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Published: March 25th 2011
Salta to La Paz
The next morning, Robin and Baz took Robins moto to a workshop to try and sort out his clutch, that was now completely useless. Well it didn’t take long to see that it was completely shot.
So onto the back of the truck it went, with Robin and Diane riding shotgun with me.
Unfortunately, Bill flew home that morning as his mother fell ill, we wish her well for her recovery.
We left Salta on a fine day, after having arrived late in the day in the rain and mist and headed onto San Antonio de Los Cobres to our first night at over 4000 meters.
We had an unscheduled regroup just out of town, as Alan’s KTM was overheating somewhat and Team Leader of the day never took the riders to the last gas station as we left town, by the time the KTM was sorted, and the three riders got their gas, we had a great feed of freshly made empanadas, washed down with coca cola…..
On arrival at San Antonio de Los Cobres, some people handled the altitude better than others, but all were vertical for our next leg into Chile
Baz and empanada's
A great lunch stop, just out of Saltaand our sleep over at San Pedro de Atacama.
Just as we were leaving in the morning, I noticed that the back right hand tyre was a bit slack, so we put more air in and hit the road.
The ride over the Paso Jama is still a spectacular ride, we had our first puncture of the day, with Wim picking up a bent nail, we replaced the silly little tube that some dealer in Southland had put in and we were on our way. Just as we were nearing Susques, as we took a right hander, the truck took control and we all wet ourselves as the rear tyre just went flat!! Lucky there was a place to pull off the road to replace our brand new tyre, which now had a small cut in the side wall..Bugger.
We all regrouped at Susques for lunch and gas and headed off to Chile.
Arriving at the border and processing all the motos and the truck, with a very grumpy Aduana guy, the next mission was to find our hotel and gas station, many riders now know the layout of San Pedro de Atacama very well. We
got directions from this very helpful SAG guy, that took us straight to our hotel and the gas.
Leaving at 9.00am we cleared customs in Chile, by undoing all the paperwork we did last night and headed for Bolivia. We all regrouped at the turn off and again at Hito Jones for Immigration, with our passports stamped and our guide with us we headed into the real Bolivia.
After our hot pool swim and a great feast of a lunch, we made our way to the bubbling mud pools and geysers, then on up the hill to Aduana to clear customs with our motos and the truck.
After about an hour, with the help of our guide, Jamie, we were on our way to our Hosteria at Laguna Colarada. On the way we checked out the beautiful colours of the lake, then returning to the Hosteria around 5.00pm.
Everyone was pretty knackered, but we never got to eat until after 8.30, and I think everyone was fast asleep by 9.30. Some were feeling the effects of the altitude, with comments like there is a cricket ball bouncing around in my head!!
We were all up and
about by 8.00am, and with breakfast under our belts we hit the road, well actually the sand and corrugations………Following a rough rocky track around the lake and onto the Valle de Rocas and the Rock Tree for photos and a rest.
The sand was really thick in places and it managed to suck, both Wim and Paul into it, lucky all at slow speed and no damage to men or machines. In the mean time Baz, Jan, Alan and Hans were out there just playing in the virgin landscape. The sand finally got to all the riders at some point, leaving that dirty dusty tast in ya mouth!
Just prior to lunch, Baz took our cook, Dailia, for a blat on his KTM, we dressed her in Diane’s boots and gloves, along with Jan’s jacked and off they went, what a thrill it was for her (and Baz), Jan had to ride in the truck.
We had lunch overlooking Lago………. What a vista and a feed, so much so that we all had a little siesta before riding the rocky road out to Villa Alota. This was a great day, as we all arrived safe and sound, with
just a bit of maintenance on the motos to round off the day.
The ride to Uyuni, was 150 km of fairly good road, except for the last 50 kms of full on corogations, with reconstruction slowing the ride. Alan’s KTM suffered a puncture along this section, but his pit crew had him back on the road before we arrived in the chase truck. As we approached Uyuni, we checked out the Train Cemetery for a few good photos, arriving to our hotel around 1.30 pm, with time to catch up on the washing and some moto maintenance, with Hans fitting a new rear tyre on his Husky and Baz bleeding his front brake and fitting new pads, as he had run out of front brake some time ago.
The run out to the Salt Lake, was just that, a LAKE, for the first time that I have been here, the lake was covered with about 30 to 40 centre meters of water. We were only able to get to the Salt Hotel Museum, where we had lunch, on the way back we checked out the Hotel del Sol, which is constructed completely of salt. We arrived back
in Uyuni around 2.00 pm for a siesta and preparation for our next leg to Oruru.
Leaving Uyuni, we needed to fill all the motos and the truck, we went to two gas stations and they would not sell us any fuel, as I have a Chilean number plate on the truck, at the last gas station in town, the boys went in on their motos and filled up, then I came in behind them, still with Robins BMW on the back and asked fill the tank, after much debate, they filed it up...Pump price was BS$202...my price because of the Chile placa was BS$404, the bloody robbers, maybe the problem was that they were celebrating their defeat by Chile during the War of the Pacific in 1890, where Bolivia lost access to the sea.
The ride was uneventful, until we heard a strange noise coming from the front of the truck, on inspection we found the front left hand shock absorber in two peices, with one end bent at right angles..BUGGER.
With ace handy man, Robin on board, we soon had it off and in the back tray.
We only had about 25 kms of rough stuff
Baz
Taking a short cut before we hit the tar seal, the funny thing is, is that I don't notice anything different?
Arriving in Oruru, we tried in vain to locate a new shock, so I phoned a NZ guy, Cory who is living in Cochabumba and was coming to La Paz to meet with us. I told him the problem, and gave him all the details, he said he would do what he could.
We left Oruru for an incident free ride to La Paz, except for one of the KTM's that was having fuel problems.
We stopped a small village to look for some lunch, when this Policeman, walked up and asked me for the papers that gave the authority to have a moto on the back, after explaining (with difficulty) that Robin was the owner of the moto and moto was broken, he still insisted on some paperwork, we showed him all sorts of things, then he must have realised that this was going nowhere, so he just sorta sauntered off, we headed outa town as fast as we could.
We found another great lunch spot further down the road. We arrived at our hotel around 2.30, with Robin and Baz
Wim's Puncture
That bloody bent nail! heading for the local BMW dealer, hoping to sort out Robins Clutch problems.
Around 6.00pm, my friend Cory arrived with two shock absorbers under his arm, after parting with US$100 all we need to do now is fit them.
Until Cusco....Cheers, Rosco
As String see's it…….
Hi everyone string here .well this year South America has put up more surprises for the motos. With the dirt roads, dust is again the main nuisance.
Anyhow back to the gear and motos as the South Americans call our motorcycles.
I am again riding in my HJC IS MULTI Helmet which proved itself in north America last year and again with its peak ,visor and washable lining is working great .Anyhow anyone thinking of a long touring off road adventure trip the peak is worth its weight because of the constant sun and especially when riding into the setting sun. the Macna Oasis riding jacket with double chest and sleeve vents is working well.
All the bikes are now wearing Conti tkc 80’s.Hans on the husky 630 which is going great fitted karoo 2’s and is the first to change his rear and has fitted a Conti tkc
80.
All bikes are running well with few problems. Regretfully Robins clutch has gone on his BMW F800GS – But we have ordered the parts to be forward onto to Cusco Peru were hopefully refitting a new one will have him up and running again.
BOLIVIA again lived up to reputation with its vastness and altitude again affecting different people in different ways .I enjoyed it this time like last time in 2008, but as you say it was nice to see it in daylight
Just going back a bit for those that rode with us in 2008 .The Andagala road was all ok until we got to Minas Capallitas –remember the goat farmer.
After visiting the mine they then told us the ute would not get thru because of rock slips in the fords etc again don’t blame me. But the moto’s would be fine –yeah right. Anyhow we made it thru some challenging river fords with sand and rocks and passed the place where ALEC came to grief last time .and carried on about 2/3 of the way where we made the discussion to turn round because of the size and quantity of rocks to get out of
one riverbed. This resulted in us coming back down the Andagala road in the dark which was quite surreal as you could see the different bikes headlights on different levels of the road and then seeing the lights of Andagala was a welcome site. The next day was a bit of back tracking to get us to SALTA the second largest city in Argentina.
This trip we have a talented bunch of riders and we are getting into our destinations each day at a good time even with a few minor hiccups like punches etc.
We have the three Musketeers who consist of Baz and Jan and Alan on KTM990’s, along with, Hans from Aussie on the mighty husky TE630 which is proving great –Brand new and he fitted a 25 litre safari tank at the beginning of the trip at Vina del Mar in Chile.
Then we have team BMW consisting of Paul on his R1200GS Adventure , Wim on his F800GS and Robin and Diane on their F800GS, then lone team Kawasaki String on the KLR650 nicknamed Turtle.
It is great seeing the different sights again this time in different weather conditions. hoping it will hold of course
Oasis in San Pedro
Our hotel in San Pedro de Atacama –sometimes the others look at me strangely when they mention weather –and I don’t know why?
Hello to everyone at Darbi’s and Spectrum so far the trip is all going well.
Cheers String.
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peter
non-member comment
update
thanks for the update and i really appreciate this from south africa and with all the trials it must be so enjoyable. The views must be amazing . Till the next time bon voyage