A short visit to Chile

My time in Chile was so quick that I can give you a play by play. It started with a short stretch of dirt track before reaching the first paved road I had seen in nearly two weeks. Turning right here would drop me 6500 feet in 30 miles to San Pedro in the Atacama desert. Going left would take me to Argentina. I wanted to go to Argentina but to get my Chile entrance stamp I needed to go to San Pedro. It was not a hill I was excited about climbing back up but I didn't seem to have a choice. I had just started toward San Pedro when Tori, a New Zealand cyclist that I had met briefly in Columbia, crested the hill coming toward me. We stopped to say hello and he informed there is a Chile immigrations office at the Argentina border too. With that I turned around and joined him heading towards Argentina. 

It was a day and a half ride to the border. We camped one night in a national park dotted with rock towers. They were fascinating to look at and served as a nice wind block. It was another cold night but we were slowly descending toward the Argentina border and, I was hoping, warmer weather. 

When I got to the border I handed over my passport. The border agent that gives the exit stamps looked at my passport and asked where my entrance stamp was. In broken Spanish I explained my situation. He was unimpressed but with a little pleading the border agents decided to let me through with no entrance or exit stamps for Chile. The Argentina agent gave me a stamp with a smile and I was on my way. My shortest visit to a country yet. 

 Welcome to Chile.

 Rocks!

 Bike dudes.

 Tori and I camping with a serious wind block.

Chile wildlife. A wolf? Or a warm fox? I'm not sure. 

 Argentina already!

Crossing Bolivia

Bolivia was adventurous. From Lake Titicaca I carried on across a vast plain towards snow capped mountains rising slowly over the horizon. One of those mountains I biked up. Mount Chacaltaya. The road took me up to 17,233 feet. A mile over the big city of La Paz sprawling across the land below. It was a six hour climb to that point which I finished in the darkness. As the light faded the city lit up below mirroring the sparkling clear starry sky above. Arriving high in the cold and the dark I expected to be huddled in my tent trying to stay warm for the night. What I found was a glass pyramid positioned on a precipice to give a view of the city, the stars and the surrounding snow covered mountains rising above me. It is one of the greatest places I have ever slept. 

Traversing towards southern Bolivia took me across wide open valleys before depositing me on the Uyuni salt flat, the largest salt flat in the world. It took me more than a day to bike across. South of the salt flat the roads deteriorated and I began climbing up rocky, sandy tracks into the mountains. Volcano cones rose up around me. The landscape seemed to expand away from me. It was a beautiful place. The remoteness of it was spectacular as well. I had to make my food stretch 11 days between locations I could resupply. I brought four ingredients for that section; rice, oatmeal, pasta and brown sugar. This area was cold too. The highest pass was over 16000 feet. Night time temperatures at that elevation dropped into the single digits Fahrenheit. During the day it warmed up enough to melt my water for cooking before it froze again as the sun set. During a particularly windy night in my tent while high in the mountains I awoke to find snow piling up against my tent fly. By the time the sun rose the high desert had turned into a tundra. The world had been transformed. It was spectacular. The rest of my journey to the Chilean border was punctuated by brilliant white mountains against deep azure skies. 

 Bolivian fighter jet and my rocketship.

 A $2 meal in Bolivia.

 Bolivian grocery store.

 This must be the right way.

 Salty track.

Morning on the Uyuni salt flat.

There is no need to follow a road across the salt flat but this is what one looks like. 

Q

 The end of a good day.

 I passed nearly a dozen volcanoes in southern Bolivia.

 Camping on the Uyuni salt flat.

 Rock and roll!

 This road took me to the top of the center peak on the right.

 I spent a night in this glass pyramid.

 Southern Bolivia.

 Ready for a silent starry night.

 Camping with volcanos.

I saw a lot of these creatures. I'm not sure what they are called, but I know they're related to alpacas and lamas. 

 A lot of pushing in this section.

 One day before the snow.

 My bike is in front of a formation called the "tree of wind".

 Such a nice day.

 Lama lama.

 The desert becomes a tundra.

 Flamingos!

View from my tent.

Leaving Peru

After 9 weeks of struggling up and down huge mountains Peru let me exit along a wide flat valley following a river to Lake Titicaca. It left a good final impression. But before that last stretch I got to be a tourist with my parents! 

We started off with a stay in the Sacred Valley. For a few days we visited colorful markets, ancient Inca ruins and of course Machu Picchu. The Inca are known for their precision stone work and what they created did not disappoint. How they shaped and moved such large stones without heavy machinery is beyond me. Even more impressive is that they were able to create such complex architecture without a written language.

Our next destination was the Amazon. With a guide and driver we took a precarious road several thousand feet down from the mountains.  We spent a night in the mountainside cloud forest before descending to the Amazon proper in Manu national park. From the end of the road a boat took us deeper into the forest where we spent two more nights. Along the way we saw 5 types of monkeys, maybe 50 types of birds, the world's largest species of rodent, countless orchids, a variety of ants and even a few frogs.

To finish off the sightseeing we spent the last couple of days in Cusco. Cusco is one of the nicest cities I've been to. It was easy to walk around, the food was good. We visited museums and beautiful ruins above the city. It has big markets and plenty of street vendors. Once my parents left I contemplated staying a little longer before returning to the trials of the road. Back on my bike though I hadn't gone ten blocks before I was wondering why I would ever choose another day in a city over another day of bike touring.

My mom with the precision stonework.

The boat we took into the Amazon.

Saksaywaman site.

The road out of Peru. 

The largest stone at the Saksaywaman site.

Saksaywaman site again.

The road to the Amazon.

A flower for you.

Another flower for you.

Traditional mask.

Church in Cusco.

Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu.

These terraces were used to determine which plants grow in which climate zones.

Churches were built on the sites of Inca temples.

Cusco graffiti.

Machu Picchu window.

Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu alpaca.

My dad. The false windows give the walls strength.

I annoyed this tree from.

Highway decorations.

Onto Bolivia!