQJD_OzBatsLJy5pOAPpiVjWY66gxgIyV66dxqwh4cfdfks04Ybva7Gv7zpk_IlV0AXiowGCWE_6bRVUKuVMXQAUF_nUjD6lt1QGUfeplGk_RMkmBNLYjk4xmTVad-XMMNvV5jr20/s1600/DSC_0854.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A few curves later...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At around 6 pm we finally reached the top of the pass, 4170 m above sea level, so far our altitude record by bike.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitYd04wW292QsHG1uUZUhH_yDzMqqoA4iqJc9TZV7N_j1SolMNRQYNN6ojKW0yE8O10XoSDVvK7JjQRqF3_zxh5emryToQZTsiv6J_4nEJbtjTanj8zge8nT84gkIJvkY_8z0bOF_oFnA/s1600/DSC_0857.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitYd04wW292QsHG1uUZUhH_yDzMqqoA4iqJc9TZV7N_j1SolMNRQYNN6ojKW0yE8O10XoSDVvK7JjQRqF3_zxh5emryToQZTsiv6J_4nEJbtjTanj8zge8nT84gkIJvkY_8z0bOF_oFnA/s1600/DSC_0857.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And finally we got to the top of this damned pass!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'd think we should have enjoyed our arrival up the, but due to the time we only thought about putting on some warm clothes and using the remaining time till sunset to bike as far down as possible, as we wanted to avoid having to sleep too high up. The next morning it was freezing cold, but as soon as the sun rose, it got a lot warmer.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBO0wK5n0OBcbFTKEFl9zTZhh4QTZHjotdJDsp-o8zHlKqmS4DYycUWN7JFK7_7IgfgaE1B1bCzUb2EdxlyWo4Vm7uXFyjk7S_U_lrSD-__ty497HxKSWhkzSNpO_j-oLIGlOoF-QrCEM/s1600/DSC_0865.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBO0wK5n0OBcbFTKEFl9zTZhh4QTZHjotdJDsp-o8zHlKqmS4DYycUWN7JFK7_7IgfgaE1B1bCzUb2EdxlyWo4Vm7uXFyjk7S_U_lrSD-__ty497HxKSWhkzSNpO_j-oLIGlOoF-QrCEM/s1600/DSC_0865.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our pretty remote campsite next to the Salinas Grandes</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyThmgdM1xlamkcmSPK2pGC4xU9zvS-0y0YR1EJ_1PycIKzUZILaKjOijl2k6ou_59rNakvkjtcx2wbRyG25YDOI9BmD63JPz1lEQyozBQl8z1DMKjnnhx-0DCwnaP1GNyMBYd1rsCVg/s1600/DSC_0868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyThmgdM1xlamkcmSPK2pGC4xU9zvS-0y0YR1EJ_1PycIKzUZILaKjOijl2k6ou_59rNakvkjtcx2wbRyG25YDOI9BmD63JPz1lEQyozBQl8z1DMKjnnhx-0DCwnaP1GNyMBYd1rsCVg/s1600/DSC_0868.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And there it is: The first salt lake we saw on our trip!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVG5Z4NCZN5gUVBgHr110iGDq4n9fCgwmNy2pf1Mcq_pv7nSj7s5RVoSPTX5FWubyXDl9IaqquBz0n3AcR99B3K6z1u7HGNzVXodzB3e1-PIYExYG8ghM9zl3KOTTDohONsecRpvxcihA/s1600/DSC_0874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVG5Z4NCZN5gUVBgHr110iGDq4n9fCgwmNy2pf1Mcq_pv7nSj7s5RVoSPTX5FWubyXDl9IaqquBz0n3AcR99B3K6z1u7HGNzVXodzB3e1-PIYExYG8ghM9zl3KOTTDohONsecRpvxcihA/s1600/DSC_0874.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Observing wildlife is pretty easy around here...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we were ready to leave Stefan noticed that he had a thorn in his tire, which unfortunately also punctured the tube, so instead of leaving we first had to fix the tube... But when we finally left we got to the Salinas Grandes (a big salt flat in Argentina) pretty fast and were impressed by this big white area abs the road leading strait through it. Of course I had to taste some of it, but it really just tastes like salt... :-)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFHi8M5b74pT32veH5RXSlAUF6d6ZmZgurIpVeyHFhIczzebbxPoF73J6QU6cZ5YH8Iy-B6UVSlpPRrOFj3r5AJRcMrknEhyphenhyphenDl2HHYG-Cxhyphenhyphenex5FENX7_5hofxz_zah7HKOg9-f4o8GDY/s1600/DSC_0883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFHi8M5b74pT32veH5RXSlAUF6d6ZmZgurIpVeyHFhIczzebbxPoF73J6QU6cZ5YH8Iy-B6UVSlpPRrOFj3r5AJRcMrknEhyphenhyphenDl2HHYG-Cxhyphenhyphenex5FENX7_5hofxz_zah7HKOg9-f4o8GDY/s1600/DSC_0883.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Salinas Grandes: The road leads right across it...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we crossed the Salinas, we steadily rolled towards the next mountain range, but for a long time it looked as we wouldn't be getting closer at all. And then suddenly, with the headwind growing stronger and stronger, we found ourselves in these mountains. Along a narrow valley we worked our way uphill. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4qdQgZtQERaoQ40SGwSg2KSqxuRRjRC5JAArCTyj2Gv1O_0cwsFdZIhHuF1Ui5SL1RO1Y8c-kY16pva0X88jQNqCGf7Q7iowWiLvSp-JXeqXbsu4eeysSOraMS052OQjK4Eslk3eVYw/s1600/DSC_0891.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4qdQgZtQERaoQ40SGwSg2KSqxuRRjRC5JAArCTyj2Gv1O_0cwsFdZIhHuF1Ui5SL1RO1Y8c-kY16pva0X88jQNqCGf7Q7iowWiLvSp-JXeqXbsu4eeysSOraMS052OQjK4Eslk3eVYw/s1600/DSC_0891.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the next pass is never far...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCD27oukRUmZEmF_YAwLXM_dR3GTAfPECJm8cHpWAzIAlr9rwNdZ0xYH4lRKs4Q9B92fDzG-1wwpzmkWg_-YFkmv1dhR2i0n-iEENDEoUhvRHMT9_ojU1VPrfMRH0RyGLsWzqcBbzvxg/s1600/DSC_0905.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCD27oukRUmZEmF_YAwLXM_dR3GTAfPECJm8cHpWAzIAlr9rwNdZ0xYH4lRKs4Q9B92fDzG-1wwpzmkWg_-YFkmv1dhR2i0n-iEENDEoUhvRHMT9_ojU1VPrfMRH0RyGLsWzqcBbzvxg/s1600/DSC_0905.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Observing local donkeys makes our life climbing the passes a little easier...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nd then we figured why this pass is called Paso Malo (Mean Pass): Once it's already going downhill again you can see how the road starts climbing again... This pattern repeated itself a few times until finally the road leads downhill towards Susques. As I had some troubles with the altitude, we decided to stay a day in Susques in order to acclimatize a bit more before heading towards Paso Jama.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092521629343187357noreply@blogger.com0Susques, Argentina-23.4004127 -66.36551639999999-23.4076992 -66.3756014 -23.3931262 -66.355431399999986tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-78188798544149341782014-05-25T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T13:10:30.964-07:00Salta to San Salvador de Jujuy - An unexpected ride through the rain forest<div dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We left Salta with the sky cloudy and the temperatures comfortably low and surprisingly there was even a bike path running parallel to the highway leading out of the city :-) Once we were out of the city, there was almost no traffic anymore and we slowly worked our way up along a river and through the woods until we reached a nice lake. From there on the street started to resemble a Swiss pass-street leading steadily uphill and soon we found ourselves in the rain forest (and we thought we'd be getting to the desert...). Soon we reached the highest point from which the road continued its curvy way down along the hills and back into a valley. Despite the rain, the street and the views we got were unforgettable!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Pass-like street through the rainy rain forest :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View over the rain forest we crossed...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPbZOt7pmSikXwuc0zNstvU4p2_vgVn6r2HQEJ7CcPjYHma5TnjMQhcL7bkDjTexzTzu7ia8ITHGnEGy_iDGOHJxVbJ0gnxFUKgLeTV_vEkygBqLiy6cIhTCWYcM6xcZK9HTOdK40PqFM/s1600/DSC_0782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPbZOt7pmSikXwuc0zNstvU4p2_vgVn6r2HQEJ7CcPjYHma5TnjMQhcL7bkDjTexzTzu7ia8ITHGnEGy_iDGOHJxVbJ0gnxFUKgLeTV_vEkygBqLiy6cIhTCWYcM6xcZK9HTOdK40PqFM/s1600/DSC_0782.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Entering the state of Jujuy</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once down in the valley there was noticeably less vegetation, we were getting closer to the desert. Unfortunately, the combination of rain and exercise didn't seem to please my body, as soon I felt ill again... So as soon as we reached Jujuy, we checked in to a hostel and I did my best to recover. However, as the next part of our trip would lead is up to over 4800 m above sea level, we stayed 3 days in Jujuy for me to recover completely.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjpQQUUZ9LhffSfX8UN3ZxzP51DcCJXZYdCciKo5hQxEIpeP0I70KFIXM23BZUujX_CB4MGMOK7KJrOkADEOJeIuMFQQgZ78j3lXk8PQO2d21q57D6KSMxQXS-ZCGQUr2sVJis53f6mk/s1600/DSC_0785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjpQQUUZ9LhffSfX8UN3ZxzP51DcCJXZYdCciKo5hQxEIpeP0I70KFIXM23BZUujX_CB4MGMOK7KJrOkADEOJeIuMFQQgZ78j3lXk8PQO2d21q57D6KSMxQXS-ZCGQUr2sVJis53f6mk/s1600/DSC_0785.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having fun and sharing meals with the two cyclists Lorena and Leo<br />and Alberto, an Argentinian guy at the hostel in Jujuy</span></td></tr>
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we wanted to pack our stuff to leave Mendoza, I noticed that I had a flat tire,
so we first had to fix that… So we left quite late and we didn’t get very far
before I again had a flat tire, so we decided to fix it another time and for
the moment just exchange the tube… About 26 km out of Mendoza we stopped at the
intersection to Lavalle and both something for lunch and then we put us next to
the street and tried to hitchhike (we decided not to cycle the about 1220 km
from Mendoza to Salta, as it is mostly Pampa and we want to spend more time in
Bolivia and Peru…). But we weren’t lucky at all, after several hours still
standing at the same spot we decided that we need to do something else… And as
it would get dark soon, we cycled back to Mendoza and went to the bus terminal,
we wanted to see if we find a company that would take us and our bikes (we
heard that often they don’t take bikes…) to Salta. And so it was: We were told
that there were 3 companies running from Mendoza to Salta, but all of them told
us that we’d have to send the bike separately and in a box and that they would
not be transported in the same bus as we. Well, that was definitely not what we
wanted. So, what do we do? We just looked for another office of one of the
companies we already asked and there they told us that if we take the wheels
off and put the bikes in a box and bring them to the terminal about 4 hours
before the bus leaves, they would take them with the same bus as us. Well that
already sounded a little bit better, but it was still not what we wanted. But
then we had another idea: There was a bus just about to leave to Salta, so we
just looked for that bus and asked the drivers if they’d take our bikes the way
they are (we speculated that there weren’t a lot of people on the bus and
therefore only little luggage), and surprise, surprise, they said they’d take
the bike! Obviously we had to pay for them and we suspect that that money was a
very good tip for the drivers, but never mind, we got the bikes, all our
luggage and ourselves into that bus and then had together just about $ 50 (about
5 dollars) left, as we had no time to get more money… But well, we had a 19
hours bus drive in front of us where we anyways couldn’t spend too much money
and we’ll have to take care of that as soon as we’re actually in Salta… It was
a long 19 hours, but we slept most of the night, watched some movies and played
Bingo, where you could even win a bottle of wine :-). </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hiaw3bv2wNubgHhU0AvGl_4NII3fVsVPcSVhvZTjr0_gW0Q16f7naqeFZfCroZqAJD6tsgvZq2D2JG4PvgPNHMQS-CH8cwToZjJDdrjs-bQLfRor4gmJreAqXxI5mwVWaDZdrSBU2VQ/s1600/IMG_20140519_092318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hiaw3bv2wNubgHhU0AvGl_4NII3fVsVPcSVhvZTjr0_gW0Q16f7naqeFZfCroZqAJD6tsgvZq2D2JG4PvgPNHMQS-CH8cwToZjJDdrjs-bQLfRor4gmJreAqXxI5mwVWaDZdrSBU2VQ/s1600/IMG_20140519_092318.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Playing Bingo on the Bus... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Once
we arrived in Salta we were surprised that our bikes looked pretty ok, it
really seemed as they survived the journey with no bigger problem! So we looked
for a hostel, which wasn’t as easy as we hoped for, as the first two we went to
were closed, but finally we found an open one and stayed there. And we had to
make sure to get some pesos again and get some food before I suddenly got a
fever and went to bed early. The next day I felt better but still sick so I
stayed in bed while Stefan went to explore the city a bit and hiked up to a
nearby hill from where you have a nice view over the city. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0oPKv3ZxQ_sYQCjLSn4m_FDG5_D3-z0OHC8_fVR_YDhyphenhyphenuiWul4okD9jfx6gp2Cj-3DY9ElrAgFKoWL4pHY31xgc-iXEoNR7Ncd7G_1fH_LCy3v5v3qGSSHiOveeVblTj-sAuHQy1H_Q/s1600/IMG_20140519_230317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0oPKv3ZxQ_sYQCjLSn4m_FDG5_D3-z0OHC8_fVR_YDhyphenhyphenuiWul4okD9jfx6gp2Cj-3DY9ElrAgFKoWL4pHY31xgc-iXEoNR7Ncd7G_1fH_LCy3v5v3qGSSHiOveeVblTj-sAuHQy1H_Q/s1600/IMG_20140519_230317.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Salta's Cathedral at night</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYyRwIoNeEyWvj8anRMxIazXeephGd4KpOBz3xvL6GfqQdCdroydw_pwCCZKvju_jYq0NVbO5LkMVCnXNsT9mLfX3-1jAExRhjAy7JHXDIVT1dTEDMxiVpisKFDlnp_wCV6OTeMzhyphenhyphenp98/s1600/IMG_20140520_172138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYyRwIoNeEyWvj8anRMxIazXeephGd4KpOBz3xvL6GfqQdCdroydw_pwCCZKvju_jYq0NVbO5LkMVCnXNsT9mLfX3-1jAExRhjAy7JHXDIVT1dTEDMxiVpisKFDlnp_wCV6OTeMzhyphenhyphenp98/s1600/IMG_20140520_172138.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View over Salta from the Cerro San Bernardo</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As
in the evening I still didn’t feel good, we decided to stay another day in
Salta, but the next morning we nevertheless had to get out of the hostel as
they had to clean whatever and threw out all guests. So once again we had to
look for a hostel, but we found a really nice one, it’s a bit more expensive,
but very clean and quite. And this day we really just didn’t do a lot in order
to relax and getting well again for our next big adventure: Crossing the Andes
again over Paso de Jama…</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com1Salta, Argentina-24.7829323 -65.412155200000029-25.0135768 -65.734878700000024 -24.5522878 -65.089431700000034tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-82254700682351387852014-05-17T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T13:07:37.042-07:00Santiago to Mendoza - Our first REAL crossing of the Andes<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">When we left Santiago Stefan had a cold, but he still wanted to continue…
It took about </span>30 km to get out of Santiago and it wasn’t the nicest
ride, as the highways were huge and the cars simply don’t respect you as a
cyclist (Ok, there were no-bikes signs all over which we simply ignored, but
there’s no other way to Los Andes than by the highway we took). And still, even
30 km out of downtown, there was lots and lots of smog<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">; even though it was a sunny day and the sky
seems clear, you couldn’t see far at all, there was just smog… But soon we passed
by some beautiful vineyards and we started to feel out in the country again.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITwb3H2wYSi49ilM5X3dllKWVyU9KE_aTHjINgy4pepOnxnv5o6lw9sMtdTnwJ_WIVEAy46JfHgVTtErul4HAc1V5v8dP3elBizFVPOcbbjhcYNy9r1pSkIG-IjEy149YiOYglp1bMcQ/s1600/DSC_0681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITwb3H2wYSi49ilM5X3dllKWVyU9KE_aTHjINgy4pepOnxnv5o6lw9sMtdTnwJ_WIVEAy46JfHgVTtErul4HAc1V5v8dP3elBizFVPOcbbjhcYNy9r1pSkIG-IjEy149YiOYglp1bMcQ/s1600/DSC_0681.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Beautiful vineyard on our way from Santiago to Los Andes</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In
Chacabuco we stopped for lunch at a little restraint next to the highway before
the road started to climb quite a bit until we reached a tunnel where we were
immediately loaded up onto a pick-up to be driven through the tunnel. I was
actually surprised by this, as all the way to the tunnel there were no-bikes
signs, but apparently no one cares about them, we were told that several
cyclists are driven through that tunnel every year… On the other side of the
tunnel a nice downhill awaited us leading towards Los Andes, where we stayed at
the Casa de Ciclista of Eric Savard, a French veterinarian. He just bought the
neighboring house of where he lives and is momentarily renovating it, so we had
a whole empty house for us to stay in :-). In the evening, Eric, his son
Cristóbal, and his neighbor Andrés invited us for an Asado (BBQ) and we spent
the whole evening talking and getting to know lots of stories about other
cyclists that passed by Eric’s place. The next morning Stefan felt worse than
the day before and as we anyways were getting up late we decided to stay
another day in Los Andes in order to start early the next morning and hopefully
with full strength again. In the afternoon we hiked up to a nearby hill from
where we had a good view over the whole city and towards the Andes on the other
side of the hill and I wondered if we’d make it all the way to Portillo the
next day…</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2x9lOrSVyu9wTAvYNYc1ektNYbuH7_aA_-Mk9_muYjSq5GBNBUoVwNhDTMRWsnfI6HJnUBfelra3GPpxC8IC2m61Vtse9Qg1IjAAtJsb8wTxpZ569y545hGc3N1cfOdZeLpfoOtFR-A/s1600/PANO_20140513_140833.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2x9lOrSVyu9wTAvYNYc1ektNYbuH7_aA_-Mk9_muYjSq5GBNBUoVwNhDTMRWsnfI6HJnUBfelra3GPpxC8IC2m61Vtse9Qg1IjAAtJsb8wTxpZ569y545hGc3N1cfOdZeLpfoOtFR-A/s1600/PANO_20140513_140833.jpg" height="130" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">View over Los Andes from the top of a nearby hill</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In
the evening we cooked a delicious meal and went to bed early in order to get a
good rest before attacking the first real pass over the Andes. And then this day
we wanted to climb 2000 m of altitude finally arrived: We got up before
daylight once again in order to leave early enough to reach Portillo before it
gets dark. After saying goodbye to Eric and Andrés, we started to head east.
The road always followed the Río Aconcagua and it was pretty flat at the
beginning, we were hardly gaining any elevation… </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfj2sd0lJRXPsCp9K_1SeSuY4l3V7A-XWNBOAZyTc06k9QuzAAvEOleaU2N1JycPGK_GZA-RfZg-fnxR3DZFO1E0cH_CzzsPKZJOFj49neJ6JLmB0bhY5Z_KwJ3Tflzqz8dIp1vSpip4/s1600/DSC_0692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfj2sd0lJRXPsCp9K_1SeSuY4l3V7A-XWNBOAZyTc06k9QuzAAvEOleaU2N1JycPGK_GZA-RfZg-fnxR3DZFO1E0cH_CzzsPKZJOFj49neJ6JLmB0bhY5Z_KwJ3Tflzqz8dIp1vSpip4/s1600/DSC_0692.JPG" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">While the Transandino once had a tunnel to cross,<br />we had to climb this canyon just to roll down again behing it...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">After
35 km but only 600 m of elevation gain we arrived in Río Blanco where we stopped
for lunch and filled up our water bottles. And then the hard part started: 1500
m of elevation gain in only 25 km… We advanced slowly, but the passing trucks
usually horned and motivated us. 10 km before reaching Portillo we got to the
famous 29 Caracoles (switchbacks), and I really didn’t feel like climbing all
those meters of altitude anymore (luckily you couldn’t actually see all the way
up to Portillo, I guess I would immediately have given up… :P).</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrnFkHgK95pN5ov3bFrzF9ZidKYKHh_lBMnJLBpqr1ZeGBtPJRQbVqvzAFhq7uZF5sVcpfkd8tGmuOmNyn-YoQbX1oik38WrOu-zJfamWdmrvCqDZ7-JnLCTB4ST-PGQLLm2FdsG2zEw/s1600/DSC_0702.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrnFkHgK95pN5ov3bFrzF9ZidKYKHh_lBMnJLBpqr1ZeGBtPJRQbVqvzAFhq7uZF5sVcpfkd8tGmuOmNyn-YoQbX1oik38WrOu-zJfamWdmrvCqDZ7-JnLCTB4ST-PGQLLm2FdsG2zEw/s1600/DSC_0702.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Here they are: the famous caracoles (switchbacks) at the Paso Los Libertadores:<br />Luckily at this moment I didn't know that you can only see half of them and it's going up muuuch more...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5gttK1VvezwTBNoucjtsr4-jG-mVT6mWzwVBljiTHZVBR8syZWjnc0QI6qdkPu2IxamhyphenhyphenVYpEJneSj0zVeMmXXuNyYBE6rp_bRjUGJ55vEXcOAUXnogSHX_aGnclniCQTPrV5dEBFLCo/s1600/DSC_0710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5gttK1VvezwTBNoucjtsr4-jG-mVT6mWzwVBljiTHZVBR8syZWjnc0QI6qdkPu2IxamhyphenhyphenVYpEJneSj0zVeMmXXuNyYBE6rp_bRjUGJ55vEXcOAUXnogSHX_aGnclniCQTPrV5dEBFLCo/s1600/DSC_0710.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Half way up the famous 29 switchbacks of the Paso Los Libertadores</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But
little by little we climbed up that mountain and finally we got to Portillo, a
famous Chilean ski resort which really just consists of some lifts and a huge
luxury hotel which we definitely can’t afford, but the let us camp behind the
hotel next to the laguna and we were even allowed to use the hotels bathrooms
:-).</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyXogZvMTwHIWP7cgBeHFEvpBp41LHlehDbyEOA3r1q3HeE0wlsC1ACke1xuc6NQQBLsAcIw6pq2v3LbwlTymM7CA2dHrDuE59xPNfQ5Icg3uDkopavokKcEpxLlyzN-d6c6mWFmkXuN0/s1600/DSC_0717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyXogZvMTwHIWP7cgBeHFEvpBp41LHlehDbyEOA3r1q3HeE0wlsC1ACke1xuc6NQQBLsAcIw6pq2v3LbwlTymM7CA2dHrDuE59xPNfQ5Icg3uDkopavokKcEpxLlyzN-d6c6mWFmkXuN0/s1600/DSC_0717.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our wild-campsite at 2880 MASL :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had an absolutely great campsite and as it was so beautiful and didn't look like rain, we decided to sleep without our tent, just below the stars, and it was a gorgeous night with a full (or almost full) moon!</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwh-tgJWMHc0VKrmCHL1hrCsg0ncjgYGZtAOc-QJr9N6powMyOV1InOZBJQ8tpg6zObD_ajr4da8r9zogFGQemTRmaa1dcuyLRKQqMmTS9Fje9KVm8KWJfc_k9mcFrt-7oj82Zmbguoic/s1600/IMG_20140515_074737.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwh-tgJWMHc0VKrmCHL1hrCsg0ncjgYGZtAOc-QJr9N6powMyOV1InOZBJQ8tpg6zObD_ajr4da8r9zogFGQemTRmaa1dcuyLRKQqMmTS9Fje9KVm8KWJfc_k9mcFrt-7oj82Zmbguoic/s1600/IMG_20140515_074737.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It was great to spend the night just below the stars!!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">After
a good porridge for breakfast the next morning we started to climb the
remaining 300 m of altitude up to the TUNNEL (imagine, they have the tunnel
through the mountain at 3200 MASL!). After about 1 hour we finally got to the
tunnel Cristo Redentor and after a short photo-session we were immediately
taken through the tunnel by a small truck. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Stefan
would have liked to cycle up to the actual pass, but it was closed from the
Chilean side because of snow, so we had to take the tunnel… And then we
suddenly were on the other side of the Andes, which was somehow weird, after
1.5 days of just cycling uphill you’re suddenly there… </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcc_w_8UgYwvaW2QSJYUub3LFgpI0_zHOriW1SlFFypMR1Y16ktUkwqSwhnj_NwYbfdQ8DKSo_GVsE1tDtqxjATQ4fU3T54cpMWo5-k3-BgM1KFCzlad2VnmY9gr0XmPEPciOiF3hVTwE/s1600/DSC_0739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcc_w_8UgYwvaW2QSJYUub3LFgpI0_zHOriW1SlFFypMR1Y16ktUkwqSwhnj_NwYbfdQ8DKSo_GVsE1tDtqxjATQ4fU3T54cpMWo5-k3-BgM1KFCzlad2VnmY9gr0XmPEPciOiF3hVTwE/s1600/DSC_0739.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Finally, at about 3200 MASL we reached the highest point!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmuKG3TOy520vKZC4hE9ZUzKLnC-L5DrtYv44u50gvYyeDX20zyGGz9A2a35YpSdPrt3iq8BpICl-bSHHMkFuyDQSdDFhDFxp_VFwyaTubQ8iOkpg43lTQUn8uQQYOqavmqS94iuiInd4/s1600/DSC_0742.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmuKG3TOy520vKZC4hE9ZUzKLnC-L5DrtYv44u50gvYyeDX20zyGGz9A2a35YpSdPrt3iq8BpICl-bSHHMkFuyDQSdDFhDFxp_VFwyaTubQ8iOkpg43lTQUn8uQQYOqavmqS94iuiInd4/s1600/DSC_0742.JPG" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The bikes had to be transpoted through the tunnel by truck</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVNB_LGaRcHkcyD62fpsVZ3E1Yq1gnDMlZzu7grubVAUpb6SnlTN2TOu_zQuPKp-as9t7hQExjDoiOLknDQk6VEcnc-JdARex2-brpuJ4_tOrBLrHy2szW4CXOc-AZJ_TSRb8_soVmvc/s1600/DSC_0741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVNB_LGaRcHkcyD62fpsVZ3E1Yq1gnDMlZzu7grubVAUpb6SnlTN2TOu_zQuPKp-as9t7hQExjDoiOLknDQk6VEcnc-JdARex2-brpuJ4_tOrBLrHy2szW4CXOc-AZJ_TSRb8_soVmvc/s1600/DSC_0741.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And there we go - The tunnel we worked so hard to get to :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">On
the Argentinian side the landscape looked suddenly completely different; it was
way drier, looked more like a desert, the mountains were more reddish, there
was wind again, just a completely different world! We stopped at the first
restaurant for a hot chocolate and felt like aliens as a whole group of Argentinian
tourists stared at us and couldn’t believe that we just cycled up that pass… </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggafYPUCGX3bHUcLBeDnSAVffvDNlrSjO2QHZvLCcyTKDvKRHxO7WkevwSP7SvdHJNHXThjCO5cGchaMANRzssJsUJZCk4y3SCJjNqa58RhdMXSl5v-J6pOJMZrlGFD0udf7UE9yasZUc/s1600/DSC_0747.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggafYPUCGX3bHUcLBeDnSAVffvDNlrSjO2QHZvLCcyTKDvKRHxO7WkevwSP7SvdHJNHXThjCO5cGchaMANRzssJsUJZCk4y3SCJjNqa58RhdMXSl5v-J6pOJMZrlGFD0udf7UE9yasZUc/s1600/DSC_0747.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As soon as we were on the Argentinian side, the landscape as way drier,<br />the mountains more reddish and the wind a loooot stronger...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then we
started a long way downhill: We stopped at the Aconcagua viewpoint, but
unfortunately it hid behind the clouds and then it took us forever to get
through the customs, as apparently neither we Chileans nor the Argentinians
care about making the border crossing any efficient… After a short stop at
Puente del Inca, a naturally formed bridge, we continued our way down, through
desert-like mountains, almost no vegetation and obviously with a lot of wind
(but for once we had tailwind!!). And then, just before it got dark, we reached
Uspallata where we both fell to bed immediately…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZP3uFu58snVRE3LYcVoXQq-a0FVRgbX3DAv3b13pJ2uI3T_781drUTxoaw3ACq2UlQoCAYxs94lr_3IvabU6Csbcj-LvqKO8nt5vp3p-1IQueiM-ZMce7FovZ254ezk8rAdPtushGvY/s1600/DSC_0752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZP3uFu58snVRE3LYcVoXQq-a0FVRgbX3DAv3b13pJ2uI3T_781drUTxoaw3ACq2UlQoCAYxs94lr_3IvabU6Csbcj-LvqKO8nt5vp3p-1IQueiM-ZMce7FovZ254ezk8rAdPtushGvY/s1600/DSC_0752.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Puente del Inca:<br />Nice natural bridge with old thermal bath house, but way too touristy!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJg0XZBuPiGNcnrc_2rFvz2QDq_2ndx1ahUu92yvq1vAh9eXoaMzzjQPlxK0Utu0uq5NQ7_KEEHANvUvlbeDDuYIQk5s7CD_L77CO9xGVduvD_WfOSkqWCh9MxT80xnEQ2t8MQOIanx8A/s1600/DSC_0757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJg0XZBuPiGNcnrc_2rFvz2QDq_2ndx1ahUu92yvq1vAh9eXoaMzzjQPlxK0Utu0uq5NQ7_KEEHANvUvlbeDDuYIQk5s7CD_L77CO9xGVduvD_WfOSkqWCh9MxT80xnEQ2t8MQOIanx8A/s1600/DSC_0757.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our way down to Uspallata...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">After
having breakfast with Florent, the only other guest at the hostel we stayed, we
packed all our stuff and continued our way to Mendoza. It started going down
quite a bit, then it started to get hillier, uphills and downhills were
alternating and once more we had headwind, somehow it seems that Argentina is
just terribly windy… </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">And
then we met another cyclist coming our way, the first since Mañihuales where we
were exactly a month ago! So obviously we stopped and talked for quite a while before
we continued to Portrerillos where we stopped for lunch. </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguiApN6GGi1akd7gK1D2hG3KkfouwTm_KZq_6lYXktg_dnnNfzixjjgd6uxClzQSirFiaOrJuOILsHUS1ETcVqjxI4XJ5cofciaCFcvCZx-GATIv5c5IqaMwVrx7mHhGtf267rKJzXbqw/s1600/DSC_0763.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguiApN6GGi1akd7gK1D2hG3KkfouwTm_KZq_6lYXktg_dnnNfzixjjgd6uxClzQSirFiaOrJuOILsHUS1ETcVqjxI4XJ5cofciaCFcvCZx-GATIv5c5IqaMwVrx7mHhGtf267rKJzXbqw/s1600/DSC_0763.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Close to Portrerillo - The landscape is gorgeous!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Afterwards
we had to cycle uphill for some km before a quite long downhill awaited us
where we met another 6 cyclists (a family of 4 and a couple). So again we
stopped and talked for a while before we definitely continued our way to
Mendoza. For a few more km it went downhill, before we definitely left the
mountains and came to the surroundings of Mendoza with tons and tons of
vineyards. Soon we reached the intersection with Ruta 40, from where on we had
to ride along a highway with lots of traffic again, but our GPS helped us to
find a good hostel soon :-). And then we
spent one day in Mendoza, walking through the local market where we learned how
olives look like when they are fresh and how they are usually prepared. In the
afternoon we then walked to Parque San Martín with two Argentinian siblings, an
Ecuadorian girl and an American guy we met at the hostel. There we just relaxed
a bit and enjoyed the nice weather before we headed back to the hostel to cook
together and spend a nice evening…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVpIcBc3LpUmDyekoQG9NHR54supDfHEr_DJDCKZG9ZzZUuZjvlHZz935vzTV_zOj_K6vKxr6DPrGzhruL05eS0I_sVyzDaRrqr4GdprjuzQCw78sPOZxtlJKlFxQ34REeTKb0uzjAA_U/s1600/IMG_20140517_211918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVpIcBc3LpUmDyekoQG9NHR54supDfHEr_DJDCKZG9ZzZUuZjvlHZz935vzTV_zOj_K6vKxr6DPrGzhruL05eS0I_sVyzDaRrqr4GdprjuzQCw78sPOZxtlJKlFxQ34REeTKb0uzjAA_U/s1600/IMG_20140517_211918.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah, we spent a lot of time cooking in Mendoza...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwoKfJM0CySjP_DzSXOhalCJtzrqNw5r6BgNKSV2-gcNp11PpTpl6YZ9YLGk_wizRx9HWSQK5tDAUqT3IJMimKEujfZ8_YfeS4HNIKgi04wZwFWXoBzzF5T7gBlt3Z2tRtqD4l-eGw4M/s1600/IMG_20140517_215422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwoKfJM0CySjP_DzSXOhalCJtzrqNw5r6BgNKSV2-gcNp11PpTpl6YZ9YLGk_wizRx9HWSQK5tDAUqT3IJMimKEujfZ8_YfeS4HNIKgi04wZwFWXoBzzF5T7gBlt3Z2tRtqD4l-eGw4M/s1600/IMG_20140517_215422.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com1Mendoza, Argentina-32.890183 -68.8440498-33.103432 -69.166773299999988 -32.676934 -68.5213263tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-27339652343827475602014-05-11T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T13:06:48.100-07:00Puerto Fonck to Santiago - Escaping the rain...<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After
a last incredible breakfast it was definitely time to say goodbye and continue
our way north… Luckily, the weather meant it good with us, there were lots of
clouds, but it didn’t rain and we still got a quite good view onto the
surrounding volcanoes. The street was also pretty good; except for some km that
were ripio we had asphalt all day long. </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FXGoRocu_Hv3C9TYvkuuPdwwpJY8DXCaRcDfOg03tVbq6pwwwR3i-LhEGBQjWBz1UK1OGb_zn_6oeEbOzn0G-O284lJsutllRq17fiLveKeN6aCu6ZgzO8r_Z5tLCGg9yIMYfyoaS8Q/s1600/DSC_0655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FXGoRocu_Hv3C9TYvkuuPdwwpJY8DXCaRcDfOg03tVbq6pwwwR3i-LhEGBQjWBz1UK1OGb_zn_6oeEbOzn0G-O284lJsutllRq17fiLveKeN6aCu6ZgzO8r_Z5tLCGg9yIMYfyoaS8Q/s1600/DSC_0655.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Beautiful Eucalyptus forest along the road...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgc2Iryog3vaTYg5wIMrSWLaEgf1FCIwQA4EcF2vcS1jLYhAJo82PlK8iRyfV3Abu4FJ1qp13BdhiIlxsLPw73orkQBP9bSJd21zCQY3g-RalJ9Iifv2jg55DqlnEi_AARFRbq16mT2UM/s1600/DSC_0661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgc2Iryog3vaTYg5wIMrSWLaEgf1FCIwQA4EcF2vcS1jLYhAJo82PlK8iRyfV3Abu4FJ1qp13BdhiIlxsLPw73orkQBP9bSJd21zCQY3g-RalJ9Iifv2jg55DqlnEi_AARFRbq16mT2UM/s1600/DSC_0661.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It's flat and wet...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXFJlkk9KaKq1fSEY_SMvEZQcbeZwOLjtK1cSkHS5O87m8Mm9czyKdtGjRJAs_ktyAMI-jbY93Joa_4yJRCC5FFJCwkxl23ZYgOYinnar74S5B7Rn-58DCrRFckeUe5gaXVeO2vktWCg/s1600/DSC_0663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXFJlkk9KaKq1fSEY_SMvEZQcbeZwOLjtK1cSkHS5O87m8Mm9czyKdtGjRJAs_ktyAMI-jbY93Joa_4yJRCC5FFJCwkxl23ZYgOYinnar74S5B7Rn-58DCrRFckeUe5gaXVeO2vktWCg/s1600/DSC_0663.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Well, because it's sooo wet, it's also extremely green... :-)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In
the early afternoon we arrived in Entre Lagos, where I was already pretty
tired, so we decided to spend the afternoon there and spent some time at the
lake as the sun finally decided to show up for a while. The next morning we
weren´t too motivated to get up, as we heard the rain hitting hard onto the
roof of our cabin… But to our surprise the rain eventually stopped so that we
left Entre Lagos with dry weather! Still we decided that we’re not too keen on
spending much more time in this very wet climate with no good views onto the
apparently gorgeous scenery , so instead of heading to the next of the many
lakes in the region, we cycled towards the Panamericana. However, leaving Entre
Lagos we first had quite a bit of ripio to ride on, but we got used to it
pretty quickly again and by the early afternoon we reached Río Bueno, where we
had lunch before we started to pollute our lungs while occupying the emergency
lane of the highway… However, the highway let us advance a bit faster than
usual, so by the end of the day we reached Los Lagos (unfortunately only after
it started raining again…), where we stopped at the first hospedaje we found
and where after an easy dinner we both fell asleep very quickly. The next
morning we didn’t start anything new, meaning that again we got up to the music
of the rain… But again the rain stopped just as we left and except for some
short intervals of light rain it kept dry for quite a while! We were riding
eastwards again towards another lake, it still seemed the better choice than to
ride hundreds of kilometers along the highway… Shortly after our lunch break
the dry weather was replaced by pouring rain, but the road got flatter and the
wind stopped almost completely, so that we got to Pangipulli pretty fast, where
again we stayed at the first hospedaje we found and immediately hang up our
cloth in the hope they’d dry until the next morning… Eventually I could have
needed a different music in the morning, but the only thing we got was the
sound of heavy rain… Well, this meant that we had a long breakfast and an
interesting discussion with the owner of the hospedaje, and again the waiting
was worth it, as it finally stopped raining! Over some hills we rode to Lican
Ray, where we had lunch at the beach and for a little while we could even enjoy
the sun! From there it wasn’t far to Villarrica anymore where we spent our
evening talking to a French couple we met at the hostel… And the next day
something almost incredible happened: it did not rain when we woke up!! :-)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> And soon it was clear that it would even get sunny
that day, which increased my motivation to get onto my bike a lot! It was a
really nice day for cycling, in the beginning there still was a lot of mist in
all the valleys and everything was sparkling in the sun, it was amazing! As the
road was really good and heading slightly downhill most of the time, we
advanced pretty fast and got to Temuco really easily, from where we called our
WarmShowers host Juan José in order to get direction of how to get to his place,
that was located about 20 km north of the city. When we finally found their
place we were warmly welcomed by this young family and we spent a very nice
evening with them, cooking together and exchanging our travelling experiences…
We then decided to stay another day at Juan José´s and Carla´s place in order
to relax a bit and to go back to Temuco in order to have lunch together with
our hosts at the local Mercado and to visit the local market, called Feria
Pinto, which was huge and where you find lots of good and fresh fruits and
vegetables! </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDLS94WXlgOK6jHbkpS7eUIGh8OcSmuD9iO8p7lkR0Taq4b3mgJ9W91bLt1jaEio3ebpDA5GQTsE7TZaZVGGhZrCYeJW1JNqQ5pNuxy13LR24CGaqOe03wbDuvAjpmPyQhsEwtgYiUKag/s1600/IMG_20140506_164650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDLS94WXlgOK6jHbkpS7eUIGh8OcSmuD9iO8p7lkR0Taq4b3mgJ9W91bLt1jaEio3ebpDA5GQTsE7TZaZVGGhZrCYeJW1JNqQ5pNuxy13LR24CGaqOe03wbDuvAjpmPyQhsEwtgYiUKag/s1600/IMG_20140506_164650.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">At Temuco's Feria Pinto: Yeah, there's a lot of chili available... ;-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The
next two days we really spent solely on the highway as we tried to get to
Chillán as soon as possible, we were so sick of all the rain that we really
just wanted to get as far north as possible! </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFjF68gXjqXjkj1lSR_47zTF2ODUVsQ-LsSDZFlGNxGKWIxeMud4seBbCF8bN_vLiNgvAD9oJsr-5nUTtls-HS1-zEJaA7kGr0KjgqyDbFCOruh5fLWAVwKcWjwqflMClMz2qvgrkaaI/s1600/DSC_0667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFjF68gXjqXjkj1lSR_47zTF2ODUVsQ-LsSDZFlGNxGKWIxeMud4seBbCF8bN_vLiNgvAD9oJsr-5nUTtls-HS1-zEJaA7kGr0KjgqyDbFCOruh5fLWAVwKcWjwqflMClMz2qvgrkaaI/s1600/DSC_0667.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That's how to pass a toll gate by bike... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">From
Chillán we then took the train to Santiago, as we already figured that cycling
through very populated areas is not too much fun due to lots of traffic that
usually doesn’t respect cyclists at all… However, this wasn’t as easy as we
thought it would be, as they told us we’d have to take of both wheels… But once
we actually had to hand over our bikes, the wheels didn’t seem to be any
problem anymore and after a 5 hours train ride and over 3000 km by bike we
finally arrived in Santiago de Chile on the 9<sup>th</sup> of May! :-)</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvxDSUftqi7YGrr0XMKeDoCfcZiJVbWdG83Phdb0xZf7uDT_QeKU5IyXYbPLuBzLWk2UG-_rc7wp_Z-78jzLHyNb7lthmUg5YS2raMRXu6i8I2dzY4DThqv7BLrJ1boPX7emOzKAADWW0/s1600/DSC_0670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvxDSUftqi7YGrr0XMKeDoCfcZiJVbWdG83Phdb0xZf7uDT_QeKU5IyXYbPLuBzLWk2UG-_rc7wp_Z-78jzLHyNb7lthmUg5YS2raMRXu6i8I2dzY4DThqv7BLrJ1boPX7emOzKAADWW0/s1600/DSC_0670.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yippie - Everything arrived at Santiagos train station!</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-VFFiN6y9qPHvJGAAsJjRwMduCFoZxs9Aj3XfrjJgYxDw7fneP8_es1M8WoT4UjujGEuxuduc6o3urNSmBgUZ5195txLCUO7SA7eNHeRS2J3lVdUi8TQQup0_sh-x9Gl_zfLKCugKBFs/s1600/PANO_20140512_085515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-VFFiN6y9qPHvJGAAsJjRwMduCFoZxs9Aj3XfrjJgYxDw7fneP8_es1M8WoT4UjujGEuxuduc6o3urNSmBgUZ5195txLCUO7SA7eNHeRS2J3lVdUi8TQQup0_sh-x9Gl_zfLKCugKBFs/s1600/PANO_20140512_085515.jpg" height="136" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The beautiful view from the hostel's terrace in the center of Santiago</span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our first
day in Santiago we visited a few of the very local markets close to our hostel
where we also had a great seafood lunch, before we got terribly lost in this
huge city while looking for a well-known outdoor store, so that eventually we
returned to the hostel without having been where we wanted to go… But the
evening we spent with Iain, a British motorcyclist we already met in Coyhaique
and who stayed at the same hostel as we did. We went to the Bellavista neighborhood,
the neighborhood famous for its restaurants and bars, where we first had a good
Parrillada at a restaurant and then went to another place where we enjoyed some
live music… The next day we took the bus to Valparaíso, a nearby city famous
for its colorful houses and the many hills it’s built into and I have to admit
that it’s really a cute city, even if I’m not the biggest fan of cities…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjcH4d9yKX5tKntUmFk2yP_CMZv4CvNdEWtwJte5TT2H0C23mVLg3HkxkcHVf3AflooivqaW7FUUoSuS0GDyHPYM59a849_kgdeD830ckDqKUshgQN2ZaRYE2813gVie4CMZVYI_P3rc/s1600/DSC_0673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjcH4d9yKX5tKntUmFk2yP_CMZv4CvNdEWtwJte5TT2H0C23mVLg3HkxkcHVf3AflooivqaW7FUUoSuS0GDyHPYM59a849_kgdeD830ckDqKUshgQN2ZaRYE2813gVie4CMZVYI_P3rc/s1600/DSC_0673.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The colorful houses built into the hills of Valparaíso make this city really lovely</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8wPunEC6jCwxglSoEFVsbbqlqDR7myiCgVQzsYkUbHOigfAqO1UTsQ5oUs9NJmwzdTmugAznsX0WZ0i9VnTCjLLmI8sVAe0X6VC5Ux2Qm2t0x3gZWnQVXxDjQ_ETIkPIIpsTvNIsawgY/s1600/IMG_20140511_142947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8wPunEC6jCwxglSoEFVsbbqlqDR7myiCgVQzsYkUbHOigfAqO1UTsQ5oUs9NJmwzdTmugAznsX0WZ0i9VnTCjLLmI8sVAe0X6VC5Ux2Qm2t0x3gZWnQVXxDjQ_ETIkPIIpsTvNIsawgY/s1600/IMG_20140511_142947.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Valpó's inhabitants seem to be pretty creative... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Santiago de Chile, Chile-33.4691199 -70.641997-35.1605294 -73.223784000000009 -31.777710400000004 -68.06021tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-66717018033869669392014-04-30T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T13:05:49.941-07:00Pargua to Puerto Fonck - Our way to a little paradise on the shore of lake Llanquihue<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we reached Pargua with the ferry, we had a really good street with almost no traffic and it was pretty flat, so that we made it pretty quickly to Puerto Montt, where we stayed at a small, familiar hospedaje with a very friendly owner.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5i8lm4Ykhd5W9DDhhbwoGrriM9DC5xo4LcvKehEkI65y4bfdX-4S3WHkLOhpAbb75UPNBXWpPSaDBN0EtiwnHx7p1RyCvOG3PHIox8lwOt-Tz5di9V6V7X0BowtyRUlJhA6KtjMKM170/s1600/DSC_0631.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5i8lm4Ykhd5W9DDhhbwoGrriM9DC5xo4LcvKehEkI65y4bfdX-4S3WHkLOhpAbb75UPNBXWpPSaDBN0EtiwnHx7p1RyCvOG3PHIox8lwOt-Tz5di9V6V7X0BowtyRUlJhA6KtjMKM170/s1600/DSC_0631.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Even if the Panamericana is now a real highway, there still is almost no traffic...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning we first had an extensive breakfast and a long talk with the hostel owner Perla, and then we went to the center of Puerto Montt to get some stuff done which cost us most of the day, so that we only left the city by 4 pm. But luckily Puerto Varas is really close, so we got there in no time and could still walk along the lake for a while before it got dark. But unfortunately it was terribly cloudy so that we couldn't see much of the lake and we couldn't even guess that there should be huge volcanoes around...</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a good nights sleep we started with a lot of fog again... We still decided to cycle the small, partly unpaved street along the lake instead of taking the bigger road further from the shore in the hope of the weather clearing up during the day. However, we really couldn't see a lot until we got close to Puerto Octay, from there we at least got a nice view over the bay and the village...</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBj1mWlPAYsHeHCw6QIAu5WbPJwngQsNZ072G7EUgdoZHMvo03P0bEfD2Ltzzzdw7ZF_kisAEBN10_MH6381VuuUZEYMEa8B6L3q6dfnxt46uB74qlYFIgQowrpCGIWX-1DoAZWNg9YcY/s1600/DSC_0639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBj1mWlPAYsHeHCw6QIAu5WbPJwngQsNZ072G7EUgdoZHMvo03P0bEfD2Ltzzzdw7ZF_kisAEBN10_MH6381VuuUZEYMEa8B6L3q6dfnxt46uB74qlYFIgQowrpCGIWX-1DoAZWNg9YcY/s1600/DSC_0639.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">View over Puerto Octay on our way to Puerto Fonck</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwsnQ1ASD2wsvZO0A5B289jZuNpYTQrQImxkKNeNIxfvAoghDBUWbuVQE5qVuKDz7_uruwQshXiSSW_YkQx064jkkJgYd1io5ZbG9aTyvuukMcTnEEYydQX81m20UBXx9TD7iiPxDsViU/s1600/DSC_0641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwsnQ1ASD2wsvZO0A5B289jZuNpYTQrQImxkKNeNIxfvAoghDBUWbuVQE5qVuKDz7_uruwQshXiSSW_YkQx064jkkJgYd1io5ZbG9aTyvuukMcTnEEYydQX81m20UBXx9TD7iiPxDsViU/s1600/DSC_0641.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View over the Centinela Peninsula on our way to Puerto Fonck</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Puerto Octay we still had 13 km of ripio, but finally the sky cleared up a bit and we could at least see the top of Volcán Osorno :-)</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgygvKmhYy1dt2ZqeQIh7lQfDiGPZtCA7Nztt7fjOmXwUDEEYlMaFbq3Hu5C5vEI_tbLK-GPNPR5fhirmoGp8ya0Yf2ecjv_8CN8tbUZoVwgoEOCzxf4SCAW8eZ62Dq8CZDd6006_1A8lQ/s1600/IMG_9589.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgygvKmhYy1dt2ZqeQIh7lQfDiGPZtCA7Nztt7fjOmXwUDEEYlMaFbq3Hu5C5vEI_tbLK-GPNPR5fhirmoGp8ya0Yf2ecjv_8CN8tbUZoVwgoEOCzxf4SCAW8eZ62Dq8CZDd6006_1A8lQ/s1600/IMG_9589.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our first view of Volcán Osorno on the way from Puerto Octay to Puerto Fonck</span></td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXihLcnF-V0cdPJri_2mQbLiZ4jvnEuh9oeRtraHvbuEP36KcyzBkOqYbOTxp-a78Ivj9CUrMUK6tKLYKVrNFSsX_x-VvLLLqgNwVsLdg1JY84XT0kutAZ40a1zgXZINO6WIhLqaKtJrM/s1600/DSC_0645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXihLcnF-V0cdPJri_2mQbLiZ4jvnEuh9oeRtraHvbuEP36KcyzBkOqYbOTxp-a78Ivj9CUrMUK6tKLYKVrNFSsX_x-VvLLLqgNwVsLdg1JY84XT0kutAZ40a1zgXZINO6WIhLqaKtJrM/s1600/DSC_0645.JPG" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Short before reaching Puerto Fonck we<br />got a nice view of Volcán Osorno...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ8aV-SMpQi_dzUKOF4OpSHHCRF3IXB7CH1Hqiu8sL5pauWu_RStCx5trgDOTyjLkHxX6zJtfjmLrvLV8bhovXzkVjmJoYtBzuTU78kV8TMu16HaFKYwqQTU-c-X5yuKCKAA5ifrEbi34/s1600/IMG_9593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ8aV-SMpQi_dzUKOF4OpSHHCRF3IXB7CH1Hqiu8sL5pauWu_RStCx5trgDOTyjLkHxX6zJtfjmLrvLV8bhovXzkVjmJoYtBzuTU78kV8TMu16HaFKYwqQTU-c-X5yuKCKAA5ifrEbi34/s1600/IMG_9593.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And of course we had to take pictures... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a long day of cycling we finally arrived at the Fundo los Guindos in Puerto Fonck, where Gloria, the mother of a friend of mine, received us very warmly! The first time in over 2 months I completely felt at home which honestly is an incredible feeling!! We spent most of the night talking with Gloria, while Susi, one of her dogs, warmed my feet... The next day we absolutely wanted to explore the place a little bit, so in spite of the rain we took the kayak and went paddling a bit on the lake, we got absolutely soaked, but as we knew that we'd have a warm shower afterwards and tons of space to dry our stuff, we really didn't care :-). In the evening we then drove together with Gloria and a friend of hers to Frutillar (we already passed there on our way to Puerto Fonck) in order to go to the theatre. They have a huge theatre in that little city, directly next to the lake and we went to see "The legend of 1900", which was played really well, the music was also great, I was absolutely fascinated! All in all, it was a great first day at the Fundo los Guindos!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day Gloria took us to the eastern part of lake Llanquihue, where we visited the Saltos del Petrohue, gorgeous waterfalls where we could observe hundreds of salmons on their way upstreams.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt5n2W9HHHEvkAqH5muddrLnuoTZ57ik6EwrICgydDpc6TU0PDO_0TbU5T_vWMTuJmk1-bOW8Ath9PROxuWaZaljHMZYUjWoxnhhBNgKMrspS0QGPoAXwTXYHdMAB2_Ypm5xZbeTQY0Zg/s1600/IMG_20140427_140605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt5n2W9HHHEvkAqH5muddrLnuoTZ57ik6EwrICgydDpc6TU0PDO_0TbU5T_vWMTuJmk1-bOW8Ath9PROxuWaZaljHMZYUjWoxnhhBNgKMrspS0QGPoAXwTXYHdMAB2_Ypm5xZbeTQY0Zg/s1600/IMG_20140427_140605.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saltos del Petrohue</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After leaving the waterfall, we drove up the volcano to the local ski resort, but unfortunately it was all foggy and started to rain when we got there, so we really didn't see a lot. However, it was still a beautiful day getting to know the surroundings of Puerto Fonck and to be told so much about the places by a local!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then, finally, on our third day and the place of Gloria, we had absolutely great weather, blue sky, lots of sun and it was warm! So that was the time to take pictures...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV97xNbsQ7ZclYrEz9ClnFl3AxUSwNpsKJUoVWqg8jvCg0Z1vMqSQFhgM3-g4gpXEAnmx1AM98vQdiKK0nVu30qLmldrGGr0WpeFaog4MijNXO4JH9mREPx1f_dHridAjymE9tLNkoXRk/s1600/DSC_0026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV97xNbsQ7ZclYrEz9ClnFl3AxUSwNpsKJUoVWqg8jvCg0Z1vMqSQFhgM3-g4gpXEAnmx1AM98vQdiKK0nVu30qLmldrGGr0WpeFaog4MijNXO4JH9mREPx1f_dHridAjymE9tLNkoXRk/s1600/DSC_0026.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fundo los Guindos - a real paradise! :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQH1HvWpvfp151mWNGwSs2CgzNKKC1QsdL9FRvDaow7GJD7M9AStQGYPHG3MXokj791r7SVfErdaNWV3V0DntU_2CImxyjB8J1W_NJK0-d70sE5DbXjK_6Af3EW9-kbqkDwjqo2lMy_Q/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQH1HvWpvfp151mWNGwSs2CgzNKKC1QsdL9FRvDaow7GJD7M9AStQGYPHG3MXokj791r7SVfErdaNWV3V0DntU_2CImxyjB8J1W_NJK0-d70sE5DbXjK_6Af3EW9-kbqkDwjqo2lMy_Q/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Are you jealous yet??</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0c1J3ta7DELsLCCdnxX01vzWrMgML9JgkA6tXbEKdDsCZeNvWs2XrSfi1HxeOZrcjEqQ5mH4rpBwV0xrqKRZMpD023Y3VIIwVpR2SrBKGStmpXn5I2CDDp49mHR1MJRcvokGmCWAbWrI/s1600/DSC_0001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0c1J3ta7DELsLCCdnxX01vzWrMgML9JgkA6tXbEKdDsCZeNvWs2XrSfi1HxeOZrcjEqQ5mH4rpBwV0xrqKRZMpD023Y3VIIwVpR2SrBKGStmpXn5I2CDDp49mHR1MJRcvokGmCWAbWrI/s1600/DSC_0001.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View from the veranda - It's just amazing!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG2MkEIYL5AuXIqSXUQYO5sS02yorGka7wDQfEgexW10-cacs8l0gID1XsP8WH35R0e5GFxeJWpAs68VJgahwLpKqm9tFvBG9ACFuTiFQHG4uN3HYnxl8O8kttVAH8UdkzR238oKDZJ9Q/s1600/DSC_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG2MkEIYL5AuXIqSXUQYO5sS02yorGka7wDQfEgexW10-cacs8l0gID1XsP8WH35R0e5GFxeJWpAs68VJgahwLpKqm9tFvBG9ACFuTiFQHG4uN3HYnxl8O8kttVAH8UdkzR238oKDZJ9Q/s1600/DSC_0023.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the view over the lake from the house it pretty ok as well ;-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also made a short bike trip towards the east in order to get a good view of the volcano and this one time we cycled without luggage Stefan had a puncture, so he had to push his bike back in order to fix it...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-GOY0ehh2A_f2Zl27C7k0DSOMNKuP1CMawc2j2V1kHNyZHkm_WAIe-KSQXt1LsAr366cpQOrMSvttGRYYUuMz-yIMVDP1DwgPU8bKayuBO2kZ86tR8DGjpG2IE2d0dfgD3LWMn4_MTso/s1600/DSC_0043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-GOY0ehh2A_f2Zl27C7k0DSOMNKuP1CMawc2j2V1kHNyZHkm_WAIe-KSQXt1LsAr366cpQOrMSvttGRYYUuMz-yIMVDP1DwgPU8bKayuBO2kZ86tR8DGjpG2IE2d0dfgD3LWMn4_MTso/s1600/DSC_0043.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a short bike ride towards the east we got a nice view<br />of the Volcán and Stefan had his first puncture</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once back at the Fundo we again went down to the beach (joined by all the dogs...), Stefan even went swimming, we went kayaking again for a while and well, we simply enjoyed this gorgeous day...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1eF-jcExRkvObMrfeHHDJtSnyi6duzGr5WzKlV5uEI1zHqWrqrcMS5lh-JA9uwEjaqC1GIpAHthlQDDhN82DHUt1c1qAM6tBs4Tt9UvOmv9aBAkqUVJFhvrTGsgcK9E2ns93fVPo4Cqo/s1600/DSC_0056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1eF-jcExRkvObMrfeHHDJtSnyi6duzGr5WzKlV5uEI1zHqWrqrcMS5lh-JA9uwEjaqC1GIpAHthlQDDhN82DHUt1c1qAM6tBs4Tt9UvOmv9aBAkqUVJFhvrTGsgcK9E2ns93fVPo4Cqo/s1600/DSC_0056.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Susi enjoyed the beach together with us</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day was gorgeous again, unbelievable :-) So Gloria took us to Puerto Varas to her sisters and on the way there we just had to take another picture of the bay of Puerto Octay, that's what it looks like with a clear sky, it's still a hundred times more beautiful than what we saw when we passed this place by bike...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJgmq0PFtcSpqkMRdsecOjlkPoPZAS-itfjVSqBmvmtw8D_S_vfriM3SqfmPpf_Os-QKaM2cD5L7mGtT1rvD5VljxYoOlvdSCjVYVppqDmbQlEwSiuYqo69d1Yr5LwnfaEQJvBFUDY0g/s1600/DSC_0649.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJgmq0PFtcSpqkMRdsecOjlkPoPZAS-itfjVSqBmvmtw8D_S_vfriM3SqfmPpf_Os-QKaM2cD5L7mGtT1rvD5VljxYoOlvdSCjVYVppqDmbQlEwSiuYqo69d1Yr5LwnfaEQJvBFUDY0g/s1600/DSC_0649.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that's the view from above Puerto Octay with blue sky...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our way back from Puerto Varas we drove down to the peninsula Centinela in Puerto Octay where the three of us enjoyed the sun for quite a while...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZHlQrW3auTOkSX_nYnd6xx5GOOlRXJw8wqtzTQAWR97S-ekKWWhxLwEDKL6_MrQ18UpXj-J_WkXSVb9LyhZEH7L_drAEC7g-4lEnIqf4eiMYXFvAEo6vDXZTAgmAW3lMqQWiMl5ianyQ/s1600/DSC_0651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZHlQrW3auTOkSX_nYnd6xx5GOOlRXJw8wqtzTQAWR97S-ekKWWhxLwEDKL6_MrQ18UpXj-J_WkXSVb9LyhZEH7L_drAEC7g-4lEnIqf4eiMYXFvAEo6vDXZTAgmAW3lMqQWiMl5ianyQ/s1600/DSC_0651.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enjoying the sun together with Gloria on the Peninsula Centinela</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDBVg78qb1wBkZEAo_kXS2agUJ9cjL_i9UVVTD1JWxDopuGupOiDRvkhNO6w_L5Eoba1EBnZ2kMy8OPiYqIkALJMFhKsnN1uFLj9CD1GgrSKShqJ616w4DdgGbl_qicsnjpMwDv-UAzts/s1600/DSC_0653.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDBVg78qb1wBkZEAo_kXS2agUJ9cjL_i9UVVTD1JWxDopuGupOiDRvkhNO6w_L5Eoba1EBnZ2kMy8OPiYqIkALJMFhKsnN1uFLj9CD1GgrSKShqJ616w4DdgGbl_qicsnjpMwDv-UAzts/s1600/DSC_0653.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Playa en la Peninsula Centinela</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The evening we spent playing Canasta and the next day we had pouring rain all day long, so we really just did a lot of nothing, talking, and cooking (it's so nice to be "at home" when there's pouring rain outside...). And after 5 fantastic days at the Fundo los Guindos it was eventually time to say goodbye and continue our way north... Thanks again Gloria for everything, we really spent some unforgettable days at your place!!</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Puerto Fonck, Lago Llanquihue, Chile-41.1325 -72.81-66.6545345 -114.118594 -15.6104655 -31.501406000000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-5899344815539034032014-04-23T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T13:05:07.829-07:00Chiloé - One of the wettest islands of the world<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After about 18 hours on the ferry with a lot of rain and a long night (we only had normal seats and just behind me an old man snored terribly), we finally arrived in Quellón and surprisingly it wasn't raining for once... As it was already in the afternoon, we decided not to go on that same day, but to look for a hospedaje, which we found easily and there we met another Swiss couple, Ramona and Mirko, that we already knew from the ferry... We spent a wonderful evening with them, eating local salmon prepared by our host and chatting a lot. The next morning we prepared for another day of rain, but an extremely nice surprise awaited us, it kept dry all day long! So we started to cycle north on the Panamericana, that down here isn't really a highway yet... Even though most of the street was paved, it wasn't an easy nor very beautiful ride, almost the whole stretch between Quellón and Castro is under construction, so tons of construction trucks passed us... But we made it to Castro the same day, and coming down to the city we had a beautiful view over the bay that looks more like a lake than like the sea!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Ft2QnYWL-xJEdA40EV3zaHVJhWRJeMEiv46z6l_VJMTLaQw-NM_zt33B4hCIzjTWJTlHwO-oi6OOcgwTroyXSJUuhx3OB_JJfeh2PLnHugW4GXkx-yd6nFThI9VoQp6oC6CXUPQBKEk/s1600/DSC_0611.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Ft2QnYWL-xJEdA40EV3zaHVJhWRJeMEiv46z6l_VJMTLaQw-NM_zt33B4hCIzjTWJTlHwO-oi6OOcgwTroyXSJUuhx3OB_JJfeh2PLnHugW4GXkx-yd6nFThI9VoQp6oC6CXUPQBKEk/s1600/DSC_0611.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What looks like a lake actually is the sea...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Castro itself is a very nice little city with its famous purple and yellow wooden church at the plaza and its also very famous palafitos at the coast. We only stayed there for a night, but we went out for some traditional seafood dinner...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ40XeF026jjv8bU7YPoSWX_WMtOBLI30k_w3ldk6xUodbgafmMbqDq1WzbonYu4bf3eOTyBIKVyaw9Y74iLPmmb1m8HAULFmkQzq1HcN9cqx_IowUZ0CG3VR-rjQPWHkCisA5pozm3Sg/s1600/IMG_9586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ40XeF026jjv8bU7YPoSWX_WMtOBLI30k_w3ldk6xUodbgafmMbqDq1WzbonYu4bf3eOTyBIKVyaw9Y74iLPmmb1m8HAULFmkQzq1HcN9cqx_IowUZ0CG3VR-rjQPWHkCisA5pozm3Sg/s1600/IMG_9586.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In one of these palafitos we spent the night we stayed in Castro...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QfiXR-ew92ZXqVMYrcd0k7n2VLFV88IIlQ2_mcPQRPT6Dmzr6WfHd2Byfe0H6-9APVRV3TmSSACQ-Lq0HEaNhKZVSe5RUKUx-EigQiiIYdFEYaQgSsDhwcmNQ8Y0oBiGxeR-4Sl_Gt4/s1600/DSC_0612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QfiXR-ew92ZXqVMYrcd0k7n2VLFV88IIlQ2_mcPQRPT6Dmzr6WfHd2Byfe0H6-9APVRV3TmSSACQ-Lq0HEaNhKZVSe5RUKUx-EigQiiIYdFEYaQgSsDhwcmNQ8Y0oBiGxeR-4Sl_Gt4/s1600/DSC_0612.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The famous palafitos of Castro at low tide</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day we continued our way to the north shore of the island. In the morning it was terribly foggy (but dry!) so we didn't see anything. After a while it started to become more hilly which made it harder to advance, but as the weather got better it didn't bother us too much. It again stayed dry all day long, we even caught a glimpse of the sun, which was amazing! On our way</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> we passed two more of the very typical wooden churches, unfortunately they were both closed, so we only saw them from outside...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxwcnfPrGpItMrHrK4y_dEJXTzvKd02sk53yxMgczREkune46cFp__Xd0y-_IcI712VF3MmabrylPdcl4GsTRL65rcBzyE8vn2xc7qUnWrQyBQjIGGWu-rGusB2kip9uIR5yK2nDI2Xo/s1600/DSC_0624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxwcnfPrGpItMrHrK4y_dEJXTzvKd02sk53yxMgczREkune46cFp__Xd0y-_IcI712VF3MmabrylPdcl4GsTRL65rcBzyE8vn2xc7qUnWrQyBQjIGGWu-rGusB2kip9uIR5yK2nDI2Xo/s1600/DSC_0624.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One of the many wooden churches of Chiloé</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we got to Ancud, the city at the north shore of the island, we cycled to the Hostal Nuevo Mundo that is located at the Costanera and where we could see the sea from our beds :-) The weather got really good for a while, we enjoyed the sunlight on the playground just outside the hostel for a while before we went to the city center to visit the local church (this one was open, so we saw at least one of these nice churches from inside) and to buy something for dinner... </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our hostel in Ancud, located right at the coast :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQO2HCbwrRYEgJ9etoSyh0wMsILW1YVgkflAVtKkq1UiVH703Yl_SiGMl_NTb7I0wcyIIO3wot76BMu19bAwXkXnkhDZ9FcYy7nHGc1ZcOlmu897eKZRYnKQ-IZXSWYJmvze7sFYzE2U/s1600/IMG_20140422_172236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQO2HCbwrRYEgJ9etoSyh0wMsILW1YVgkflAVtKkq1UiVH703Yl_SiGMl_NTb7I0wcyIIO3wot76BMu19bAwXkXnkhDZ9FcYy7nHGc1ZcOlmu897eKZRYnKQ-IZXSWYJmvze7sFYzE2U/s1600/IMG_20140422_172236.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We even saw the sun when we got to the hostel in Ancud!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZUFHh5uj3p69GGVYnIRsPKi1Y2XmFPgurfvtkn5T1tHOaPiNULJicWaS8uLZuKbwzrAz7Hzv1WvRmmzLmCehziWtnjdJfpS8WbpTvIPxeZW0KQ7lZyyfZQGh0LCIHLdmcMlvZUGYIjI/s1600/PANO_20140422_164721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZUFHh5uj3p69GGVYnIRsPKi1Y2XmFPgurfvtkn5T1tHOaPiNULJicWaS8uLZuKbwzrAz7Hzv1WvRmmzLmCehziWtnjdJfpS8WbpTvIPxeZW0KQ7lZyyfZQGh0LCIHLdmcMlvZUGYIjI/s1600/PANO_20140422_164721.jpg" height="198" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The bay of Ancud - this was the view we had from the hostel<br />One wouldn't believe that half an hour later it was so foggy we didn't see anything anymore...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCBk93oxbW14Fj_5HWP0L0Cg64VYnGAHLn3QUeeqLWXz6u3gAobW7A9SP1T33YWOxqJgv0y0dw4VaY9iqWg4QiPv66_gaJhCWEnOzbaSdIJ0-R9D3AwA2aC8gU4do18x2yZyU8Glo8rAU/s1600/IMG_20140422_180905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCBk93oxbW14Fj_5HWP0L0Cg64VYnGAHLn3QUeeqLWXz6u3gAobW7A9SP1T33YWOxqJgv0y0dw4VaY9iqWg4QiPv66_gaJhCWEnOzbaSdIJ0-R9D3AwA2aC8gU4do18x2yZyU8Glo8rAU/s1600/IMG_20140422_180905.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The wooden church of Ancud</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily we enjoyed the sun for a while before we went to the city, as very soon it was all foggy again and we saw nothing anymore... So we spent a nice evening at the hostel chatting with the other guest before we went to bed early. The next morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the hostel before we took off into the fog... We hardly saw a thing and soon it started drizzling, so cycling wasn't too funny that morning. Soon we reached Chacao, a small village at the north shore of Chiloé, where Stefan went to get us something to eat before we left this for us very foggy island on the ferry to Pargua...</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Chiloé Island, Chile-42.6 -73.949999999999989-68.1220345 -115.25859399999999 -17.0779655 -32.641405999999989tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-90229741486542715212014-04-18T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T13:04:00.440-07:00Coyhaique to Puerto Cisnes - The wet part of the Carretera Austral<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, unfortunately this part of our trip is summarized very easily: We had pouring rain non-stop... :P However, except for the last 16 km to Puerto Cisnes, the streets were paved again, so we got wet but not too dirty and it was easier to advance. And it's quite interesting, once we were completely wet we didn't care too much about the rain anymore and actually started to enjoy the landscape, which was still beautiful: We found ourselves in the middle of an incredibly green rainforest. However, in all the rain we didn't stop for lunch anymore, as it's not very comfy stopping in the rain and it gets cold very quickly, so the day we left Coyhaique we cycled 90 km more or less non-stop until we reached Mañihuales, the next village along the Carretera Austral where we knew there was a casa de ciclista. It wasn't difficult to find the casa, however no one was there to open us the door. From another cyclist we knew that we should just push hard on the door in order to open it, which we tried, but somehow it didn't open... So while Stefan went to look for a hostel, I tried again, and finally I managed to open the door, but I really felt like a burglar... But soon a French cyclist joined us and when Jorge, the owner of the casa de ciclista finally arrived in the evening, it seemed the most normal thing that we were there, he even sad that he hoped we dared braking in instead of waiting outside in the cold rain... Equipped with dried clothes we prepared to get wet again the next morning, as there was no sign of the rain stopping soon. Our goal for the day was to reach the next village in order to have a dry place to sleep again, which we absolutely needed, as again we were completely soaked once we got there. We found a nice hospedaje where we could hang up all our cloths above the oven, so it dried fast. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The landscape was extremely green, no wonder with all this rain...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning, we were already used to it, it rained again, however, for once there were times it rained a little less and from time to time we could even guess where the sun was, to we started optimistically... But well, we hoped too much, soon the rain was pretty strong again and we got soaked once more. So once we got to the intersection of the Carretera Austral with the street leading to Puerto Cisnes, we definitely decided not to follow the Carretera all the way to Chaitén, but to cycle to Puerto Cisnes and take the ferry over to the Chiloé island from there. The landscape on the last 30 km to Puerto Cisnes was once more spectacular, there were tons of waterfalls everywhere (once I counted 13 waterfalls that I saw at the same time!!) and from time to time there was even a little bit of sun, so that we saw a lot of rainbows!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For once we even saw a little bit of the snowed mountains in the background</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once in Puerto Cisnes we first tried to get our tickets for the ferry that was supposed to leave the same evening, but obviously the office of the ferry company was closed, so we asked at the bakery where they told us that the ferry had a delay of about a day (this was later confirmed by the police...). Well, it seemed we had no chance but to look for a hospedaje, but we were lucky, the owner was very helpful and phoned around until we knew for sure (well, as sure as you can ever be in South America) that the ferry should leave the next evening and until the office of the ferry company opened so we could purchase our tickets... So we had the whole next day to spend in Puerto Cisnes, and luckily it finally stopped raining, so we hiked up to a little viewpoint above the village and just relaxed a little bit. In the evening the ferry then arrived pretty exactly at the time we where told the day before and so we started an 18 hour ferry trip towards Quellón, the southernmost city on Chiloé (one of the wettest islands of the world...), the southern end of the Panamericana...</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">View over Puerto Cisnes once it stopped raining... ;-)</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Puerto Cisnes, Chile-44.729919 -72.682280999999989-70.3314015 -113.99087499999999 -19.128436500000003 -31.37368699999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-90903499620646259822014-04-15T18:00:00.000-07:002014-12-28T02:12:22.438-08:00Villa O´Higgins to Coyhaique - The southern part of the Carretera Austral<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a day of rest in Villa O´Higgins,
we finally started to cycle north along the Carretera Austral, the
supply street of the Chilean part of northern Patagonia, which mostly
is in a worse condition than most farm tracks in Switzerland... So
the wind we had in southern Patagonia was now replaced by bad and
hilly roads, but honestly, absolutely ANYTHING is better than the
winds we had experienced in the south!! The first two days the ripio
was still in a pretty good condition and the road led us along lots
of rivers and lakes (but instead of following the river the road
always climbed up every hill, just to then lead back down to the
water...) with great views onto lots of waterfalls, glaciers and
snowed mountains towards the Pacific ocean. It didn´t take long for
us to fall in love with the landscape, especially as we had it almost
for ourselves, there were hardly a handfull cars passing us every
day. The first night after leaving Villa O´Higgins we stayed at a
refugio (a little house in the nowhere originally built for the local
gauchos if they had to pass a night in the wilderness) that was even
equipped with an oven together with Beat and Luzia, two Swiss cyclist
we already met in Villa O´Higgins.</span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaSFsY3wcu2R9ThWJVIaLU7_BaDTrC052III4Xn3RwpCD4CEj-G3IjbM6q4MCMpKKH9lDOkTN-TiTvTrwSJu0AwB0uJoEDkhYEHd0JTsEYP79CJBe_svAwBkG6bIS-gUOswEMDqoH7sk/s1600/DSC_0422.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaSFsY3wcu2R9ThWJVIaLU7_BaDTrC052III4Xn3RwpCD4CEj-G3IjbM6q4MCMpKKH9lDOkTN-TiTvTrwSJu0AwB0uJoEDkhYEHd0JTsEYP79CJBe_svAwBkG6bIS-gUOswEMDqoH7sk/s1600/DSC_0422.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That´s what we found outside the Refugio between Villa O´Higgins and Río Bravo :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The next day a pick-up with two kayaks
passed us and I got extremely jealous, at it would have been much
easier to float down the river (ok, there might have been some parts
that I wouldn´t have paddled either...) than to cycle the hilly
road... But after beeing attacked by an agressive dog (he bit into
both Stefan´s and my bike bags!) we reached the ferry slot at R<span lang="en-US">í</span><span lang="en-US">o
</span><span lang="de-DE">Bravo
and crossed over to Puerto Yungay, where an extremely friendly
military officer offered us water and a warm shower in his house
before we went back to the waiting house of the ferry, where we
passed the night. After a good nights sleep we started cycling with
gorgeous weather and still pretty good ripio, which definitely helped
us getting over the next few hills (it felt like a thousand hills)
where the uphill part was often short but so steep that Beat, Luzia,
and me pushed our bikes up, while Stefan always managed to cycle
up...</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2zhHk_Gokl8V3tSPaa8WaqLlcspoZdZZpc3vdYX-mTivK9ZdjuKNNIzTm_c-bbOgrwY2INonREYMBTgH5qpJqPWaO70Xzb2wi1OMcHup4EUrbzg-7uohRhp5UFKd-xLHwRH1cOjhShJM/s1600/DSC_0458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2zhHk_Gokl8V3tSPaa8WaqLlcspoZdZZpc3vdYX-mTivK9ZdjuKNNIzTm_c-bbOgrwY2INonREYMBTgH5qpJqPWaO70Xzb2wi1OMcHup4EUrbzg-7uohRhp5UFKd-xLHwRH1cOjhShJM/s1600/DSC_0458.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On one of the flatter sections of our way from Puerto Yungay to Caleta Tortel...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The valley of dead trees looked almost like in a Harry Potter movie... ;-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="de-DE">Once we reached the highest point we had an incredible view onto the wide valley of R</span><span lang="en-US">í</span><span lang="en-US">o</span><span lang="de-DE">Baker and after a nice descent we took the terrible road to Caleta Tortel, while Beat & Luzia continued towards Cochrane. For about 22 km we cycled over terrible washboard ripio to the remote village of Caleta Tortel, a beautiful place surrounded by amazing fjords where all houses are connected by wooden walkways only! That night there was a tsunami alarm because of the earthquake in northern Chile and the whole lowar aprt of the village was evacuated, luckily we stayed in a hostel in the upper part and could therefore sleep quitely...</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXacKs0iCGtPS4EgQtBcq-DyBLrZQ2g_mqRtr3kpN88qPVnVH4n3NgHSEAOSH91pGrDJ5S5xBNCicqZYQy9lGSvPtxtPr3b9QcSM7OhL4bBg0LN8KiR4gXy6yM3JXCm6VprVV0XrH79gw/s1600/DSC_0483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXacKs0iCGtPS4EgQtBcq-DyBLrZQ2g_mqRtr3kpN88qPVnVH4n3NgHSEAOSH91pGrDJ5S5xBNCicqZYQy9lGSvPtxtPr3b9QcSM7OhL4bBg0LN8KiR4gXy6yM3JXCm6VprVV0XrH79gw/s1600/DSC_0483.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mysthic Caleta Tortel</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji2nBrFFDTox69cL3eXDaFAGPiN-dXVeiLqwSa-KyZImio6cu5TGdhH6r7TJ9rKDGIg-j0rjbWfPWFnX60MrehUZPaJ3HWT3dk9pqAWOKf20LRUkBM2jJdYLeCIpOl-OWBJQ70Krw_nO0/s1600/DSC_0486.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji2nBrFFDTox69cL3eXDaFAGPiN-dXVeiLqwSa-KyZImio6cu5TGdhH6r7TJ9rKDGIg-j0rjbWfPWFnX60MrehUZPaJ3HWT3dk9pqAWOKf20LRUkBM2jJdYLeCIpOl-OWBJQ70Krw_nO0/s1600/DSC_0486.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On our way back from Caleta Tortel to the Carretera</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="de-DE">The next day we had to cycle the 22 km of bad ripio back towards the Carretera Austral where for once a pretty flat stretch along R</span><span lang="en-US">í</span><span lang="en-US">o</span><span lang="de-DE">Baker awaited us. At a smaller river we found a good camping spot, but it was a pretty cold night, for the first time we had frost on the tent and on all our bags in the morning and lots of water condensation in the tent! In again beautiful and warm weather we continued our way towards Cochrane and after climbing up a pretty steep pass, the descent was much longer and gave us amazing views onto several lagunas.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDhYCkssbHvgBj2W-spnZLRbxVLN0bFXqgy96RSaDGSPtkwjiheNkCO-WyeOQfUpmnZrOMUIkGNnQGylT0XuYY6adQdw7XVE3Yh-zmVV-ekUKko_GjBHIPRSPCn_e9AtcTmdn-b8eBVQ/s1600/DSC_0493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDhYCkssbHvgBj2W-spnZLRbxVLN0bFXqgy96RSaDGSPtkwjiheNkCO-WyeOQfUpmnZrOMUIkGNnQGylT0XuYY6adQdw7XVE3Yh-zmVV-ekUKko_GjBHIPRSPCn_e9AtcTmdn-b8eBVQ/s1600/DSC_0493.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On our way up the pass leading to Cochrane</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="de-DE">On steadily deteriorating ripio we finally reached Cochrane, where once more we met Beat and Luzia. After a day of rest in Cochrane we decided not to follow the Carretera Austral all the way to Coyhaique, but to bike to Chile Chico (where it´s supposed to be a lot warmer than on the Carretera) and cross over to Puerto Ingeniero Iba</span></span></span><span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">ñez by ferry. However, the day we left Cochrane we still biked along the Carretera Austral, it was once again hilly with amaying views and at the end of the day we reached the sleepy but beautiful village Puerto Bertrand, where the Río Baker begins its journey towards the Pacific Ocean... There we rented a cabin together (the street up to the cabin was probably the steepest street I ever saw, according to Beat´s Ipod it had an inclination of 15° which equals 33%!) with Beat & Luzia and spent a relaxing evening over a good meal and some wine :-)</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFOsVg0143Cw5_5Rz83hgNrw0qS7Olxod6vNx9urV28cewQ308b2WbQ6a0gSraoerpWIOWMpLeHm5BWF_5wdxSxt5oxByVH1NsOJwxrYnVIwoi6f3tlQsi3caSl6g-L6T1urcMop2KBWQ/s1600/DSC_0503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFOsVg0143Cw5_5Rz83hgNrw0qS7Olxod6vNx9urV28cewQ308b2WbQ6a0gSraoerpWIOWMpLeHm5BWF_5wdxSxt5oxByVH1NsOJwxrYnVIwoi6f3tlQsi3caSl6g-L6T1urcMop2KBWQ/s1600/DSC_0503.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Río Baker on our way to Puerto Bertrand</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_MblqawgbBTYoTeqlC4Ped89KGTv4RrCXHbNKJLLPfrl9ZGzWclK4kgasHPgLHyRtlpowtOX0-ZEPvbSzN3VZ_pYoWdOEnMki3cYZErySBobW174CV89C-90IZhWKixq-cR3L9IDnsTg/s1600/IMG_9572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_MblqawgbBTYoTeqlC4Ped89KGTv4RrCXHbNKJLLPfrl9ZGzWclK4kgasHPgLHyRtlpowtOX0-ZEPvbSzN3VZ_pYoWdOEnMki3cYZErySBobW174CV89C-90IZhWKixq-cR3L9IDnsTg/s1600/IMG_9572.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Just gorgeous!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbbDdtwCaGX0RvNrPgsX5s0_V373mkyD1BG_S_KIHhxcBhoqGQP4lfMTK8-QPKaOqRMFNLeNazw0Wj0W3-BDFfZCObm4hGrCJcwwqCGP-6CWoH7boqz1DssvBcYeTVenGKhnXTFgoaUhs/s1600/IMG_9575.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">How true!! Please don´t destroy this amazing region!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAM4Gb8zS9glj4GbX1JYl3MBOl75BLAszYHCRU4j4zmSXvJHWUXCCJdhC8TU77MZ2s5fpDMr1dmLoLXZk594zmKEkXx1muTUfDgr1kLOX6Bs1KQa4Y2AeUMyW8zhKIKM2kcHk8Knjj6hI/s1600/DSC_0518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAM4Gb8zS9glj4GbX1JYl3MBOl75BLAszYHCRU4j4zmSXvJHWUXCCJdhC8TU77MZ2s5fpDMr1dmLoLXZk594zmKEkXx1muTUfDgr1kLOX6Bs1KQa4Y2AeUMyW8zhKIKM2kcHk8Knjj6hI/s1600/DSC_0518.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Puerto Bertrand</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leaving Puerto Bertrand we had an easy day in front of us, as our goal was to reach Puerto Guadal, only 30 km ahead, on the shore of Lago General Carrera, the second largest lake in South America! Again we had amazing weather and warm temperatures, so that we could finally use our sponsered bike shirts, thanks again to Radwerk Winterthur Töss!!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hmZQ6Re4V5yznxR21umbTrS3qOIDNBHpl0oXolYF5u37MNt-Dmk_5I4Z355GtZjUyqkJI0ZjURfhqtIW3zszhcAJ_0Yrkc_dM-Hh3xhqKBmV8fbMUbyXrA2uyE6Z8DUKL5qDX0q40bg/s1600/DSC_0532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hmZQ6Re4V5yznxR21umbTrS3qOIDNBHpl0oXolYF5u37MNt-Dmk_5I4Z355GtZjUyqkJI0ZjURfhqtIW3zszhcAJ_0Yrkc_dM-Hh3xhqKBmV8fbMUbyXrA2uyE6Z8DUKL5qDX0q40bg/s1600/DSC_0532.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I guess you at the latest here you can imagine why we fell in love with this region...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBnApjFJwPAI3pAJgBC2qEytMp5TnHe4tc4OTy7vFqWqlFE0I4E10yxcjsRxcqlnsDNXCElftAtse75UzbwDG5knl2xfAenx7JjXhfxSCV6whrkm7usMeosOhgAU1z2j78XiA1fQq3Ps/s1600/DSC_0538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBnApjFJwPAI3pAJgBC2qEytMp5TnHe4tc4OTy7vFqWqlFE0I4E10yxcjsRxcqlnsDNXCElftAtse75UzbwDG5knl2xfAenx7JjXhfxSCV6whrkm7usMeosOhgAU1z2j78XiA1fQq3Ps/s1600/DSC_0538.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Gorgeous view over Lago General Carrera onto the mountains</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzgzngy4tS0UMnwvoynUvi35EFjMT5nUvL-iGaeA64dMfMoaJCeKW88dayq_xPjEczoCgJxzFNB1h5ZW5RDi8H4tRrLZIo4DMcOa2XFsdEf4SVmXWf20eKNiXDnBFR9SmEXGertBMMYWI/s1600/IMG_9577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzgzngy4tS0UMnwvoynUvi35EFjMT5nUvL-iGaeA64dMfMoaJCeKW88dayq_xPjEczoCgJxzFNB1h5ZW5RDi8H4tRrLZIo4DMcOa2XFsdEf4SVmXWf20eKNiXDnBFR9SmEXGertBMMYWI/s1600/IMG_9577.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">:-) :-) :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we reached Puerto Guadal we looked for an eco-hostel that another cyclist recommended us, it wasn´t too difficult to find, but it was located about 2 km uphill from town and the road there was bad, really bad... But finally we got there and spent 2 days of rest just relaxing together with Beat & Luzia. The 9th of April we definitely separated from Beat and Luzia, as we went on to Chile Chico, while they stayed some more days in Guadal... Cycling along Lago General Carrera, we again had gorgeous views onto snowed mountains and glaciers on the other side of the lake, but the street got worse and worse and we had to cross the Paso de las Llaves which had some quite steep parts...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_THV7UApYD-qjGXqyWZwxxXOx3fLkVZlidRFnQXauIgsivvm9ihQ8lmF3uCZoRuWThJMxlkGYcGULUyOc8Tr8DVC71XKcSFu5HPvxE81DVlwpTnEAZqBaMXzx3DMWMWj6VGVvzgdWg9c/s1600/DSC_0549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_THV7UApYD-qjGXqyWZwxxXOx3fLkVZlidRFnQXauIgsivvm9ihQ8lmF3uCZoRuWThJMxlkGYcGULUyOc8Tr8DVC71XKcSFu5HPvxE81DVlwpTnEAZqBaMXzx3DMWMWj6VGVvzgdWg9c/s1600/DSC_0549.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On our way along the coast of the Lago General Carrera</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jIvlEBQBNJoEWc-iREQJGRrj4_ZjHUplcsRHvGQ6JKQ3V-2ieHN2GSqjX5Oq7vgNe49G5nMnUg0KOs7vb8bH6iQUHxQYRwfo3JwFbjvBZJT6BAtjvMF3hOUpE-qZeSuLACbzlzo6M_o/s1600/DSC_0551.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jIvlEBQBNJoEWc-iREQJGRrj4_ZjHUplcsRHvGQ6JKQ3V-2ieHN2GSqjX5Oq7vgNe49G5nMnUg0KOs7vb8bH6iQUHxQYRwfo3JwFbjvBZJT6BAtjvMF3hOUpE-qZeSuLACbzlzo6M_o/s1600/DSC_0551.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This sign is actually pretty accurate, unfortunately we came the other way,<br />meaning that for us it was uphil... :S</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">After having wild camped close to Fachinal, we continued to Chile Chico, where the road continued as usual to be very hilly... But the view onto the islands in the lake and later on over the Laguna Verde high above Lago General Carrera were well worth all the effort of climbing all the uncountable ascents!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On our way to Chile Chico</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Laguna Verde</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">From Chile Chico we took the ferry across Lago General Carrera to Puerto Ingeniero Iba<span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">ñez, where we met Wladi, a Chilean cyclist. Together with him we camped on the other side of the lake and decided to bike together to Coyhaique. Now between Puerto Ingeniero Iba<span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">ñez and Coyhaique we had to cross the highest pass on the Carretera Austral, it´s only 1120 m above sea level, but coming from about 200 m altitude it´s still pretty high... So the first about 35 km we basically spent working ourselfs uphill, with some minor downhills in between, just so we could climb some more meters of altitude... ;-) But the landscape again was gorgeous, there were tons of lenga trees whos leaves are amazingly colorful at the moment, so traveling in the fall has still its advantages...</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">On our way up to Portezuelo Iba<span lang="de-DE">ñez, with Cerro Castillo in the background</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I love the colors of the lenga </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Cuesta del Diablo: part of the ascent to the Portezuelo Iba<span lang="de-DE">ñez</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Short before reaching the top of the Portezuelo Iba<span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">ñez, we reached the snow for the first time on our bikes...</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yes, it´s getting colder...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxXmST_DbjY9CxcefgPN1veYfkCdaN6skTXHsFVWvC1wgxLkX1oc3muqTH7SKQn5kALpfMRnpDUl3GYMuIie3ul7T8Ph8qqAxVRn2OfK18D5fdyLidG18yoNH9FUMhG78m8faxLtjJ88/s1600/DSC_0598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxXmST_DbjY9CxcefgPN1veYfkCdaN6skTXHsFVWvC1wgxLkX1oc3muqTH7SKQn5kALpfMRnpDUl3GYMuIie3ul7T8Ph8qqAxVRn2OfK18D5fdyLidG18yoNH9FUMhG78m8faxLtjJ88/s1600/DSC_0598.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And now we´re definitely in the snow!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="de-DE"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We hoped that the camping we planned to stay at would be far enough down in order to get out of the snow again, but obviously it wasn´t... It was closed as all the pipes were frozen, but the park rangers were very friendly and still let us camp there, as we were literally out in the nowhere and there was just this one closed national reserve campground... As the campground was located in the woods, there was even more snow, so we spent the night in about 15 cm deep snow, at least we didn´t have to worry about water, as we had plenty of snow to melt ;-) The next day we could enjoy the descent from the mountains into the pampa again, but it meant that soon there was wind again, and obviously it was headwind. But it was definitely not as bad as the wind we knew from southern Patagonia, so we reached Coyhaique in the late afternoon, the first real city after Punta Arenas, and with real city I mean that there are more than about 10´000 permanent inhabitants and that it´s not just a tourist town like Puerto Natales or El Calafate. So we spent the last two days here enjoying all the amenities of a city and tomorrow we´ll continue our way north...</span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Coyhaique, Chile-45.56974 -72.065772900000013-46.9926395 -74.647559900000019 -44.1468405 -69.483985900000008tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-1244936212689716112014-03-29T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T13:02:05.616-07:00El Chaltén to Villa O´Higgins - A hiking path with a bike.. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a day of rest in El Chaltén, we left only around noon, as we still had some things to do in the village and as I had to help Christian, a German cyclist, to repair the zipper of his tent... At the beginning the headwind was quite strong and the street bad, so it wasn't too much fun... But soon we left the big valley and got into a smaller one with lots of trees, so the wind didn't bother us anymore, yippee!!! And we were lucky again, as not only the wind wasn't bad anymore, but also the road suddenly got a lot better, so that we advanced quite fast and could really enjoy the beautiful landscape with all its mountains, rivers, and waterfalls!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On our way to Lago del Desierto</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, once we reached the Lago del Desierto, we were disappointed, as there they told us that the ferry that was scheduled to run that evening would not run (supposedly because of the weather, but we guess that they just didn't want to cross the lake for 2 persons only) and that MAYBE they would take us over the next day before noon or probably the next evening... Welcome to South America, they just do whatever they want!! :-) So as we didn't have a choice, we stayed at the local campground. At least we got a hot shower, and a special one, as it was heated with wood... The following night was pretty stormy, so maybe it wasn't that bad that they didn't take us across the lake the day before... The next morning we woke up in the rain, we packed our stuff, and went to the harbour. Once we got there we waited quite a while as obviously there was no one there from the boat company. The only people we found were two policemen who told us that they will eventually show up... This then happened short before noon and surprisingly they really took us to the other side of the lake. There we got our stamp that we left Argentina and then the fun started... We were told by many cyclists that the path from the Argentinian customs to the actual frontier with Chile was just terrible, so the good thing was that we expected it to be worse than it actually was. But this doesn´t mean it wasn´t bad, we still had had to push our bikes for hours up a sometimes very steep, narrow trench (yeah, it really was sometimes just a trench!)...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A perfect road to cross a pass by bike... ;-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a few hours the path got a little better, so that at least we had a bit of space next to the bike in order to push it uphill. However, the path was then interrupted by creeks several times, and we had some pretty interesting creek crossings, be it balancing our bikes over a trunk or having to take off our front bags in order to push the bike through the creek...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Interesting creek crossing #1</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Interesting creek crossing #2</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But luckily we got lots of great views onto the valley, the Lago del Desierto, and Mount Fitz Roy (this time from the other side, which isn´t as famous as the view from El Chaltén, but it´s not less beautiful!) which compensated us for all the heavy work! </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">View onto Lago del Desierto from the path we pushed our bikes uphill...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQSRKvvIsAG2Osl9c06Z6bxre6u4HOlRWzIc_KM5NKLEhpw8ukvrFlWOhpmWXQS9aKYvffeT1E9R_IgoZrptj0ep1V-UUY8WUguypbcI0TiWBLiBnFHFR-JZK_LJywULcDG1ACFLJ0hs/s1600/DSC_0392.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQSRKvvIsAG2Osl9c06Z6bxre6u4HOlRWzIc_KM5NKLEhpw8ukvrFlWOhpmWXQS9aKYvffeT1E9R_IgoZrptj0ep1V-UUY8WUguypbcI0TiWBLiBnFHFR-JZK_LJywULcDG1ACFLJ0hs/s1600/DSC_0392.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That felt almost comfortable, at least there was space to push the bike... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the north shore of Laguna Larga we decided to put up our tent, as the site was too beautiful to continue: Surrounded by a forest there was this sandy beach, the laguna, and a beautiful view onto Mount Fitz Roy, and nothing that could remind you of civilization!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieThN5GIjFW7BqGVOZnzKDaecM8FvMx8iKxnOIFFg3sycaPqepjE2KReIB8kyNYtk-VFpogMkH0WS5gZRDM8NOsjEdKHY9znbuULNp6zXuPhR6G2SLUeYSQdB4AOGP944bDyKiplxddIA/s1600/DSC_0396.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieThN5GIjFW7BqGVOZnzKDaecM8FvMx8iKxnOIFFg3sycaPqepjE2KReIB8kyNYtk-VFpogMkH0WS5gZRDM8NOsjEdKHY9znbuULNp6zXuPhR6G2SLUeYSQdB4AOGP944bDyKiplxddIA/s1600/DSC_0396.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Probably the best wild campsite we had so far! :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And even though the adventure of pushing our bikes up a hiking trail was pretty interesting, we hoped the rest of our way to Candelario Mancilla (where the boat to Villa O´Higgins leaves) would be a little bit easier. And we weren´t disappointed: the next morning there was only about 1 km of hiking trail to be done, then we reached the frontier where two signs were placed in the middle of nowhere, one welcoming you to Argentina and the other welcoming you to Chile. So we entered Chile and there actually was a path that an off-road vehicle (as for example our bikes! :-)) could pass. There was only one problem with this path: Soon it started to lead downhill very steeply and well, the path was composed of mostly very loose gravel... So I saw myself obliged to learn how to mountain bike, and better sooner than later... :P</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My first mountain-biking experience: I had the perfect bike for it... :P</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But the view was just great! :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My heart missed a beat every once in a while, but eventually we made it to the Chilean customs where miraculously no one was interested in the food we carried with us (usually the Chilean customs inspect everything you bring into their country very exactly...). Once we reached Candelario Mancilla we directly went to the campground as we expected the ferry to leave the day after, but as we saw people at the harbour we went to ask them if there was a boat crossing that day and they told us that there will be one. So after about 3 h waiting at the harbour a boat appeared and actually took us over to Villa O´Higgins, the southern end of the Carretera Austral :-)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Waiting for the boat at Candelario Mancilla</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Beautiful untouched wilderness on our way to Villa O´Higgins</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the boat we met Andrej and Brittani, a Slovakian cyclist and an American hitchhiker, with whom we spent the evening and the next day just relaxing and doing whatever had to be done in the village. After a delicious Estofado (a typical Chilean stew) that we cooked together with Andrej we hope to be ready to start our way along the Carretera Austral, where the wind will be replaced by a lot of bad ripio and hilly roads... ;-)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092521629343187357noreply@blogger.com1Villa O'Higgins, Chile-48.482181 -72.588296000000014-74.0042155 -113.89689000000001 -22.960146499999997 -31.279702000000015tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-60276909416429163632014-03-25T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T13:00:51.445-07:00Puerto Natales to El Chaltén - Fighting against the wind...<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we wanted to leave Puerto Natales the 17th of March, we figured that again I had play in my headset... So together with an English cyclist we met in the hostel, we took the whole headset apart to figure out how exactly my system is supposed to work. It took us a long time, but it seems</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that we finally understood how it's supposed to work and how to fix it, at least it seems to work since then! ;-) When we finally left Puerto Natales, there was only little wind, but for the first time we had tailwind!! :-) On our way to the Argentinian border we made a small detour to visit the Cuevas del Milodón, some pretty impressive caves in the middle of nowhere. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The impressive Cueva del Milodón</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">View from the Cueva del Milodón towards the Andes :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On the road through the pampa again, but now with<br />beautiful mountains in the background :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After leaving Chile (we couldn't even use the toilet at the customs, as there was no water in the whole town...) we continued our way up the pass to Argentina on ripio... Once we got to Argentina I was already pretty tired, but we tried to reach the intersection to get to the paved Ruta 40 again, as we expected to find an estancia there where we hoped to be allowed to camp... However, our map as well as the GPS were wrong, and we figured that we passed the estancia we were looking for just after entering Argentina... So we cycled back quite a bit to ask there if we could pass the night on their property and we were immediately offered a bed and food!! It's just amazing how hospitable and friendly these people are! The next day we were lucky as there was hardly any wind and therefore managed to make it all the way to El Cerrito, a road worker's place where we were allowed to pass the night in an empty house.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On the way to El Cerrito...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The day after we hoped to cycle our 1000th km and reach El Calafate, however the wind didn't agree. It soon grew so strong that there was no point in continuing to fight the wind anymore and even though the weather was gorgeous we spent almost 3 hours freezing next to the street trying to get a pick-up to take us to El Calafate. We finally were picked up by a guy owning a hostel in El Calafate and well, we therefore stayed at his hostel once we got to El Calafate...<br />
The only reason we made the detour to El Calafate in the first place was to stock up on provisions and to do another very touristy thing: visiting the Perito Moreno glacier... <br />
So on the 20th of March we took a bus to the Los Glaciares National Park, where we first made a boat tour to the south face of the glacier (it's absolutely amazing how big it is!!), and then spent some time walking around the place. We got really lucky, as we could witness how several pieces of ice fell off the glacier, showing you in a very impressive manner that the glacier is constantly moving (this glacier grows up to 2m per day in its middle part!).</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The impressive south wall of the Perito Moreno Glacier: It´s huge!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Perito Moreno Glacier from above...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day we were ready to bike again, and after being controlled by the police as we left the city we followed the southern shore of Lago Argentino towards the intersection of Ruta 40 and soon reached km 1000! :-) Once on Ruta 40 again, we had slight headwind, but we soon figured that our goal, an abandoned pink house next to the street, should be about 15 km closer than we expected it to be, so that increased our motivation to cycle against the wind. Once we reached the pink house, we were just a amazed by its location! Next to the river, surrounded by lots of trees and with a fire pit we decided to use for cooking that night. Like this we spent an awesome evening at the banks of the river, observing the sunset and later on the stars!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A really luxurious place for cooking dinner, and an incredibly beautiful one as well!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And the sunset was just spectacular! :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day there was quite a bit of wind again, and this already in the morning... So we started with head/side wind towards Lago Viedma where we stopped at the hotel La Leona for a coffee. Afterwards the street turned so that for a while we had side wind, but soon we had strong headwind again... Once the street left the Lago Viedma we had pretty strong tailwind for about 20 km, so that for once we didn't even have to pedal anymore in order to advance! However, after these 20 km we got to the intersection to El Chaltén and it was immediately clear that there was no point in continuing, as we'd have strong headwind for the next 90 km... So as there was a sign telling us that 2 km ahead there should be a road workers place, we continued, but unfortunately there was nothing. But we knew from other cyclists that there had to be some shelter close to the intersection, so I went back (walking, the wind grew so strong that you couldn't even think of cycling anymore!) to look for it. I found a small shelter and it took us over an hour to push our bikes the about 2 km against the wind to get to the shelter...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our shelter for the night: the hut protected us from the wind and the tent from the rain... :P</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the only thing left to do was cooking, cleaning some stuff, going to bed early, and hoping for less wind the next day. The next morning it was still pretty windy, but not nearly as bad as the day before and we had a beautiful view onto Mount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, and this at sunrise!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Beautiful view on the Argentinian mountains just after sunrise</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we started with quite a bit of headwind, but unfortunately it soon grew stronger and after only about 10 km it was definitely too strong for me, as I was blown off the street every few meters. And as the next estancia we could probably have hidden from the wind was still about 10 km away, we decided to hitchhike again. It didn't take long until we were picked up by an Argentinian couple and so we got to El Chaltén quite early, where we stayed at Flor's casa de ciclista (a casa the ciclista is a house of someone who lets cyclists stay or camp on his/her property for free).<br />
The 24th of March we went hiking once again, this time our goal was to reach the Lago de los Tres, a beautiful Laguna at the foot of Mount Fitz Roy. We hiked together with two French girls we met at Flor's place, and on our way to the top we also passed the beautiful Laguna de Capri from where we had an awesome view onto Mount Fitz Roy! </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also had some spectacular views into the valley leading to the Lago del Desierto, which we'll cycle once we leave El Chaltén...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The view of Mount Fitz Roy from the Laguna Capri</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Laguna de los Tres:<br />The closest you can get to Mount Fitz Roy on normal hiking trails...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we got back in the evening, a lot more cyclists coming from the north arrived, so we had lots of company and it was good to be around so many cyclists for once and to exchange the most important info's! Once up to date we knew what will expect us on our way to the Chilean Carretera Austral and we planned enough time in order to reach the last boat to cross over to the southernmost point of the famous Carretera Austral, Villa O'Higgins.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092521629343187357noreply@blogger.com2El Chaltén, Argentinien-49.3314941 -72.886325-49.3521916 -72.9266655 -49.3107966 -72.8459845tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-81327700534808040112014-03-16T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T12:59:21.702-07:00Torres del Paine National Park - Hiking the W<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.99px;">For 5 days we switched our mean of transportation: We changed from our bikes to our feet and therefore got even slower... ;-) We wanted to explore the Torres del Paine National Park located about 150 km north of Puerto Natales. Once we got to the park by bus we first took a catamaran to cross the Lake Pehoé and from there hiked about 3.5 hours mostly in the rain to the Refugio Grey, located on the shore of Lake Grey with an amazing view onto the huge Grey Glacier!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCavnsmkl9BqYW6AAa97UXnCQ2BshS4Nho3y_gdpHRLXkgiQUd9bh_YyRMFKhO6P8VK8Ix95fXdTxYXTwWuCR0f3srOenerJ0TcX92UQC-pkmHKFzPzn0lRNEn0m75KlxxBmYm3CVEv3k/s1600/DSC_0141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCavnsmkl9BqYW6AAa97UXnCQ2BshS4Nho3y_gdpHRLXkgiQUd9bh_YyRMFKhO6P8VK8Ix95fXdTxYXTwWuCR0f3srOenerJ0TcX92UQC-pkmHKFzPzn0lRNEn0m75KlxxBmYm3CVEv3k/s1600/DSC_0141.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View onto the Lake Grey and the Grey Glacier</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP51wbeXKoCVH4NroKOzG_KjoFZfYZH7iNPWkg7aDS0uHG9WBSK7ZZmjAImAsJSaE23GR77GXGZOv9A3IFIbPVn3kSPsTKAhV_2DVhZ05reN3pJ8kYy6kdX6buklaLDw3PRBjyuhHXywA/s1600/DSC_0144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP51wbeXKoCVH4NroKOzG_KjoFZfYZH7iNPWkg7aDS0uHG9WBSK7ZZmjAImAsJSaE23GR77GXGZOv9A3IFIbPVn3kSPsTKAhV_2DVhZ05reN3pJ8kYy6kdX6buklaLDw3PRBjyuhHXywA/s1600/DSC_0144.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An iceberg!!! :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.99px;">The next day we hiked the same way back and luckily the weather wasa lot better, so we got a pretty nice view of what we couldn't see the day before! Back at the Lake Pehoé we continued our way to the Campamento Italiano, it was still pretty nice weather, however the wind got really strong so we were glad to get to the campground and put up our tent that will protect us from the wind in the night.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr6bHw1-jfD_NQLEqq5oN-tlDPemJxmu0eBpOIfty-ZMBd19WVux8AkYcnX2ehOKy81jkJKv8_HGveSoLaLREcdKm-fEsYSG0wOJwXvBhvJibMLm0QnQvpbQMiMu8VLOTznkTYVnCSN3s/s1600/DSC_0164.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr6bHw1-jfD_NQLEqq5oN-tlDPemJxmu0eBpOIfty-ZMBd19WVux8AkYcnX2ehOKy81jkJKv8_HGveSoLaLREcdKm-fEsYSG0wOJwXvBhvJibMLm0QnQvpbQMiMu8VLOTznkTYVnCSN3s/s1600/DSC_0164.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Burned woods...<br />Fire spreads really fast with the Patagonian wind!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.99px;">The next morning we hiked up to the Mirador Británico, again in the rain, but we were lucky again and in cleared up just before we got to the top, so we had a pretty good view onto the mountains, the glaciers and the lakes in the valley. We also witnessed a huge avalanche coming down the glacier, that was really impressive! And as it always started raining again with the sun still present, we had the luck that over a very nice valley with a river and the glacier in the background a beautiful rainbow formed! :-) </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZABUZu8tqzGWkShst044X8c0E8gdtq8WvN2c_QHJEKOlocHkIVvJ6W72nX8pI4e4q6cdls3gsIoGUvWzLCHAm55lUsSKy-49W1OxFEX4xv3FGkdB99ZtHcIvLtqT-uDRSW0my-a6Wwng/s1600/DSC_0190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZABUZu8tqzGWkShst044X8c0E8gdtq8WvN2c_QHJEKOlocHkIVvJ6W72nX8pI4e4q6cdls3gsIoGUvWzLCHAm55lUsSKy-49W1OxFEX4xv3FGkdB99ZtHcIvLtqT-uDRSW0my-a6Wwng/s1600/DSC_0190.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rainbow looked waaaay better in reality!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beautiful view onto the lakes from the Mirador Francés</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.99px;">Back down at the campground we had to pack our tent and backpacks again and in pouring rain continued to the Refugio Cuernos, where we set up our tent again (and yes, it was still raining...). The next morning we could hardly believe how nice the view actually was at this place, it was awesome weather and the landscape seamed to have changed completely overnight! So we started hiking again in beautiful weather.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIj3s4PMPQnW8c0o714ZMnbIn-26PfALqhLzDLlLNQpII-3Cd39l2bF9SmuQr5iCESTXp71jox84qijtjv8Vpqck9-rEWhBFyuU9pHcgpnC87ifA53ykVe_tR5D5tkSD-Zzr3GwGwX3Iw/s1600/DSC_0196.NEF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIj3s4PMPQnW8c0o714ZMnbIn-26PfALqhLzDLlLNQpII-3Cd39l2bF9SmuQr5iCESTXp71jox84qijtjv8Vpqck9-rEWhBFyuU9pHcgpnC87ifA53ykVe_tR5D5tkSD-Zzr3GwGwX3Iw/s1600/DSC_0196.NEF" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's nice weather for once :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.99px;">Unfortunately my right Achilles tendon seemed to be inflamed quite a bit, as soon I could hardly walk anymore... But we continued and soon reached the Refugio Chileno, from where after a short break we continued to the Campamento Torres, as we decided that we absolutely had to take advantage of the nice weather, as we already learned that it can change immediately. Once we set up our tent we continued hiking uphill towards the Mirador Base de las Torres, the viewpoint where after 4 days of hiking we finally got an amazing view of the famous Torres del Paine!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpgkKZ4hyphenhyphenia511PiMoRZZfefa30emDKfXVzrEQr4QeVmT9i1pVB9cWzxTcWYHQdOejKjoj_LQAJvk75bOpEYxx7YwWnIlyO0UmjiaU1m1X5yLAjvwpvLyrL6UIswYm1wtPCviF0-K5y0/s1600/DSC_0212.NEF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpgkKZ4hyphenhyphenia511PiMoRZZfefa30emDKfXVzrEQr4QeVmT9i1pVB9cWzxTcWYHQdOejKjoj_LQAJvk75bOpEYxx7YwWnIlyO0UmjiaU1m1X5yLAjvwpvLyrL6UIswYm1wtPCviF0-K5y0/s1600/DSC_0212.NEF" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Torres in the evening</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.99px;">As the weather forecast was pretty good for the next day (not that you could actually count on it!) we decided to get up really early and try to see the Torres in the sunrise. We were incredibly lucky, as we saw an amazing sunrise and the Torres turned completely orange in the sun, while all the surrounding mountains remained in the shadow.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSKWBDt-yt5tbgcZ6xpsYVijykCGaWzr5dw-U0oIeAgQxUv_rakfvFOlA1CSKPFqCDwvkZvFsTxgfiRwPaVNxSqfF-wLrxtJTwlj_e1caBKvxky-ClSRXgHVVSTNXxRwmybcCA5F-wWgU/s1600/DSC_0232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSKWBDt-yt5tbgcZ6xpsYVijykCGaWzr5dw-U0oIeAgQxUv_rakfvFOlA1CSKPFqCDwvkZvFsTxgfiRwPaVNxSqfF-wLrxtJTwlj_e1caBKvxky-ClSRXgHVVSTNXxRwmybcCA5F-wWgU/s1600/DSC_0232.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Sunrise from the Mirador Base de las Torres</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Torres at sunrise! :-)</span> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was definitely worth getting up early!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.99px;">And just about 30 minutes after this amazing sunrise, the sun vanished behind the clouds and we didn't see anything of the sky anymore for the whole day... So we hiked back to the campround, packed our stuff and hiked out of the park and took the bus back to Puerto Natales, where in the evening we went for a beer with a German guy and a French couple we met in the Park. And After all this hiking we decided to take a day off today to just relax a little bit before we'll continue our way towards El Calafate by bike...</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092521629343187357noreply@blogger.com1Torres del Paine National Park, Chile-50.9423262 -73.406788-52.2225257 -75.988575000000012 -49.662126699999995 -70.825001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-87008890819557911452014-03-10T18:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T12:58:12.428-07:00Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We crossed the Strait of Magellan the 4th of March by ferry, being really lucky as at first several dolphins accompanied our boat and later on we even caught a glimpse of a whale! :-) Once in Punta Arenas, we were warmly welcomed by Albine, I friend of our mom, and Francisco, her partner. We then spent 3 days in and around Punta Arenas, relaxing a bit, walking around the city center, visiting Fuerte Bulnes, the place the first Chileans settled in Patagonia and where we learned a lot about the history of Chile's Región XII, the famous cementery, and and and...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View over Punta Arenas</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the famous cementery of Punta Arenas</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">El Ovejero - Homage to all the sheep shepherds in Patagonia</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.9999942779541px;">After 3 days we decided to get on our bikes again... But we weren't lucky at all, the day we left was very (yes, really very!) windy! So after only 10 km I gave up, as it was simply impossible to bike. Every 10 to 20 meters I had to get off my bike as I was simply thrown off the road by the wind. And as it was raining and cold as well, I decided that it was time to hitchhike for the first time. Fortunately the people in Patagonia are really nice, so after only a few seconds standing there, the very first pick-up that passed stopped and took us with him for about 40 km until the next crossing. There we heard that it was possible to stay and as there was a Cafeteria as well, we decided to drink a hot chocolate and stay in the warm for a while. We then met a Canadian couple that stopped there as well because of the wind and were invited to share a nice empty house with them for the night.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cafeteria at the crossing where we hitchhiked to :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.9999942779541px;">The next day we got up early again and even though the wind was still strong, we fought our way all the way to Villa Tehuelches, a small village out in the nowhere where we again found a Cafeteria. Enjoying the warm sun outside the cafeteria, we decided to tackle the next 50 km as well that day to get to Morro Chico. As the wind calmed down in the afternoon, we reached Morro Chico pretty soon and I was lucky to have continued, as it was an amazingly nice place just next to a river and with an amazing view onto the Morro Chico (a Morro is Lava left over from a volcano that was stuck in the volcano's chimney and that is more resistant to erosion than the rest of the volcano).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The amazing view over the river at Morro Chico</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Morro Chico</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblNEUClLmkgddJVWmDA3VkDB05sT7cK9COvR0g2ReTuxV_ywzgrFYdDLjgDNcQ3YE5_zpYgZuNdutaBD2RMps6cKe5qPJCve64jus9GPpBTct8TanesKh0EGZ4TiFSzFQ3zgietNK8ng/s1600/DSC_0133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblNEUClLmkgddJVWmDA3VkDB05sT7cK9COvR0g2ReTuxV_ywzgrFYdDLjgDNcQ3YE5_zpYgZuNdutaBD2RMps6cKe5qPJCve64jus9GPpBTct8TanesKh0EGZ4TiFSzFQ3zgietNK8ng/s1600/DSC_0133.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The refuge we were offered to pass the night in Morro Chico...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 19.9999942779541px;">The next morning we started cycling in the rain (oh yeah, it's completely normal that the weather changes 180° in a night, actually sometimes in only half an hour...) and soon we were completely soaked! Therefore after about 35 km we stopped again at a Hotel located absolutely in the nowhere for another hot chocolate. After this break, the rain became less and less and the landscape started to change as well: From the typical pampas with a bit of grass as the only vegetation, more and more bushes started to appear and eventually even trees until we found us in the woods. Together with the vegetation changes, it also got a lot hillier until we finally reached Puerto Natales. Then we had to go shopping in order to stock up for our planned 5 day hike in the Torres del Paine National Park, as we bought a bus ticket to get to the park the next day early in the morning!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092521629343187357noreply@blogger.com0Puerto Natales, Chile-51.7333 -72.50378-77.2553345 -113.812374 -26.2112655 -31.195186000000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-29497590746667397912014-03-04T18:00:00.000-08:002014-07-17T12:57:15.055-07:00Tierra del Fuego - From Ushuaia to Porvenir<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the 26th of February we definitely left Ushuaia. After just a few kilometers we left the city and were immediately surrounded by absolute wilderness and apart from the road no sign of civilization was left! Soon we reached the first pass to cross and although with about 600 m of elevation it was for sure not the highest one to cross, starting from sea level it took us a while to reach the top. Once up there the scenery was amazing: both the Lago Escondido and the Lago Fagnano spread below us and we could enjoy this view during the first part of the descent. But even though the Lago Fagnano could already be seen from the pass, it took us quite a while to get there. Unfortunately our map wasn't quite correct and the road didn't pass along the shore of the lake, so we decided to put up our tent next to the street on the edge of the woods.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On top of the first pass we crossed :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNwKnBtNUl4Bvm_pKjdYzvfch5JUMSvPXQpI_YGTksdYtNqeU6cjIEMrPPEfOUg__X-WMH3cc9UV9oE4qAo6RE6gjUUntX9vrPpPMIEEb7_iqzzAGqewil296PPnog3OV1W-Us0bwkQk/s1600/DSC_0033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNwKnBtNUl4Bvm_pKjdYzvfch5JUMSvPXQpI_YGTksdYtNqeU6cjIEMrPPEfOUg__X-WMH3cc9UV9oE4qAo6RE6gjUUntX9vrPpPMIEEb7_iqzzAGqewil296PPnog3OV1W-Us0bwkQk/s1600/DSC_0033.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View from the top of the Paso Garibaldi. To reach the lake in the back was the goal of the day!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day we met the first bikers coming the other way and therefore got a lot of good hints of where to pass the nights and which excursions are worth the money and which roads should be avoided and and and... After stopping in Tolhuin for lunch and to refill our water we continued northwards and just before twilight reached the Estancia Viamonte, where we were kindly invited to pass the night in an empty house (it was huge and even had 2 beds in it and we could hang up all our cloths to dry!) and we were offered a delicious meal in the evening and breakfast in the morning! We have to say that it's absolutely true that the people here are very kind and helpful!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The empty house we were offered to pass the night at the Estancia Viamonte</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the 28th of February we got to know the infamous Patagonian wind... Even though it wasn't especially strong yet, it is terribly hard to bike against it and if it's coming from the side it's even worse than from the front! Head wind is just terrible as you don't get anywhere anymore (less than 10 kmh are not unusual...), but side wind is terribly dangerous, as the gusts simply throw you across the road and every crossing truck almost makes you fall! Well after about 4 hours on our bikes we managed to get to Rio Grande (just 47 km from the Estancia) and were happy to have a hostel again for a night and a shop to get more food for the coming days...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fighting against the wind on our way from the Estancia Viamonte to Rio Grande...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Rio Grande I also visited a bike mechanic again </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as I was concerned something wasn't alright with my headset. H</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e opened up everything, showed me what parts I have in there and what they are good for and put the whole bike back together!</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> However, the headset of my bike had play and it resulted that one of the screw threads was damaged and had to be re-threaded</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and a bigger screw was necessary for my bike to be fixed again. The best, however, was that the mechanic was so friendly and liked the idea of foreigner biking through South America so much that he didn't even ask for money! :-) We then tried to continue towards the border with Chile, but before we got out of the city we had to admit that with the terribly strong wind that day there was no point so we ask at the police if we could leave our bikes there for a while to explore the surroundings until the wind would calm down a bit. However, we didn't hit a police station as we thought we did, but we were at a police academy... Nevertheless, the police officer we asked was extremely friendly and immediately offered us a meal and a bed to rest a few hours. As we wanted to continue later in the afternoon, they told us that they wouldn't go on with this wind but wait till the early morning when the wind is usually less. So we were offered a shower, dinner and a bed for the night and then continued our way towards Chile in the early morning (we got up at 4 am to be ready to leave short before dawn) of the 2nd of March...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were really lucky that day as there was almost no wind, so we got to the border quite quickly. The landscape wasn't anything special anymore, we were in the middle of the Argentinian pampas where there really is nothing at all, but we saw a lot of foxes and guanacos! Once in Chile the wind started to get stronger again, so we stopped as soon as we got to a little shelter that we used as a wind screen for our tent.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the many guanacos (they are part of the family of the lamas)<br />we met on our way through Tierra del Fuego...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 3rd of March we got up early again to get to visit a King penguin colony on the western shore of Tierra del Fuego. Even though the owners of the land the colony is located ask for an incredibly high entry, it was absolutely worth it, as there were some baby penguins to be seen and the closest penguins were probably about 15 m from where you were allowed to go... I was absolutely fascinated by these animals, this mixture between fish and bird is just very special to observe in their natural habitat!</span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheruKRNxWv3rAFmqKrZrCdWLiiThgPHvdGLzvDo0X0nG6SmM5RMV74giYewLdhl3C4C2LwjzMpZhQZF3KgxkVb2bfoE0llt7dpPWfn9tT42sQNUomUE6Z2XJXco0qEQamQCJk4Sjhr8q0/s1600/DSC_0068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheruKRNxWv3rAFmqKrZrCdWLiiThgPHvdGLzvDo0X0nG6SmM5RMV74giYewLdhl3C4C2LwjzMpZhQZF3KgxkVb2bfoE0llt7dpPWfn9tT42sQNUomUE6Z2XJXco0qEQamQCJk4Sjhr8q0/s1600/DSC_0068.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The King penguins with their babies we visited on Tierra del Fuego :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaYeK9GfIUa1dx6yvy8CIS8Nq-aLsjSdYoaSPcerIdv9MyL_zSsG8fwhO4aUcozpjY36C-tgYtDuRIAeP6nwR8I9_uIkAXzqhM_7h17xE7pKdM-XJ0y_YBXBSqUKEwBgo03vGqHaLEak/s1600/DSC_0082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaYeK9GfIUa1dx6yvy8CIS8Nq-aLsjSdYoaSPcerIdv9MyL_zSsG8fwhO4aUcozpjY36C-tgYtDuRIAeP6nwR8I9_uIkAXzqhM_7h17xE7pKdM-XJ0y_YBXBSqUKEwBgo03vGqHaLEak/s1600/DSC_0082.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I absolutely fell in love with these incredibly cute and elegant animals!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After leaving the King penguins we decided to try to get as far as possible that same day in order to try to reach the ferry to Punta Arenas the next day, as the day after there was no ferry. However, this meant that we had to bike another 55 km against moderate wind, as with the increasing wind a wind screen for the night would definitely be necessary! As we finally reached a small "refugio" (a tiny little shelter built for travelers like us) just before twilight, I was absolutely dead! The next day we got up at 5 am again to surely make the 65 km to Porvenir where the ferry leaves at 2 pm to Punta Arenas in time. And so we left Tierra del Fuego on the 7th day after leaving Ushuaia...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0Ev3EsdtZkMJDlbHTvy_Qu7PI-oVHnqSugAJKffcM2x97lnkjtS9ZsVKx2OgWNf92XumG3pI1mwPspnE4iACgf8fyCWBU-VcYRcVtt-Lw0YgMJ7lar79QcKse5fGpaTbx_64XhKuXsg/s1600/DSC_0091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0Ev3EsdtZkMJDlbHTvy_Qu7PI-oVHnqSugAJKffcM2x97lnkjtS9ZsVKx2OgWNf92XumG3pI1mwPspnE4iACgf8fyCWBU-VcYRcVtt-Lw0YgMJ7lar79QcKse5fGpaTbx_64XhKuXsg/s1600/DSC_0091.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And yes, there are also a lot of horses on Tierra del Fuego - and in the background the mainland of Chile is already visible...</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com0Tierra del Fuego, Argentina-54.3083548 -67.745156500000007-56.706407299999995 -72.9087305 -51.9103023 -62.58158250000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914781177560156300.post-72477594736603886022014-02-25T18:00:00.000-08:002014-07-17T12:56:29.562-07:00Arrival in Ushuaia and exploring the city and its surroundings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the 22th of February we finally had our flight scheduled to Ushuaia, where our big adventure is about to start... It meant getting up early in order to reach the airport with two taxis (as our bikes didn't fit in one) with enough time to get our bikes checked in. At the check-in, the guy was really friendly, however, he told us that it will be really expensive for us to travel with 80 kg luggage in total and that we would better have rented our bikes. Well, the term "expensive" definitely is relative, than the two bikes "only" cost us about CHF 60.- :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a truly very expensive breakfast at the airport and an almost 4 hours flight we finally arrived in the southernmost city of the world and astonishingly all our luggage arrived as well! (As Ushuaia is a really, really small airport, they did not have an oversize-luggage delivery, so our bikes arrived through the normal luggage delivery...)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzzd4ywAM24WQR9ZlXY7BfcdRV9UgV6gENvc2KyqGgehYL_jZ9t_gmvSyRXO9OkLVV1ggV8t0Qvuq0FjTMBFfJrtuEk-iBknnMJch0suEQMbSU8Dnj9hmwLgnT95kK_s5osProrH7RupY/s1600/DSC_0015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzzd4ywAM24WQR9ZlXY7BfcdRV9UgV6gENvc2KyqGgehYL_jZ9t_gmvSyRXO9OkLVV1ggV8t0Qvuq0FjTMBFfJrtuEk-iBknnMJch0suEQMbSU8Dnj9hmwLgnT95kK_s5osProrH7RupY/s1600/DSC_0015.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our luggage, as it arrived in Ushuaia... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, Stefan complained about difficulties swallowing and general discomfort, so I suggested taking a taxi to the booked hostel. But Stefan insisted in assembling our bikes at the airport and bike to the hostel... As soon as we unpacked our bikes, we had our first bike problems, as we figured that our 5 mm Allen key wasn't long enough to attach the switchgear to my bike... After a long time waiting for the maintenance guy of the airport and the wind forcing us to move inside (my bike already fell once before we had it assembled...), I asked the guy of the local Hertz car rental and surprisingly he had one in the correct size in his car :-) So once my bike was assembled we hoped to be ready to leave soon, but no, Stefan's rear tube already had a hole (and a bad one), so we had to use one of our reserve tubes before we biked a single meter... But finally, after about 4 hours at the airport, we managed to have our bikes ready to leave! Once we found our hostel, we deposited our stuff there, went for something to eat to the city center and then fell completely dead into our beds...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day we slept in in the hope of Stefan feeling better... But as he still didn't feel well, we decided to make an easy day and just went purchasing our food supply for the next days and re-packed all our bike bags in order to get them ready for our trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the 24th we first went to the hospital to get checked what was happening with Stefan's throat, but luckily it wasn't anything serious, so we just got some Ibuprofen and the permission to leave Ushuaia whenever we want. Later we tried to find a longer 5 mm Allen key in case we need a long one once again and after a certain time we finally found one :-) In the afternoon we then hiked up to the Glaciar Martial, a glacier very close to the city. It's unbelievable, but in the middle of summer (yes, we're on the southern hemisphere, so it's summer here...) our first day trip leads us into snowed mountains! :-) Although the weather wasn't perfect, the sight was simply spectacular! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_i_6OURGqZuZGRVIxB-EdBN7B0l5gOO8a0zWQPeOiU2xMNfs1lMVhM5nb0vF0wkmA3EddsS34mtzDSjgOeihCNH5mYl6A1E_Jjg0DNp9yBfs1i8Gc_4nJ9jp8LULBp9NHBF9Dal7cldg/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_i_6OURGqZuZGRVIxB-EdBN7B0l5gOO8a0zWQPeOiU2xMNfs1lMVhM5nb0vF0wkmA3EddsS34mtzDSjgOeihCNH5mYl6A1E_Jjg0DNp9yBfs1i8Gc_4nJ9jp8LULBp9NHBF9Dal7cldg/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View from the Glaciar Martial towards the southernmost part of the Andes</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7rF7-ppT9xeWjgYVDyQSHF_-dToiWXcOq2Wqt5E1R8KkvRvvNoLyoxHvAnm6GSkuMROGeYJ5t8hexSlq0q0jgmTru5z64kxoCuUBjsmKK-zXFtMUoFkMeQTzWXsdTWa08suf1i7XAgHE/s1600/DSC_0009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7rF7-ppT9xeWjgYVDyQSHF_-dToiWXcOq2Wqt5E1R8KkvRvvNoLyoxHvAnm6GSkuMROGeYJ5t8hexSlq0q0jgmTru5z64kxoCuUBjsmKK-zXFtMUoFkMeQTzWXsdTWa08suf1i7XAgHE/s1600/DSC_0009.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View from the Glaciar Martial over the city of Ushuaia and the Beagle Canal</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in Ushuaia we then went to see a mechanic in order to get an overall check of our bikes before we leave and to buy a new reserve tube. And then we biked to the gas station to fill up our fuel bottles, it was kind of funny to file in with all the waiting cars and then get gas for less than a dollar... ;-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the 25th of February we then finally used our bikes for the first time! For a start we left most of the luggage at the hostel and just took a day pack with us as we planned to visit the Tierra del Fuego National Park and then to return to Ushuaia for a last night in the hostel. This is probably the one and only time that our intended destination lies further south than our starting place! Just outside the city the pavement was replaced by the infamous "ripio", the unpaved gravel roads. We soon learned to appreciate the paved roads and although the ripio was still pretty good, we got a first idea of what we will encounter in the next few months... Although we got to feel the wind for a first time, but luckily it wasn't very strong and we didn't have planned to get very far, so that we had plenty of time to enjoy the marvelous scenery with many lagunas, snowed mountains and of course the sea! Soon we reached the Bahía Lapataia, the southernmost place you can reach by bike, as the famous Ruta 3 ends there. And it will hopefully be one of very few times that we ride the same route in both directions. In the evening we cooked a last time a really good meal with lots of vegetables before we'll have to eat a lot of canned and dehydrated stuff that we can carry along...</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLuXzWmCqgOrFTdZ-yPlPDbmwRqf7z1MUnACqzBgi5e96MA817cJKckZeFfgLEn4kRsVX9KHwWzsVtzwkJ37pWn-ihzqWioBz2w-i_dfcOLV23lvgj7bMH4blT4WssMrzqwN1MPdKFoLE/s1600/DSC_0014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLuXzWmCqgOrFTdZ-yPlPDbmwRqf7z1MUnACqzBgi5e96MA817cJKckZeFfgLEn4kRsVX9KHwWzsVtzwkJ37pWn-ihzqWioBz2w-i_dfcOLV23lvgj7bMH4blT4WssMrzqwN1MPdKFoLE/s1600/DSC_0014.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Laguna verde in the Tierra del Fuego National Park</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcvGi9ZJ90VWtmSBojyPp5hco8_Ty8k-N2fPKevI3i5mJbQYTnw_66yfnzTg00Z0V_ynK71FwaUbsIhLpD3qntibiU_dfsK2wFj3wthF3selEMQcEr-dBOGEKIxmYUJ5qCdZewpyMMRfg/s1600/DSC_0017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcvGi9ZJ90VWtmSBojyPp5hco8_Ty8k-N2fPKevI3i5mJbQYTnw_66yfnzTg00Z0V_ynK71FwaUbsIhLpD3qntibiU_dfsK2wFj3wthF3selEMQcEr-dBOGEKIxmYUJ5qCdZewpyMMRfg/s1600/DSC_0017.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View from the Laguna verde where we stopped for lunch</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu1nq5VK1tFF6DyIoEiMthb3uywUek_6y_3wJcwQj-HwjjVJxo40d600ml3y5ngVBVwEcDEHPhw1NL-xOADlHMLKHOPDiVboviVFteBVzgKJ3DExKkSm8s1VB28v-U8e3FnaZL6BMsknQ/s1600/DSC_0018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu1nq5VK1tFF6DyIoEiMthb3uywUek_6y_3wJcwQj-HwjjVJxo40d600ml3y5ngVBVwEcDEHPhw1NL-xOADlHMLKHOPDiVboviVFteBVzgKJ3DExKkSm8s1VB28v-U8e3FnaZL6BMsknQ/s1600/DSC_0018.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the southernmost point of Tierra del Fuego, from here on we'll always head towards the north... :-)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZFvyjJJxs8NmWmTxrWutL3Llp-UxCLRTYz57SIqBWeHjUj5jkjXnuY4EaTFHwuGcXkdZYcKbZV2zWNuuUKJENFpjyvFzcM1zy1eHEKkrpr9AhG82aujlji1XqGSFps-ogUrRwOKQahE/s1600/DSC_0025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZFvyjJJxs8NmWmTxrWutL3Llp-UxCLRTYz57SIqBWeHjUj5jkjXnuY4EaTFHwuGcXkdZYcKbZV2zWNuuUKJENFpjyvFzcM1zy1eHEKkrpr9AhG82aujlji1XqGSFps-ogUrRwOKQahE/s1600/DSC_0025.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bahía Lapataia</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivu1X2LKAMWxI87NPi3vvPNDUS9AIcQhbknyD2LuEb_ETmLrKc8PDCrPq_ZTFdJrflQ2ABCJn8Kq3J0J0GZbNIcoZZNGtBVvf_FdfB8YdR48PuzplECooA0eRiDfppJ01SVT-AGmkLwY/s1600/DSC_0027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivu1X2LKAMWxI87NPi3vvPNDUS9AIcQhbknyD2LuEb_ETmLrKc8PDCrPq_ZTFdJrflQ2ABCJn8Kq3J0J0GZbNIcoZZNGtBVvf_FdfB8YdR48PuzplECooA0eRiDfppJ01SVT-AGmkLwY/s1600/DSC_0027.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bahía Lapataia</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304556481735055233noreply@blogger.com1Ushuaia, Argentina-54.8019121 -68.302951099999973-54.8019121 -68.302951099999973 -54.8019121 -68.302951099999973