The road to Potosi has been paved recently and the southern road is definitely being prepared for it as well. So far Bolivia has been the country with the worst roads, but it seems there are serious actions being taken to improve the infrastructure. Not just the roads. In every city we pass through, even the small ones, there are lots of half finished houses. Some being worked on, some not. We cannot determine if there is a boom in the building sector or if the half finished houses are remnants of a boom that never came, and in two years they will still be there, taken over by animals and plants.

After the 200km of demanding gravel road driving to Uyuni the perfectly smooth road to Potosi is a welcome change. I do find myself missing my bike again as it is a 200km twisty bonanza. C’est la vie.

Upon leaving Uyuni we pass the checkpoint where we pay 10 Bolivianos and get our little piece of paper to be stamped at the following checkpoints. We have quite a giggle about that. Given the extent of the work needed to construct a road like this, it is totally acceptable to pay a toll. It is the way it is administered we find a little funny to say the least. At this first checkpoint we are asked how far we are going. We say Potosi, pay 10 Bs and get a receipt. You would think we could then go to Potosi before the next checkpoint, but that’s not how it works. Twice on route we pass other checkpoints where we simply show the receipt and then get a stamp on it.

Ok, move on.

On the long section from Santa Cruz to Tupiza we at some point had so many stamps on our receipt, we started wondering where they would put the next only to see the next checkpoint cut a hole instead of stamping. After that we decided to get a game going. When we arrived at a checkpoint we would bet on “stamp” or “cut” only to once again be cheated as we watched the attendant attach another piece of paper (without having to pay extra) which was then subsequently stamped and cut accordingly. By now we have quite a collection of various receipt with random holes and stamps on them. Definitely a job creation project of some sorts.

On the positive side we never had any problems at the checkpoints. Contrary to Lorraine’s experiences in Russia where she was simply pulled over and had to pay made up tolls or fines, all the Bolivian checkpoints are official and there have never been any issues or corruption to be paid. Even at the ones where we had to show a drivers licence as well, the Swiss one worked fine. We both had international drivers licences made beforehand, but no one seems to be interested. They study the Swiss licence a bit and look at the pictograms and then go “ok” and that’s it.

At an average of 4050m Potosi is one of the highest located cities in the world. I say average as it is located on a very hilly section of the mountain. The roads are quite steep and also quite narrow. The little engine in the Suzuki is clearly short of breath as are its passengers.

Some of the narrow streets our little Suzuki had to navigate.

I’ve put my bike in many a hostel or hotel foyer while travelling but this is a first for our car.

The Bolivian ladies still wear traditional skirts and hats with the traditional blankets wrapped up and hung over their shoulders. These are mostly used to carry babies in but often other good.

At this altitude just walking to a store and back gets me gasping for air and I apply the simple principle of walking at half pace than normal. Takes a little longer, but keeps me from getting exhausted. Potosi has an interesting history. The city is located at the base of a mountain named Cerro Rico also known as “the rich mountain” as it contains the largest single deposit of silver ore known to mankind which is also the reason why the city exists at all.

 The Man eating mountain

In the colonial days the silver mined in Potosi was the largest single source of wealth for the Spanish empire. We get the entire story about how it was mined, processed and minted into coins at the colonial mint, which is now a museum. One of the best I have ever visited. The guide has obviously done his homework and explains in perfect English how complex the whole process actually was. Just as an example the presses used to press the values onto the coins were designed and built in Austria before being shipped on galleons across the Atlantic and then carried on mules or lamas more than 2000kms from Buenos Aires to Potosi. Horses apparently have problems coping with the altitude. There are samples of original silver coins, tools and scales from back then and lots more very interesting items on display. Highly recommended if you are ever in the area.  If you are interested in architecture the building alone is worth a visit. It is stunning.

One of the original presses used to press the silver plates that then go to the coin presses

 The fantastic museum

The mine is still in use today and two days later we met a German geologist, Anton, who had done a tour of the mine two days before we arrived. He was appalled by the conditions in the mine and the complete lack of overall coordination. Each team of miners is simply given a target quota and can then start blasting where ever they feel fit. The result is not surprisingly frequent cave-ins which have resulted in the mountain also being known as “The mountain that eats men”. It is normal practice to bring gifts to the miners if visiting. Preferred is alcohol or dynamite. Potosi must be the only place in the world where you can go to a kiosk and buy an ice-cream, a cold drink, a bag of unprocessed coca leaves and a stick of dynamite.

As for the coca leaves they were also available at the hotel as part of the breakfast buffet. They help cope with the altitude and no, you don’t get high from chewing them. They actually work and the tea is quite tasty to boot. The coca leaves tea is available everywhere on the Altiplana and we consider bringing some home with us as more of a novelty really, but decide against it. Not all custom officials may find it amusing.

Since it was Christmas time in Potosi the city square was very well decorated. It was fantastic to see the effort put into Christmas in Bolivia, the decorations and the donations to the poor. We came across queues and queues of people lined up to get Christmas gifts for their children from the local charities. It made us think about how these kids would probably cherish this one gift for the entire year, compared to many kids we know who would receive so many gifts  they wouldn’t even remember who they were from.

I felt more sorry for the old or crippled people in Bolivia who seem neglected. Everyone gives to the cute kids.

The St Francis monastery

 In the catacombs of the monastery

Dead baby lamas in the local market (not sure what they are for)

 Bolivia is nut about the Dakar 🙂

Uyuni is one of those places that most likely would not exist if it was not for the tourist attraction next to them. It basically consists of either tour operators, hostels, restaurants or bars and is kept alive by the Salar du Uyuni. One of the most visited attractions in the world and by far the largest tourist magnet in Bolivia. It is also what has brought us here as we both have the salt flats on our bucket list.

Waiting to meet up with Will and Stewart from England, we made an afternoon visit to the train cemetery on the outskirts of town. Due to a collapse in the mining industry in the 1940s lots of trains were simply abandoned in Uyuni and left to rust in the salty air. Rumour has it the actual train that was robbed by Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid is there as well. Quite a few of the trains were old steamers from the turn of the 19th-20th century, so who knows. Gave me a reason to relive some of my childhood fantasies pretending to be Sundance (he was much cooler that Butch, at least in the movie).

Graceful and athletic I jumped on one of the old coal tenders and then ran forward and hijacked the train from a surprised driver. What can I say, growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional. If you are a train enthusiast with knowledge about the old machines you could probably spend days here.

Joern pretending to be Sundance robbing a train

The train graveyard, just a big kids playground

Back at the hotel Will and Stewart had arrived back from the flats. Two British bikers we met at the MCN bike show in London in February, as they were getting ready for a tour from Alaska to Ushuaia. Just like Lorraine they had Altrider sponsoring them with protective parts for their bikes, and when they heard about our plans we figured we would meet somewhere on the way, which turned out to be Uyuni.

They had been on the road since March and had added Australian backpacker Natalie to their pack. We had dinner together and just swapped stories (they had way more than us) and talked for hours. Simply awesome people and despite only having met them once before it was like being with old friends.

I would love to have spent more time with them, but they had arrived a day before us and were heading south the next day. Seeing their two fully kitted dusty GS’s parked in front of the hotel made me feel a bit sad about having left the Africa Twin behind as I sooooo wanted to go on the salt flat on a bike instead of in a car, but hey. Shit happens, deal with it.

Next morning we parted ways again with big man hugs and headed for the nearest entry to the salt flats at Colchani. Entering the flats is like driving on to another world. Driving in the mountains there is always either a valley or another peak close by. On the Salar the horizon opens up and wherever you look there is just a white flat surface. As we started driving towards the “island” in the middle the village behind us slowly disappeared under the horizon and left us in a world where distance and direction does not exist. Turn 360 degrees and it will look the same the whole way round except for a few mountain peaks in the far distance.

🙂 🙂 🙂 say no more

Judging how far away another vehicle is, is almost impossible since there are no reference points at all. No plants, trees, animals, hills, nothing. The Salar is in fact so flat that it is used by astronauts on the ISS to calibrate their distance measuring lasers. The entire 11000 square kilometre area varies only a few meters in height and is due to its size easily visible from space. We did of course stop for the traditional trick photos of making small objects appear large or vice versa due to the lack of sense of distance, and also had a taste of the crust. It is VERY salty alright.

There was also something fascinating about the thought that we were basically driving on the world’s largest empty parking lot. I could have closed my eyes while driving without having to worry about hitting something. Swerve left or right, who cares. The closest solid object is 50km away. And on top we were 3650m over the ocean. 1000m higher than the highest mountain pass in Switzerland. And it is flat as a pool table!! About 65km later we reached the Isla Incahuasa. It is a small oasis of rock and cacti with a few houses for exhibits. Not overly exiting so after a short visit we headed back simply following the trail we came on.

Salar du Uyuni. Been there, done that, did not get the t-shirt though.

Tarija

Leaving Villamontes meant two things. Our first meeting with Bolivian dirt roads and the beginning of the climb from the tropical lowlands to the more temperate altiplana. A climb of more than 3000m. Dirt roads are also less travelled roads which meant the scenery got even better and you just feel closer to nature. Also even more butterflies and other animals. At one point a large lizard crossed the road.

Given the small 1500cc engine in the Suzuki progress was slow but steady and the scenery spectacular (again). Not that we mind. Gave us time to really see the variety of the landscape and the slow change from green vegetation to the brown colours of the highlands. We even managed to spot patches of purple soil. No idea what causes that, but just goes to show the incredible variety in this country.

Halfway there we hit the paved road again and could relax a bit before finding our hotel and spend the night in quite uninteresting Tarija.

Atocha

We set off early in order to reach Uyuni while there was still daylight, but due to the road being the worst condition so far we made less progress than expected.

 Some hectic dirt roads with scary drop offs.

 Guess who was driving, no wonder we didn’t make it to Uyuni as planned.

At around 1830 we arrived in the small mining village of Atosha located very isolated at around 3500m altitude halfway between Tupiza and Uyuni. With only one hour of proper daylight left and still 100km to go on a quite demanding road we decided enough was enough. To add to that there was a badly marked detour in effect as the road was being upgraded to pavement all the way meaning lots of sections were simply blocked by heavy machinery. We found a hostel or more precise “the” hostel. There was another, but it had been closed down and now just looked like something out of a scary movie.

Rather different bus stop, but nice.

Our hostal

 The train station which looked rather abandoned.

I would estimate the population to about 500 people. Most of them probably born there and will die there too. Talking about which, typical for Bolivia the graveyard was an almost upbeat and colourful place. Lots of colours and displays with objects relevant to the deceased. I like that a lot better than the gloomy and depressing European ones. I ended up actually enjoying this unplanned stopover, as it gave me a glimpse into a world so different from mine it is hard to imagine. People gave us the odd look, but nothing scary or intimidating. Most likely just surprise at these strange looking foreigners who seemingly of their own free will spent the night there. Contrary to popular belief the Bolivian people are very nice and friendly just reserved or shy. Every person you greet will greet you back with a nice warm Buenos Diaz and a smile. The women generally first avert their eyes smile shyly but always greet you back. We found one open restaurant with a very basic menu. Not surprisingly chicken. Places like this are predominantly self-sufficient and chickens are cheap and easy to keep.

Road to Uyuni

The next morning we found the correct detour along the riverbed by asking a local 4×4 going the other way. As soon as they realized we were foreigners they started guessing where from. Germany being the number one guess, so obviously we are not the first foreigners visiting after all.

Upon learning we were a Dane and a saffa one of passengers promptly got out and came over with a big smile and greeted us. Lorraine got cheek kisses and I got a gangsta style handshake as he wished us safe travels. How friendly was that. As usual the warnings we had received that Bolivians are not very open and always want something turned out to be complete bullshit.

  Another rather colourful Bolivian cemetery.

Our little Suzuki driving down the river bed out of Atosha We saw these sulphur patches in the river bed outside Atosha and were not sure if they were natural or waste products of mining being washed into the river.

 More stunning scenery

I am glad we did this section of road in the daylight as it was very scenic and also turned into quite the safari. We spotted lots of Vicunas, wild donkeys, a curious owl and a whole family of rheas a big emu-like bird that we had never seen before.

One of many Rheas we saw on the road this one had a lot of little chicks

 The curious little owl.

At around 1400 we arrived in Uyuni and settled into the hostel.

The decision to ditch the Africa Twin had not been easy. I felt a little nostalgic, but nothing more. I have enjoyed many a trip on the bike, but at the end of the day it is a lifeless object and we were both confident it was the right decision. It also meant entering Bolivia at the airport in Santa Cruz instead of at the border to Argentina.

We found the Europcar office at the arrival, which turned out to be nothing more than a freestanding counter manned by a single person who did not speak a word of English. Granted, I should have prepared by learning more Spanish than the about 25 words I at this point have learned, but still. A car rental agency at an airport might suspect the odd non-Spanish speaking customer arriving. Anyhow, we managed to communicate and get the contract signed. All carbon copy forms filled out by hand, as she had no computer and no internet. Welcome to Bolivia. Obviously the Toyota RAV4 I had reserved was instead a Hyundai Tucson. I have yet, at any car rental in the world, to receive the actual car that is pictured on the webpage. It is always a “similar”. I am seriously wondering if they really have those cars at all or if they are just bait.

Lorraine was immediately sceptical of the size of the car. She likes smaller cars that are easier to manoeuvre and my failed attempt to park the car in the very small garage at the hotel convinced us to go back the next day and swap it for a Suzuki Grand Vitara, two door model, which, let’s face it, also looks a little more like adventure than a family car that just happens to have four-wheel drive. Happy with the trade we headed south.

 Our little Suzuki Grand Vitara 4×4

Some of the stranger sights in Santa Cruz: We saw many many Mennonites in Santa Cruz there are roughly 70000 Mennonites in Bolivia primarily from German and Dutch descent with a few local converts. It was easy to spot them but very difficult to get photos as they were reluctant to pose and quickly walked away when spotting our camera.

An old constellation in a park in Santa Cruz

One of the stranger feats of architecture spotted in the city

The original plan was to head for Sucre, but instead we opted for a more adventurous route that would take us in a loop south to Uyuni and then save Sucre for the trip back to Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is located in the tropical part of Bolivia in the lowlands which was clearly visible as the mountain landscapes we had driven through the past two weeks was now replaced with rolling hills and lots and lots of lush vegetation. We quickly also noticed the presence of millions of white small butterflies that just seemed to be everywhere. As we crossed a riverbed and stopped for photos Lorraine stood for a moment with her hand held out and within seconds a butterfly had landed on her finger and just sat there and had a rest. Unfortunately for the butterflies the count of white spots on the front of the car also increased rapidly.

Just some of the millions of butterflies. We literally spent 2 entire days driving through swarms of butterflies.

At the little town of Villamontes we decided to call it a day and found a nice hotel that had a kind of colonial look to it. So far all towns we have passed through including Santa Cruz had a beat up look to them and this one was no exception. There is the occasional newer or well restored house, but a lot of them look badly maintained if at all, built of clay or wood with a simple roof of metal plates. Of course neither heating nor isolation is needed.

The ordinary buildings and streets of Villamontes.

The lovely town square.

The town squares however are the exception. The one in Villamontes was absolutely stunning and as well kept as anything you will see in Europe. Stone arrangements with plants trimmed in different figures, little patios, benches, playgrounds, sculptures and what looked to be a scene for music, weddings whatever. What a contrast to just two streets down. And of course decorated with nice lights and a Christmas tree reminding us of the season.

This will be my first Christmas on the southern hemisphere, so to me it is quite confusing to sit outside having dinner enjoying a nice summer evening the week before Christmas.

Getting back on the road to Bolivia after our stay in Susques we were in fantastic spirits which sadly would not last very long. About 100kms down the road Zulu, the Africa Twin cut out once again. DAMN we both just sat on the road devastated what to do now. No way could we take a sick bike to Bolivia as the only option for mechanics would be in Potosi about 600kms away on some pretty bad roads. Also meaning that if we got stuck we’d have to spend a very cold night at about 4000m. So we decided to turn around and take the bike to Salta 120kms.

We met some very cool Brazilian bikers along the way … Brazilian bikers’ rock 🙂

We limped the bike in, stopping every 15 to 20 kms for 3 to 4 minutes, seeing if the bike would start and if so going another 15 to 20kms before it cut out again, and sometimes it would even do 50kms. We got to Salta after 7pm, found a hotel and quickly got on the net to find a mechanic. The following day we had a chat to the mechanic, bearing in mind this would be the 3rd time the bike was fixed. The mechanic didn’t have a clear cut definitive idea what the problem could be, but said he could look at various things. Since the problem is extremely intermittent, and the bike runs perfectly for anything from 100 to 300kms before cutting out, there was no way to even check if the things the mechanic does would fix the problem, let alone having to wait weeks if he needed a spare part. Also the mechanic we took the bike to in Calama was very good and we were not sure a new mechanic would find anything that the other one didn’t, since they had no way to test the bike. The main problem was also that Joern now had just over 3 weeks before he had to be back in Switzerland for work.
Wow what a dilemma, decisions decisions. We debated for ages as to what to do. If we had all the time in the world with no deadlines the decision would have been easy, get the bike fixed, test ride it and risk taking it to Bolivia. But with only 3 weeks left of our honeymoon and not wanting to spend it waiting on mechanics and being very untrusting of the bike Joern decided to leave the bike. He also decided that it was just not practical to ship a broken bike back home. The bike is a 1996 model with 65000kms on the clock and is very sick. So he found a buyer and sold the bike for spare parts, quite possibly for more than it was worth definitely more than what he’d get for it in Switzerland.
When he took Zulu to the buyer I cried and cried. So strange it is a metal object, has served its purpose and this was the right decision but I just felt the same way I felt when my last cat died 😦

Being a fun, positive, awesome, modest couple 😉 I knew this would not stop us. So we bought 2 flights to Santa Cruz in Bolivia, organised to hire a 4×4 and flew to Bolivia. I would see the salt flats if it killed me 
We made the most of our time in Salta, organising a place to store my bike for 3 weeks, changing brake pads and sightseeing. Oh and not to forget eating ice-cream, doritos and watching movies.

Sorting out what to take to Bolivia. It is incredible that all this fits on 2 bikes.

Iglesia Nuestra Senora de La Candelaria de La Vina , or The Blue Church of Salta. Magnificent.

The Cathedral of Salta

 Wild donkeys of the Atacama. We came across a few of these herds of donkeys which I at first thought belonged to the nearby villages. However I was told that most of them are wild herds, cool.

We decided to ride up to Chaxa lake, which has the flamingos, as a test ride for Joerns bike. The ride was great and the lake flamingos stunning. I loved seeing them, there are 3 different species of flamingo in Chaxa and some have the brightest pink wings which you can see when they fly. We met another German biker (we seem to be meeting a load of Germans on this trip, which is cool) He bought a bike in Antofagasta and is touring around Chile for a couple of months. Travelling by bike is becoming very popular. Sadly we did discover that Joerns bike was not fixed, so knew we would have to take it to Calama to the mechanic. Unfortunately the following day was a bank holiday so we had to spend another chillaxing day in San Pedro de Atacama and take the bike to Calama the following day. We decided to do the Astronomical tour and it was great. We got to see some star constellations through a telescope and also saw the Tarantula Nebula which was great.

On Wednesday we got up super early and headed to Calama to get Zulu the Africa Twin to the mechanic. Calama is not a fantastically interesting town but it was okay and we were more concerned about the bike than sightseeing. The mechanic was great and we got Zulu back before 7pm with a clean carb and jets as well as some tuning done to help him cope with the altitude.

A walk on Mars

There are a load of shines all along the roadways in Argentina and Chile. They are for the people who have died in road accidents. This one was the largest and most elaborate we saw. It was very sad though as the person was only 22 when he died.

Excited to be back on the road again we got up early and headed for the Argentinean border. What an awesome day. The border crossing was easy the weather great and once again the scenery stunning.  Since a picture paints a thousand words I think I’ll post pictures of the landscape instead of trying to describe it.

We spent the night in a tiny town called Susques but found the cutest little biker friendly hostel with the biggest Cacti I have ever seen.

The cute little hostalaria with the largest cacti I have ever seen

In Siberia I stayed in a 1 goat town, in Chile a 1 horse town and now in Argentina a 1 Lama town and this is the Lama.

  This church looked like it has a Donald Trump hairpiece

 Joerns favourite road on the whole trip

The route to San Pedro could not have been less boring. The road itself was good tarmac but the scenery was like something from another planet, really varied, interesting and downright spectacular, I just do not have the eloquence to describe it. I never realised there were so many shades of brown in the world.

 we found a tiny mining town in Chile called Spence…how cool

The town of San Pedro de Atacama is a small backpacker’s town full of hostels, tour operators, restaurants and shops, it is a very cute place. Our hostel Casa Campestre was on the outskirts of town and really nice. The people that work there are amazing so helpful and friendly and all speak good English. The kitchen was open so we could make our own food which was good and handy. We camped under some lovely shady trees which were a godsend as San Pedro de Atacama is as hot as hell and being the driest place on the planet is dusty. We stayed at a hostel called Casa Campestra, I can highly recommend this place it is great, it has a couple of rooms and dorms but also great camping places under some lovely shady trees. It is clean, quiet and the kitchen is open for you to do your own cooking which we enjoyed. The best thing are the young Brazilian couple who own the place, jus the nicest people and Ricardo who works there and is just awesome so friendly and helpful.

We ended up spending a few days in San Pedro De Atacama as Joerns bike, his trusty Africa twin, started giving us issues. On the way in to town it just cut out, he waited a few minutes and it started again, it did this two or three times and then rode perfectly to town. We realised that it cut out as we got over 3000m, so put the issue down to altitude. This was not great as we are expecting to ride up to 4500 in Bolivia and Peru. Joern took off the air filter, cleaned it out and did a quick check and all seemed ok. This is when we decided to stay for a few nights and do day trips using the hostel as a base. The first trip begin a test ride up to 4200m to see some lakes, this would also test my fuel consumption at altitude.

yup the tropic of Capricorn 🙂

 Judith the awesome Swiss biker we met

 this little cutie came and sat right next to our bikes

On the way up we met Judith a Swiss biker from Lausanne on a 6 month trip in South America. Judith was riding a DRZ400 and is such a nice lady, so we decided to ride together to the lakes.  The lakes were stunning the bluest blue you could imagine and we also saw a very confident fox on the road that came and sat very close to the bikes to have a good look at us. Judith then carried on to the further lakes but we had to turn back due to my small fuel tank and we wanted to take a detour to the flamingo lake on the way back to town. Well we missed the flamingos we simply just did not see the turn, which was a good thing and Joerns bike cut out again. DAMN when we got to the lakes we were celebrating as the bike had been fine all day and we simply put the previous days issue down to bad fuel or dirt air filter, but no such luck. Also this time the bike cut out every 10 min so we literally  limped it back to base. We had planned on doing a day trip to Bolivia to see the 3  lakes the following day but now Joern had to spend the day working on the bike in the hope that he could fix the problem.

The reason we had decided to do a day trip to Bolivia is that the road from San Pedro to Uyuni is very bad and there are no fuel stations on the way. Plus in Bolivia the petrol is subsidized for Bolivians and the gas station need to fill out forms to sell gas to foreigners (and at 3 times the price) so because of this many gas stations refuse to sell to foreigners. Some locals will if you knock on their door it cannot be guaranteed that they have any. So a day trip to see the lakes and then entering Bolivia from Argentina on a different road to get to the salt plains seemed like a better plan. But first we needed to get the bike fixed. We came up with all sorts of plans As, Bs, Cs and Ds as nothing was going to stop this awesome trip this was just one more hiccup in the road.

Joern spent the morning working on the bike struggling to find the issue until he opened up the carburettor and lo and behold he found a damaged vacuum membrane in the carburettor for the rear cylinder, no friggin way, the exact same issue that gadget had in Puerto Cisnes. We could not believe it, how freaky. This time it was a small tear on the rim and we still had the black gum so Joern managed to fix the tear and we left it overnight to dry, ready to do a test ride the following day. We spent the day chilling, again … we do a lot of chilling on this trip but we are having fun 🙂

Ovalle

Heading north we decided to avoid the motorway and took the scenic secondary roads and once again that was a good choice the scenery was just fantastic.

We decided to stop over in a little town called Ovalle as I was just too tired to carry on. Since it was Sunday everything was closed and we were getting rather desperate to find an open restaurant. I went to ask in a coffee shop which was just closing and bumped into a businessman from Santiago and a couple of colleagues who were also struggling to find an open restaurant. The owner had suggested a place to him and he offered for us to join him. 3 places later we finally found an open Chinese, literally the only place in town servicing food. It was great not only was the food awesome but there was tons of it and when it came time to pay Fernando would not let us give him a cent, how hospitable is that. What a nice and interesting man, he owned a company that does work for the government supplying machinery to small dairy farmers. He had lived in many different countries in the world and it was interesting chatting to him.

Bahai Inglesa

The motorway to Bahia Inglesa is a small one and very scenic so we decided to take that instead of the secondary roads. At one point we both just stopped in awe as the desert turned pink. It took us a few seconds to realise that the entire desert was covered in pink flowers just stunning.

Bahia Inglesa is a very very small seaside town and as it was out of season it was very quiet, just the way we like it. This time the bikes got the room with a view and our windows faced away from the sea. However the hotel was so nice and the view from the patio was just great. I cannot describe how good the food was in this place we decided to stay for 2 nights to enjoy the seaside and every meal was mouth-watering. We went for long walks on the beach, Joern took some great photos and we just chilled.

   some buzzards on the beach eating a dead seal

enjoying a walk on the beach

 Joern found Luke Skywalkers house

 this time the bikes got the sea view

Antofagasta

The road to Antofagasta was a bit boring so we just got down and did it. We did stop at the hand in the desert sculpture called Mano Del Desierto – Hand of the desert. A huge sculpture of a hand coming out of the sand, pretty damn cool.

 having a break eating peanuts in a ditch

 The hand of the desert, pretty cool

We arrived in Antofagasta in time to get my new rear tire put on. I had found a note on the internet suggesting a road with a few bike places where I could get my tire changed. On arrival we found Fernando in a small shop called crossteam. The mechanic was out and they did not have a machine to change the tire but Fernando said he’s do it no problem for 10000 pesos USD15 and he deserved every penny. Fernando his younger brother  and sister all race motorcross and by the look of the pictures and trophies in the shop he is pretty good. The town is pretty boring and it was a quick stop before heading off to San Pedro De Atacama.

we stopped for lunch in a tiny roadside café and then noticed that it was one of the check points from the Daker in one of the previous races, super cool 🙂

Lorraine Chittock lives in a tiny town called La Ballena just outside of Guaquen

The ride from Santiago is only 2 hours on the motorway but we took the back roads through the mountains and the views and twisties were great. Joern was in his element riding a totally empty twisty road in excellent condition, and the weather was great too.

some nice scenery and twisties for Joern

 we stopped to watch some Gauchos splitting a cattle herd

 interesting cacti along the route

When we turned off into Guaquen the road turned into a dirt track and around a bend you could see Lorraine’s house up on the cliff. What a little gem, it’s hard to describe Lorraine’s place as words just cannot do it justice. The view is stunning and there is nothing nicer than sleeping to the sounds of waves crashing against the rocks overlooked by the house. The house itself is gorgeous; I just wanted to move in and never leave.  It is very peaceful and her dogs are amazing I very nearly left with Boomerang packed into my suitcase. Lorraine is a great host and a very interesting lady to talk to. I think one could spend weeks talking to Lorraine about her life; she is a photographer by trade and has written 6 books.  Her first is about her trip across the Sudanese desert with a camel train. The pictures and the story are just fantastic. This is not something many westerners have done especially a woman.  She also spent 6 years living and travelling in North, Central & South America in a van with 2 dogs that she brought back from Kenya when she lived there.

  some of the local horses in La Ballena that run free in the areas

Lorraine’s house

Boomerang

view from our bedroom

 good conversations on the patio watching the sun set

We had a great time visiting Lorraine and Joern cooked us a good healthy veggie meal. Home cooking yummmmmmmy

Puerto Montt

We had arranged to meet a friend of a friend, Walter Buschmann, in Puerto Montt who could help us with a dry place to work on the bike. Walter then arranged for a college of his, Jorge who had a pickup truck, to meet us at the ferry and pick up my bike and take it the 7kms to Walters company. Once again showing how helpful, generous and hospitable people are the world over.  After dropping he bike Jorge then helped us find a hotel and told us that Walter would come and fetch Joern in the morning on his way to work.

The next day, Joern got his bike and rode up to Puerto Varas to collect a carburettor that Mick from Ride Chile had left for us at a hotel. Carburettor in hand, Joern fetched me and we started fixing my bike. I felt like I was performing heart surgery on my little gadget. The fault was so clear, a torn vacuum membrane in the carburettor. The new membrane fitted perfectly and we eagerly started my bike which just purred, kicked him into 1^st gear and wumpppp he stalled … DAMN hell and all those nasty words. We could not believe it, totally deflated we asked Walter if he knew a good mechanic. He gave us directions to Johnny’s company, Austral Motorsport. Johnny spoke perfect English and said that unfortunately his best mechanic was out with a sick family member and they would be able to help us on Monday. Walter agreed that we could leave the bike at his place until Johnny fetched it on Monday.

Walter and Jorge

 hole in the vacuum membrane

Making the most of a bad situation we decided to stay in Puerto Montt and just do a couple of day trips as miraculously the weather report for the weekend indicated some gorgeous sunny days.

We got up early on Saturday and headed to Puerto Varas and the Osorno Volcano with me riding pillion on Joerns Africa Twin. What an awesome day!

The ride was great, the skies were clear, the roads were excellent and the scenery stunning. The views of the volcano across the Llanquihue lake were just breathtaking. We stopped for coffee at the little roadside café with a view of the volcano and a few pet lamas for company. Man the lamas just make me laugh. Brownie, a teenage lama, was extremely tame but very cheeky and curious and you had to watch your clothes as he nearly took a bite out of Joern jacket while we were having coffee.

We also met two Australian riders, who we first met on the ferry, again. They had hired bikes for 5 weeks to tour Chile, which is clearly a very popular place to tour as I have seen more bikes in travelling in Chile than I have on the entire 3 months prior to entering Chile. I frustratingly cannot for the life of me remember their names 😦 but they were really nice guys and after we stopped and chatted to them on the road they rode ahead of us, but stopped on their way back to say that it was impossible to ride around the lake as the bridge was out and the road closed.

Damn our plans were thwarted, but no problem we simply turned around and went back to Puerto Varas for lunch and then rode on to Frutillar Bajo, where we could get a view of the volcanoes across the lake.  The view of Osorno was well worth the ride, Calbuco was sadly hidden behind some clouds, but we did get a great view of it from the road later in the day when the clouds lifted.

Calbuco

Osorno

 view from Frutillar Bajo

We had such an awesome day that all frustration due to my broken bike was forgotten.

The following day we could not decide exactly what to do as there were quite a few options. So we decided to do the same thing again … well not quite. We rode up to Puerto Varas and over the bridge we could not cross the previous day and straight up to a national park called Petrohue. There we went for a short hike and a look at the very pretty small waterfall. Thereafter we completed our round the lake trip which we could not do the previous day and got a closer look at Osorno. Another great day on the bike 🙂

I could hardly sleep on Sunday night being seriously nervous about the diagnosis on my bike, which turned out to be very simple. Sometimes things are just strange, we had to have 2 problems at the same time both of which have the same symptoms, the carburettor membrane failure and the side stand kill switch failure. We had thought about it on Friday night that perhaps the side stand switch was also faulty but since it was bucketing down and Walter had already closed up shop and left for the weekend we decided to just leave it for the mechanic. 30 minutes later the bike was running again … if only we had thought about that when it did not run after we fixed the carburettor, but we were so deflated we just could not see the wood for the trees, and we probably would not have had such a  fantastic weekend doing the mini day trips, so it was all good in the end.

On Tuesday we headed off with sunshine in our hearts … sadly not in the skies but we were so happy to be on the road and heading north we ignored the rain which lasted all 500kms. I was just ecstatic to be riding my gadget again that the kms just flew by. We stuck to the motorway which is boring but we just wanted to get to warm dry weather after day and days or riding in the cold and rain. Soaking wet we arrived in Los Angeles and found a hostel for the night.

Santiago

Wednesday was another long 500km motorway day but at least a dry one 🙂 🙂 🙂 and we arrived at Hostel Casa Matte in great spirits and looking forward to seeing what Santiago had to offer.  Christian and his wife Francisca own the most stunning hostel, it feels more like home than a hostel and is a bike friendly place as Christian is a serious biker himself.  I just fell in love with their house it is an old renovated 4 story building with gorgeous high ceilings and wooden floors, amazing views from the rooftop terrace and some really funky and beautiful decorations including the 1976 Yamaha XT in the lounge. There are a number of bikers at the hostel at the moment, all really nice and friendly as travelling bikers usually are.  2 bikers from Argentina, 2 from Chile and a Japanese lady called Mai. Mai has resigned from her job, bought a great little XT200 and is heading down to Ushuaia next week, how awesome is that.

 Mai, Christians dad, Christian, Francisca and me

On Thursday (and no surprises here) we spent the day at the mechanic fixing my bike again, this time the front wheel. For a few days now whenever I went around a corner I could feel the slightest tiny vibration of the wheel. I started to think that I was just being paranoid as I do get paranoid with my bike but it was, to me, just so obvious. I checked the front wheel and could not see/feel anything but when Joern checked he said he could feel a slight grinding resistance when shaking the wheel. I decided to play it safe and take the bike to a mechanic. Johnny Mottos (real name Ruben) might just be the best mechanic on the planet. Well, mechanic / entertainer. This guy has no webpage, does no advertising, his shop doesn’t even have a sign and yet business is booming.

Louis, Johnny and me

When he first looked at the wheel he said he could not see anything wrong, but then he took the wheel bearings out. The one spun smoothly with no issues but the second had a distinctive grinding rough sound/ feeling. Voila I was not just being paranoid the wheel was faulty. We spent the whole day at Johnny’s place while he replaced the bearings and got a machinist to straighten the axel which had the slightest bend to it. Johnny was so thorough I was really pleased . He also greased the steering column, and replaced the fork oil. I had not even realised how spongy my forks had become as it is such a gradual change but now they feel like new. We also had a BBQ (called Parilla in Chile) lunch with Johnny and his friends during which time  Johnny entertained us with some dancing … it was a good laugh and a very good day. Johnny does not speak English but one of his friends Louis who does was there and did the necessary technical translation for us. Louis is a really nice guy and  runs a bike accessories shop called Ru7austRal, he rides a KTM and has the cutest dog which rides with him in a special dog carrier case which is strapped to the back of his bike.

Since we spent an entertaining day with Johnny we decide to stay in Santiago another day so that we could go and visit Mick the Danish guy from Ride Chile, find a post office, do our washing and get to see some of Santiago.

view from the roof terrace at Casa Matte Breakfast on the terrace

I was dead keen to head north to go visit Lorraine Chittock who lives 2 hours north of Santiago in but could not miss this opportunity of seeing Santiago so had to delay our visit by a day.

 Joern making friends with another gas station dog