Well, Gerardo and I decided to have a break from our Moto High Andes Adventure next year, as he is in need of a 'Holiday' with his wife, Marisol and with his new job, time and commitment began to rule. I thought it would be a good idea also, as I have been missing out on a few local adventure rides during the time that we are away in South America. One idle day, after driving our little Citroen 2CV around a few back roads up hear in the North, this crazy idea came to me..."Why don't we take some of these little cars to South America?"....... So after sending a letter inviting expressions of interest, to the New Zealand Citroen Car Club, we now have three cars and six adventurous people committed to the adventure, ... read more

Arequipa to La Rioja..... We were all set to go after a day off in Arequipa for some more shopping and a bit of moto and body maintenance, when Wim hit his starter button on his BMW 800 GS, nothing happened ??. It seemed that the battery was dead as a dodo, so out came the jumper leads, but still nothing happened. After a bit of searching around, we found that the lead to his GPS was in meltdown mode, so out with a pair of pliers to solve that problem, next we disconnected then reconnected the battery to reset the computer, as it had shut down everything during the GPS melt down, so a press of the starter and all systems were go… We needed a reasonably early start, as this is a big day ... read more

Dust, Snow, Sleet and Slush in one day We left Cusco in absolutely beautiful mountain weather, retracing the road back down to Sicuani, where we refueled and headed off into the mountains and a 4885 meter pass on our way to Chivay, and the Colca Canyon. This road, traditionally has had it’s challenges and today was going to prove to be no exception. As we headed up towards Yauri, with great views looking down on Lago Descanso, which is higher than Lake Titicaca. This section of dusty road is under major reconstruction, so we had many delays waiting for huge machinery and trucks that were moving tons of rocks around. As we gained altitude, we found ourselves above the low cloud and the temperatures began to drop accordingly. Reaching the mining town of Tintaya and negotiating ... read more

Road of death Nearly beat us..... On our spare day in La Paz, we ride out to Coroico, this time we had Cory (the NZ guy that lives in Bolivia) with us. During our spare time he was busy with Robin, trying to organize the purchase of another BMW 800 GS from the local BMW dealer, so they could rip the clutch out of it and get on the road again. We all left the hotel, about 11.00am, as Robin, Baz , Wim, Paul and Cory had gone down to the BMW dealer with a show of BMW Loyalty. Now with Diane on the back of Paul’s moto, and Cory, Robin and me in the now shockless truck, and made our way out of the maze, that La Paz is. The paved road, and the scenic ... read more

Finally the road from Andalgala to Santa Maria has beaten Rosco's Rocky Road Adventurers. We left Andalgala, heading up to Minas Capallitas at 3100m up above the clouds. The road going up was under repair from the recent rains, so it was in good condition, but we could see the damage that had been caused. Once we reached the Hotel and had some coffee, we put on our hard hats and headed for the mine. It was a long steady climb up to the shaft opening, but with many stops to catch our breath, and admire the view and the wild herbs and flowers along the way. We passed an ancient cemetery and old mining camp ruins along the way. On reaching the mine itself, we were led into the darkness, only lighting our way with ... read more