The "road" to Uyuni

When we left Oruro (by the way nothing to report in Oruro except the fact that this town is a tip) we had 2 concerns.
The first was that we heard rumors that the road to Uyuni was blocked by striking campesinos.
The second was that apparently most of the road wasn't paved (170 kms of it!)
Unfortunately both rumors were correct.
In fact as we approached Challapata we were met by hundreds of campesinos in the middle of the road, blocking the passage with stones and planks of wood.
We have been told that they are striking against the president of Bolivia, an indios like them, who hasn't kept his promises......sounds familiar?
Anyway, unlike trucks, buses and cars we were lucky enough to get through....I guess the charme of the bike worked well!
We thought it would be better not to push our luck and take pictures of the blockade, however we managed to take a few pictures of the road after the block.

One of the effects of the blockade was that from then on there would be no traffic whatsoever.
Eventually we reached the fork to Uyuni just to find out that also the second rumor was correct....

As far as we are concerned this was the worst day of the whole trip.
If you are a motocross buff probably 170 kms of dirt road, dust, sand dunes, river crossing, corrugated rock and salt, under the scorching sun, might sound heaven. For everybody else, including us, this was pure hell.
For the whole journey I barely touched the 3rd gear, giving me an average speed of 20 kms per hour.
After 2 hrs (2pm) we had only covered 35 kms and 145 were still ahead of us.
At this pace we would have been left with a good 30 kms to be covered in the darkness!
This time petrol wasn't the issue; we had in fact filled up at Challapata.
Our bones were beginning to sore and so my wrists.
I think the continuous change of ground was a major issue. As we adjusted to drive on corrugated soil the road would turn into sand, then gravel, then hard rock again.
Just before half way through we landed into a huge sand dune and got completely stuck with the bike leaning on one side.
This is when adrenaline comes to help.
At 30 degrees, fully geared, with helmets on, at an altitude of 4000 meters we managed to lift the 300 kgs bike back up and push it outside the dune.
Our hearts were pumping really fast.
Luckily a village was just in sight where we were able to get some Coke (no water!!!) and some shade where to gather our thoughts.
It was 4 pm and 100 kms still remained.
What was really taking a toll was the fact that we could not take breaks to drink or rest as we were really running short of time and we definetely didn't want t drive in that road at night.
20 kms later however we had to stop again for a "toilet break".

As we approached 5pm I eventually saw in the mirrors a jeep approaching fast.
We stopped on one side and began to waive.
The jeep stopped and a nice old man popped out.

We then asked him kindly whether he was going to Uyuni, and since the answer was positive whether he would agree to take Elena and all the luggage with him........he agreed.
150 kgs lighter and most importantly without the responsibility of carrying Elena I was now able to pick up speed.
It is a strange feeling when you are so tired that all your limbs are going numb.
At some point I was engaging corners in the sand as you do when you ski: in derapage.
The salar the Uyuni was now on site with only 30 kms to go and the sun settingon my right.
I made it to the hotel by 7.30pm with only one thought in my mind: had Elena been delivered safe and sound?
At the counter they told me the following" your wife is here but she went out to check some tour agencies......." typical Elena!

From Arica to Oruro

We spent less than 24 hr in Chile which meant we crossed 2 borders in 2 days.
Our choice was determined by various factors:
1) Over the last few weeks we had tried to book our flight to Easter Island over the net with no much success. Our understanding was that the prices would be cheaper once in Chile, therefore we made the decision to head to Arica as quickly as we could.
Early in the morning we went to the LAN offices. They initially raised our expectations by telling us that seats were available for mid November at £350 (normally it's twice as much if you book from abroad).
We got our card out ready to seal the deal just to be told that in actual fact only 1 seat was available.
We argued for 30 minutes then we left empty handed.
2) We were not too interested in visiting La Paz as everyone we met that had already been there told us it was rather disappointing
3) We thought that the pass from Chile to Bolivia was a much better route since it would allow us to visit both park Lauca in Chile and park Sajama in Bolivia.

And so we packed our bike soon after our visi to the LAN offices and we left heading up towards the border.
The first warning we can give to bikers out there that are interested in doing this road is that there are no petrol station between Arica and Oruro. That is over 500 kms with no available petrol.....do your maths.
The road from Arica to Putre climbs up rapidly, with long straight cuts in the side of the mountain.
I have to say that looking up above us I was often thinking that land slides could easily happen since there was no trees holding the ground together.

We make our first stop in Putre where we negotiate with a member of the local community the purchase of 5 litres of petrol at a price double of the official one....beggers can't be choosers!

We press on towards the border but soon after Putre the road becomes unpaved for a good 50 kms.
Our average speed drops from 90 to 25 kms per hr.
We are not big fans of gravel, in particular when we cross path with huge trucks going at an unbelieveble speed and raising huge clouds of dust.

And yet there are 2 things that cheer us up and make this paine more bearable:
One is the majestic sight of snow topped twin vulcanoes far in the distance.

The other one is the knowledge that there is always someone who is in a much worse position than you.
Half way through the gravel we met a couple on 2 push bikes panting their way to the top.

Lets remind ourselves why these people are TRUE HEROES:
They climb for over 200 kms from 0 to 4000 meters of altitude, with no much oxygen, breething dust raised by the on coming trucks, cycling on gravel road with no accomodation, electricity, running water for another 250 kms, cycling under the scorching sun during the day and sleeping in tents during the freezing nights........got the picture?
Finally the road turns back into asphalt.
The pleasure of riding through the Lauca park is now to a pick, only a clear lagune under the vulcano would make it perfect...

Carlsberg doesn't do border crossings, but if they did this probably would be the best in the world.
Snow topped twin vulcanoes, blue lagunas, pink flamingoes festing in the laguna at 4000 meters and most importantly clearing all the paperwork for both sides in 10 minutes!!!

As we enter into the Bolivian side we find a petrol station that obviously is NOT selling any petrol.
At the end of the day what is a petrol station there for?!
The Sajama national park stetches itself for hundreds of kms. This is the home of the highest forest on the planet.
The road is actually in very good condition and we can cruise at 100 kms per hr.
My concern is the petrol tank that is emptying fast (otherwise I would drive much faster).
The road is empty, absolutely empty to the point that we do not see anybody else for over 1 hr.

Finally at Km 94 we spot a white house with a restaurant sign on it.
Surely they have some petrol here, not like at the petrol station........

We fill up, pay 3 times the normal price, give few sweets to that friendly kid and leave.
Now with a full tank we can press on across few canyons, next destination Patacamaya.
The town is an oasis in the desert and as such it has a working petrol station with a 2 kms queue of trucks all waiting to fill up.
In Bolivia petrol is clearly a precious commodity. But for us time is more precious.
It is now half five, the sun is coming down and we still have 130 kms to do to get to Oruro.
A nice one toothed lady sells us 5 litres for the usual "off the counter price".
We get to Oruro just when the sun is coming down and our shade is elungated over the desert.

Leaving Peru'

After over a month it is now time for us to leave Peru'.
The last 500 km stretch is obviously all desert (from Arequipa to Tacna), with 1 petrol statation in between.
Not satisfied to spend the whole day on the bike we also have the brilliant idea to take the wrong turn and add an extra 80 kms to our journey!
Now, can you imagine driving half hour in this emptiness  and then make a U turn and do it all over again?

The road to Tacna is fast but challenging, most importantly the rocks around us are so red that looks like being on Mars.
It's a shame that this time our pictures did not reflect the beauty of the sceneries in full.
To sum it up:
We went through a section of desert fully militarised (I guess the border with Chile is still "hot")
It's a shame we were not allowed to take any pictures in particular to those road signs saying "peligro explosions!!"
We climbed up into a narrow valley with bright red cliffs. (I swear they are brigth red)

As the narrow valley opened up we faced a huge canyon below us, very similar to the Gran Canyon in the US,

When we eventually hit the border with Chile the sun is already coming down.
We are tired and hungry but unfortunately the chilean authorities decide that we have to un-pack the whole bike and put all our luggage and boxes under the Xrays!!!!! That's a first.
1 hr later we are finally free to go.
Luckly Arica (our destination) is only 22 km away.
The sun is disappearing over the sea while the surfers are catching the last waves of the day.

El condor non pasa

We wake up at 2.15 am as our guide is coming to pick us up at 2.30. Destination Canyon del Colca.
This canyon is the second deepest canyon on earth, after the Colhuasi, which is not too far from here either.
The reason why we opted for the Colca is that you can admire the ever elusive condor at the mirador "cruz del condor".
The condor is the biggest living bird on the planet. Its wings are over 3 meters wide, it can fly at 60 kms per hr, primarely feeds of dead animals and to fly does not really flaps its wings, it uses warm ascending currents.
For this reason it is likely to spot the condor at 8 am at the mirador (good currents at that time of the day) and for this reason we had to leave so early to cover the 5 hrs journey to get there on time.
You might say "5 hrs to cover such a short distance?".
Well, when the road is like this, yes.

We make it on time to the mirador, together with hundreds of other visitors.

The only one missing is the condor, therefore we have to cheer us up with the wonderful views of the canyon.

View from the mirador

View from the gallery N1

And number 2
On the way back to Arequipa we still have time to take few picture of the canyon from long distance.

And back to the altipiano at 5000 meters we can see how the locals pile up rocks to make votive offerings.

Finally just a tip: If like us you plan to make an effort to see the condor and wish to visit the Colca Canyon, but at the same time you do not wish to wake up at 2pm and travel for 16 hrs, then we suggest you find accomodation in Chivay. This is a pretty small town, close to the canyon, that offers all type of accomodations........we wish we knew!

Arequipa

When we got to Arequipa some of the roads in the city centre were close due to the parade for "los senor de los milagros".
This is an historical parade to celebrate the beginning of spring.
The violet color of the clothing is matching the color of the flowers in bloom all around town.

This beautiful town has been destroyed several times by eruptions and earthquakes.
Last time was only 10 years ago. Certainly its location is not ideal: Arequipa means town behind the volcanoes....there are 8 of them in the proximity
The telluric activity is huge: There are around 10/15 small movements every day. We are told that this is actually good news. It is only when the movements reduce that you need to worry because a big one is about to come.
I am pleased to confirm that we left unscattered.
On day one we simply wandered around town with no specific goal.
At sunset we noticed some terraces above the galleria in the main square and thought that taking a picture of the square from the roofs would be cool.
We therefore spoke to the owner of one of the restaurants in the square if we could climb on top of his roof......Not only he agreed but gave us an interesting lecture of the town's history.

Here's a picture from the roof with the cathedral and to volcano misty in the background.

And this is the main square by night.

We spent the following day by visiting the main attraction of Arequipa: The Santa Catalina Monastery.
The monastery was originally built entirely in white stones in the 16th century by the will of lady Guzman, a huge devote of Santa Catilina.
After the earthquake of 1971 most of the walls were painted in bright colonial colors.
But let's allow the images to do most of the talking:

The courtyard of silence: here the future nuns would spend 1 to 4 years in silence, thinking whether they should become a nun or not......

The courtyard of the orange tree painted in bright blue color.

The monastery is so big that there are real roads named after spanish towns.

Red is one of the prevalent colors.....

and a bit of yellow......

You might think that life wasn't too bad in this monastery.
Well, until the 19th century the nuns were even allowed to bring up to 4 servants inside.
But then the Pope sent one of his emissaries to tighten up things and we guess that was the end of parties in the pool.....

The land of canyons

The land of canyons is truly harsh and beautiful.
First of all there is not much in term of settlements between Puno and Arequipa.
After wizzing through various valleys we eventually stop to fill up our bike to a very rudimental "petrol station".

The price per gallon is obviously higher than normal but then I guess you pay for the service......ah and they do not take AMEX.
We carry on climbing up until we reach the beautiful pass of lagunilla at 4300 where we can enjoy the view of a blue laguna.

After the pass the road becomes flat for a good 100 kms.
Sand twisters are lifting dust all around us. The wind is strong and the bike moves constantly to the point that I have to ride leaning 30 degrees against the wind.
The shape of the "misti" volcano is looming ahead of us in the middle of the pampa.
That is a good sign, Arequipa must not be too far away.

It is now time to come down from 4900 to 2400 meters.
There is a huge canyon on our right side with snow topped mountains far in the distance and to be honest is quite difficult to keep our eyes on the road.

Elena is taking pictures left right and centre, lets only hope our camera does not melt down.

We eventually arrive in Arequipa to our hotel, nicely located in front of a beautiful park.

After one month of deserts, pampa, canyons and generally very dry land, the smell and green colour of cut wet grass is absolutely refreshing.

Fake Titicaca

Yes, that is not a mistype:
Over the last few days we have been reviewing our plans as we were falling behind of schedule (thanks to our forced break in Huaraz).
In the end we decided to cut out La Paz and to head down to Arica in Chile.
And yet we thought we should make an effort and try to get at least to Lake Titicaca.
We believe we wasted out time.
As we got to the shore in the morning we noticed immediately that the lake is unfortunately very polluted.

We also found out that some genious introduced trouts in the lake in the 60s.

The trout is a predator and as such is pretty much feeding off all the other endemic species pushing the other fish to extintion.

As we circumnavigated part of the lake we could also notice how the lake is slowly shrinking.

Here is a picture of some fields that once upon a time used to be water....

To cheer us up we jumped on a ferry and decided to go to visit the famous Uros.

The Uros are little islands in the middle of the lake made of straws.

The inhabitants of these islands stripe the roots and the straws together, put more straws on top as the old one rot and anchor their mini islands in the lake to avoid being moved by the strong winds.

These people have been doing this for centuries, however we got the feeling that today the whole tradition has no longer reason to exist if not for one reason: milking the tourists.

And so the show begins:

They welcome us and show us their "artisania". (and ask for money)

Then kids are signing us songs in 10 different languages (and ask for money)

Finally they put us on one of their traditional boats made with straws (and guess what?)

At the end of the tour we really got the feeling that the only real thing in the whole village was the solar panel on top of that "cabana".

As we catch our ferry back and we gaze at the reflections of the clouds on the lake we can only think of one thing: The whispers in Puno are probably true. The people from Uros at 6pm pack up and go back to their real homes one the mainland to have their dinner, then they go out clubbing to spend the money that those gullable Italians left behind today.

In the evening we went out with our friend Chris to have some alpaca steak.

Ths is the 3rd time we meet up with Chris in South America, after Galapagos and Huaraz, and who knows there might be a fourth one, eh Chris?

The way to Puno

Now that we are leaving Cusco we are about to enter one of the most geologically interesting areas on planet Earth.
In no specific order in the next 3 weeks we will see the deepest canyon on Earth, the highest forest, the driest desert, the highest navigable lake, the biggest salt lake and a town that not only is surrounded by 8 volcanoes but also counts over 10 telluric movements per day.
The door to this "wonder" region, which by the way is scattered across 3 countries, is the Cusco-Puno highway.
For the first 100 kms the road is fairly boring, the only new touch to the scenery is that the railway is running in parallel to our road.

The road is fast, even though we are well over 4000 meters.

Soon white peaks begin to appear making our journey more interesting.

The road is so new and so empty that you can take corners well over 100 kms/h, and trust me, this is very unusual on south american roads.

Surely there must be a catch, this is too good to be true......

And in fact soon the fun ends!

It get even worse and at some stage they send us litterally in the middle of the fields for a good 20 kms.

We got a couple of itchy moments when the engine of the bike got a bit over heathed on the dirt road(red light!) and also when the bike decided to turn itself off in the middle of Juliaca probably for a lethal mix of altitude and dirty petrol.(By the way Juliaca is absolutely horrible).

But in the end we made it tu Puno with the sun coming down behind us and lake titicaca in front of us and we forgot our troubles.