Thursday, April 22, 2010

Uros Floating Islands

A few days ago we visited the Floating Island of the Uros people on Lake Titicaca here are some pictures

Monday, April 19, 2010

Puno, Perú.

We left Cusco this morning bearing south-east towards Puno. Puno lies on the shores of lake Titicaca and is fairly close to the border with Bolivia. Tomorrow we're going to check out the famous floating islands of the Uros people on lake Titicaca.


View Ushuaia - Cusco - Iguazu Falls in a larger map

Ushuaia to Iguazu Falls

When it all started back in February, this journey was supposed to end on April 10th in Cusco with a flight back to Colombia on April 12th. Plans have changed, I have decided to stick around with Compass and continue touring South America for a few more tours. Dani flew back to Colombia already and left Leo and I to fend for ourselves.

The next tour will be taking us from Cusco to Iguazu Falls, crossing borders at Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. It will be a route filled with gorgeous scenery and some serious altitude shifts!

Since the end of the last tour. We have been working hard on the bikes and Troopy. Not to mention the complete face-lift we did to the trailer. In a weeks time we changed oils, chains and sprockets, re-sprung the suspension on the Troopy, painted the cabin of the Troopy and tore down the trailer and made some major adjustments (pictures soon)

The new group trickled into Cusco over the last few days, they have eaten all the locals treats including guinea pigs and alpacas, we visited Machu Picchu and we are ready to depart tomorrow morning towards Puno, Peru.

Updates should become a regular thing once again!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Last day in Cusco

Monday, April 12, 2010

Bye bye

Last night Mick, Emil, Micho and I had a few drinks and dinner at a
nice little pub by Cusco's Plaza de las Armas. This was my last dinner
with the guys and the last day of this amazing trip working with
Compass.

I fly back to Bogotá today while Micho has decided to stay around
until September with Compass. Next stop for him will be the jaw-
dropping Iguazú Falls in Argentina/Brazil riding through the Bolivian
altiplano.

Ta!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Machupicchu

Back from Machupicchu. Amazing place.



Wednesday, April 7, 2010

From Cusco...

After 6 weeks since we started this trip, we're finally in Cusco. More updates soon...



Sunday, April 4, 2010

Leo's tired...

2:47am. I'm sleeping in the hotel room in Arequipa with Micho and Leo.
All of a sudden, in the middle of his sleep, Leo wakes up abruptly,
stands up, turns on the light an says: "Damn, I need some rest, I'm
dreaming of David Hasselhoff again..."
We need some serious rest! Two more days to Cusco!

Border Crossing Aerobics

It's always good to stretch before you're going to spend 3-4 hours filling out border crossing paperwork



We made it to Peru today, will be spending the night in Arequipa

Friday, April 2, 2010

Arica, Chile.


View Ushuaia - Cusco in a larger map

This afternoon we arrived to Arica, Chile. About some 80 km south from the Chile-Peru border. The last 3 days we have been crossing the Atacama desert. Which is hot, dry and lacks all sort of vegetation and decently sized or visible animal life. The landscape is a powerful contrast and jaw dropping in it's own right. The pacific has been on our left hand side while the arid Mars-like sand and rocks hug the coast from the right  Daniel and I have had the chance to ride the bikes these last few days and been lucky enough to ride on the twisty roads of Chile's coastal highways 5 and 1.

This morning we stopped by the saltpeter mines of Santa Laura and Humberstone, which are UNESCO worl heritage sites since 2005.

Tomorrow we cross into Peru and have 4 more days of riding until we get to Cusco. This morning we received the good news that Machu Picchu is re-open for tourism again, after being shut down since the beginning of the year due to flooding

Today in Arica, tomorrow Arequipa.


We're finally in Arica. It's been some long past few days crossing the desert of Atacama. Now I understand why it is the driest one in the world, there's absolutely no life whatsoever in it. We spend a night in La Serena, then Mejillones, yesterday in Iquique (quite nice actually) and today in Arica, the last town before the border with Perú. The landscape, although completely barren, was fascinating to me. 

Today was a short 330km ride under the aggressive desert sun and over the scorching martian rock. We rode through what seemed like a mine field of dirt devils (mini tornadoes), one of them swirling just a few meters away from me (there's a video of this). 

On the other hand, work is hard and although Mick (from Compass), Emil and Jordi (a couple of trainees) have been very helpful, for some reason it seems awkward to think that we were able to handle a larger group from Ushuaia to Santiago all by ourselves. 

Besides a few mechanical repairs here and there, the tour is running great and everyone is having an amazing time. We still have four more days before we arrive to Cusco. 

Enjoy some pictures. 





Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Bahia Inglesa to Mejillones

The tour from Santiago to Cusco is on it's 3rd day now. The first few days we have been covering a lot of distance to get away from Santiago. Today will be the longest day 600km. Yesterday we arrived to Bahia Inglesa and entered the beginning of the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world.

Last night we stayed in a small oceanside town called Bahia Inglesa and stayed at a lovely hotel with an amazing view of the sunset.

Sunset at Bahia Inglesa

Sunset at Bahia Inglesa

A few mobile shots

Enetering the Atacama Desert.

Monday, March 29, 2010

On the way to La Serena

Quick stop for lunch at a Copec gas station.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Hello From Santiago

Hello from the Capital of Chile. Tomorrow we continue the journey to Cusco.