Lago Titikaka Peru- Floating Islands

Yesterday and today we are on Lake Titikaka Shore. We crossed it on a wood barge, with a bull that was not too happy being a passenger. We crossed the border from Bolivia to Peru, and it took a LOOOOONNNG time.

Today the 16 we viist some famous floating junco islands on the lake. They still have this tradition, and they survive from hunting, fishing, and now tourism of course.
Very neat , with colorfull clothes.

Feb 13 La Paz- Death Road

We went to the Death Road , riding it by Mountain Bike. 
Such a good one! We began at 4.700 m over sea level, and finishte at 1600, in only 72km of distance.
The view is just astonishing, and the road is really dangerouns. 1000meters cliff are the usual, no guard-rail at all!!Untill 8 years this was the road that the trucks used to reach LaPaz. You see in the way Many, Many crosses of lives that were gone in the road.
Its a tropical forest, in the Andes. Such a beautifull combination
Enjoy the pictures

Como escorvar a sua Dinamite

Depois de nosso encontro com alguns mineiros nas lojas em Potozi,  fizemos um rápido filme, mostrando como devemos escorvar nossa dinamite. Lembramos dos tempos de CPOR onde o Capitao Wagenfur nos ensinou a mesma coisa, há alguns anos atrás.
Precisavamos de um refresco nas idéias  para não fazer besteira.

Ai vai o Filme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crRY5EKzjJo&feature=player_profilepage

12 fev -De Potozi a La paz 530KM Dinamite

Hy everybody! A long journey today. The exit from Potozi and getting in to LaPaz is really not easy.
In LaPaz traffic is caotic, nobody respect anything. Lighs, just to have some fun on the red.
They  just dont care.... 2 way street, no problem, but if my way is full, ill go to the other.
Bloking a crossing is a must. Everybody just thinks abouth themselves.

The roads are dangerous, with all kinds of animals on it, Alpacas, caws, dogs, human beings, etc

Besides that, which was no good, we had 2 dinamites bananas to blow.So we stoped on a safe place and blow it off. The first which was mine, was kind of disapointing,Small bang.
The second, that was Chris was much better but, it was a full banana, with a bag of Nitrate to boost
the explosion. The bang was great and a couple rocks really flyed.

Tomorrow we will ride the road of death by mountain bike.
see you there

Small detail, Tecos , bike is pouring oil from the transmission on the back, Not a good sign.
Maybe next time he will spend some extra $$ and come with a decent up to date one to a trip like this.
Now he does have to pray..... So pray Tecos, Pray...

He can always go back to Santiago and get Ticos bike to run...... Long shot!.....

11 Fevereiro Bolivia ,Potozi a Cidade mais alta do mundo

Depois de 260 km de estradas variando entre asfalto, concreto ,terra e com muitas obras no meio do caminho chegamos ontem a Potozi, a cidade mais alta do mundo situada a 4.060 metros de altitude.

A estrada esta sendo refeita pela OAS e vimos muitos caminhoes com placas do Brasil.
Dirigir na Bolivia e muito perigoso, ninguem respeita absolutamente nada, e ha muitos animais pela pista, desde vacas, ate Guanacos.

Voce simplesmente tem que sair da frente dos caminhoes pois eles nao estao preocupados com nada! Uma das vezes, cheguei a parar, encostar a moto , para o cara passar no trecho de terra a uns 60 por hora, levando uma enorme nuvem de poeira.

No seculo 17 chegou a ser a 4 cidade mais rica do mundo, e aqui ha cerca de 37 igrejas. A casa da moeda tambem funcionou basante tempo por aqui, o todo o saqueamento que os Espanhois fizeram ,grande parte saiu desta mina. Hoje a mina continua a ser explorada manualmente por cerca de 10.000 mineiros.

Fui numa loja de mineiros e comprei 2 coisas tipicas, bananas de dinamite e um saco com folhas de coca. Os mineiros chegam para trabalhar, colocam um bolo de folhas na boca e ficam mascando cerca de 40min antes de entrar na mina. Ficam com as folhas na boca, durante todo o dia e nao comem nada enquanto estao la.
Eles vendem Dinamite em bananas para qualquer um que quiser pagar cerca de 1 real para compra-la.Isto mesmo apenas 1 real.

Amanha temos um longo dia com 560 km pela frente no altiplano a cerca de 3500m de altura.

5 fev Upsallata to Villa Union 584km

Parecia que íamos ter um dia chato e longo, com muito calor. Quase 600km....


Desertão relativamente plano, mas não TOTALMENTE plano, assim a estrada tinha diversas baixadas, e como o deserto nao absorve muita água, ela começa a correr rápido. 
Nas estradas, onde há baixadas se constroem no fundo delas um leito de concreto, onde quando chove, a água passa por cima da estrada.
Isso mesmo ,por cima da estrada. Rodamos muitos e muitos km com estes bueiros, e adivinhem....
começou a chover.


Cruzamos um carro no posto que nos disse que a 100km a frente os bueiros ja tinham água.... 
Rodados os 100km,  havia uma enxurrada cor de saibro.
O primeiro, muito pouca água, mas o segundo ja tinha os seus 15 cm de correnteza.
Passamos fácil.
Deu para imaginar como ficaria com uma chuva torrencial.


Como havíamos saído as 5:30 da manha com medo do calor, a chuva nos pegou bem de leve. Mas o restante da turma saiu as 8:00 e pegaram a chuva toda. Assim o bueiro no nosso caso com 15 cm, no caso deles estava com 30, e deu muito trabalho para atravessar as motos. Nao se pode subir e atravessar com a moto andando pois em caso de queda, corresse o risco de entrar agua no motor, e a viagem termina.


Entao o certo é desmontar e ir empurrando a moto através da corredeira. Imaginem 16 motos, empurradas...Deve ter dado trabalho. Enquanto isto ja estavamos no hotel tomando um cerveja.

Vulcano at Night!!

Take a look on the Villa Rica Volcano at night.

Its really alive!

De Cerro Sombrero a Ushuaia (End of the World!)

From Cerro Sombrero to Ushuaia , you have to Cross the Border again....

Its a bit confusing, because to come down here, you leave Argentina get into Chile, leave Chile and get into Argentina again. Each border they check your passport, motorcycle documents, stamps etc.

So after we left Cerro Sombrero, we had 100 kilometros on *Ripio* Road which we could go around 70km/h.
At that time we were still using the Tarmac (asfalto) tires

We had problem when we had a truck ahead of us, spraying tons of dust, and not knowing that you wanted to pass him. So you need to put the lights on High, and honk your horn till he notices you. After that, usually, they go the right and let you go thru.
After this road finished, we were back in asfalt, and the scenery chaned dramatically.
We got out of plain desert roads, to beautiful vegetation, all green, with a lot of curves.
Much nicer!!



In Ushuai we are at S 55 degrees the sun set very late, and even at midnight there is good clarity in the sky

4 fev-240km De Santiago a Portillo , passo Cristo Redentor , Upsallata Fev 4

On Road Again,


After saying good buy to my Darling Marcia, we hit the road again. Seriouslly.
We went north Ruta 5 got  57 and went to the Passo Cristo Redentor which is the passage on the Andes with the biggest traffic in between Chile and Argentina.
Very hilly road, up all the way the Andes, lots of curves like a snake, and down all the way to Argentina.
A Very beautifull , looks like another planet VERY HOT, and dry!


Difficult to remember that Portillo is a sky resort, and we passed by the dead sky lifters.....

Clicking on the bellow link will take you to a short video of the Road descending to Argentina.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8hTC9Blt4M

Marcia with the Carabinieros de Chile, just before they scort out of Santiago.

The GPS showing what we had ahead in terms of curves. If you dont know its real somebody can think that the machine got crazy.

Tadeusz at the end of the SNAKE! 
Bellow, Kevin the trip boss havin fun when Alfred got out of the road!
Another one bitted the dust!!

Going down to Argentina, Upsallata and Mendoza!

Dangerous road, Extremelly!!

I've being there!

A little flower fights its way on the middle of the desert.