Amigos on Motos

Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi

2009-03-29T05:40:00.002+10:00

After landing in La Paz, Bolivia, my plan was to head straight to Inti Wara Yassi, an organisation that we had heard about through other travellers that look after wild animals that have been taken and sold on the black market. In many cases they try to rehabilitate the animals and re-release them into the wild, however with many of the large cats it is very difficult so the focus is turned to simply giving the animals the most normal and enjoyable life possible while in captivity.

Parque Ambue Ari, where I planned to volunteer, is located in the lowlands of the Bolivian jungle, about 6 hrs drive from Santa Cruz, so after landing in La Paz, I headed straight to the bus station (after a couple of quick photos of the city from El Alto) and got immediately on an overnight bus to Santa Cruz. I spent 1 night in Santa Cruz and jumped on a bus to Ascencion de Guarayos, about 45mins from the park and then took a taxi from there.

One thing I noted in Bolivia, unlike many other countries, is that almost the entire population is made up of indigenous people. There are very few Spanish looking people. In fact the only other ¨white¨ people I saw were Mennonites at the Santa Cruz bus station. The Mennonites are a religious group originally from Germany (I think) and were very conspicuous in that the men apparently have a choice of clothing that consists of a large cowboy style hat, a shirt and either green or blue overalls and the women look wear very old fashioned clothing. Some of the men reminded me of some stereotypical Southern hick farmer from the USA. Apparently they are somewhat similar to the Amish in the US, generally shunning technology and living and farming the land in small communities.

Anyway, I reached the park to find that they were fairly low on volunteers. This was lucky for me as people who only stay 2 weeks generally don´t get to work with the big cats, but I was charged with looking after the quarantine area in the morning and the 3 pumas that are the namesakes of the park, Inti, Wara and Yassi, in the afternoon with 2 other guys.

The first week was tougher than I expected. When I first arrived it was stiflingly hot and the mosquitoes were worse than anything I could ever have imagined. Then towards the end of the week it rained solidly for about 3 days. This meant there were less mosquitoes, but I was constantly wet and often cold. The low point was a few days into my time when I caught a fever, but luckily it cleared up the next day and considering another guy had scored himself some serious puncture wounds from being jumped by one of the pumas, I counted myself lucky.

Despite the difficulties, I was loving working with the animals. Working in quarantine involved taking care of some parrots, tortoises, a small cat (a Geoffrey´s cat I think) named Mariano and a Cappucin monkey named Martina. Martina in particular was a lot of fun once she had begun to trust me and she would happily sit on my shoulder or lap and groom me or catch the mosquitoes that were always hanging around.

The highlight of my days was definitely looking after ¨Las Chicas,¨ Inti, Wara and Yassi in the afternoon. Most days we´d take 1 cat each and take them for a walk through the jungle. I had a few surreal moment when I realised that I was wading through waste deep brown water in the middle of the Bolivian jungle and tethered to a Puma with no other person in sight or within earshot (we would call to each other regularly to check were the others were)... certainly an experience I´ll never forget.

Las Chicas themselves were very affectionate as far as wild cats go. Yassi in particular would constantly be rubbing her head against yours and demanding love & attention. Wara was more stand-offish while in the cage, but was very affectionate when out on her walks. She was also the best looking of the cats as far as I was concerned with amazing blue eyes and a lovely orange coloured coat. Inti was definitely the most independant of the 3 and socialised less with both the other 2 cats and with us, but was still lovely to work with. Despite all of this there were still several times when 1 of them would get in a bad mood and scare the crap out of you with a nasty hiss in your direction... it was good to be reminded every now and again that these are wild cats and not your household tabby.

The second week at the park the conditions seemed to be a lot milder and the mosquitoes not quite as bad (or maybe I just got more used to them) and I really enjoyed my time there. Despite that, I was ready to leave after the 2 weeks. It was a fantastic experience, but not something I feel that I could do for a long time. You have to have SO much love and respect for these animals to work here as so often they can be really difficult to work with and you just have to be so patient with them. I have a great respect for those that volunteer at the park for a long time. I certainly don´t have it in me to do that.

I met some fantastic people and some amazing animals at Ambue Ari and had some great times. It´s definitely an experience I will not forget in a hurry!

Farewell Sarsie! and on to Lima

2009-03-28T04:25:00.002+10:00

After returning to Santiago, we rode once more to Valparaiso. This time with the sad task of packing up Doug for his trip home. So we cleaned, and packed and with the help of Martina and Enzo (who arranged the shipping and owned the hostel at which we stayed) we sent Doug on his way back home. The only really standout moment was when 3 youths tried to steal the pouch containing our passports that Sara had hung around her neck... this was the first time anything like this had happened to us here, so it took a few seconds for what was happening to sink in, but we weren´t going to take it lying down, and after I tackled one of the guys and Sara punched another on the nose, they gave up and ran for it... I don´t think they were expecting any resistance.

We then returned to Santiago and I farewelled Sara as she had to return to Aus and to work... from then on I was on my own... so far tavelling solo is a different experience, but I honestly still wish you were here with me Sars!

So, after a few days contemplating what I was going to do with my last 2 months, I decided, after LAN released some incredibly cheap flights, that I would fly to Bolivia and Colombia. The available dates of the cheap flights meant that I would start my solo adventure with a week in Lima, the capital of Peru though.

Lima was an interesting city. Not quite what I had expected. The cliffs and ocean below were quite beautiful, especially when covered in a thick mist that had been kicked up by the ocean. And there were many surfers in the water below. I contemplated a few times hiring a board and joining them, but never got round to it.

The hostel that I stayed in was new and didn´t even have signage yet, which was good as it was clean and tidy, but bad because there were very few people staying there. As a result I spent much of my time eploring the city solo. I visited some of the most amazing museums I have been to, with some incredible displays of Incan and pre-Incan artwork. The gold masks and headdresses were particularly amazing, but perhaps the most bizzare and interesting was the collection of ¨errotic artwork¨ at the Museo Larco (see pics of Lima). There were porcelin figurines and vases with people, gods, and the dead in practically every position you can think of... seriously wierd.

I also visited some pre-Incan ruins that are located right in the centre of town and spent much time just wandering the streets and watching the people. There was an interesting shopping centre actually built into the cliffs overlooking the Ocean and I spent a couple of nights working on my dance moves in a Colombian Salsa club with some local friends.

I certainly enjoyed my time in Lima much more than I had expected and found it to be a more multicultural andexciting city than I had originally envisioned.

Buenos Aires

2009-03-28T04:04:00.002+10:00

Buenos Aires... what a place. We had a total of 4 days to explore the city, but we could have spent much longer!

One of the highlights of our stay was a walking tour in which the guide explained to us much of the incredibly turmultuous (is that a word) political history of the city and of Argentina and took us to many relevant sites including the presidential palace, Eva Peron´s office (now a museum) and a site of an old police station where many people were tortured to death as recently as 15 yrs ago. One of the most incredible things was the constant protests that, as was explained to us, are practically a daily occurence in Buenos Aires. Indeed, on the day we did the tour, the police were setting up the fencing around the main square (the fencing stays there to be set up & pulled down whenever there is a protest) and we passed a group of protesters with several men whereing scarves over their faces and carrying battons... still none of the locals seemed to even batt an eyelid as the protesters passed... it was just another day for them.

We also went to an obligatory Tango Show. We chose a very intimate one as opposed to the big theatre based productions that many people go to. Ours was in a small bar that had about 12 tables and the smallest area for the dancers. It was really quite impressive with all the high kicks and everything that no tables were sent flying. It was a fantastic night, with several professional couples dancing as well as traditional singing and a couple of 3 or 4 piece bands playing traditional music. Sara and I even got up and attempted a some dancing with the professionals... not a chance!! haha. What did strike me was that the tango is actually a very beautiful and sensuous dance when done well. The difference between the professionals here and those that dance in the many plazas and streets for money was very obvious.

No visit to South America would be complete without a trip to a soccer match, and no team is more famous than Marradona´s old club in Argentina, the Boca Juniors. So we joined a group and off we went to the match. We got to see a little of La Boca, the famous area near the soccer stadium where the brightly coloured houses that you see in most BA related articles are. We then had to wait as our path was blocked by riot police while all of the opposing team´s supporters entered the stadium (they also kept us inside for 40 mins after the match until all of the opposing team´s supporters had left).

Inside the stadium was quite incredible. We stood in the heat, shoulder to shoulder with thousand of other supporters. On the other side of the stadium were the real Boca supporters and it was amazing to hear them play music and chant non-stop for the ENTIRE match. Ultimately the game itself was not particularly good and Boca lost 2-0, but it was quite the experience.

Our final days in BA were spent wandering the local parks, rowing on the lakes and wondering the miles and miles and miles of markets that were tucked into the narrow streets with European style buildings lining them. The best part of the markets were the constant sting of musicians playing for a few coins... just as one was fading into the background as you walked you could start to hear the next one up ahead. We even recognised some of the musicians from the Tango show we had been to.

So, all in all we had a fantastic time in BA and we would both have been happy to spend more time exploring the city.

Iguazu Falls

2009-03-28T03:52:00.002+10:00

Iguazu falls had been high on our list of places to visit, but unfortunately for us Sara´s time in Sth America was quickly coming to an end. There was no way we could ride there and get back to Santiago for her flight, so we bit the bullet and decided to leave the bikes in Santiago and fly to Iguazu falls and then Buenos Aires.

When we arrived at Iguazu, it was nothing like we had experienced for the last 3-4 months... Suddenly we had gone from the dry desert like landscapes of Western Argentina and Patagonia and stepped out of the plane into a tropical rainforest. The houses in Puerto Iguazu, the small town that acts as a tourist service town to the falls, were all made from the red mud that coated the ground everywhere and made a stark contrast to the dark green of the rainforest.

We stayed 1 night, then headed to the falls early the next day... WOW!!! WOW!!! and WOW!!! There´s not much more that I can say to describe these falls, except that you should look at the pics I´ve already posted. People that have been to Niagara and here say that Niagara is not nearly as beautiful. The falls themselves are 2 km long and consist of several sections, some with multiple small falls and then the ¨Gargantua del Diablo¨ the most amazing single waterfall I have ever seen, which sometimes creates a plume of mist that can be seen from more than 2 km away.

It was grey and rainy the day we were there, so we missed out on the thousands of butterflies that usually inhabit the area as well as the rainbows created by the mist from the falls. But the rain could not dampen our spirits and although it did dampen us a little, we had enough spray from the waterfalls and particularly when we took a jet boat ride which ran right up underneath one of the falls that we had excepted being absolutely drenched and the fact that it wasn´t cold just made it part of the experience. We even went for a swim off a small island that sits in the middle of the falls.

All in all it was an incredible day and we were both very happy we had forked out the money to make it there.

Mendoza

2009-03-28T03:39:00.002+10:00

From Bariloche we spent a couple of uneventful days riding North to Mendoza. After the few days, Sara was also getting her confidence back in riding after the continuous string of problems we had had with he bike in the recent past. Her strength and determination to keep riding despite what she had been through impressed me more than I could have ever expressed to her. I think many people would have given in, particularly after her first crash outside of Perito Moreno.

We reached Mendoza and (after considerable effort) found ourselves a decent hostel with a small pool and some hammocks for chilling out and doing some reading. They were also kind enough to let us wheel our bikes through the reception and into the courtyard to keep them safe.

Our first night there, we joined those in the hostel for a traditional Argentinean Asado (BBQ). Wow! They really know how to cook there meat over there. Ínstead of the normal Australian style of using an incredibly hot bbq and cooking the meat for a short time, they cook slowly over ashes. The actual cooking took around 3 hours and I think they used about a 1:1 weight ratio of salt to meat... still it made for some incredibly tasty meat.

While in Mendoza, we did the typical tourist thing and did a ¨bikes and wines¨ tour. Basically, you rent a push bike and they give you a map of the local wineries and off you go. We visited a couple of wineries and tasted a lot of Malbec, which is a red that is typical of this region and is only grown in Argentina. Unfortunately it wasn´t my favourite variety, but we bought a couple of bottles of nice blends that we had tried. We also visited a small place that made handmade chocolates and liquors and purchased a green pepper liquor which was very spicy as well as a pomello liquor (the chocolates weren´t much to rave about).

Otherwise, Mendoza offered us the opportunity to enjoy some good food and do some relaxing. It was then back over the border to Santiago to catch our flights to Iguazu falls and BA.

San Carlos de Bariloche

2009-03-28T03:25:00.003+10:00

After our great time at Futaleufu, we pumped up Sara´s flat tyre again, crossed our fingers and headed over the border and on toward the Tourist mecca and one of the largest towns of the region, San Carlos de Bariloche (also just known as Bariloche). What struck me originally on this ride was the difference between the Chilean side of the Andes and the Argentinean... It was almost immediate as we crossed the border that the scenery turned from wet rainforest type terrain to much dryer, open plains there was even a hawk or eagle circling overhead just as we reached this first plain... as if to add to the stereotype.

We were very happy to reach Bariloche on that same day without incident. Bariloche shocked me a little as we arrived and rode though miles and miles of slums that reminded me of those in countries like Peru. I hadn´t expected this from all the banter from other tourists about how beautiful the town was. It wasn´t until we reached the central tourist areas that I realised that most tourists obviously only get a small glimpse of this (much larger than I expected) town.

We found ourselves a hostel and settled in for a few days. We knew we had to be there a couple of days as I had a package that was supposed to be delivered there, but was now stuck in Buenos Aires.

While there we tried our had at Canyoning. Something Sara and I had talked about doing for a long time. It wasn´t exactly what I expected. More like following a small creek down a mountain, but we did have a great time jumping into rock pools, sliding down rocks and abseiling down beside beautiful waterfalls with a view of the lake in the background.

We also rode round a popular tourist circuit and spent a fair bit of time just relaxing and wandering around the town and sampling some of the locally made chocolate. It was a little too touristy for our liking, but a comfortable place to stop nonetheless. There also may have been a small cheese & salami related incident which has still to this day soured my taste for those foods and also delayed our departure from the town by a day.

Futaleufu

2009-03-28T03:13:00.002+10:00

ok... digging a long way back here, but hopefully I´ll get the blog up to date soon. After Chaiten, we limped our way to Futaleufu (see previous blogs for details) where we happened upon a fantastic and cheap hostel. We had decided to stay a couple of days since the Futaleufu river is classed as one of the top 3 in the world for white water rafting and Kayaking.

After our first night, we rocked up to a tour agency the next day and got straight on board for a kayaking trip. It was on the Rio Espolon rather than the Futaleufu, but given our practically non-existant kayaking experience, the class 2 & 3 rapids of the Espolon were the perfect level for us.

We had an absolutely fantastic day paddling around on the stunning blue/green river. It was even hot enough that we jumped into the icy water a couple of times... we probably needn´t have though as both of us managed to tip over in the (relatively) tame rapids we were negotiating. All in all, it was fantastic to forget our recent bike problems and have some serious fun!

That night we had been informed that there was a free concert by a famous Chilean Folkloric band Las Jaivas (The Crabs) at the soccer field. So along we went and were greeted by an intro more bizzare than I have ever seen... strange horns coupled with synthesiser and bizarre images of the Spanish Conquistadors abusing and attacking the indigenous people... That lasted for about 10 mins until the sound crackled and died... They tried a second time, but the same thing happened and they announced that they needed time to fix the ¨technical difficulties¨. After about 20 mins we left as we were exhausted from our big day. It was only on the way home that we noticed that they had blacked out half the town in order to supply enough power for the concert.... lol!

The next day we hit the real rapids of the Futaleufu for some white water rafting... again it was absolutely fantastic fun and on such a beautiful river! We were also very proud of the fact that we made it through the class 4 & 5 rapids without loosing a single person from the boat, despite having a couple of young children in our crew. We had watched while the 2 rafts after us both flipped on the 1 particularly difficult rapid of the course!

So that was Futaleufu, after which we crossed the border back to Argentina and headed up to San Carlos de Bariloche.

Chaiten

2009-03-19T21:18:00.002+10:00

The History
May 2, 2008 - Chaiten Volcano, Chile, erupts for the first time in over 2000 years
May 3, 2008 – State of Emergency declared in the nearby town of Chaiten.
May 5, 2008 - Complete evacuation of Chaiten ordered.
May 12, 2008 – Accumulation of rain and ash cause the Blanco River to overflow its banks and deposit tonnes of volcanic matter into the Chaiten valley, destroying the town and its immediate surroundings. *
February 19, 2009 - Chaiten Volcano erupts again – the biggest eruption in modern Chilean history.
February to Present – Continual and substantial ash emissions.

The Details *
A lahar is a type of mudflow composed of volcanic material and water that flows down from a volcano. Lahars typically cause catastrophic destruction because of their energy and speed and because they have the consistency of concrete: fluid when moving, solid when stopped. A lahar was the cause of the majority of the destruction in Chaiten.

Our Visit
In January 2009, seven months after the first eruption, Nick and I visited Chaiten. The scene that greeted us was surreal. The destruction caused by the lahar was extensive. So extensive. Homes covered halfway to the roof with ash. Bus stops, street signs and stores suspended in time on the main thoroughfare, buried. The riverbanks, meters high walls of ash and dead plants. The town’s port and beach, desolate stretches of grey, unnaturally dotted with the occasional uprooted house. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. Nothing.
The town itself was quiet - a light wind, a few tourists toting cameras, some army personnel and a small cleanup crew the only activity on an overcast day. Oh, that, and Volcan Chaiten, in the background, still incredibly active, still ominously and patiently spewing plumes of thick ash kilometers into the sky.

The Present
Whilst Chilean officials insist they cannot guarantee residents’ safety in Chaiten, a recent Supreme Court ruling decreed that the Government did not have the power to prevent residents from returning to their homes. And, even after February 19, 2009, when Volcan Chaiten produced its most spectacular eruption to date, destroying even more of the town - people still refuse to leave. And, even after an official government press release announcing that Chaiten will not be rebuilt and that residents will be compensated for new homes purchased - people still refuse to leave.

A Short Comment
My first response to people being allowed to return to live in Chaiten is one of utter dismay. I’m sure it is a response I share with many, especially those who have visited the town, seen the destruction, and witnessed the quiet menace of the unrelenting volcanic activity.
Ultimately though, I very strongly believe that the power and freedom to follow your heart is by far the greatest tool of happiness a person can have.

Choose Your Own Adventure

2009-03-14T14:11:00.002+10:00

Mt Fitz Roy, Los Glaciares National Park, “ is Argentina’s gem of Patagonian trekking”; “a region of exceptional natural beauty”; “one of the most extraordinary places in the world”.

Whilst I had read all this and more, as I rode Doug toward El Chalten, I was still captivated and impressed by my first view of the jagged silhouette of Mt. Fitz Roy rising up from the horizon. I never would have guessed though, that trekking Mt. Fitz Roy would end up being one of the most magical experiences of my entire holiday.

Each night we got to set up our home in the most pristine natural surroundings, under tall trees and beside lagoons and rivers of crystal clear water. Each day we trekked along gorgeous trails, drank fresh water from clear streams and lunched at magical lake and glacier lookouts. The surroundings were perfectly enchanting, the weather was wonderful, and when I think back to the time we spent in Mount Fitz Roy, I just remember feeling beautifully happy: happy, relaxed and peaceful.

The Basics
Day One – Park Doug and Dot, pack backpacks, trek to Laguna Capri (7km), setup home, explore campsite, relax by the lagoon at sunset, eat dinner, sleep.
Day Two – Nick collects cooker, I pack up home, trek to Camp Poincenot (9.5km), setup home, climb to Laguna de los Tres viewpoint (1.5km), return to camp, explore campsite, relax by river at sunset, eat dinner, sleep.
Day Three –Trek to Piedras Blancas (12km), return trek to Camp Poincenot, packup home, trek to Camp De Agostini (10km), setup home, eat dinner, sleep
Day Four, Attempt trek to Mirador Maestri but turn back due to strong winds, packup home, trek back to Doug and Dot.

Best Walk
The path to Piedras Blancas Glacier: A hugely entertaining choose-your-own-adventure style morning following a trail marked roughly by small piles of rocks! We clambered over, under, along and between rocks, boulders and rubble until we ended up at the waters edge of a pristine glacier lake directly beneath the eastern face of Mt Fitz Roy. We ate an apple sitting on a rock under a perfect blue sky. And we did not see one person, did not have to share it with any other human, not until we stood up to head back to camp...

Biggest Doh
Realizing at dinner time on the first night that neither of us had packed the camp cooker! Dohhhhhhhh! Nick definitely gets awarded the **SUPERSTAR** of the trek trophy though – for walking all the way to the bikes and back before breakfast the next morning to get it!

Yummiest Camp Food Ever
Peanut butter and sesame crackers! Yummmmmmy!

It All Started With A Wheelie

2009-03-04T23:20:00.001+10:00

It’s with a giggle now that I think back to my first few months of riding and how horribly nervous I was. Nervous. Nervous. Nervous. In fact, nervous is probably an understatement. To be honest, I was so regularly completely consumed with fear about riding and my impending motorbike trip that I gave myself nightmares. <>

10,000km and one overseas motorcycle adventure later, I love my bike and I love being able to ride. I have experienced riding in more conditions than some others experience in a lifetime. I have ridden in heat, rain, wind, and even in a little bit of snow. I have ridden paved and unpaved roads, on dirt, mud and even loose gravel. I have dropped, fallen and crashed. I have loved and laughed. I have hated and cried. I have learnt so much in such a short time – about motorbikes and traveling and about motorbike travel – and I am so very, very proud of myself.

Riding in South America was the biggest challenge I have ever given myself.

It has been the most amazing experience of my life.

And For My Man…. This Next Bit Is For You…..

For checking over my bike before each ride and for fixing my bike each time it broke; For mapping our route and for always riding lead; For patiently teaching me to ride and for building my confidence; For constantly checking on me in your rear vision mirror and for being there every time I needed you; For encouraging me when I was scared and for cuddling me when I cried; For making me smile when I was exhausted and for making me laugh when I was bored; For sharing each and every moment of my first motorcycle adventure - THANKYOU. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You made this possible for me.

You've gotta take the rough with the smooth!

2009-02-26T02:29:00.004+10:00

ok ok... it's been a long time since I last blogged, but this little ditty is a tale I don't want to forget, so before it gets too far from my memory I will try to recount it.

This is going to be a little out of order because we haven't done a blog about our trek round Mt Fitzroy yet, but it shall come soon and I want to get this down now

I'll delve back here a little to when we went to Punta Arenas to try to get Sara new brake pads. I was a little concerned about the condition of Sara's back tyre, so I talked to the mechanic about it and he seemed confident it's be fine until we got further North to Bariloche or even Santiago....

The trip North from El Chalten (where we trekked round Monte Fitzroy) along Argentina's ruta 40 was a long, dusty and incredibly windy one. Our road was paved until a little nothing town called Tres Lagos where we filled up on petrol and from there we headed onto the worst gravel road we'd been on the whole trip and to make matters worse there was a howling, gusty crosswind. We had about a truck tyre's width to ride on and a pile of loose gravel on either side of that just waiting to steal any traction we had if we should be blown slightly off course.

We stayed a night in a little centre called Gobernador Gregores where we stayed in an apartment style room and enjoyed some local mate. Then the next day was on Northward in similar conditions. After about 1 hr's riding we had possibly one of the funniest incidents of our trip when Sara accidently ran into the back of me (at slow speed) when I had stopped to talk to her. Her brake lever had come loose and rotated around the handle to a point where she couldn't reach it. lol! So, we rectified the issue with the brake handle and went back to riding.

A little while late I decided that I wanted to stop and get some picutres of Sara riding on this dead straight dirt road in the middle of nowhere, so I went ahead and got some pics as she approached me. I was however struggling to keep my bike from falling over due to the wind whilst taking them and so, as Sara passed, I was muttering to myself, "please don't stop, don't stop, just keep on going"... then she stopped, and inevitably the bike fell over. The only damage was that the brake level had broken off and we had a spare, so after setting the bikes up so they wouldn't fall we set about changing her lever.

We then continued on to a servo which marked a fork in the road named Bajo Caracoles. It was early in the afternoon so we decided to head further on and make the town of Perito Moreno. We were about 4kms from Perito Moreno travelling about 80km/hr down the now paved road into town when I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a sight that litteraly made my heart stop. Sara fell at speed, the bike flipping from 1 side to the other. Thankfully she got back up almost immediately and was trying to move the bike by the time I had gotten back to her. She was ok, her biking gear did an excellent job of protecting her, except that she was seriously shaken! The bike had a flat back tyre. It appears that she had got a punture and the innertube had turned, ripping the valve out of the tube and causing it to deflate quickly which meant that Sara lost control of the bike. Other than that, the brake handle was broken (again) and the handlebars slightly bent.

We managed to hoble into the town, Sara riding Dot and be on Doug riding in 1st gear the whole way. It was while we were in town looking for a place to stay and assess the bike when we ran into Miriam, a biker that we had previously met in Ushuaia. She was having bike problems and was staying at the Municipal campgrounds, so we joined her there.

The following day we changed Sara's rear inner tube with our spare and Sara, with Miriams help, managed to get the 2 pieces of her brake handle welded back together. It wasn't perfect, but it'd do for now.

I could not have been more proud of Sara, when the next day, she got back on Doug again to continue our journey. I think so many people might have packed it in after a scare like that. We headed over the border back into Chile. Heading towards the Carreterra Austral. We had heard that the scenery along there is amazing and also that the road is in better condition than the ruta 40 and with much less wind.

We reached the town of Chile Chico where we tried to extract some cash, but the only atm in town had none... no worries, we thought. We still had about 60 000 Chilean Pesos (about $120 Aus) and it was only a day or 2's ride to Coyhaique or Cochrane where we could get more. So we set off along possibly the most amazing road of our ride, a dirt road winding round the cliffs on the side of a magnificently blue lake. The scenery was spectacular! and I was greatly enjoying the ride... until Sara stopped. I returned to her to see what the problem was... the rear tyre which we had changed was flat again. I figured we must have pinched the tube when we put it in. Not long after stopping (about 2pm) some travellers stopped to help us. They tried to pump up the tyre with their compresor, but to no avail. We said that we needed a truck to put the bike on and just then a police truck (ute) passed by. We flagged them down and the travellers told them what we needed. Apparently they had some urgent stuff to do in Chile Chico, so they said they'd come back and help us in about 2 - 3 hrs.

...so we sat... and we waited... in the cold wind.... we watched the horses... and the cows... and waited... until about 8pm when a truck passed us by. They stopped and we asked if we could put Sara's bike in the back. Unfortunately they were going in the opposite direction to Chile Chico, but the said they would take us to the next town on their route. It turned out "Pablo" and "Edwardo" were delivering fruit, so after some interesting manouvering we got Doug into the back of their truck, Sara jumped in the front and we headed on.

Soon we came to a tiny little town (the name escapes me), just as it was getting dark (must have been about 10 or 11pm). Our rescuers said they could drop us here or take us on to Puerta Guadal, a larger town another hour or 2 on. It was evident we weren't going to get any help in this town so we decided to continue on. It was while Edwardo and Pablo were delivering there fruit that I noticed that my headlight was dimming and going out, then back on again and after stopping my bike, I couldn't get the power to come back on again... SHIT!!

So, I quickly ripped off my panniers and seat to get to the electrics and found a wire that was loose. I reconnected it and taped it and the bike seemed to come on ok now... seat and panniers back on and I was ready to follow them to Puerto Guadal... I thought. As soon as I started riding my headlight started flashing on and off. I was riding in the dark behind a truck kicking up mountains of dust on an unfamiliar dirt road. I didn't want to stop. What if I lost the truck? I don't know these guys and they've got Sara with them... What if there's a fork in the road up ahead, I'd have no idea where to go without the truck to follow. So I pushed on. I spent a long time just following one of the truck's tail lights to try to keep in it's wheel line, but after a while I was struggling to keep up.... I took a corner too fast and went off the side of the road. Luckily it was into a soft landing in some bushes.

The trick then was to get the bike started again. The electrics obviously had a loose wire and were coming on and off. I found I was able to get enough power if I jumped up and down on the bike for a while with my finger on the starter. Eventually the wire would connect long enough for the bike to start. After after 3 attempts to ride it out of the bushes (after finally realising it was still in 2nd gear) I got it back on the road and took a look at the damage.

Unfortunately the frame for one of my panniers had completely snapped off. They had been cracking around the welds previously. The truck now gone, I had no choice but to limp on, holding one of the panniers to the side of the bike. I had only gone a couple of hundred meters when I saw a figure running back down the road towards me. It was Sara of course. After not being able to see my headlight for a while, Sara had asked the guys to stop and was coming back to look for me. We headed to the truck and I put my panniers in the back and we set off again. This time I gave the truck much more distance in order to not be directly in the dust and this helped a lot.

Eventually we reached Puerto Guadal and the guys pointed us to a patch of grass where we could set up our tent and they were going to sleep in the truck. We'd get the bike out in the morning. We were too tired to argue or think, so we crashed there from about 2am to 6:30am.

We got up the next day, unloaded Sara's bike and thankes Pablo and Edwardo for all their help. Next we moved to the local campsite, an incredibly exposed rocky beach on the side of the lake and set up camp there and set the bikes up to work on them. Next I rode back to my crash site of the previous night to try to find the missing section of my pannier frame, but to no avail.

We then found the location of the only mechanic in town and took the broken parts of my pannier frame to him. He did possibly the worst welding job I have ever seen to put them back together (I had to bite my tongue when he started welding without even a mask on) and bent them roughly back to the shape they should be. Despite the missing part, I had enough to at least secure each box at 2 or 3 points to the bike.

We didn't have another inner tube, but we pulled Sara old one out. The hole wasn't too big, so we put a patch on it, but by that time it was getting late and we stopped for the night.

The next daythen set about putting the patch innertube back in... this time I KNEW I pinched it... insert absolute frustration and tyre irons being thrown!! I don't actually remember the previous time I've lost it like that... it usually takes a lot to get me riled. After calming down I took the innertube to the mechanic (it was a Sunday, so I wasn't sure if I could get any help). I was of the opinion that the tube was beyond repair, but he just wacked a couple more patches on and it seemed to be holding air. This time I got him to put it back in the tyre for me. He didn't even charge us anything. We were so excited that we were going to get out of this town! We packed up in record time and hit the road again.

We had decided that we'd stop in Puerto Tranquilo, about 150kms down the road. It was only when we just got there that I looked at Sara's back tyre to see that it had gone flat AGAIN! It was to be expected that maybe one of the patches wouldn't hold though. We decided that we couldn't handle this one today. We got ourselves set up at a nice campsite and decided we'd head into a town for a beer and there'd be no talk of plans or anything until we had done so.

That was when we saw the 2 bikes loaded with gear at the little cafe at the petrol station!! A closer look revealed that they had the same size back tyre as us. We headed straight in and met 2 lovely Brazillian guys. They happily gave us their spare inner tube and refused to take any sort of payment, despite our best efforts!! Once again our luck was see-sawing, bad 1 minute, good the next.

The next day I wasn't taking any chances. I found a tyre guy in the town and took Sara's tyre their for him to change. All done... Hurray! At this point we decided that we were tired of playing mechanic and being stresed all the time, so we took the afternoon off anf took a boat ride to the Marble Chaple, a very interesting rock formation on the edge of the amazingly turquoise lake. The boat even went into one of the larger caves in the rock.

The next day we were up and excited to get moving. That's when we saw the dark rain clouds across the lake. We had previously be warned by Miriam not to ride here when the road was wet as it gets very slippery and in some parts the water just runs over the top of the road. The rain seemed to clear a little though and we were too excited about moving on, so we headed off.

We hit a few patches of drissle and the road was a little damp in a few areas, but not too bad. That was when we hit a newly graded section of road. We were forced to ride right on the edge of the road. I hit the wet mud patch first and my back tyre skidded sideways. I managed to recover, but I new immediately that Sara wouldn't. As I predicted, down she came.

This time, unfortunately, the bike landed on some hard rocks. Sara was fine, but the coolant overflow tank was split and pouring out coolant. There was also a punture in one of the coolant hoses. We had some epoxy on us, so we patch up the coolant tank and we put a tyre patch and some tape around the hose. Luckily we had crashed right next to a beutifully clear stream, so we had drinking water and water to refill the radiator. The only thing was that the epoxy takes 3 hours to dry, so we sat on the side of the road again waiting for it to dry.

Eventually we got back on the road. We knew we didn't have too far to go and we'd be back on the pavement for about a 100km stretch to Coyhaique, where we could hopefully get some mechanical help. It was about 10km before the pavement that one of my pannier frames broke and my pannier near fell off.... AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!! I tied it on with some cable ties and we decided to limp on.... if we could just make the pavement, it should be a smooth ride.

We made the pavement... for about 15km, until Sara was no longer in my rear view mirror... I rode back to find her beside her bike... the back tyre was flat AGAIN!!!!! We were absolutely at our wits end here, but we decided not to waste any time and just see if we could flag down a truck. About 15mins later a truck stopped not far from us and Sara ran up to meet Juan (I think that's how you spell it). Juan had an empty kayak truck, spoke English, was going to Coyhaique and was more than happy to help... there's that luck again! So we loaded Sara's bike in the back as well as my panniers and we set off. Me following the truck for the 90km or so to Coyhaique, the largest town in this region.

It has to be said at this point that the scenery around the lakes etc on this trip were some of the most amazing we've seen anywhere. It was just a shame that we spent much of the time too stressed / tired to really appreciate it.

SO... Coyhaique, and we found a mechanic reccommended on the horizons unlimited website. He spoke very little English, but was more than happy to help. We had decided that there MUST be something wrong with Sara's actual tyre or the rim, so we bought a 2nd hand tyre that was in better condition than hers and the Mechanic helped patch my pannier frames back together again and even made new parts to replace the missing sections. The welding wasn't superb, but a lot better than the last job. We also managed to piece together a new coolant hose for Sara's bike by joining 2 old ones. And after 2 days work the bikes were ready once again... new tyre... repaired frames... we were confident and ready to try them out.

Coyhaique also presented us with the opportunity to access more cash, so our diet could once again consist of foods other than tomato, avocado and bread and we were able to stay in a hostel.

>insert here, us meeting up with Sunny and Cecilia, who were other bikers we'd met in Ushuaia, and hitting the piss in a big way... it's possible that my hangover may have delayed us leaving by a day.... possible.

So off we went, slowly but surely, along the dirt road through the drissly rainforest beside an amazing green river, past waterfalls cascading over rocks and down the mountains everywhere. The scenery was beautiful, but we were soaked to the bone and cold by the time we reach the town of Puyuhuapi. Thankfully we found a lovely little Hospedaje with a lovely owner who immediately lit the wood fire stove for us so we could hang our wet clothes over it and pointed us to the steamy hot showers... oh yeah!! We were most excited to celebrate our first incident free day of riding in a LONG time... perhaps our problems were over?!?

The next day saw another beautiful, but slow ride North. We had heard that the town of Chaiten had recently been reopened to the public. It had been all but destroyed in a volcano erruption in March last year, so we decided to ride that way and have a look. It was getting a little late by the time we got close though and we had seem that there were some thermal baths where you could came about 5km off the road, so we headed up to the Termas Amarillo and enjoyed a dip in the hot baths to celebrate our 2nd incident free day of riding.

In the morning we had another quick dip, then headed for Chaiten. I think neither of us were prepared for the state of the town. As we rode in there was a white "sand" on the side of the road which was the volcanic ash. It just seemed like we must be riding on some tropical island until we reached the town. The major damage had been done when several waterways were blocked by the ash and the river through Chaiten flooded and took with it hundreds of homes. SOme can be seen half way out into the bay now. Other places that we still standing were burried under meters and meters of ash. The military were there with dozers and diggers trying to clean up some of the mess. The volcano was still sending out lots of ash and was quite a site in itself. We felt a little like we were intuding there, but we took a few photos then headed back towards Futaleufu near the Argentine border.

Lunch time that day we stopped at a tiny town on the side of the road to have some lunch. It was after the lunch that I looked over at Sara's bike, and... you guessed it... FLAT BACK TYRE!!!NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We had been so hopeful that that issue was resolved. I decided immediately that there must be a problem with the rim, but where were we going to get a replacement out here?!? We'd have to patch it until we could get to Bariloche or somewhere.

So, we went into town and found ourselves a place to stay and dump our gear for the night. Then it was back to the bike and taking off the wheel. It was then that we discovered the 2 inch long nail sticking out of the tyre!! We couldn't believe it. It had just been pure bad luck! Sara began to haul the tyre into town, while I went to find out if there was a mechanic around that could help... no such luck. So we set about taking the tyre off, patched the hole, then tried to get the tyre back on. It turned out that this tyre was even harder to get on than the previous one and, exhausted, I was ready to give up, when we heard the sound of motorbikes. Sara ran round and asked them to help. So with the power of 4 guys, we managed to finally get the tyre back on. We weren't keen on staying there the night, so we grabbed our gear and headed on once again and made it all the way to Futaleufu.

Now, the Futaleufu river is one of the top 3 rivers in the world for white water rafting and the best in South America, so we thought we'd better give it a try. First, though, we had a go at kayaking down the Rio Espolon. It was a beautiful blue/green river and the day was so warm that we were actually happy to get wet. Despite it only being class 2 and 3 rapids, both Sara and I managed to tip our kayaks, but we had a wonderful day!

That night the whole town gathered at the football stadium to see the Chilean Folklore back Las Jaivas (The Crabs). After a seriously wierd intro with images of Spanish conquistadors suppressing the local South Americans and some bizzare music, the power dropped out. After 15 mins or so of no power, tiredness overcame me and we walked home... it occured to us on the way home that they had killed the power to all of the streetlights to power the concert as well... amusing.

The next day we white water rafted down the Rio Futaleufu, down class 4 and 5 rapids and WOW!! What a day! It was fantastic! We didn't even fall out of the raft, despite the 2 rafts behind us flipping on the most dangerous rapid of the run. We had had the most fantastic 2 days in Futaleufu.

The next day we set off again, crossed the border back in Argentina and made our way up to the tourist mecca (and surprising large city) of Bariloche. In Bariloche we were able to get Sara's inner tube changed, get new tyres for her front and my rear wheel and replace her brake pads finally!!

So, anyway, that was our trip up the Ruta 40 and Carreterra Austral. It certainly had it's highs and it's lows. I guess as Belleruche say, you've gotta take the rough with the smooth.

ciao for now.

Brake Pad Mission: Unsuccessful

2009-02-19T04:53:00.007+10:00

After our Torres Del Paine trek we made the difficult decision to back-track south to Punta Arenas in search of new front brake pads for my Dougy. Our mission ended unsuccessfully after a week of attempts that were alike only in their failure....and if you had been standing near us when we rode off you would of sworn you heard a mildly anxious voice whispering ´back brake, back brake, only use your back brake!, back brake, back brake, only use your back brake!´ (!EEK!)
Our plans to head further north to Bariloche in our quest for new brake pads, took us via El Calafate where we spent a day visiting Glaciar Perito Moreno - one of the most popular tourist attractions in Patagonian Argentina! It is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that is not currently retreating and, excitingly, it is one of the most active glaciars in the world! Quite ridiculously spoilt for glaciars at this point in our travel though, we stayed just long enough to visit each lookout, have lunch, and to offer a big tourist cheer when we witnessed a large clean blue piece of the 60m high glaciar facade crash to the water! (!YAY!)
I will, at this point, be horrifically and horribly honest, and say that for me El Calafate offered two highlights (and neither of them were the glaciar). The first, was drinking a big-mouth style bottle of icy cold Quilmes beer after a very long day of riding. The second, was getting free hair conditioner in our hostel! Ahhhh and yes, tourist-attraction spoilt I am, arent I!?!?!??!?! :-D

(xxx !!!!!!hhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiii mum and dad!!!!! i love you!!!!!!!!! xxx)

Trekking Torres Del Paine

2009-01-28T06:31:00.005+10:00

The Park

Rising 2800m above the Patagonian steppe, the Torres Del Paine (Towers of Paine) are spectacular granite pillars that dominate the landscape of what is considered by many to be South America´s finest national park, Parque National Torres Del Paine (181,000 hectares). These towers are the are the famous Patagonian mountains that you see on book covers all the world over. For hikers and trekkers, TDP is an unequaled destination because the park is not just mountains.... Trails meander through emerald forests, alongside roaring rivers, past radiant blue glaciers, azure lakes, and wind up and up to jaw dropping lookouts. You can hike the steppe across muddy swamp and jump to your campsite over fast flowing streams. It offers not one, but five completely different landscapes in one trek and it is spectacular for that alone.

Our Trek - Day One

Depart: Hosteria Los Torres 4pm
Arrive: Cmpamento Torres 7:30pm
Distance: 10.5km
Difficulty: Moderate
Max Temp: 12
Description: The trek began by rising along the treeless tarn of the small canyon forged by Rio Ascencio and finished by weaving and meandering through deep green forests of lenga. We camped in a gorgeous crook of a crystal clear rock river.
Feelings: We were excited. Oh lord, so very very excited. Unpacking Doug and Dot and getting out our backpacks for the first time since Peru, you could just feel the buzz. Snap snap snap went the camera. And off we went! And boy did we go! 10.5km in just over 3 hours - with completely full backpacks. !Wowsers!

Our Trek - Day Two

Depart: Campamento Torres 5am
Arrive: Torres Del Paine Lookout 5:45am (for sunrise)
Distance: 1km
Difficulty: Ouch!
Description: A muscle burning scramble in the wee hours of the morning over huge bolders and glacier rubble following a trail marked only by orange dots.
Feelings: The lookout is the closest view of the famous towers you can get! And at sunrise....its certainly once-in-a-lifetime amazing if a lil on brisk side (bbbbrrrrrrrrr)!

Depart: Campamento Torres 8am
Arrive: Campamento Italiano 7pm
Distance: 27km
Difficulty: Seriously difficult
Max Temp: 14
Wind: 50km/hr
Description: We began by returning 7km along the trail from whence we came until a sharp veer southwest brought us onto the steppe trail running alongside a gorgeous lake of blue, Lago Nordenskjold. Behind us Mount Almirante Niete loomed and in front of us Valley Frances awaited. We camped beside a raging white river (Rio del France) amongst green valley forest and fell into bed absolutely completely exhausted at 9pm. And neither of us cared an ounce that it was New Years Eve.
Feelings: We walked and walked and walked. And then we walked some more! My most vivid memory of the day is counting my steps up hills in an effort to block out the effort. My best memory of the day is resting on a wooden bench eating salty nuts in a 45 minute break we took. For beginner trekkers, perhaps we were a wee bit over adventurous, si!?!??!

Our Trek - Day Three

Depart: Campamento Italiano 10am
Arrive: Valley Frances Lookout 1pm
Distance: 12km return
Description: Trekking further into Valley Frances, alongside the power of Rio Frances, the dramatic glacier scenery loomed on the right above us as we walked. After forests and white water, the final steep climb to the rocky Frances lookout provided an equally spectacular scene - a massive stadium of glaciers and mountains.
Feelings: The first hour was the hardest of the whole trek for me. I could have cried from exhaustion. But after reaching the lookout, it was as though the trekking gods turned and smiled...and we chatted happily on the slow return trek from the lookout and we were captivated trying to spot bits falling of the glacier at lunch. Ahhhhhh and my trekking yay returned!

Depart: Campamento Italiano 3pm
Arrive: Refugio Lago Pehoe 6:30pm
Distance: 9km
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Max Temp: 14
Wind: 50km/hr
Description: A rolling track between grassed over moraine mounds of dry notro bushes and wild flowers. Beginning south along the edge Lago Skottsberg the trek turns west around a headland and ends with at a campsite right next to the pristine blue waters of the windy Lago Pehoe.
Feelings: Just a truly nice, enjoyable walk. Best bit: scouting out and successfully crossing a deep and fast flowing river using only jumping rocks!

Our Trek - Day Four

Depart: Refugio Lago Pehoe 10am
Arrive: Glacier Grey Lookout 1pm
Distance: 22km
Difficulty: Medium
Max Temp: 15
Wind: 70km/hr
Feelings: The best most wonderful day of trekking! Perhaps because it was the last. Perhaps because our bodies and brains had finally got used to the trekking. Whatever it was...the walk along the windy cliff edge of Lago Grey was ever changing and always pleasing. Dry grass, colourful wild flowers, scrubby bush, and wet forest. Lake dotted with ice to the left. Vertical craggy mountain peaks to the right. We lunched alone no more than a couple of hundred metres from Glacier Grey. Can you ask for more from one park in one day!?!??!

Our Trek

TDP truly is spectacular. The landscape variations alone are something to marvel over. Every trek something is new, every lookout something to treasure. The most wonderful part of the trek was being able to drink the crystal clear stream water. The most suprising part of the trek was the lack of wildlife.
We completed the ´W´trek of TDP in 3 days and 3 hours, all the while carrying our home, our beds, our food and our clothes. Most people do it in 5 or 6 days. And whilst, I can not remember a time previous that I have ever felt so completely and continuously physically exhausted, I am super proud of my achievement!

A Merry Biker Xmas!!

2008-12-29T07:24:00.002+10:00

After departing the Navimag in Puerto Natales in the eraly afternoon, we stopped in for a quick lunch with Chuck and Malcolm, 2 of the other motorcyclists we had met on the boat, then it was straight on to Punta Arenas. We had decided to head to Ushuaia for Xmas, which meant that we would return to Puerto Natales later to do some hiking at Torres del Paine. This meant we had a few days spare so we decided to visit some of the sights around Punta Arenas on our way down South.

The wind was bitter on the way down and made riding interesting despite the good roads. After asking at a few of the cheaper hotels in town and finding them all full, we settled on a slightly more expensive place and got comfortable.

The next day we both jumped on Dot and went for a spin down to Fuerte Bulnes and Puerto Humbre. The scenery was beautiful down along the coast and we were relishing being in the cooler weather. We saw a few sea lions on a rock on the way down as well. The fort itself was interesting. It has been partly restored to show what it would have been like. Puerto Humbre is a small settlement that was created in the 1500´s, but the settlers starved because the land was no god for growing crops hence the name, Port Hunger. Now there is very little left except a few stones from the ruins and a monument... with looks strangely like a stone picnic table... interesting.

The next day we packed our gear again, but headed first to Seno Otway where there is a small Magallenic Penguin colony. You had to stay on a boarwalk, but could still get incredibly close to the penguins who were very used to the tourists by now. It seemed stange to me to see the penguins waddling around on the grassy peninsular with theirnests in burrows down in the dirt. There were even some rabbits in amongst them. There were quite a few ¨babies¨that were almost the size of their parents by now, but with a brown and white, fluffy coat as opposed to the sleek black and white of the parents.

Once we´d had enough of the penguins it was back on the bikes and to the ferry from Punta Delgarda to Bahia Azul (on Tierra del Fuego). We arrived to the ferry cold and tired from the relentless wind and the occassional rain shower and were treated to the roughest boat ride I´ve ever been on, made worse by the fact that we had to try to ride our bike around to the other side of the boat while it was moving. We stood there for the rest of the ride clinging to the bikes for fear of them falling over while the ferry soared then crashed down the waves and got sprayed with water as the sea came almost over the top of the front of the ferry. Once we arrived on the other side we headed for the nearest town (Cerro Sombrero), which was little more than a mining community and booked into the only hostel for the night.

The following day saw a long ride on gravel road with high winds and our first border crossing in the Argentinian section of Tierra del Fuego. All went smoothly and we rode most of the day and finally set up camp at an incredibly scenic campsite on Lago Fagnano near Tolhuin.

We woke the next day to relatively calm conditions and set of for the final 100km to Ushuaia... and what a ride it was!! The most scenic I have ever experienced... the beautiful lakes, mountains with patches of snow on the peaks, then a line where the thick forest started and ran right down to the road... stunning! We arrived in Ushuaia on the 22nd and decided, since we were going to be camping for Xmas, we´d splash out and stay in a nice hostel for our first night.

Ushuaia itself was larger than we expected and quite touristy. I guess this should be expected since it is the departure point for all the high priced cruise ships to Antartica. It sits on the beagle channel and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. The weather, however was something else! You could literally have 4 seasons in 1 hour, not 1 day. When it wasn´t windy or raining or hailing or snowing and the sun was out it was nice and warm, but that could all changed in minutes.

After our night of luxury we headed down to Camping Rio Pipo, just a few km´s from the center of town and the meetup spot for motorcycle travellers from around the world. We arrived to find that this was luxury camping... a huge fully equipped kitchen, heated common room, bar, computers with internet... the only reason to go outside was to go to bed (or go check out someone´s motorbike).

We met many other motorcyclers. Surprisingly most were German or Swiss, but there were Americans, Singaporeans, and Italians thrown into the mix. Chuck, our Texan motorcyclist friend from the Navimag also joined us for a German feast with gluwine and all on Xmas eve (that is when the Europeans tend to celbrate Xmas)!! Thanks to all those who were there for a fantastic time! Sara, myself and Chuck also whipped up a BBQ on Xmas day, just for a little taste of home... yummo!

After 3 or so days of lazing around and eating far too much (as you should round Xmas) we decided that a little exercise was in order, so on boxing day, Sara and I headed up the back of Ushuaia and hiked up to the Martial Glacier. The glacier itself wasn´t much to look at as it was covered in snow and up behind some unwalkable rocks, but we greatly enjoyed the walk up allongside the river in the forest and then mucking around in the patches of Snow (including SM´s 1st EVER snowman). The view was also absolutely spectacular when the clouds cleared long enough, back down over Ushuaia and the beagle Channel. It rained most of the way up and even hailed lightly on our way down, but it could not dampen our spirits.

That evening we joined a couple of other bikers in the ride to the National Park and the end of ruta 3. It is obligatory that any motorcyclist visiting Ushuaia make this journey to take a photo at the iconic sign at the end of the road. It was also a beautiful ride and we left feeling like we´d have liked to stay and do some trekking in the park. Our ride back though was the coldest I could remember being and on the way it actually snowed! Yes... that´s right, Sara and I can actually say we have ridden through snow now.

The next day we decided to set off once again and head back to Puerto Natales so that we could do some trekking, so we began 2 days of solid riding. The first morning we were both the COLDEST we had ever been (yes, even colder than the evening before!), the wind and rain combining to make us absolutely freeze. My riding gloves, which allow my hands to get cold in winter in Brisbane, were proving to be of virtually no use against the cold and I practically had to pry my fingers off the handlebars after the first couple of hours when we stopped in Rio Grande. I had visions of us packing it in there for the night, but we pushed on and the afternoon afforded us much better conditions. It was amazing the difference when the sun is out and your riding predominantly with the wind!!!

Anyway, 2 days on and we´re in Puerto Natales and gearing up for the hike at Torres del Paine.

We hope everyone had a fantastic Xmas and gets ridiculously messy for New Years!!!

CIAO!

Feliz Navimag!

2008-12-29T06:40:00.002+10:00

So... from Puerto Montt it was onto the Navimag ferry for a little bit o´ trip accelleration down to Puerto Natales. We arrived to find another motorcyclist, Chuck, already preparing to board and he kindly shared his knowledge of the checking in and boarding procedure etc for the bikes. Then it was a quick lunch and back to the boat to board ourselves in the afternoon.

The trip down was absolutely beautiful... the scenery, the people, the chance to sit back for 3 days and not think about where to go next, where to stay, what to eat or anything....

The scenery was AMAZING!! The boat twisted down through fjords and small channels, sometimes with only a few meters clearance on either side of the ship. There were snow capped mountains and waterfalls literally running into the sea. The vegetation incredibly thick, then thinning as we headed further South and the climax when the ship detoured to the Pio XI glacier, the biggest in South America (the face is 5km across and 90m high) and one of the few still advancing. We also saw whales (or at least the spurts from their blowholes), dolphins (the black & white ones) and plenty of seabirds.

We met a few other motorcyclists, a bunch of Aussies 4x4 ing it around Sth America and plenty of others. Notable was one English guy, Rich, that we sat with for a few rounds of Uno. It turns out he has some friends from Brisbane and has been there before. Imagine our surprise when we asked him their names and he came out with Anthony Burke, Damo Ricketts and a few others!! Small world!

The trip ended with a p..a..r..tay!! which consisted of a game of bingo and pletny of boozed dancing to all the classic 80´s tunes like ¨Summer of 69¨... some great photos from that one!

cheers all!

19th december 2008

2008-12-20T12:09:00.001+10:00

start
i love my man
end

¨Now we´ve come... to the end of the road...¨

2008-12-16T00:58:00.003+10:00

So, after a full day´s riding from Pucon, burning down some highway with the only real break being the 15min ferry ride from Pargua to Chacao (on which we saw penguins and sea lions!), we finally arrived in Castro on the Chilean island of Chiloé.

First impressions were that Chiloé is one of the nicest places we´ve visited... not the most spectacular, not the most exciting, but definitely the nicest. An island of rolling hills, fields full of yellow, white or purple wildflowers, beautiful blue lakes, fat & happy cows and sheep lying around in fields of daisies and small towns on the waters edge. We had read that on the island, if it wasn´t raining, it was drisling or spitting and we were looking forward to a few days in a misty seaside town in the cold after the heat and riding we´d been doing, but... no such luck... where we go, so does the sunshine, the dryness and the heat. Blue skies abounded with the only clouds being the clouds of smoke rising from the several bushfires on the island.

We stayed in a hostel with a deck and view of the water in Castro, the capital of Chiloé for the first 3 nights while we explored the island a little. It was the first chance we´d had to ditch the gear off the bikes and take them for a spin just for fun rather than out of the need to arrive somewhere.

Our first day we headed to the end of the longest highway in the world, the panamericana (Ruta 5) which runs from Alaska to the South of Chile and ends in a town called Quellón on Chiloé. Quellón was not much to look at, so after the obligatory photos of the plaque and monument and the more recognisable ¨Fin de Pavimento¨sign, plus a brief rendition of Boys II Men´s ¨End of the Road¨ on my behalf, we grabbed an ever reliable completo (hot dog with tomato, avocado and mayo) for lunch and headed back.

The following day we went for a spin to the National Reserve which lies on the Western side of Chiloé near Cucao. We wandered through the swampy and beachy scrub, which reminded me a little of home, all the while on high alert for the ever dangerous cow-snake or chicken-snake. (There are some mythological creatures which some people in Chiloé supposedly still believe in and there were some pictures of them at our hostel... I was well amused by the picture of the cow-snake with the head and front legs of a cow and the tail of a snake and the chicken-snake with the body of a snake and the head of a chicken.... ¨oooo don´t peck me mister chicken-snake.... lol!¨) Unfortunately all we saw on our walk was some cow-cows (half cow and, you guessed it, half cow) and some horse-horses. We did, however, enjoy some lunch on possibly the nicest beach we´d seen yet and then wander around lost for a while before making our way back home.

After resting up, we then packed up and headed North, with a brief stopover in the lovely town of Quemchi for some super tasty empanadas then on to Ancud in the North of the island where we set up camp in the most beautiful spot yet, on a bluff on the edge of the sea. That night also aforded us the most amazing view when the full (or near full) moon rose up in BRIGHT red just over the water with the reflection creating a red path on the water seemingly to the moon itslef. As it rose above the dust and smoke the colour faded from red to orange to yellow and eventually white, but still absolutely spectacular.

On our final morning we woke to the most amazing layer of mist (YAY!) over the entire area and after a slow morning we jumped on the bikes back to Puerto Montt where I sit now. In a couple of hours time we´ll be boarding the Navimag (a cargo ship come ferry) to Puerto Natales in Southern Patagonia. Our bikes are loaded, our bags are checked in, I have some seasickness tablets and we´re ready to go!!

catch you all on the other side.

Nick

PS - when I get on a better internet connection I´ll chuck up more photos, otherwise I´ve put links from this page (on the right) to our facebook albums.

Pucon

2008-12-16T00:56:00.002+10:00

After Concepcion we headed inland to Pucon! A very touristy little town it happened to be! Why!??!?! Why all the tourists?!?!??! Cause we all go to Pucon to climb climb climb the volcano! And its not just any volcano...its Volcan Villarrica...and its an ACTIVE volcano!!!! Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :-D

The volcano dominates the landscape for miles around with its perfectly connical form, snowcapped top, and billowing clouds of gas emanating from the crater. And our excitement about the climb grew with each trip outside - because each time you stepped foot outside you were met with a perfect backdrop of smoking volcano against blue skies.

We were up and out early the morning of our climb! And headed striaght to the tourst office to get our kitted up for the climb! The gear we got was so AWESOME! Big steel snow boots, gators, ice picks, crampons, anoraks, snow pants and - most importantly - a plastic butt protector (the reason for which will become apparent a lil farther down the page!)! We hadnt even left the tourist office and I was already happy snapping!

It was a overcast day, with low heavy clouds, and I was a wee bit worried that our climb be cancelled. It wasnt though, (!yay!) and not far into the drive toward the base of the volcano, we drove right on through the clouds and were met with beautiful clear skies and bright sunshine.

Volcan Villarrica is 2847m high. It took Nick and I 3.5 hours to make it to the top. And it was hard going! Snow over a foot deep in some parts, slippery ice in others and butt-burning steep the whole way. I made a mental note on the journey to send a big thankyou to the 50 or so tourists who left their snow steps for me to use. Another big thankyou should also go to the god of the ice pick which saved me from a quick unplanned descent at least a couple of times!

The top of the volcano is a narrow rim of about 300 metres diameter. We stand at the top and look down into the crater. The smell of sulphur is overpowering and you can hear the hissing of the steam released on the wind - it all makes the volcano seem very very alive. A little too alive. You cant see the lava but you can feel it. And the steep drop into the crater is more than enough to make you a little tense and I take an extra safety step back!

The wind up the top was icy. A short lunch stop, a quick walk around, some more happy snaps, and it was time to head back down. YAY! YAY! YAY! And it sounds strange, but going down the volcano was definitely the highlight of the day! BECAUSE after climbing all the way up!up!up! you get to slide all the way down!down!down! to the bottom of the volcano ON YOUR BOTTOM! Haha!

And oh my word it was awesome awesome awesome! So much fun! There are ice troughs that lead all the way down the Volcano! And you put on all your gear, tie on your butt protector, hold your ice pick as keel and brake, and send yourself down the biggest best icy slide in the world! I laughed almost the whole way! Nick shot off like a rocket and got up so much speed he even did a 360 at one point! He had some serious ice slide techinque going on! And Im not sure, but I do think I could hear the faint sound of his voice on the wind "row, row, row the snow".....Haha! 3.5hours up. 30 minutes down. Best fun ever! Smiles all round! Hello happy tourists!

xS

The Way We Ride

2008-12-11T10:41:00.002+10:00

The Set Up

Once we have decided on the route, its all Nick! Nick checks out the map, memorises our route, I nod and smile and say ta, and off we go...destination ahoy! Nick rides lead, I follow. Generally, its leader a bit to the left, follower a bit to the right - but not always. When we have a riding day, we have been riding for the entire day - starting around 10am and continuing until 6-7pm. And yes, its a long and tiring day! Our longest day so far was the 505km fwe rode in one day, from Pucon to Castro!
After a high five or a smooch or a ´vamos´(Spanish for ´lets go!´) when we first set out, we often dont talk during the day unless we stop at a service station or the occassional set of lights or if we pull over to discuss a decision we need to make. We stop for lunch around 2pm - a hotdog or something quick and easy - and off we go again! We always wear gloves, jacket, helmet - even if its only 100m we are riding, we always kit up! I also wear my riding pants - a hot!hot!hot! (but extremely safe! yay!) look :-D

The Highway and Roads

Chilean roads have been of a good quality....so far...so good! Ruta 5 - the main highway gets you far, and gets you far, fast! The speed limit is 120km-hr. We always ride at 100km/hr. Both our bikes (and me!) do indeed like this speed! Tis quite umbelievable though, the speed and the frequency with which we are overtaken - one lane, two lanes, oncoming traffic, it doesnt matter, the Chileans love to drive and drive fast!!
Whilst the roads have been of a consistently good quality, the road signs have definitely left quite a deal to be desired. It has been a constant source of amusement, bemusement and frustration.....when your destination suddenly disappears off of road signs, or when the road signs that you are following just suddenly...stop! We have followed road signs to the letter many a time, only to end up heading exactly the opposite direction required or to end up at a t-junction and just had to pick which way to turn! Oh the frustration of it all!

The Best Bits

Off Ruta 5, the roads have been BEAUTIFUL! We have ridden through wine country, over rolling hills of green grass, beside patchwork pastures, along cliffsides and through tall conifer tunnels and between rows of wild flowers! We have ridden next to rushing rivers, still lakes and beaches! Ahhh the countryside and the way it changes is always so impressive. The further south we head - the more green and colourful it gets! Under bright blue skies and under grey skies it is just delifhtful! Riding into Pucon, Volcan Villarrica perfectly positioned at the end of the road was certainly a highlight! So too, the big hairy spiders we passed on the road to Constitution! And we cant forget the big fat happy cows in the fields of bright yellow daisies we have passed!

The Suprises

For me, the most suprising thing thus far, has been the smells encountered on a ride. The smell of the flowers and the forests and the beach and the towns as you pass - the smells are always so unexpected and always so unique! The most best and most suprising (it gives me a bit of a homesick pang everytime!) is the smell of the Eucalypt forests that we ride alongside reasonably frequently over here!
The other thing I do love is the birds that have come to race alongside and in between us. They weave and duck occassionally in between Nick´s bike and my bike - just for 10 seconds or so - just a quick hello! - and then off they fly again! Ahhh its so fun to be a part of!

Chileans

Outside of the big towns, our bikes definitely attract attention! Heads turn, eyes stare, waves are offered, and even the odd person comes to talk to us! We are pretty damn cool over here it seems! Hehe! Concerned hostel owners have organised for us the part our bikes inside of stationary stores and police officers have helped us find accomodation and new friends have given us tours of their cities!

...And this is just week two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xSarax

Valpo: Take Two

2008-12-07T05:25:00.000+10:00

Bike biKes BIKES biKes Bikes! Valpo: Take Two was all about the bikes people! A ship arrived, a container ready for opening....adventure codename: Kawasaki! Haha! :-D Wahoo! And we hit the road - both Doug and Dot starting first go after a wee bit o Dawson-style mechanical & electrical good lovin´! Hahhaaaaa! Oh yeah baby!!!!!! Broom brooooooooooooooooooooooooooom broom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (BeePBeeP BeePBeeP YEAH) :-D

Santiago and onward!

2008-12-07T04:28:00.003+10:00

Ok, so getting a while behind on the blogging so I´ll give you a run down of the last couple of weeks fairly quickly to catch up.

We arrived back in Santiago on the 18th Nov and spent until the 30th between there and Valparaiso (my favourite city so far by a long stretch... beautiful), recuperating, exploring Valpo with Vanessa and Oliver, preparing for the bikes arrival, waiting for the bikes arrival, collecting the bikes and preparing them for the journey ahead.

The highlight was definitely the weekend spent with Vanessa and Oliver in Valparaiso. A friend of theirs showed a group of us around the city on the Saturday which was fantastic. Sars is gonna add a bit more detail about the city... and we owe another MASSIVE thank you to V & O for their hospitality!! It was great to see you guys again! And a big thanks to Paula for showing us around Valpo too.

We also need to thank Enzo and Martina from Villa Kunterbunt who helped us with clearing the bikes through customs and everything. They made it so easy and were so hospitable! We loved the BBQ too!!

...so... we set off from Santiago on Sun 30th and not a day too soon. It was fantastic to get out of the big city and after a short stint down the highway we were straight off it and onto some interesting gravel roads up into Reserva Nacional Radal Siete Tazas (7 cups). We camped the night in the most beautiful spot on the edge of the very aptly named Rio Claro (Clear river) in the Conifer forests... so stunningly beautiful. The following day we headed straight for the 7 cups. These are 7 waterfalls between cup like pools of rock... it was amazing! I´ve never seen anything like it (will post the photos soon). After looking from the lookout we decided to follow the walking path until it eventually hit the river. We then scrambled back along the rocks to the base of a magnificent waterfall where the green pool of water sat underneath begging to be swum in... how could we resist... so in we went... for about 0.2 of a second... and out we went from the COLDEST DAMN WATER EVER!!! I swear it´s a miracle there wasn´t a layer of ice on top. Despite the temp we managed a few more dips in... very invigorating! :-)

Once we´d had our fill of the beauty it was on our bikes and into Talca for the night, following an amazing dirt road through the foothills of the Andes and the Pine forests and farming land. We had been recommended a place just outside Talca, so the next day we headed there and had a day of relaxing beside the pool in hammocks and a fantastic bbq dinner with a bottle of Camenére (a local Chilean wine) (check out the hostel here: http://www.trekkingchile.com/Casachueca/indexEN.html)... we felt we needed a break after the rush to get everything ready and to leave Santiago.

Next day was back on the bikes and on to Concepcion... well that was the plan, except I may have been a little confused and followed the signs to Constitución... oops!! But the ride was absolutely stunning and Constitución was a good place for lunch. Then just as we were about to head on our way in the afternoon we met Gabriel and his father James and mother Norma (?!? I think that´s right, have to check). They kindly invited us to their house to check out their motos and then Gabriel and James took us on a tour of their city!! It was fantastic riding along the rocky coastline with the beaches and fishing port and then up to the hills with an amazing view of the mouth of the Rio Maule and Constitución. A MASSIVE thanks to Gabriel and his family for taking the time out to show us gringos around their town!!! We really appreciated it and hope we can return the favour some day.

We managed to make it to Cauquenes for a sleep that night, then it was on to Concepcion the next day where we finally managed to sort out international 3rd party insurance for the bikes for the Mercorsur countries. In the afternoon we rode down the coast to Lota. It was an old mining town and they run tours of one of the old coal mines there. We were both interested to see it... a very different type of coal mining from my experience, however we asked in the morning and they only ran tours in Spanish. We decided that it would be a bit of a waste of time and money for us to attempt the Spanish tour, so back on the bikes and a long haul to Pucon which is where I sit right now.

We arrived last night and are relaxing today and enjoying the tiny town wedged between a beautiful lake and a spectacular snow covered (and smoking) volcano. It is understandable that this is such a tourist spot for Chileans as well as the Gringos. Tomorrow we climb the volcano which we can´t wait to do! There´s also much rafting, horse riding, trekking, canopy tours etc etc to do around here, but we´re on a mission to see Chiloé before next Monday (15th) when we catch the Navimag ferry (i.e. container ship) from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales so we might have to head on soon.

that´s us up to date. Will add more pics soon, otherwise you can check out all the albums so far on Facebook.

ciao for now.

Valpo: Take One

2008-12-07T04:20:00.003+10:00

Ahhhh it was a while ago now....almost two weeks, perhaps more....but the weekend we spent discovering the port of Valparaiso was just beautiful. Vanessa, Oliver, Nick and I arrived late one Friday afternoon, booked into our french hostal, La Bicyclette, and let the weekend begin. Immediately, I was enchanted! Valparaiso is bohemian and vibrant and eclectic! It is a brightly coloured patchwork quilt of messy buildings sewn together on steep hillsides by gorgeous cobblestone streets! Murals dot the walls of every street and exploring the labyrinth of hillside alleyways, under a perfect blue sky, was a delight for the eyes, colourful and energetic!

The first night and the first Valpo bar...A small table, a small bar. The walls displaying local paintings and yellowed sheets of poetry. The lightshades were sheet music. Two students playing guitar and violin. The flavoursome garlic bread. Aaaahhh it was pure entertainment for the senses!
The first night and the first Valpo restaurant....An old table, an old seafood restaurant. And as you sit at the table, and look about, a distinct impression floods over you....the wrinkly waiters, the faded menus, the dusty bottles behind the bar, the suited band members, have all been there, each and every night, since the place opened over 30 years ago.

Ahhhhhh it is so glorious visiting places that feel like they have a heartbeat!

2008-11-27T04:17:00.009+10:00

We arrived on the afternoon of the 13th November in San Pedro de Atacama absolutely exhausted from the 2 overnight bus trips and ready to stay in the 1 spot for a few days. We new we had until about the 18th to explore this place before we had to head towards Santiago. What a luxury. We checked straight into a hostel and crashed in the heat of the afternoon. We had decided to splash out and rent a car for the few days we were here, so in the afternoon we headed down to the local place and booked it in for the following day.

We spent a bit of time wandering around this amazing little desert town. It was quite incredible the number of tourists packed into such a small town. Practically every building was a hostal, a tour company or a restaurant. All of the building had 8foot high mud brick walls onto the street and we were soon to learn why when the afternoon winds began to whip up the dust and sand. As a strange contrast to most cities we´d been in, this town seemed to be dominated by cats as opposed to dogs, though there were still plenty of dogs to be found wandering the streets.

Street of San Pedro de Atacama

The following day, we checked out of the hostel as we had decided with the adition of a set of wheels, that we´d go for a spot of desert camping and stay in a small place about 3km out of town called Pozo 3. We went down and pickup up our Nissan Tarrano ute and headed straight to Pozo 3 to check out the huge swimming pool which was constantly filled by a spring. It could have used a creepy-crawly, but we were far beyond being picky and after setting up our camp (the only one in the whole place) we made good use of the pool.

Pozo 3

We then set off to find Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). The valley is part of the Cordillera del Sal (Salt) where the red rock is covered in a layer of white salt crytals, supposedly making it look like the moon... I thought it was more like a red mars personally. The first stop was at the salt caves. These were probably the highlight of our time in S Pedro. Exploring and crawling through the pitch black caves with our torch and then popping out into valleys or above the caves was amazing fun. Next we headed to the 3 Marias. Some impressive rock formations formed by wind erosion, then it was on to climb the great dune to watch the sunset. By the time we reached it the wind had really picked up and was intermittently pelting us with dust and sand... not very nice, but we reached the top and watched the orange sunset behind the mountains. What I found more impressive were the 2 distant volcanoes with small clouds perched on the top of each one... purple in the diminishing light.

Mucking around in the salt caves

The 3 Marias

Sara on the Great Dune and views of the sunset and volcanoes in the dimishing light

We returned to our campsite to find the gates locked, so had to go on a bit of a mission to find a way in, then get the caretaker to come and unlock the gates for the car.

The following day we decided to head South from S. Pedro and check out some of the sights that way. First stop was at a small desert town called Toconao and down into the Valle Jere. It was a small valley with a beautifully clear creek running through it. Fruit farms and a few sheep were crammed down into the valley. It was a bizarre contrast to the sand dunes and salt flats just meters away. We went for a walk up along the creek as far as we could and (I think) got in trouble from a local woman with her sheep for going where we weren't supposed to.

Valle Jere

Next stop was the Laguna Chaxa to see the flamingoes. The laguna was a strange salt lagoon in the middle of the salt flats... I say "flats" however the ground in covered in jagged rocks/salt crystals that makes it anything but flat and would be hellish to walk on without the man made paths. It was interesting to see the flamingoes... wierd birds. There were 3 types here, the Andean, Chilean and the James Flamingoes. We didn't stay too long as it was in the heat of the day and there was no shelter out there.

Flamingoes at Laguna Chaxa

Next on the path was the little town of Socaire where we stopped in the pretty little plaza for some lunch. It was interesting the sudden temperature drop between down on the salt flats and then being slightly higher and catching the cold breeze.

Socaire

Finally we headed on into the mountains and to the 2 lagunas Miscanti and Miniques. These are 2 blue/green salt lagoons nestled high in the mountains with volcanoes perched just behind them. Apparently on a still day they mirror the mountains magnificently. Unfortunately we weren't so lucky, but we were entertained by the regular willy willys or mini tornado like swirls of dust and salt kicked up by the wind on the waters edge.

Lagunas Miscanti and Miniques

Finally it was back into S Pedro to pick up some supplies and off to the campsite to make a bbq dinner. Once our bellies were full we backed the ute out to the clearing and lay in the back to watch the stars and enjoy the clear sky that the desert afforded... 9 shooting stars in a short time.

The next day we had planned to take it easy in the morning and go sandboarding in the arfternoon - see my previous blog for the events of that day. We also had to move campsite as Pozo 3 didn't open on Mondays and hence we couldn't camp for Sunday night so we headed back into town and found a place that allowed camping up the back of the hostel. The following day we also did very little as we decided to have a day of rest to recover from the Previous day.

On the Tuesday, 18th November, we got our buts up at 4 in the morning and headed up to the geysers at El Tatio, which are supposed to be most spectacular just pre-dawn. After a very interesting 2 hr drive on rough roads with limited visibility from mist and dust and following the countless tour buses heading that way, we arrived. It was definitely worth the trip to see the steaming, bubbling geysers and the massively tall plumes of gas rising up into the air.

El Tatio Geysers

Once we'd had enough appreciation of the geysers we headed back to S. Pedro, a short snooze, packed our stuff, took the car back and were ready to jump on the 2pm overnight bus to Santiago.... time to go get our bikes!

Puno, Lake Titicaca and Isla Taquile

2008-11-26T06:23:00.006+10:00

After arriving back in Cusco from Aguas Calientes, we decided to waste no time and head to Puno the next time, however this time we thought we'd take a suggestion from the guide book and pay a little extra for a tourist bus that stops at a few sights along the way.

We boarded the bus on the morning of Sunday, 9th Nov for the full day trip. We had stops in: Andahuaylillas to see an amazingly ornate church that the locals take turns to guard with spectacular paintings and a gold & silver sculpture on the wall (can't think of the name for it); Raqchi to see the remains of what they think was an Incan temple; La Raya, the highest pass between the 2 cities; and Pukara in the altiplano to visit a museum with some acient pre-Incan sculptures; before finally reaching Puno on the banks of lake Titicaca.

The Church in Andahuaylillas

The Ruins at Raqchi

What amazed me most about the information that we got from this journey was how little is really known about the Cechua (Incan) society even though it existed only a few hundred years ago, the Spanish and particularly the Catholic church really did a superb job of completely erradicating the culture. Down to the fact that the most ornate catholic churches were placed over the ruins of the most important Cechuan temples. Since then it has been a lot of guess work to try to understand what the culture was really like.

Puno was probably the least attractive of the cities we had visited. Most of the houses were incomplete due to the tax laws. You don't have to pay tax on the building, just the land, if it's still under construction, so everyone leaves their buildings unfinished. It has a very industrial feel and is busy and dirty. We did, however find a cosy pub in the main street and settle in for a few cocktails on our first night.

The next morning we headed down to the port and grabbed ourselves a boat which stopped at the floating Uros Islands and then on to Isla Tequile where we planned to spend a night. We jumped aboard and headed off in a little wooden boat with a couple of charming local guys with their beanies with the extra long point and bobble on the end (nightcap style) and their colourful pouches around their waist to keep their cocoa leaves in, at the helm. They blesssed the voyage with their coca leaves and threw a couple over the side, then proceded to shove large handfuls of them into their mouth to chew. Lake Titicaca is the worlds highest navigable lake at 3812m and the coca leaves are supposed to help with the altitude.

I was supprised at how close the floating reed islands are to Puno. We arrived there and departed on a small island of 5 families. 1 of the guys gave a a short talk about the island which we managed to understand a little of with our limited Spanish and the assistance of another Aussie who has been living in Rio de Janeiro for a few years. Apparently these floating islands exist almost purely for the tourist dollar these days and we had to pay an entrance fee to visit. They also make several craft items to sell to the tourists.

The Floating Reed Islands of the Uros (yes, that's a solar panel for to power their tv)

It was then on to Isla Taquile. It was a slow 2 hours or so over to the island. Isla Taquile is onlyh 7 sq kms and although it is a reasonably popular tourist detination now, it remains relatively untouched. The islanders still wear traditional clothes and speak Cechua (the language of the Incas). The traditional clothes usually consisted of a red woolen top and black pleated, frilly skirt for the women with a piece of black cloth worn over the head, similar to a nuns habit, for sun protection. The men wear white with a small white & black waistcoat and a brightly coloured waistband, made for them by their wife, and either a beanie with a long peak or a leather hat (slightly Indiana Jones style.... I want one!!).

The island itself has some 500 stairs from the port up to the peak in the middle of the island. After arriving we headed straight up and were chased by a young lady who caught us about half way up, offering us a room for the night. We accepted and followed her to her home.

The whole island is cover in terracing and small stone houses. Most of the pathways are made of stone with chaotic stone fences lining them. They also have a love of stone archways which adorn the paths here and there.

Isla Taquile

We spent a beautiful night and day on the island exploring and just generally relaxing after being on the move non-stop for a week or 2 now. So beautiful! The lake was an amazing blue and in the distance you could see mountain peaks with snow on them.

Finally at about 2pm the following day we jumped back aboard the boat for Puno. Rather than spend another night in Puno, we wasted no time booking an overnight bus to Tacna on the Peruvian border with Chile. Unfortunately, as had been the case before a couple of our long bus trips, my stomach started playing up and I had the contents emptying out of both ends for the first few hours of the bus ride... it's nice to know I left my mark on the Peruvian roads....

After Arriving in Tacna, we jumped in a Collectivo headed for the Chilean border where we sat for 3 hours in the heat to get through customs. We learnt later that Chilean customs have been striking, so it may have been a go-slow or something. Then we arrived in Arica in the early afternoon. We immediately booked another overnight bus to San Pedro de Atacama, then jumped in a taxi to the city centre to explore Arica in the few hours we had. We ended up having a "rocket" of beer (we walked past and couldn't resist... see pic) and then went to the church (built by Eiffel of tower fame) and ended up sitting outside it watching some local skateboarders for most the afternoon.

The Rocket!

Finally it was on an uneventful bus to S. Pedro de Atacama.

Machu Picchu!

2008-11-18T02:49:00.005+10:00

Back on track now. It was the 6th November when we set off for Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu).

Now, there are 4 ways to get to Aguas Calientes (excepting chartering a helicopter).
1. take the train from Cusco. Normally there is a backpackers train as well as the ¨Vistadome¨, but it´s still very expensive (over $100 AUS one way).

2. Get to Ollantaytambo and take the train from their... still fairly expensive.

3. Hike the Inka trail. You have to take a tour and book months in advance to do this as they only let certain numbers per day on the trail...

4. Go the locals way, which we found described here: http://travelvice.com/archive/2006/10/machu-picchu-on-shoestring.php
This was ouyr path.

We had arrived in Cusco the day before and had a brief look around and caught up on some sleep before getting up and hauling arse to the Paradero de Paso Santiago to catch one of the local buses to the small town of Santa Maria. We arrived at about 7:45, just in time to grab the 6:45 bus (good old Peruvian time) and the bus set off with many passengers shouting ¨VAMOS!!¨ and banging on the side of the bus.

What a ride. This has to be one of the most fantastic bus journeys I have ever been on. The scenery was amazing. We started going through farming land land with red soil and houses made of the same red mud and, strangely eucalypts everywhere... It could almost have been outback Aus except for the cold and the altitude. We learnt later that eucalypts had been introduced by the Spanish because they grow quickly and are marketable for their oil and as firewood for the many tile factories, but that they are sucking the nutrients out of the ground and damaging the soil in the region.

The views then changed as we dipped into a valley and followed a small stream all the way to it´s mountainous roots. Mountains covered in forest with waterfalls and small creeks running down their side everywhere. Small farms were dotted around on the mountains and the evidence of Incan / pre-Incan terracing was everywhere. As we wound through the endless switchbacks up into the mountains on the beautifully smooth road, I LONGED for my motorbike.... god I can´t wait to see Dot again.

Views from the "bus to the clouds"

Lunch Stop!

Eventually we reach the pass, way up in the clouds, then it was down the other side. Past many rockfalls and creeks. Then a short break at a roadside stall where we picked up some chicken and rice for lunch for about $1.50 and on into the valley. We passed through a couple of rough looking little towns at the base of the valley before coming to Santa Maria.

As soon as we arrived, we were offered a collectivo, along with the other 2 gringas that were on the bus, to the Hydroelectric dam which was at the very end of the railway line that passes through Aguas Calientes. This was a somewhat scary ride on a 1 lane dirt road that ran along the side of a cliff, with the river below us.

Once we arrived at the Hydroelectric plant, we had 2 options. Catch the train or walk the tracks, so we strapped on our packs and set off on foot along the railway tracks. We crossed a rickety old railway bridge over the river and caught our first glimps of Machu Picchu perched on top of the mountains above. The hike turned to difficult as we both struggled with the weight of our packs and what we thought was supposed to take about 2 hrs was actually more like 3, but we got there and were proud of our achievement and how cheap it was.

Walking the Tracks

The first view of Aguas Calientes

Our savings were well appreciated when we reallised that the cost of everything in Aguas Calientes was about double of that elsewhere in Peru... the power of the tourist dollar. Luckily for us it was low season, sop many of the restaurants etc were willing to negotiate on prices to get your business.

We checked into a hostel and got settled for the evening. We had decided that we´d grab one of the 1st buses in the morning to Machu Picchu to catch the sunrise up there.

We had found directions on sneaking in (from the previous link) to avoid the extremely expensive admission charge, but there were 3 things that deterred us. 1 - it´s difficult to do in the morning because there are many guards on and to see the sunrise is supposed to be spectacular, 2 - you can´t see Huanyu Picchu, which was high on my list of to do´s and 3 - if we got caught our Spanish skills were definitely not sufficient to talk our way out of trouble. So, buy a ticket we did, and joined the mass of tourists in the morning.

Well... Machu Picchu... WOW!! We arrived with much of the mountains covered in mist and cloud and watched as, for the first hour or so, it lifted off the mountains and out of the valleys... beautiful! The surrounding mountains covered in jungle looked almost as amazing to me as the massive Incan city itself.

The Amazing MP!

Some of the Llamas wandering around MP

Then we made the precarious climb up to Huanyu Picchu, the little peak up behind Machu Picchu which has ruins on the top also. We climbed up the stone steps using the cables bolted into the walls for safety ans through small caves under rocks in the ruinsa itself to the top... OMG WHAT A VIEW!! Not only down over Machu Picchu itself, but the surrounding mountains and the river, all the way round to the hydroelectric plant. Absolutely worth the extra effort!

Yes that's real... the view back to MP from Huanyu Picchu

Huanyu Picchu

Finally we made the slog half way down the mountain, down ladders and stairs to the temple of the moon, or great cave. More amazing ruins... then it was back up to Machu Picchu. We were exhausted from the hike, so instead of hiking down the mountain as planned, we grabbed a $7 cup of coke and jumped on a bus.

The Temple of the Moon (Great Cave)

Some Local Wildlife

We decided to stay this night in Aguas Calientes before attempting the return journey, but decided to sus out the trains as our exhaustion meant were weren´t keen on the hike back to the hydroelectric plant. We managed to find out that the train back there left at 7am, so we crashed for the night and made our way to the tracks early in the morning.

At a bar in Aguas Calientes... no we hadn't been drinking... :-P

We made the return journey fairly smoothly, assisted by a couple of American guys who helped us organise the bus from Santa Maria back to Cusco. It was a whirlwind and tiring few days, but the most amazing we´d had to date in my book.

Valley of DEATH!!

2008-11-18T01:40:00.003+10:00

ok... 1, 2 skip a few. I have a fair bit of blogging to catch up on from the last few weeks, but I´m going to skip`forward here to relay to you what happened yesterday... perhaps the most stressed, the most frustrated, the most exhausted, the most scared, the most tired, the most relieved and the most appreciative I have felt on this whole trip.

Firstly to set the scene. We´re in San Pedro de Atacama at the moment in the middle of the Atacama desert of Northern Chile. There are a lot of sites surrounding the town here, so I decided to splash out and rent us a 4x2 Nissan ute to get around in.

Yesterday, we thought we´d take the chance to hire a couple of sandboards and have a go. We had read in all the brochures that Valle de la Muerte (the valley of death) is the place to go for sandboarding with a 150m high sand dune. So about 1pm we hired some boards and set off. We knew approximately where the valley was and headed in that direction. We saw a couple of bike riders with boards on their back, so we followed them down a rough track. It turned out they didn´t know where they were going, so we offered and they chucked their bikes in the back of the ute and joined us for the search.

After venturing down several rocky tracks we found one that we were sure was correct because we could see the massive dune in the distance. We came over a crest and there it lay in front of us. The road we were on lead down the side of the mountain to the dune itself... what I didn´t count on was just past the crest... incredibly soft sand... we made it about 5m before the ute bogged. There was a rocky piece of road just ahead, so we dug and pushed and managed to get the ute onto the hard surface....

Just after freeing the car for the 1st time.

now... the problem... there was no way we could get the ute back up past the soft sand on our own and the whole place seemed deserted. The road ahead down the hill was more soft sand, but with gravity as our friend... perhaps?? First we had to find out if the road ahead lead in any way back to the main road, so off went Sara, long distance jogging pants on in the searing heat of the desert down the road to find out. Conclusion: we could get out that way, we just had to get down the hill. With no other option apparent, we picked our line, jumped in and hit the gas... fingers crossed... I think we made it about 10 - 15m this time...... F&%K!

So, here we were, in the middle of the desert. No one else in sight. Bogged in the softest sand ever. Mountain on our left. Cliff on our right and more sand in every direction... so much for my bond on the rental car.

About half an hour passed when a group of hikers appeared over the top of the hill. They came down and we gave it a try... we had dug and with the strength of many pushing... surely....... NO! They told us that at 4pm (about 1hr time) all the sand boarding tour groups would arrive and we should get them to help and they continued on their way.... of course they all arive from the other end of the road... none stupid enough to drive down the hill of death!

The next few hours were spent walking up and down the hill in search of help. I found out:

1. ask the tour operators for help and get a berrating (insert: a__ r__ping) for getting stuck there in the first place and an attempted phone call to your (closed) rental company

2. ask the dude in his humvee for help and get offered a ride back into town

3. the crazy long grey-haired local sandboarder dude with the white cutoff denim shorts that are smaller than Kylie´s will offer to pull you out for some smokes and beers... we have a winner! That was... until his 4x4 got bogged worse than ours in an attempt to pull us out... now we were 2... misery loves company, so at least we had an acomplice now. :-P

Finally a rescue squad from the rental agency arrived and with the strength of 7 men and a lady we were able to bounce old mate´s 4x4 out of the deep stuff and down the hill.

What next? The rescue squad are going to pull us out with their 4x4... we were extremely doubtful. First they had to get past our car, which involved us bouncing our car to the side for a way. Then it was time to give it a go... similar results. Except we managed not to bog their 4x4 too badly and got it moving again... next plan??? anyone?? I´d have said, we need the power of 2 4x4´s or a 6x4 or a tank... perhaps a helicopter... but no, Cesar had a plan. Cesar was the leader of the rescue squad... it´s simple.... we go straight over the edge and down the cliff to the rocks below...

Sara, 1 of the rescue boys and I were in total disbelief that they were even considering it... I think the words, SERIOUSLY?!?!?! and ARE YOU NUTS?!?!?! may have escaped my lips. But Cesar gave me a wink and said ¨trust me, this is my job¨.

It was perhaps the most amazing bit of driving I have ever seen, but as soon as their 4x4 went over the edge, the unmovable car began to move... and over they went... and down they went...

The picture fails to capture the height or steepness... trust me.

Finally free!!!

I´m not sure I have ever hugged a man I didn´t know before... but yesterday was my day. His name says it all... Cesar... He is a king among men and I could not have been more appreciative for the rescue. From there it was a fairly simple drive out with only one soft sand section which we took with sufficient speed.

It was nearly 8pm by the time we got out. Sara and I were covered head to toe in dust, sand and sweat and were physically and emotionally exhausted from the 6hr ordeal. Cesar took one look at us and said ¨you must come back to my restaurant in town for a pisco sour¨. Who were we to deny the man? So we followed him into town and, still covered in dirt, we joined him for a drink in one of the nicest restaurants in town. It was one of the tastiest and most appreciated drinks I have ever had, made even sweeter by the fact that (despite the others telling us that we had to pay for the rescue as it is their job) Cesar would accept nothing for the rescue OR the drinks. ¨I don´t do it for the money, I do it for the satisfaction¨. He would also later, at dinner, entertain us with tails of driving 4x4´s to over 6000m in the Southern Andes in order to rescue sick mountain climbers. He is certainly a hero in my books.

So in conclusion... we wasted 1 day, possibly gave the car a few extra scrathes that could cost me, we made an amazing new friend, saw some amazing driving, and exhausted ourselves beyond belief... what a day.

Three Gorious Weeks

2008-11-14T07:45:00.004+10:00

For three glorious weeks my man and I have been exploring amazing southern Peru. ....Like your tightest pair of jeans - we have squished&squeezed and twirled&shimmied and have managed to stuff absolutely everything possible into a wild 3 weeks of magical travel! There has been absolutely NO stopping us! Not the weariness of long distance travel, not physical exhaustion, not sickness, not cold showers, not early mornings, not the language barrier, NOTHING!! And I wouldnt have it any other way! There has not been a single dull moment - nary a travel frown in sight - how can there ever, ever be - when the first thing you do when you finish one brilliant, exciting adventure, is plan the next!

Our Sleepytime - 1 night Tacna, 9 nights Arequipa, 2 nights Colca Canyon, 1 night Cusco, 2 nights Aguas Calientes, 1 night Cusco, 1 night Puno, 1 night Lake Titcaca, and 2 overnight buses (thats 12 different beds in 3 weeks friends!!! sweet sweet sleep oh how we appreciate you!!!)

Our Adventuretime - 4 days of Spanish lessons, 1 day of sensational mountain biking, 3 days of incredibly impressive trekking in Colca Canyon, 1 day of thrilling adventure travelling to Aguas Calientes, 1 day exploring the surreal Machu Picchu & Huayna Picchu, 1 day information tour bus (with guide) Cusco to Puno, 2 days exploring Lake Titicaca and Isla Taquile and countless countless hours of walking&sightseeing

Our Tummytime - 7 different beers, 2 cocktails, 1 bottle of rum, enumerable cups of black coffee & coca tea, bottles of water, guinea pig, stuffed peppers, 4 different empanadas, 1 saltena, and moutainous amounts of bread& jam, potatoes, rice, soup, casserole, and chicken&chips....

Our Downlowtime - music, music music - wherever we are Nick´s ipod usually follows! And the joy it can bring to some travel moments is quite astonishing...It steals my boredom & fatigue and brings me a sigh & a smile & memories.... every....single.....time.....Best music moment - singing and seat-dancing along to Kings of Leon in the back seat of a rickety old bus, during a 6 hour journey, on what could be, the worlds most bumpy-belly-crunching road!

Highlight - Oh! Oh! Oh! Everything! Everything! Everything! But if I HAD to pick one - Huayna Picchu - truly magical.......

Lowlight - I didnt cope well at all with having a young boy with lepracy beg near to one of our buses. It really shook me.

The Bests of Southern Peru - As Voted By....Drum Roll Please.......Me!!!!!

Best Town - Arequipa
Best Journey - Bus To The Clouds (Cusco to Santa Maria - busing it local style!)
Best Achievement - Completing the trek out of Colca Canyon
Best Food 1 - Eating an apple at the end of the trek out of Colca Canyon
Best Food 2 - The pastries San Blas, Cusco, oh my word - deVINE....
Best Moment - Looking out from the top of Huayna Picchu
Best Fun 1 - Mountain Biking
Best Fun 2 - Dancing to old school spanish&western funk in a bar in Arequipa
Best Adventure - Walking the train tracks from the Hydroeletric Plant to Aguas Calientes

Three weeks. Three amazing weeks. If I typed all night long I couldnt write everything I wanted you to know about what we have done and where we have been and who we have met.

This is just the start of the journey.

My highlight -

Canyon del Colca

2008-11-14T07:43:00.003+10:00

ok, so it´s been a little while since I wrote, so I´ll have to stretch back here a little. It´s been a crazy hectic couple of weeks experiencing Southern Peru.

So... Sunday 2nd Nov we headed off for our 3 day trek into the Colca Canyon. The Colca canyon is the 2nd deepest canyon in the world only to the Cotahuasi Canyon which is not far away, but is much less accessible. We were picked up at a ridiculous hour in the morning and hit the road by bus from Arequipa. Our first stop was at the Cruz del Condor. This is a lookout point on the side of the canyon where Condors can usually be spotted. It is the wrong season for them at the moment as they tend to be sitting on their nests this time of year, but we did spot a couple. The place was crammed full of tourists as all the tour companies pass through there in the early morning. With the tourists come the locals selling their various beanies, scarves and jumpers etc.. As we got further into the local townships it was interesting to see the peoples dress changing and particularly the women usually in more traditional dress.

View from Cruz del Condor

Woman in traditional dress, selling her snacks

Our next stop was in Cabanaconde, a small town at the top of the canyon where we arrived in time for lunch at a small restaurant. This gave us time to meet a few of our tour mates. They were all around our age or younger and predominantly from Ireland / UK. We were also offered some coca leaves to chew on for the first time by one of the other tourists... omg so bitter!! I can´t say I enjoy chewing on the leaves themselves, however I have enjoyed several cups of coca tea and coca toffees... not sure it´s had any real affect with respect to the altitude, but neither of us have really had any problems with it.

A street in Cabanaconde

After a carbo loaded lunch we finally got to the trekking. Starting at Cabanaconde we trekked down to the bottom of the canyon. The path winding precariously back and forth along the side of the canyon with amazing views! We reached the bottom after a couple of hours, then we crossed a small suspension bride and through to the cabins that we were staying in for the first night. It was incredible the difference in scenery down on that side of the canyon as opposed to the way we had come down. Everywhere we had been recently was SO dry, dusty and desert-like and then suddenly down in the canyon is there are lush gardens and farming land. The walk up this side to the cavens was along beside stone walls and stone channels carrying the water through lush vegetation... beautiful.

A view of the canyon and our path down (on the right) and one of the many mules on the path

At the cabins for our 1st night in the Colca Canyon

The guide also stopped once or twice to show us some of the plants here. He showed us some strange insects that live in the cacti, which, if you squeeze them, they explode with bright red blood which is what the locals use to dye their wool. He also showed us a particular plant with highly acidic sap that will burn your skin very badly if touched and another that you can rub on your skin and which acts as a natural insect repellant.

The next day we were up relatively early and off trekking again. This time it was down along the river, then up a small side gorge and through a couple of small towns nestled into the side of the canyon. Some of the group stopped off at a small museum in one of the towns while the rest of us decided to trek on to our bas for the next night, ¨the Oasis¨. This was a bizzarly out of place looking incredibly lush area beside the river. People had captured the water coming out of the rocks and piped it into several swimming pools and created an Oasis with palm trees and small thatched huts.

Trekking day 2

The ¨Oasis¨ and the start of the path back out of the canyon

Enjoying being near the pool at the Oasis

We wasted no time jumping in for a swim, but despite the harsh sun the cool breeze through the canyon was enough to deter us for staying in for any length of time. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around, chatting to the others on the tour and playing Uno. We felt a little like we could have fit a lot more into the day, but it was nice to have some relaxing time anyway.

We were awoken from our mud hut and bed made of cane at 4:40 the next morning ready for the trek out of the canyon. This time we took a much more direct path weaving its way straight up the side of the canyon from the Oasis. It took us about 2.5 hrs to climb to the top and it was a tough climb, especially at that altitude (the top was at 3200m). It was a great feeling to reach the top though and we were especially gratefull for the apple we were given by a fellow trekker as we`d run out of our water about 2/3 of the way up... an apple NEVER tasted so sweet!!

The obligatory ¨We Made It!!¨ shot at the top of the canyon

Once everyone had reached the top we walked back to Cabanaconde for a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread and jam... oh yeah! Then it was back onto the bus... There may have been a small incident where I left the camera on a seat in the square at Cabanaconde, but luckily realised just in time to stop the bus and run back and grab it... oops.

The gang for our Colca Canyon Trek

Our next stop was the hot springs at Chivay. These had been funnelled into several pools and we were initially taken to the hottest one... OMG!! SO HOT!! I managed to get in for about 10 secs and think I nearly passed out when I went to get out, so we went in search of some slightly cooler ones. After sampling most, I was content to dangle my sore calves in the hottest one for a while, then it was back to the bus and heading back towards Arequipa.

We had a strange sighting on the way back when we spotted a twister coming down from the clouds and hitting the top of a hill maybe 1km from the road... interesting. Içd never seen anything like it before. We also made a short stop at the highest pass of the road (about 4300m from memory) The whole landscape here was covered in little towers of rocks. These are apparently dreams (wishes) of the people who come here to ask the mountain gods to make them come true.

The ¨dreams¨ at the pass

We arrived back to Arequipa late in the afternoon. We had planned to head on to Cusco and four of the girls from the tour were planning on taking a bus that night, so we decided weçd join them. We had some quick and cheap Chinese with the whole gang from the tour, then grabbed our gear and headed for the bus station. Naturally my stomach started playing up just before the overnight bus trip, but we made the journey incident free and arrived in Cusco on the morning of the 5th November.

!!!!!YyyYyyyyYyyeeeeEeeeeEsSssssSsssSsssS!!!!

2008-11-12T10:50:00.003+10:00

:-D Hi Hi & Hi Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
:-D Nick & I got confirmation a couple of days ago that Doug&Dot are tracking right on time for a Nov 20 arrival in Santiago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
:-D Let the countdown begin!!!!!!!!!! :-D
:-D AmigosWithMotos...Almost!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D

The Power of Three

2008-11-09T10:33:00.002+10:00

The Father - The Power of Water...
From the vast dry deserts of Chile to the subtropical rainforest in Peru, it is the power of water to shape and colour the landscape and to dictate and define settlements that is evident along every route. Immense desert mountains have deep cuts in their cliff walls from the paths of ancient snow melts, and the rivers scar and snake through the valleys allowing for settlment only where they please. Wherever there is water, there is life - though particularly noticable in the desert and rural areas, is the distance of the poorer regions from the water.

The Son - The Power of Modern Media, Advertising and Communication...
Travelling into the more remote and rural areas of Chile and Peru living conditions noticably deteriorate. A typical town is an odd cluster of clay-rendered one or two room 'shacks', with recycled corrugated iron roofing held down by rocks. It is not however, a rare site to see sticking out from atop of these corrugated iron roofs, a cable TV satellite dish. Even in the smallest and most remote town a myriad of soft drink advertisements blanket the sides of homes and buildings and a soft drink costs only slightly more than water. And even where there is no electricity, there is the familiar ring of mobile phones to be heard.

And The Holy Traveller - The Power of The Tourist Dollar...
To the locals we are the 'Gringos', we are the wealthy tourists. For the Gringo, the price of products and services sky rockets - sometimes even 100's of percent - a generally the Gringo pays, and pays willingly. I certainly have and I certainly will. The more Gringos there are, the higher the prices, and the more evidence there is of the potential of the tourist dollar to transform cities, towns and villages. Like many, many other Gringos - we trekked down to the bottom of Peru's Colca Canyon and stayed the night in the 'Oasis'. The Oasis, initally natural rock pool formations enjoyed only as dictated by the river and weather conditions - now a builtup area with man made pools, complete with palmtrees, available to please us Gringos all year round.

Pics added

2008-11-06T10:02:00.001+10:00

Finally able to add a few pics, but of course this is the slowest internet connection EVER. So I{ve just added a few for my first post. Will add a heap more and some albums probably when back in Chile. We finished our 3 day trek into the Colca canyon yesterday and took an overnight bus to Cusco last night. We´re planning on heading towards Aguas Calientes tomorrow, see how we go. Anyway, will give you details later. Enjoy the pics and take care!

Sidenotes

2008-11-02T07:33:00.002+10:00

A few observations and side notes...

Writing on Hills
Northern Chileans and Peruanos LOVE to write on the side of hills, from Incan like heiroglyphs to coats of arms to the name of cities to your tourists using a bunch of rocks to write their names... it´s everywhere.

Dogs
dogs dogs dogs dogs and more dogs... everywhere... just wandering the streets. Usually well groomed and with a collar, but just wandering free everywhere. One of the most interesting sights I´ve seen was on our way through a poorer outer suburb of Arequipa where house upon house had a dog on their roof. Usually standing right on one corner, gargoyle like, sniffing the morning breeze... classic! (at least you know they´re not eating them) :-D

Chicken and chips
...oh how they love it here in Peru. To their credit there´s no Maccas, no Burger King, no KFC, but there´s a chicken and chips joint on every second corner!

Peruvian booze... oh yeah!
We have so far sampled at least seven different local beers which have all (with the exception of 1 malt beer) been extremely tasty!! Plus, Peruvian rum!! oh so cheap... so so cheap... YAHOO!!!
Picked myself up a 1L bottle of 3 yr old Ron Pomalca for about AUS$5. mmmmmm tastes a bit like a cross between brandy and rum, so we have christened it Brum, but still goes down super well with a spot of coke. Thankfully we haven´t downed enough to see if it gives you a brandy style hangover too... Pisco sour is fantastic too. Possible one of my favourite cocktails!! Am keeping photos of all the booze for my soon to come Sth American Boozography :-D

I think thát be all on my sidenotes... catch ya next time

Nick

Magic Mountain Ride

2008-11-02T07:01:00.003+10:00

Last Sunday....Last Sunday I think I did one of the most exhilaratingly and wild and crazy things Ive ever done! Picture this....A perfect day...A massive volcano...Two travellers...One guide...Three mountain bikes...And a mountain track that to-d and fro-d between ridiculous rocks, and dodgy dirt, and seriously-sinky sand, and beautiful beautiful bitumen! From 4800m we mountained biked down down (and a lil bit of up!) downnnnnn for three whole exhilarating hours! Laughing, screaming, puffing, panting, and more puffing and more panting (welcome to altitude ladies&gents!) we raced and struggled and pedalled and bled (oh yes there was many a delightfully painful stack!) and we made it 55km down Peru´s Mt Cachani - allllll the merry while making friends with what could possibly be the most spectacular scenary Ive ever seen! Exhausted, bruised and mighty mighty proud of ourselves we returned to our hostal that afternoon. And I will never forget the site of Nick cruising down one section of Cachani...back straight..arm out in the wind. It said it all. Best soul-souring heart-pumping arms-out-in-the-wind fun fun wild magical-mountain experience ever!

Mintie´s Revenge!!

2008-11-02T06:51:00.004+10:00

Ok guys, still no photos. I´ll see if I can find anywhere in Cusco, but otherwise it might have to wait until we get back to Santiago. Here´s a recount of our last week in Arequipa though...

We arrived in Arequipa last Friday (24th Oct) tired from all the travel and ready to stay in one spot for a little while. We grabbed a taxi to the Plaza de Armas in the centre of the city. The Plaza has beautiful gardens and is bordered along one side by a magnificent looking Cathedral and on the others by Spanish style buildings and countless cafes on the balconies of each. Behind the Cathedral you can just see El Misti a perfectly formed (and still active) volcano which overlooks Arequipa and to its left the taller, but more disjointed looking Chachani volcano.

El Misti

Chachani

We checked into a hostel just half a block from the plaza and set about organising a Spanish course for the next week. We had decided that we need to brush up and become a little immersed in the language if we´re going to become proficient at speaking it. As we left the internet cafe we were in we were greeted by the Cathedral all lit up in the evening. We decided to pop inside and have a look around where a young school band were just setting up for a concert.

The Plaza de Armas in Arequipa and La Catedral

In the evening we headed off to a few bars to sample the local pisco sour and also a ¨diablo roho¨ (red devil). OMG! That was one of the harshest cocktails either of us have ever had... definitely cannot have more than one. Then as we were about to leave the bar a local cover band started up playing mix of older english funk and latin funk! was fantastic!!

Sippin on a pisco sour!

Diablo Roho!! Beware!!!

Saturday was a day to relax and then Sunday we headed up the Chachani volcano early in the morning with our Peruvian guide Roy so that we could mountain bike back down. We drove up to a point 4800m high and rode back down into Arequipa at about 2400m. What a day! We had amazing views of El Misti and Arequipa all of the way. I won the ¨biggest stack¨award when I momentarily forgot that they have the back and front brakes the opposite way around to us, so grabbed the front brake at speed and toppled over the handlebars... luckily it was a relatively soft landing with just some skinned knees to show for it. Sara held her own brilliantly (despite the screaming and laughing) until we reached a second ¨shortcut¨ section which was fairly deep soft sand. Ifg you didn´t do it at speed, you didn´t do it. Sara managed 6 tumbles in that one section to take the prize for quantity of falls. Luckily soft sand means a (relatively) soft landing. I don´t think either of us had been so exhausted, so covered in dust, so sore or so proud of ourselves by the time we made it back into town! What an adventure!!

Mountain biking Chachani

The start of the week saw the beginning of our Spanish lessons. We had lessons in the morning and then 1 hr in the afternoon as we were planning to begin a 3 day trek of the Colca Canyon on the Friday and so were making up these lessons in the afternoons. Afterwards we´d go see some Arequipeno sight/s then it was home with some Peruvian beer/rum and Spanish study, then wake up and repeat.

Monday we went to see Juanita (the ice princess), the body of a young incan girl sacrificed to the mountain gods and frozen under the snow at the top of the volcano for hundreds of years until she was discovered in 1995 when a nearby volcano errupted and melted the snow. They have now found several other children in similar graves with associated artifacts etc, all well preserved by the ice... was very interesting.

Tuesday we went to ¨El Monesterio de Santa Catalina¨. It is a HUGE monestary that takes up a whole city block near the centre of town and is like a fortress trapped in time. It´s set up like a city inside a city with streets and everything. The majority of it is made of sillar, a volcanic rock, painted bright orange, blue or white. There are fantastic gardens everywhere and amazing little hidden rooms here, there and everywhere. Was great fun to explore and we reached the roof just as the sun set, with an amazing view of the nearby mountains.

El Monasterio de Santa Catalina and views from...

Wednesday we headed to a restaurant that serves local specialties and tried the rocotto Relleno (peppers stuffed with meat) and roasted cuy (guinea pig). Now to understand the title of this post, you need to know that my sister and I had a guinea pig as a pet when we were young... named Mintie. For it was on the way home from the restaurant that I fell quite ill. In truth I think it may have been the luke warm empanadas from the day before, but who knows...

Thursday and Friday and today have all consisted of recovery for me and not a lot else. We had to delay our trek to the Colca Canyon until tomorrow, but we´ve also done a bit more exploring Arequipa. Today we walked to Yanahuara which is a nice suburb with a plaza that overlooks the rest of the city... very nice.

that´s about all I´ve got for now. Take care all and I´ll probably write again from Cusco!

Brisbane to Chile to Peru

2008-10-26T05:58:00.004+10:00

Hi all!
I know this first blog has been a little while coming, but I´m afraid that´s how it´s going to be for most of the trip as we are going to be on the move a lot. Sara is also sitting down on the computer next to me writing her own blog so apologies if we double up on the information. There will also be no photos posted this time as none of the internet cafes here in Arequipa will let me upload my photos from the camera and the two times I´ve tried to sneakily plug it in to the computers I´ve crashed them... oops! I guess it´s not a good sign if you see sparks when you touch the USB port... anyway, I shall add photos later when I find somewhere to upload them.

Well... I guess I´ll start at the beginning...

So, we left Brisbane for Sydney last Saturday (18th Oct), where Alex and Nat picked us up from the airport. They took us to a great little Japanese place for dinner and it was fantastic to catch up with them over a few beers and some sushi! We then headed back to Alex´s apartment near the Northern beaches where we prompty crashed.

Here we go... ready to leave in Sydney

We woke in the morning to a spectacular view of the water in time for a coffee on the balcony and breakfast and then off to the airport for the long haul. Thanks again Alex & Nat, we had a great time with you guys!

The flight stopped over in Aukland for an hour or so, then on to Buenos Aires. We had about 4hrs hanging around the airport there before heading on to Santiago. All of the flights were uneventful and after 24 straight hours of travelling, we were absolutely wrecked by the time we reached Santiago de Chile and apreciated the transfer we had organised to our Hostel.

We reached Hostal de Sammy at about 10pm. It was a little disconcerting as the driver wasn´t really sure where it was and we ended up being dropped outside a small wooden door in a large whitewashed concrete wall with no signs. However, we rang the bell and were soon inside the large house which had been converted to a hostel. Despite the puppy poo from one of the 2 untrained puppies that call the hostel home, it was relatively clean and had all the amenities we needed... and at the right price. At that point though all we could think about was finding our beds and crashing.

After a not so good nights sleep for me (still on Aus time), we forced ourselves up at 10:30am on Monday (20th Oct) so as to make the free breakfast of banana pancakes, fresh banana bread and eggs... muy rico! We then set off on foot to explore a little of Santiago. We walked up the main street, which had a nice park-like strip up the centre. Past hundreds and hundreds of students lying around on the grass (we saw more universities than we could count), the presidential palace, and many statues, including one of the stone totem-like men from Easter Island.

Eventually we reached the Mapocho River (looks more akin to a large sewer than a river) and on through the lively bar-filled area of Bellavista and to the base of Cerro San Cristobal, a mountain near the centre of the city with a statue of the virgin Mary on top. The Funicular (a tram/dolly car that travels at a ridiculously steep angle up the mount), which we had hoped to take to the top was out of order... typical! As those that have travelled with me before will know, I have a habit of turning up to sites and attractions whilst they´re closed.

There was nothing for it, so we legged it up the mountain with some directional assistance from a friendly mounted park ranger. From the top was an AMAZING view. A city that spread to the horizon in some directions and to the base of the Andes in others. The Andes themselves in the background still had a dusting of snow on top and were spectacular.

On top of Cerro San Cristobal with the view behind

After descening the mountain we went for a stroll through the Plaza de Armas, where there were many people playing chess, and the main shopping district and then it was time to jump on the Metro to go meet up with my friends from work Vanessa and Oliver.

We met Vanessa who promptly took us to a British pub for a beer, but we made sure we drank Chilean beer (Escuda). Oliver joined us and it was on to a restaurant for a fantastic meal and our first pisco sour! Very very tasty!! Also very dangerous as I think all four of us had slightly sore heads the next morning.

Dinner with V&O

Tues morning started similarly to Monday... another bad nights sleep and forced awake to catch the free breaky before 11am. V&O had offered for us to stay at their apartment, so we packed our gear up from the hostel and met V there. What a sight! Their apartment (on the 17th floor) had a view as good as, if not better than that from Cerro San Cristobal. With an amazing view of the mountains. You could even see the nearby ski resorts in the distance thanks to the beautifully clear weather we´d been having.

Views from V&O´s apartment

Now, we knew our bikes would be arriving approximately 4 weeks after us, so our plan was to use this time to see some of Peru and northern Chile, thus allowing us to skip that area towards the end of our trip. This decision was also made easy, when I came to the realisation, that there was not a lot worth seeing in Santiago itself. Even the guidebook´s top activities almost all required leaving the city to the ski fields or Maipo canyon or the wineries etc etc. So once we had settled in at V&O´s we set off to the bus terminal to organise tickets to Arica (the Northern most city in Chile) for the next day. After wandering the streets near the bus terminal through some local markets for a while, we organised our tickets and headed back to the apartment to cook dinner for V&O. Had a wonderful night enjoying food, beer and wine with the amazing view!! THANKS AGAIN VANESSA & OLIVER!! You guys are so incredibly generous! I hope we can return the favour some day.

YET ANOTHER restless night sleep, but amazing to wake up and watch the sun rise over the Andes!! We packed up, farewelled V&O and boarded our bus, ready for the 30hr bus trip ahead. The trip took us through some of the most rugged and desolate landscape that I have ever seen. It began with rocky mountains covered in cacti and yellow and purple wildflowers and with the occasional fruit farm (sometimes on incredibly steep slopes on the side of hills). Then we hit the water and a rocky coastline. We past a couple of beach towns, but the beaches were nothing to get excited over (that may be because I´ve been spoilt for the quality of beaches I´m used to). Then, as we turned inland, the terrain became dryer and dryer and we were passing miles and miles and miles of desert, only broken by the occasional town or subterranean river with farms nestled in the riverbed or occasionally patches of odd trees. We stopped occasionally in a town here and there to pick people up or drop them off and Sara and I usually took the oportunity to jump off the bus and stretch our legs. Several times I thought to myself that I was glad we wont have to ride through this desert. It would take us many days and be ridiculously boring, however there were also several times I craved my bike, so I could jump off the main road and go for a spin... maybe following some of the random tyre tracks that head off up one of the hills.

I awoke on the bus on Thursday (23rd) after the best night´s sleep I´d had yet (strange but true) to see the sun rising over the desert and a small town to one side all lit up... quite a staggering view. We continued through the desert and I was gazing out our window at the flattest section on desert yet... not a hill all the way to the horizon, when suddenly the bus started heading downwards. I looked out the other side of the bus to see and amazing valley/canyon that we were heading down the side of. It must have been several kms across and hundreds of meters deep. The walls like giant sand dunes. There were several crosses lining the road on the way down and a truck carrying tomatoes had overturned recently just at the bottom. People were still there trying to salvage what they could among the strewn tomatoes and broken crates. We continued up and down the side of a few valleys until reaching finally reaching Arica at about 3pm.

Northern Chile from the Bus

We were undecided whether to stay in Arica for the night and set off for Tacna (Peru) and Arequipa in the morning or to continue on. In the end, we decided that since the sun was still high in the sky and since we were offered collectivos to Tacna as soon as we got off the bus that, despite the exhaustion, we´d continue on. Our collectivo driver (Jose Luis) assisted us with finding the paperwork for the border crossing into Peru and once he´d rounded up enough people to cram into his car we set off for Tacna. We were lucky in that Jose Luis´car was actually one of the nicest and although he crammed 2 young Colombians in the front seat, we shared the back with just one other woman, so it was a reasonally comfortable drive and an easy border crossing and we were into PERU!

We arrived at Tacna at about 3pm (2hrs difference between Chile & Peru) and we immediately booked our bus to Arequipa for the next day. We could have taken an overnight bus, but we were both craving a shower and a beer. We legged it into the centre of town with our gear and found a cheap hostel for the night, showered and headed off to look for a pub. There were relatively few in the town and only one that was open at that time, so it was an easy choice. After sharing a jug of Cristal cervesa and some people watching we could both barely keep our eyes open, so it was some quick food and off to bed again.

Finally... enjoying a cold cerveza in Tacna

Friday, saw us on another bus to Arequipa. The scenery was very similar to Northern Chile, though slightly more mountainous as we climber to 2400m and arrived at Peru´s second largest city and a tourist mecca. We´ve now been here for a day or so and having a great time, though I shall save Arequipa for another entry.

Adios amigos and I´ll hopefully get some pics up soon!

Santiago...Of Dorms And Penthouses

2008-10-26T05:51:00.004+10:00

Haha! Lordy lord lord lord - so much for my clases de espanol! A delightful recount of a typical Sarsie reaction to a Chilean talking directly to me in Spanish, truthfully must go a lil somethin somethin like this: ............ insert here: blank stare, more blank stare, look to Nick for help, look back, more blank stare.... Well done Burger, well done - next time....DO YOUR SPANISH HOMEWORK!!!!!!! Hehe! Hehe! But DOH!

Manage we have though - all by our little selves - the following seriously unbelievably ridiculously draining and time consuming Santiago exercises: supermarket food purchasing, awesomest-metro-ever catching, sightseeing (and a wee bit o naughty nuaghty shhh shhh we-didnt-do-it adventure sightseeing), bus terminal finding and bus ticket buying. No applause please, no applause....We know we know... we are SO very very awesome!

Best Santiago bits n pieces:

1. Moving straight from our 8 bed dorm room to a 17th floor penthouse room with magical sweeping views of Santiago and the Andes straight out our floor-to-ceiling glass doors...just beyond our terrace!

((To give you the 4-1-1 on the whole 17th floor thang - Nicks wonderful wonderful mind blowingly generous friends, Vanessa and Oliver, offered to have us for our last glorious night in Santiago, took us for our first Spanish drinks - ohmigosh its all about the pisco sour* people - , took us for our first fantastically fun Spanish dinner experience and generally bolwed us over at ever turn with their beautiful generosity and kindness - biggest TA ever to wonderful V&A for making Santiago so very very special!!!!!))

2. Refer to 1. above then add the following item of intense soul-smiling enjoyment - watching the sun rise over the Andes from our bed in the morning. W.W.O.W.W.

3. Shhh shhh sneaking off the marked tourist path at Cerro San Cristobal (Virgin on the Hill) and climbing high high high up a lookout tower that we maybe kinda sorta werent really probably allowed to do! Hehe! Awesome! Heart racing! Awesome! Hehe!

4. Walking walking and more walking - I love the walking! Walking around ogling people, ogling places, ogling builings, ogling stores, ogling landscapes, ogling anything, ogling everything - ahhhh sweet ogling, its always been my fav part of travelling!!

Ogling-observations of Santiago from me to you: mucho mucho like Brisbane but wayyyyyyy sprawling-city-to-the-horizon biGGer; well-kempt doggies roam freely everywhere; anywhere there is grass people lie; Santiagoans (?hehe?) are quite the calm happy bunch; pisco sour could possibly the best discovery this side of 1 A.D.; the metro is superduperdoo with trains every 3 minutes; the city cant decide who it wants to be - old, young, short, tall, dirty, clean, rich, poor, colourful, bland, open, closed, everything, anything - its quite confusedly enchanting!

*Pisco sour - pisco (chilean liquor), egg whites, sugar, lemon juice add BANG! equals YUMYUMYUMYUM IN MY TUMTUMTUMTUM!

One week in - its already amazing - completely amazing - no work, travelling the world, hot man beside me, gorgeously generous friends... Does life get any better?!?!?!?!!

The future from me to you: Post some massive tas and massive hugs for Vanessa and Oliver - next, we hit the road jack! - onward north to Arequipa in Peru via a 32 hour bus trip, a 2 hour car trip and another 8 eight hour bus trip. A long long haul - but two countries in four days is a mighty mighty amazing special thing - and there is so much to see and do and experience and I want to do it ALL!

Lets get is started in here!

2008-10-17T22:09:00.001+10:00

Ok... so we need a first post to get this site started before we head off. As most of you would know, Sara and I are heading to South America for an extended holiday. But have you met Doug & Dot?

Meet Doug (in red) (named after... well... dug dug dug dug dug dug dug dug.... it's a single cylinder 650 cc bike), otherwise know as Sara's bike and Dorothy (from the land of Oz) (in the faded red... ok fine it's pink), aka Nick's bike.

These 2 Kawasaki KLR650's will be the donkeys that will ee-or us most of the way around Sth Am after they finally arrive. Until such time it shall be backpacks, buses and incan ruins for us.

so... it's the night before the night we head to Sydney... what else can I say except... I'm retardedly excited... I'm insanely exhausted... and watch this space for far more interesting posts in the future!!
Ciao.