Advertisement
Published: April 1st 2008
Rosco and locals
Rosco must have been away from home too long ??everyone seams to have settled into a riding pattern of sorts, and it was good to have the past couple of days on the seal to make up a bit of time. we have had to give the truck it's 10,000km service here in Iquique. we are also trying to get Charlies moto back to Vina, as we have to pick Alec's bike up on our retern to Argentina in a few days time.
After our visit to Araquipa, the South American guinnie ? pig population was somewhat depleted by hungery bikers....
I am still having problems to up load photos, but managed a few before the crash, I have loaded a couple from our Andagala section of the adventure, where the the words flow on...'Working on a Road Gang....' come to mind. Don't forget if you want an automatic e-mail to let you we have updated the then you must 'Subscribe'. If you want a comment published then you must hit the 'Comment' button. NOT the 'Message' button, as that will come as a private message to my e-mail. Cheers, Rosco
Here is another great blog from Mike..
Hola,
Left Chivay early as had 320kms of rough roads to
Working on the Road Gang
As Tom keeps saying "this not a Holiday Camp !" travel. Set off climbing up and South into the Colca Canyon. This canyon is amazing, the scenery is rugged with huge (I am talking 100s of metre) drop off with a river at the bottom and the odd village perched on a rocky ledge here and there. We passed "peasants" walking with Donkeys laden with crops and wooden ploughs - this scene would'nt have changed for a couple of hundred years at least. We kept climbing on a dusty (very) windy rough gravel road and had an enforced stop due to an overheating problem my bike was having (had to short circuit the fan switch to keep the fan constantly going) whilst we stopped in seemingly the most remote place on god´s earth an elderly women in traditional dress appeared out of the bush carrying crops on her back. In a friendly manner she shuffled over to us talking all the time in a low monotone. Otherwise engaged we gave her some money for which she thanked us but stood there for the next 5 minutes still mumbling and admiring our bikes. This has happened a few times where people suddenly appear from nowhere on the lonliest road! What are
Rocky Road Bridge
Completed Rocky Road Bridge.... they doing there?
We continued on going through a one way tunnel which was deep in sand and dark. Had to stop, remove sunglasses to see and then battle the soft sand. Eventually (after paying the SP35 fee to enter the national park) we reached the Pte de Condors We didnt see any Condors until later in the day (and managed to photograph one soaring above me) but the view from here again was spectacular (I know this is an overworked expression but it truely is spectacular breathtaking scenery)
Proceeding on this windy and corrugated road (track in places - dry watercourse in others) we eventually arrived at a 30 minute section of sandy arid desert (soft sand again) interspersed with green lush paddocks with dairy cows grazing (there is an irrigation system from the Andes via canal here) and then met Ruta S1 - the last 100km sealed road into Arequipa. This last 100kms was windy and busy with huge trucks which when grinding up hills were awkward to pass and especially when I was trying to keep my speed up to alleviate my overheating problem. Eventually we arrived in Arequipa (a large city which is a
Bolivian Highway
I missed the dotted line tax free zone- have no idea why!) and found our hotel in Calle Jerusalen. Our parking was in a large basement garage, ideal as I had some remedial work to do on my Moto. We walked for a little way down Calle Jerusalen, spotted a courtyard bar/restaurant ideal for a quick drink and 2 hours later we were having a great meal after being joined by Gerardo, Rosco, Lance, Zane and Klaus.
After a bit of an after dinner walk we found the Centro (plaza) which to say the least was magnificent with a very old church, a beautiful square/plaza complete with fountain, manicured trees and some impressive Phoenix palms. Back to the hotel for a well earned sleep and anticipation of a rest day tomorrow!!
The rest day developed into a hectic experience of taxiing all over Arequipa with a really helpful driver trying to find a repairer who could deal with holed alloy radiator from a Moto. Eventually all was sorted and I reinstalled the radiator, fitted a new rear tyre, cleaned up and by mid afternoon was ready to play the tourist. Within walking distance was a monastery - Santa Catalina which was a sight to behold. Built in 1570 and covering a whole block, this was an amazing example of how these Nuns lived - the most austere conditions imagineable, the rooms they lived in were called cells and this was most appropriate, a flagstone floor, a bed ? wooden slats with a straw mattress - no home comforts here. Nuns (30 of them aged 18 to 90) still live in the monastery in an area visitors cannot access and probably whilst better than the stuff we saw, would be still very spartan.
Later Keith and I walked from our hotel to the Plaza sampling a Pisco Sour in this bar and a Vino tinto in that. These bars ranged from a rustic inner courtyard, to a rooftop backing onto the Catholic church in the Plaza, complete with a Peruvian band playing in the alley below. An entree in an upstairs balconey restaurant overlooking the Plaza was followed by a bit more walking, a few more Pisco Sours and finally a fabulous meal in a restaurant near our hotel.
The following morning after watching the MotoGP race live on TV from Jerez in Spain it was on the road again bound for Arica in Chile. A big day (420kms) and a border crossing which effectively becomes two - out of Peru then into Chile, was in store. Firstly we rode through the Atacama - officially the driest place on earth. This is desert with a black top road streaking through it. Everything is tan/brown - desert, mountains and huge sand dunes with dead straight roads for km after km. We passed an airforce military base, (no photos allowed) and wound up and down between brown cliffs and sand dunes. At one point we stopped to photograph condors (gods to the Incas) but they turned out to be "common or garden" vultures. Maybe they were picking us as the next roadkill as they ominously circled overhead! Eventually reaching Tacna we started to process through the Peruvian border to exit the country. Nothing is straight forward - they have a brand new state of the art customs facilty except that they have forgotten to commission any signs to direct people where to go and what to do and have also failed to change the system where the necessary forms must be purchased 500m back up the road. They do not sell them at the customs post!! Anyway after a lot of to and fro, and some sweet talk to an official, we were on our way. Unfortunately this journey was only a km before we encountered entry into Chile formalities. This was another endurance test with 2 busloads of tourist arriving at the same time. The whole bus must be unpacked - people and gear (which all goes through an X Ray machine- gear not the people) whilst the people including us have to fill out forms. We only had to subject our bike luggage to a cursory inspection. Eventually all was completed, "completo" was the officials cry with a thumbs up and we rode out of the carpark to be confronted by another official demanding to see our final clearance papers which by this time were buried deep within our luggage. The joys of border crossings in Sth America!!
A short 20km ride found us in Arica. We are now at sea level (a strange experience on this trip) with some people breathing a sigh of relief they were unable to do at 4000m !!. A couple of aimless laps of the city and we found our hotel which had a pool. Was this a relief as by now we were hot, sweaty and grumpy. Not a pleasant bunch to encounter, however a dip and a Cerveza sorted everything out.
Out for our nearly regular taxi tour of the city, Keith and I visited a huge rock which overlooks the city (Looks like the Rock of Gibraltar) This hill was the site of the deciding battle in the war of the Pacific between Peru and Chile. Arica was in the 19th C part of Peru since the war now is Chiles. As its a strategic port you can understand why there is some bitterness. Howver in the war museum we visited on the top of this rock both sides were honoured, although the statistics showed that the Peruvian army lost 60% of there troops in the battle !!! Back down to the harbour for a superb meal on the rocks in a seafood restaurant. If you stared hard enough in a westerly direction you could just make out the east coast of NZ ! Or maybe that was the equally superb Chilean Vino Tinto at work!
Today we head for Iquique around 320kms away (at least no border crossing today!)
Hasta la Vista Mooy Bueno
Mike V
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0378s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Renato
non-member comment
Que aventura
Hola Gerardo, por lo que he leido y visto, este viaje superó todas las expectativas y presiento que van a quedar unas tremendas ganas de repetir la experiencia en otro lugar, que siga todo bien y mucha suerte para todos todos.