chasingsummerp.028
Chasing Summer p.028
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Planning for the next leg of the ride
I saw my surgeon mid-February and the bone healing process seems to go as planned. I'm now able to put 50% of my weight on my injured leg. Of course it has to be with my rigid 'boot' and the crutches but that's still a big improvement. In 2 weeks from now I'll see him again and I should then be able to put the full weight and just use one crutch as a helper. Bottom line: I bought yesterday a plane ticket to Lima for March 9th with a return May 10th
.
This time, since I have a return plane ticket it puts some pressure on keeping a schedule . Before starting the whole trip I had made an itinerary that I only half followed depending on conditions and recommendations from the locals. We'll see how it goes this time.
As you know I have changed my plans: I was supposed to see Cuzco, Macchu Pichu, Bolivia, Patagonia and then fly back home from Santiago. But to arrive earlier in Ushuaia (better weather) and to avoid putting too much stress right away on the ankle, I will head to Santiago by the coastal road from Lima. Then I will do the 'initially scheduled' ride but in reverse: Chile lakes region, Ushuaia, the glaciers, then up Ruta 40, San Pedro de Atacama (North Chile), Bolivia, then Macchu Pichu and go back home via Lima again.
Basically I'm going South on the Chilean side to Tierra de Fuego and then going North on the East side (Argentinean) of the Andes.
Even if I will be continuing my trip more or less where I left it in Peru it will be a totally different experience:
- Pavement and coast rather than mountains and dirt/mud roads
- Traveling with buddies instead of solo like I have been since Central America
Yep, we're not sure yet for how long but the 3 amigos from Mexico will indeed reunite again!!! Andy and Teryk have just connected in Peru to meet me in Lima at my arrival. I really thought that it would be impossible but of course, that was before I broke my ankle. Andy rode fast through Colombia and Peru to be there on time since he will be able to visit them on his way back North after seeing the rest of SA.
We'll see if we can make our schedule work but no matter how long it lasts, it will be great to have their company again. I will also have another companion for a couple of weeks: Dirk (Aquavit) is flying from San Francisco to Puerto Montt on March 25th. He's renting a BMW 650 GS Dakar for 2 weeks that he will give back in Punta Arenas after or visit to the glaciers and TdF.
Stay tuned
Yesterday was busy at taking care of the bikes and I also had to spend a good amount of time packing with my stuff all over the place and those 4 big tubes to fit in my top case. Finally we’re all set and I can’t wait to be on road again. It’s quite amazing that the 3 of us have been able to catch up and are heading to Ushuaia! Teryk wanted at some point to stop in Bolivia but was able to get more funds to continue all the way down. We all loved our riding solo experience so we’ll see how it will turn out but right now, beating the weather to arrive fast in Patagonia is our common goal.
My only worry is that my ankle is again much swollen on the evening even though I didn’t put my boots that day.
for my first day of riding after my surgery it was quite a long one with over 400 miles. Leaving Lima on the Panamerican South is not engaging at all. Poor suburbs and garbage dumps, sometimes right by the beaches. And there is that haze, making things sticky because of the salty mist of the ocean. With the quickly dirty screens and the haze the visibility is as bad as going through clouds sometimes.
Everything around is sand. Sand and giants billboards. I’m thinking of the too many riders who only know Peru through the Panamerican
. I urge everyone riding through Peru to go at least a bit through the mountains even if it takes longer.
For maybe 130 km it’s a big 2x2 freeway and we make good time. Then it becomes a regular highway in good condition and relatively straight. Boring but fast. 200 km further, at Palpa we see the first twisties amongst nice rock formations.
Funny that the first picture of this new section of this trip is a flat tire. But this time it's not me but Andy who got a nail on his rear tire.
I’m so glad that it’s not me! For not having to do the work of course but also because I will not feel as bad to delay my buddies when it will be my turn. I think Andy had only one flat on this trip before this one. And it showed considering how long it took him to repair it
.
While we were working on the tire, another rider/traveler stops to check on us. It’s Ernesto and he looks to me like a real Che Guevara from Motorcycles Diary.
Like the Che he’s Argentinean, traveling all around South America with an old bike and little money. Ernesto leaves in Buenos Aires and traveled to Ushuaia 3 years ago on his Honda 250 Nighthawk. This time he’s traveling from BA to Brazil and all along the coast up to Colombia then going south to Chile where he will cross over back to BA.
The rear bags are made of tools boxes and the front ones, in wood are quite practical for the bottles of pisco
On the road again...
Even if I’ve been fascinated for a long time by the Nasca lines I had not planned to see them by plane because I didn’t think that it would be much better than seeing the pictures taken in the best conditions possible. My companions shared the same opinion and so in the interest of saving time and money we passed on that. We did however stop at the observation tower, on the side of the road to see a couple of images.
The team at the top...
... The bikes at the bottom
It was already 4:30 pm when we arrived a Nasca. There was still daylight and we were not really inspired by the town and so we decided to push it to the coast where we hoped to find a place to sleep at Chala, 200 km further. There was almost no village and very little traffic on the way.
It might have been tempting to camp in the beach/dunes along the coast but there was way to much wind for that and that made the sand completely invade the road. At some places a full lane was eaten by it and patches of sand were covering the entire road.
It was getting darker fast but it felt nice to ride there and it became spectacular at the sunset. We could see the ocean on the right side of the road and on the left, mountains colored in red by the sunset… gorgeous! The road was even offering some nice twisties. The only issue is that the wind was even stronger which was tiring for our necks and made it hard at times to keep the bikes on the road.
It was night when we arrived after 6:30 pm at Chala. That’s when I realized that the daylight is probably 30-45 minutes shorter than it was when I left Peru almost 2 months ago.
March 13 - Chala to Arequipa (410 km)
Interactive Maps: http://www.gpsxchange.com/Files/JeanLuc/2008_03_13.JPG
It might look like a cell...
... but the view from our room is awesome
Teryk wakes up really early to run on the beach
I prefer a more contemplative activity
This morning the road is much nicer than expected with great twisties. There is still not an hint of green though. At some point I see a great shooting opportunity so here we go!
Pic by Teryk
The final rush
Until...
Andy's rear 908 is almost bald which might explain it
But based on a pic from Teryk from just before Lima, it looks like it's not a first for Turkish
The road follows the coast all the way to Camana. I find it hard to stop to take pictures now that I'm not solo. We don't have radios anymore and I don't want my riding companions to have to stop every time I want to snap a pic. Besides we need to make a lot of miles in this North Chile section. So I mostly take riding pics...
The coast is almost inhabited, besides a few fishermen houses
The view of these huge dunes dropping directly into the water is really impressive!
I'm amazed that they're able to keep the road mostly sand free in those conditions...
The scenery alternates nicely between sand and rocks...
After Camana the road heads inland in direction to Arequipa. I like this mouth of the river with the green (finally) and fertile valley around it
It’s actually quite a climb since we go from sea level to about 2,500 m of elevation.
We arrive in Arequipa not too late since we want to spend a bit of time visiting this renowned place. While navigating in the complicated network of narrow one-way street without seeing an hostal we stop a while to check the guides and pick one address there. I suddenly hear an air leak… yes, I can’t believe it but I have yet another puncture!
At least it happened in the city so we put more air into it and hurry to check in the hostal and make the repair there. Hour hostal is in a very nice house, 400 years old!
Like most of the old city it’s build in ‘Sillar’, a white volcanic stone quarried locally. It’s the reason why Arequipa is often called ‘the white city’.
Arequipa is indeed really nice although I can only see a little of it since my ankle is still painful. We do spend a good time though on the Santa Catalina Monestario, right in the heart of Arequipa. Founded in 1579 it was open to the public for the very first time in 1970. It’s big! Almost like a small town with streets, plazas, gardens etc.
The atmosphere is very sereine. Simple but everything is 'perfect'
More streets and courtyards...
The 'central kitchen' was really impressive: huge and covering the space of several houses. It was too dark to photography but here is a pic of an original laundry...
There are also religious art galleries inside the Monestario.
A couple of pics from the rest of the city...
Pic from Teryk
And a delicious cuy for my dinner, traditionally roasted between hot stones. I don't know why my buddies didn't even want to taste it. It has a nice smile though
They were however okay to try the delicious Pisco sour...
March 14 - Arequipa to Arica (450 km)
Interactive Maps: http://www.gpsxchange.com/phpBB2/download2.php?id=1851
The road is inland and go through the Desert of Clemesi. And desert it is! There is not much going on and so not much on my report either…
The only thing nice was the contrast of this white 'earth' mixed with the reddish one
Can you say 'straight line'?
Hey, we had to keep ourselves busy, right?
We stop for lunch in Tacna before to tackle the border crossing. It’s quite busy on both sides and so it take us a good amount of time in long lines etc. before to finally enter Chile.
It was getting late already so we stop at Arica which is an okay town.
That's it for the day... I told you not to expect much from that part of the trip...
March 15 - Arica to Geysers del Tatio (750 km)
Interactive Maps: http://www.gpsxchange.com/phpBB2/download2.php?id=1852
We decided to shoot for a long riding day to be able to sleep in San Pedro de Atacama, so we have an early departure (just before sunrise).
We’re still following the Panamerican, and we’re still in a desert! We’re amazed that there are so few pueblos and the names on the map end up being nothing or just a few houses here and there. One typical example:
Unlike our SA experience until now, gas is also an issue here with long stretches (+ 350 km) without a gas station. Better not miss an opportunity to gas up!
Not much to mention again even though several sections of the road were beautiful.
A quick excursion off-road
The rest was generally too straight to keep me awake.
We finally take the 23 East towards Calama. After getting a very late lunch I don’t have too much trouble convincing my buddies to reach San Pedro via a dirt road instead of the paved one. We are all tired after 650 km but I noted a few things worth seeing on that side way and I hope that the riding will be great.
Chiu Chiu is our first halt. This little pueblo (300 h) was created in 1611 and its church is one of the oldest in Chile. You can see the door held by leather ties.
Walls in thick adobe and roof in 'rustic' wood
The road is awesome! It’s dirt but covered with some ‘oil’ (?) that reduces dramatically the dist and makes it as fast as a paved road.
But the best part is the scenery that becomes more and more beautiful, highlighted by the late afternoon light, right on our back. Perfect!
The Laguna Inca Coya, surprisingly (since it’s not a crater) round.
A bit of exploring around
Then back on the main road again...
It's strange after several days of hot desert to see snow in the surrounding summits
Suddenly my bike sputters and the engine stops rapidly! What’s going on!
I know that I have plenty of gas so that’s not the problem… When Teryk arrives I ask him what he would think about camping here. Yep, it’s late and I have no idea if and when we’ll be able to repair it.
Then Andy arrives and immediately starts to diagnostic what could be wrong. Since the engine stopped like out of gas and that his 950 had trouble with the fuel pump in the past he tests mine. Bingo! The pump doesn’t work. Okay, I’m glad to know the problem now but my situation appears even worth in a way: in the list of spare parts I had initially a fuel pump but did not finally get one. Damn!
But I am with the right team! Andy explains that most failures on the 950 fuel pump come from corroded contacts and indeed when we open the cover it’s much corroded.
I might remember going in a water crossing or two now…
Then Teryk gets into action with a WD40 and a toothbrush before to apply some contact cleaner. We do a quick test and YES, the engine starts right away. Thank you guys!
Thanks to them, the first problem in my bike didn’t even take an hour to solve.
However it means that we will now arrive just after night in San Pedro. Oh well...
Contrast of sensual round curves with the sharp edges in the background...
Other type of contrast...
The moment and the ride are quite magic!
We continue our way with a pass over 4,500 m of elevation. It’s getting cold!
Our initial plan was to go to SP tonight (for a couple of nights) and take a tour tomorrow morning to the Geysers del Tatio. Those tours leave at 4 am to get the best view on the geysers at sunrise. The guide books recommend not going alone to not do the dirt road by night and to have a guide when arrived in the geysers and their dangerous environment.
But, the geysers are pretty close to where we are now and we decide to try on our own by camping there tonight. Of course we might be freezing (it’s around -10 C at night) but we will survive and we do also have some emergency food with us.
We're getting closer and seeing our first fumerolles
When we arrive at the geysers park gate a good surprise awaits us: there is a big house for the couple of guards and they have a big guest room with bare bunk beds available for us. Even at 5,000 pesos ($12) for bare accommodations it’s still a bargain compared to sleeping outside! The view is not bad either
