we made it to Antofagasta!! This tour is great like that: Start at the Pacific Ocean, end here too!!
The high altiplano road to San Pedro de Atacama
the road out of Salta, Argentina is like a bike path!! and beautiful country side to boot! Then we hit Purmamarca- and its' mountain of 7 colors. From there we continued up and over the altiplano again and into chile and San Pedro de Atacama- what a perfectly twisty road that was! And Jama Pass- highest boarder crossing in south america
The windy road from Potosi to Tarija reminded me of the American South West... lots of red cliffs and small "oasis" type towns with quaint little restaurants. This one was perfect for our group! Then we crossed the boarder into Argentina. Salta Argentina was the town for our rest day, we spent it doing a bus tour which took us to all the highlights of the town- really nice architecture and a tidy, neat town.
The road to Uyuni is pretty barren.... and in Uyuni there was a local festival going on- we stumbled upon it by pure luck! The Uyuni salt flats are nothing short of amazing!!
Leaving La Paz can is adventure as well....
today we rode to lake Titicaca! the highest navigable lake in the world. Great day for a ride. On the way back we took a 'side road" to avoid the dreaded downtown La Paz traffic, and it in and of itself was and adventure!! Enduro Park La Paz....
OK!! Here we GO!! the ROAD OF DEATH!! (everyone in the group lived- don't worry...) Perfect day for a ride on one of the most spectacular roads in the world! The most unbelievible part is the elevation gain/ loss/ gain. From La Paz we gain 3000 ft. to the Pass- from there we loose 11,500 of elevation!! And- back up again- it is a fun road.
Day 2 started out wicked cold!! -5 below... But by the time we got to La Paz, it was nice and toasty. Crazy city.... nothing like it in the world... really
Day 1 took us from sea level to over 13,000 ft.! so, we stopped at the local "hippie hideout" for some coca tea and herbs to help with the elevation- it really helps!
getting the bikes and the spirit ready for a tour into one of the driest desert in the world, Arica Chile. Not a bad place to start a tour eh?
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