Advertisement
Published: April 11th 2009
What a great couple of days we have had, well most of us anyway, apart From David Broken Bones, Moto and Body... as he picked up a virus of some sort a few days ago and it layed him pretty low, so much so that we took him to a Doctor in Copiopo and he recieved some good drugs, but not in time for him to recover to ride the San Francisco Pass, and he made the right decission to ride in the truck, where he sulked for a couple of days..
Meanwhile we were out there making the long run down the Northern Coast of Chile and the Atacama Desert. It was cool close to the coast, but the temperatures sure rose as we headed inland, they were long days in the saddle.
Leaving Copiopo, en route for Fiambala and Tinagasta in Argentina, with 570km with no Fuel (?) and a time change as we enter Argentina. There was a complication also, as the hotel in Tinagasta had made it clear that if we were not there by 5.00pm (4.00pm Chile time) then he would asume we were not coming, so would relet our rooms !! as it was Easter
Gerardo
Just being...Friday..why so many people would want to go to Tinagasta for their Easter holiday is way beyond me!!
As we left Copiopo, I took the group on a 20km excurcion THE WRONG WAY !! with fuel and time so precious, I lost a lot of Brownie Points. After back tracking, we made a run for the Chile/Argentina border. After the paperwork at both points and picking up some fuel from the border staff, we sent Gerardo and Ripper on a mission to get to our hotel before 5.00pm
We had a leisurley ride down into Fiambala and the Laguna Verde (Green Lake) which last year was a bright blue, well, check out the photos from this year, such perfect reflections. As we were leaving, a slight wind was developing and would have destroyed the reflections before long.
Reaching Tinagasta, we found Gerardo and Ripper enjoying a Cerveza after securing our rooms, and believe it or not the bloody hotel was full. It's always great when a plan comes together.
Today we split the group, with Gerardo, David and Brian, riding directly to La Rioja and the rest of us going a bit further South to check out a road for
Ripper
Am I looking Cool or what ? next year. David was feeling much better, so was keen for a ride, while Brian has a weaping rear shock, but as I have said before, this is tough on men and machines...But is'nt that what adventure is all about !!
We have a day off tomorow, and I think the big motos will have a tyre change.
We are on the home run now, with only 3 nights here in Argentina and then back to Chile and pack up.....
Another Blog from Gerardo..
Hola de nuevo, había dejado de escribir, ya que no había tenido tiempo, ahora en la Rioja, Argentina con 32 º C, esta zona realmente es muy calurosa, en verano dicen que no baja de 40, todo ha salido bien, y ya el Miércoles partimos de regreso a Viña del Mar, nuestra estadía en Chile fue muy buena, llegamos a Arica el domingo 5, luego de haber tenido que pagar dos soles por una papeleta en que debemos consignar nuestros datos y de la moto, un robo, y esta es el documento que firman todos los servicios y con el cual das por terminado el tramite, tramite que fue lento pero nunca tanto, pudimos pasar
David
Dissapointed that he can't ride today... con las dos motos sin patentes sin problema, en Arica alojamos y cenamos en el mismo hotel, para partir a las 8.30 a Iquique, trayecto en el cual David, golpeo una roca que había caído sobre la carretera, esto es normal y hay que estar atento a ello, el adelanto un camión y se encontró con ella, yo la había visto, pero por flojo no pare a sacarla, se le rompió el carter y cayo todo el aceite, pero en Iquique lo arreglaron con una sustancia que lo dejo como fierro y la moto otra vez anda. En Iquique visitamos Zona Franca, pero no había nada interesante o novedoso que comprar, aunque si compre una linterna y un juego de herramientas estrella para mi moto. El Miércoles partimos a Antofagasta, viaje placentero por la costa, pero que pasado Tocopilla se hace muy latero ya que va por el interior, nos sacamos fotos en el lugar que pasa el Trópico de Capricornio y en la noche visite a mi buen amigo Dusan Blazina como todos lo años, estuvimos con Diana y sus hijas, me quede hasta como las 2 en que me fueron a dejar, después de haber tomado como 5
BIG Truck !
Is this a big truck or a small person ? roncolas, que me pasaron al cuenta al día siguiente ya que el viaje de Antofagasta a Copiapo ( 570 kms), es una lata horrible y el sueño me vencia. Pasamos a Bahia Inglesa, no lo conocia, todavía estaban las huellas de la bicicleta de Enrique en ella, precioso el lugar, muy poca gente y la arena blanca y agua turquesa, claro que en verano puede que este lleno y sea horrible.
De Copiapó partimos a las 7 am ya que debíamos cruzar por el paso San Francisco hacia Tinogasta, Argentina, pequeño pueblo ubicado como a 600 kms de Copiapó, al pasar este paso hacia un frio horrible, el camino cambio de una año a otro, el año pasado habian como 100 kms de ripio malo en el lado chileno y ahora esta sin ripio aparentemente lo arreglaron como los caminos de sal del Paine, tal como dice Rosco, todos los años siguen pavimentando y dentro de 3 años no van a quedar caminos de ripio o arena, pero siempre va a quedar una reserva Bolivia, en Tinogasta tuvimos problemas para encontrar un lugar para cenar, ya que era viernes santo y todo cerrado, además que no almorzamos, ya que no
hay donde, como a las 9 abrió un lugar, terminamos de cenar como a las 11, cosa muy anormal y hoy a las 9.30 partimos a la Rioja, solo a 250 kms, donde descansaremos hoy y mañana. Esta cuidad es muy agradable y el hotel esta ubicado en al plaza, el cual tiene piscina. Esta ciudad muere entre 1 y 17 horas ya que todo cierra producto del calos y de ahí abre hasta las 9, aunque creo que hoy producto de semana santa capaz que no abran, al igual que la otra vez no existen en el grupo nadie que tenga como religión el cristianismo, todo lo contrario son opositores a este, lo cual me acomoda muy bien. Bueno, creo que eso es todo, tratare de dormir una siesta como toda la ciudad lo hace ahora, chao……………………….
Tigger’s Blog Part 9
With a lovely day travelling up the coast line and a “is that really a golf course?, I thought they were supposed to be green” comment from most of us as it was another day of sights. Mainly colours in the natural tones featured today, as I think they will feature tomorrow as well. As I
think the dessert will never end. We came to the Tropico de Capricornio the significance is that the line goes through four countries around the world) in Madagascar, South America Chile/Argentina and Australia) so of course a photo had to be taken.
We also visited the Portardo when the sea had carved out an arch in the rock which was also amazing to see. Getting into town at a reasonable hour we had a walk around and looked in the shops. We met Brian at McDonalds where we obviously had the same idea. Dinner was awesome with one of the best buffet dinners I have ever had. The salad bar alone was impressive. With the mixture of Continental and Chinese food from the Panda Restaurant everyone left over stuffed. Pity the hotel wasn’t further away so that it would have aided the digestion.
Today we had more mountains, plateaus, wind swept rocks which reminded me of skulls. We also saw the hand in the dessert. I was very impressed with the size of the sculpture. I hadn’t realised how big it was. With many buildings? what I would call beach houses without greenery along the way it
Laguna Verde
WOW again... was another scenic afternoon by the sea. I pleasant change from the dusty colours of the mountains.
With this brings the longest day today so far and with David under the weather we had him in the truck as he wasn’t up to riding. I went with Rosco for over 200km then spent the avo in the truck. Gerardo took David to the Clinic tonight as he was still under the weather and the doctors reckon he had picked up a virus. So with a couple of prescriptions under his belt it is hoped that he feels better in the morning.
With another day dawning and an early start with loosing an hour for Argentina time for day light saving, so we put our clocks forward an hour last night in prep for today. So we actually had breakfast at 6.30am. David is dry toast today and looks promising for riding tomorrow. With border crossings, leaving Chile and entering Argentina and we had to have someone at he hotel by 5pm so that our reservation could be held as they wouldn’t accept a deposit.
Well the scenery today was amazing and would recommend the San Francisco Pass
San Francisco Pass
Looking back to Chile complete with a perfect reflection of a pristine semi salt lake and mountains with snow. Amazing, you couldn’t even get the entire vista in one photo. Even blew Rosco away! Amazing colours and rock textures this afternoon as well. (it was a bit hard to take photos when I was driving so got David to take a few for me, especially of the red rocks/mountains Thanks David)
We made it to Fiambala with 30km left in the reserve tank of the truck so put some diesel in it to get us to our destination for the night. Why anyone would want to spend their Easter weekend in Tinogusta is beyond me. All they do is ride around the plaza (centre) around and around and then fuel up when their little 250cc and scooters, and quads are empty. None of the shops were open as it was Good Friday except for the ice-cream parlours and the gas station, which by the way according to Rosco and Ripper had bloody good coffees. The packet of chips also went a long way to fill the gaps in our tummies too, as none of the restaurants were going to be open till
San Francisco Pass
Looking towards Argentina at least 9pm. The left over bread from breakfast that we had at the first border crossing had worn off hours ago.
When in Argentina you should order your food as quickly possible. They like to fill you up on alcohol instead. The food was delicious when it arrived even though all of us were ready for bed half and hour before it got there. With the longest day of over 570km I think everyone slept well.
With such a long day yesterday everyone, I think, was pleased to have a late (9am) start. With a cruisy day for kms we headed off for metal roads dips, and washouts. We drove through a couple of little towns with warnings for the Dingy fever mosquito. The temperatures were up in the 30degrees by 11am so we didn’t stay too long in one place. Luckily the hotel has a pool so most of us managed to find a watering hole of some description.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.045s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0235s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
scrawny
non-member comment
outstanding !!!
have followed your whole trip with interest.... well done Rosco getting those two girls safely around S.A