Mountain Biking down the World`s Most Dangerous Road

WOW!! Have just mountain biked down the ``World´s Most Dangerous Road´´ (as dubbed by the Inter American Development Bank in 1995 - an accident (sometimes fatal) occurs on the road once every 2 weeks) from La Cumbre to Coroico!!

Initially had a few concerns before signing up but the team at Gravity Assisted were excellent and I thoroughly recommend them for their professionalism and top notch bikes (not that I´m an expert but apparently the bikes were wicked (where the hell did that come from!!)). Also, they had only ever lost one person a year off the edge, so it was all good.

After an offering to Pachamama (Incan Earth Mother) we began the ride at 4,700m and rapidly descended 3,600m for 65km down a twisting, dirt road barely 3m wide, with 1,000m sheer drops to our left, and passing through waterfalls, streams, a drug checkpost (!!), tiny villages, llamas, alpacas, pigs, car and truck wrecks and spectacular amazonian jungle. Everything went superbly apart from a minor incident where I was enjoying the scenery and didn`t see a van coming straight towards me. The bike had great hydraulic breaks!

After 5 hours we reached Coroico for some delicious cold beers, lunch and a shower (we were covered in mud) before we loaded ourselves into a van to return to La Paz again via the WMDR in complete darkness and thick fog! Very freaky and way too many trucks coming downhill but we eventually made it back to La Paz where we then headed off to Mondos for dinner and a couple of drinks.

Observations whilst hurtling/plummeting down the WMDR:
1. Downhill traffic sticks to the far left and must give way to uphill traffic. Very freaky as the left side is where the cliff just drops vertically down.
2. The man with his red and green flags. He lost his wife and 2 kids on this road and now voluntarily stands at his post everyday to watch the road and assist drivers. There are now a few men stationed throughout the road who do this voluntarily.
3. Some horror stories: The guy who was looking at the scenery and flew straight off the road; the french girl who got off her bike on the left side of the bike (not the right) to give way to a truck and fell off the road; the israeli girl with the faulty breaks who plummeted off the cliff.
4. A large number of accidents occur on the road due to disagreements over right of way and drunk truck drivers.
5. Time to buy a wicked mountain bike!

Some pictures taken by Gravity during our ride
(there are loads of photos (not only of us) and they will only be on the site for 60 days. View from page 10 onwards. Password to view is: photos).

Hola Bolivia!

So THIS is the quintessential south america I was looking for and I´m loving it!

From Salta in the far north west of Argentina we crossed into the Atacama desert in north Chile with a lot of drama. Our 8 hour bus journey turned into a 15 hour journey when one of the passengers on board noticed that his bag, along with his passport, was stolen. Not so good when you are at the border crossing between Argentina and Chile at a height of 4500m! It was a crash course in acclimatising and damn it was hard. Loads of ppl on the bus were pale and ill due to to the altitude and lack of oxygen. Luckily I was able to snooze for a while which alleviated my pounding head and eliminated the need for me to walk anywhere.

We got to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile late that night which meant that we couldn´t organise anything for the following morning. However, we fortunately met up with a great bunch of ppl and organised a fantastic mountain bike ride the next day (40km)to a salt lake. Note, hard work with the altitude and sand tracks but spectacular scenery.

Our main purpose in Atacama, apart from seeing the landscape, was to organise travel through to Bolivia. We hooked up with a couple from South Africa and secured a 4x4 to take us across the border into Uyuni in Bolivia. We heard plenty of warnings about these trips but we thought that if we paid a bit extra and paid for our own jeep it would at least eliminate some of the horror stories we´d heard.

Famous last words, or intentions.....

However, our 3 day 2 night journey into the south west of Bolivia was the most beautiful I have ever experienced. Moments that I will never forget;
* The most beautiful sunset I have ever ever seen setting over Lago Colorado. An oil painting in progress complete with flamingoes! I had only ever seen flamingoes in Africa but I couldn´t believe they flocked here in Bolivia....and 3 species as well!
* The longest nail biting, head splitting, freezing, bowl moving, frustrating, uncomfortable night´s sleep at 4800m in a mud hut. Insomnia is a symptom of altitude sickness. Not pleasant!
* The most spectacular barren desert landscapes.
* Catching sunrise on the Salar de Uyuni (salt lakes) and not knowing where the sky and the land met. Breathtaking.
* Also on the Salar de Uyuni, turning 360 deg and seeing only blindingly white salt flats as far as you can see.
* Sleeping in a salt hotel where everything was made of, surprise surprise, salt!
* Watching salt farmers rake salt into uniform conical mounds.
* Indulging in bunches of coca leaves in the morning (great with hot water and a teaspoon of sugar) and chewing the funky stuff throughout the day to alleviate symptoms of altitude sickness. Coca leaves are a staple for the Bolivians who chew the stuff throughout the day. It was meant to give you some sort of buzz or numbness but I couldn't tell the difference.
* Thermal springs and active bubbling grey smelly geysers.
* The beauty and self indulgent feeling of being in complete solitude and isolation.

(For pictures of our spectacular journey through the south west of Bolivia, click here).

Our journey took us to Uyuni and from there we caught a 7hr bus journey to Potossi. Very eventful again - we were also warned about bus journeys in Bolivia and were told to try and catch trains where possible. Not so bad though we had to endure Michael Bolton and various local Bolivian musicians blaring through the speakers on the bus and a flat tyre. Welcome relief as the bus didn´t stop for toilet breaks so was able to sneak off into a local school to use their toilets and kick a soccer ball around with the little chicos and chicas.

We stayed in Potossi for 2 nights and had a fantastic time wandering about the town and watching loads of women in bowler hats, plaits and puffy pleated skirts plod around complete with babies tied in colourful rugs on their backs. Fantastic llama was to be had on the menu as well.

Potossi is the highest city in the world at 4090m and you can really feel it. When an Indian farmer lost his llama and began searching for it up on the mountain, now called Cerro Ricco, he discovered after lighting a fire to keep himself warm, that silver veins formed underneath it. The spanish then discovered the potential and began mining for silver and built the city of Potossi. They brought in Indian and African slaves to work in the mines and something like 8 million slaves perished within 450 years. The mines still exist and are now run by cooperative miners who work in terrible conditions, subjecting themselves to silica dust and other noxious fumes guaranteeing that they will succumb to silicosis pneumonia within 10-15 years. Very tragic.

Now we are in Sucre, about a 2.5 hr taxi ride north of Potossi and known as the Athens of the Bolivia, or something like that. It is again a beautiful place and we have secured a top accommodation with spectacular view of the city. Here again you see the women dressed in typical costume and loads of llama and alpaca produce.

However, now I must go as we have just had a top bbq with the guys we met a week ago and Dave has just brought me my bbqed chocolate stuffed banana.

We catch a flight to La Paz tomorrow so no doubt I will have loads more to report.

Will it pop?

Government declares eruption alert in Pucon and has prohibited the ascension of Volcan Villaricca in response to increased activity! Click here for the article in today´s La Tercera.

The last time the volcano errupted was in 1984. Will be keeping a close eye as Dave is keen to see it erupt if it happens soon.

Siesta time

They call Mendoza the Land of Sun and Wine so we thought it was a good idea to check out if this was true.

From Santiago we tried to offload a lot of our stuff by posting 25 kgs (yes that much) to the UK however the 5 bottles we bought the other day didn´t do anything to lighten our load. Big Dave´s solution was to drink the wine as quickly as possible, at any opportunity, and even would have cracked one open for breakfast...but that was going too far. The waiter during our first dinner in Mendoza was shocked when we cringed at the mention of ordering wine and it was only when we explained that we´d been over quaffing that he thought that it was acceptable.

Needless to say, we visited a vineyard, Viña Escoulihera, the oldest and most prestigious bodega in Argentina and had the most informative and hands on tour so far. So hands on that we stood with the ladies on the sorting machine and ate grapes while they sorted through the bunches.

Malbec is to Argentina as what Carmenere is to Chile although I think I prefer Carmenere more. During our long lazy lunch at their restaurant (again with another bottle of vino), we decided that we preferred Malbec as a blend with Shiraz or Cabernet. All wine talk!

To give ourselves time to detox we hired a car the following day to check out a few of the sites. The first was the Cristo Redeemer, a statue placed in between the Chileno and Argentine border about 100 yrs ago as a sign of peace after all the border disputes. It was a 4000m drive to the top where we picked up a hitchhiker (madness climbing the mountain) and didn´t understand a word he was saying. Most of the time we´ve got a good grasp of the language but there´s always an odd one and suddenly it´s all alien to us. Anyhow, we didn´t stay long at the top as I think I may have suffered my first symptoms of altitude sickness. The headache came on very suddenly and I was short of breath. Very unpleasant so we rushed back down the mountain.

From there we passed through the Puente de Inca, amazing thermal springs, then viewed the highest mountain in the Americas (and the second highest in the world after Everest), Cerro Ancongua (spelling??) at almost 7000m, and then to Upsallata where they filmed 7 Years in Tibet. I definitely noticed the difference in altitude and found it quite difficult to walk to the viewing platform. A dozen empanadas later and we hit the road back into Mendoza for another night before heading to San Juan.

As with most of the towns here, siesta is between 12 and 4 which I think is a great luxury. Although it´s annoying when you urgently need to hire a car to get out of the bus station in San Juan and call a company to have the sleepy staff member tell you that they are closed and will reopen in 20 mins. Seista is taken very seriously.

We eventually hired a car and spent a few days driving north of the town visiting San Agustin de Valle Fertil, Valle de la Luna and Jachal. The scenery was stunning and as always during this trip caught my breath at every moment. Some of the landscapes reminded me of Africa, from the wide open plains and the desert landscapes to the long straight road stretching far out into the horizon. Big Dave reminded me that there weren´t any hyenas, lions or elephants though.

A few notes:
1. Machismo is rife here and will apparently get worse as we head north. Numerous discussions with Big Dave about it however he thinks that I´m overly sensitive and too used to politically correct oz. However, after dinner last night in Jachal, it was so obvious that the waiter did not acknowledge my presence at all and directed all attention and questions to Big Dave. For eg, did senor want anymore meat?, did senor want anything to drink?, did senor want any dessert? How about asking ME what I want? Grrr. I love dessert.
2. The receptionist at the hotel in Jachal who was mortified that Dave and I were not married, and further, that we had checked into a matrimonial room. Thought this was a bit rude of the 20 yr old receptionist but then realised that the town is known as the ´´Town of Tradition´´, or cradle of tradition, so it was very funny.
3. All along the roads are shrines dedicated to the ´´Patron Saint of Mule Drivers´´. Hmmm.

Smoggy Santiago

We spent longer than expected in smoggy Santiago. It´s true that the smog hardly ever lifts but it when it does it´s a breathtaking surprise to see the Andean range so close to the city. There were a couple of evenings where Big Dave and I would rush back to our hotel to have a bottle of vino on the top floor to catch sunset and watch the mountains turn red and orange.

Speaking of vino, we´ve happily quaffed some fantastic stuff worthy of Stephen Knight´s (our wine course instructor in oz) commentary. The carmenere variety is common only to Chile and is a top drop. On our second last day we rushed off to visit Viña Santa Rita on the outskirts of Santiago (Viña Concha y Toro was closed that day which was a bugger as I love their Casillero de Diablo carmenere and cab sav). The manager Marcelo great and squeezed us in on short notice when I called him in the morning although it was quite an adventure to get there on time - a train ride to a tiny village that smelled of fermentation called Buin and then hitch hiked to the vineyard as we couldn´t find any colectivos (taxis which act like buses) going that way.

After our lunch and tour of the vineyard, Marcelo drove us to the Fiesta de la Vendimia (Harvest Party) held by the vineyards in the Maipu Valley which was a lucky chance event for us. We walked around the stalls tasting different wines from the region, munching on antichiquos (different meats pierced through a very long stick with a piece of bread on the end) and empanadas, and slowly became intoxicated. It´s funny that when you´re intoxicated everything seems like a good idea so we ended up buying several bottles of wine, including Santa Rita´s top drop Triple C and the bottle that Marcelo slipped us under the table, not thinking that we were leaving for Argentina the next day and that we had to carry them in our rucksacks. What was also amusing was how we somehow became champion castellon speakers and had great conversations with a sweet local couple. Well, I think we did. We laughed a lot so it must´ve been good as they walked us to the train station and helped us buy our train tickets when the fiesta was over.


A note:
It was quite moving to be inside the main Cathedral in Santiago by chance when the bells started to ring announcing that Pope JP II had passed away.

Another note:
What´s with the all male standup coffee houses with waitresses in slinky outfits. Apparently it´s an institution visited by men all around South America and apparently only provides coffee service, nothing else.

Fat Cat update

It seems Fat Cat is having border disputes with the White Russian. The latest news from foster parents Catiecate and Lozza is that his scheduled teeth clean and mouth operation had to be delayed until next week as he had a huge fight with aforementioned enemy yesterday and suffered a huge bite to his bottom. As he won´t let the vet see his bottom he is on antibiotics for the week until his operation where, under general anaesthetic, they hope to check out the whole situation. Poor fatty fatty cat.

Big THANK YOUs to his foster parents though for giving him lots of love and cuddles. Although, foster parents have brainwashed him into thinking that they are now in fact his new parents. We have now been demoted to benefactors for Fat Cat´s Institute of Injury, Teeth and Kidney Management!

While waiting for the laundry

I´m bummed about:

1. Missing out on a Moruya family camping trip over easter.
2. Missing out on catching up with the old crew at Victoria Room.

It´s annoying to:

1. Pay three times the normal amount for a Lonely Planet guide book. $150 for 2 books when it would cost $50. Painful and annoying.
2. Explain over and over again that I am not Japanese.
3. Have no other choice on the menu apart from bistec a la povre (steak with fried eggs and fries) or fried chicken and fries and variations thereof (eg; would you like 1/2 a chicken or a whole one?) or big fat doughy pizzas with uninteresting toppings, or where the only salad options are:
a tomate ensalada (just peeled tomatoes)
a lechuga ensalada (just iceberg lettuce)
a palta ensalada (just avocado)
or, lucky last,
a mixta ensalada (surprise, surprise, a combination of the above!!)

I´m excited when:

1. We check into an apart-hotel to find a fully equipped cocina and cook our own meal!
2. We find Japanese restaurants and happily dine on sushi, sashimi and gyoza!
3. We have fresh, newly laundered clothes! .....Or we will, as soon as I finish up here.

Ciao ciao