Atacama desert and Uyuni

Sweltering in the driest desert in the world, waking in frozen tents, climbing to over 4550m on our bikes, driving across the salt plains of Bolivia, and watching flamingos in the early morning sun.....it has been a busy week!!
After we left you last we had a marathon 36 hour bus trip from Pucon through to Santiago (the capital of Chile) all the way to San Pedro- a small town in the Atacama Desert (northern Chile). The first leg of our trip was an overnight bus, and although none of us slept much, it wasn´t too bad. On reaching Santiago we delayed the whole bus for over an hour as we entered into a fiery debate with the the bus drivers and managers about whether or not our bikes and gear would fit under the bus. Thanks to some strong persuasion from Sophie we were finally allowed five minutes to try packing our gear ourselves. Experts by now, it took us less that two minutes to pack our five bike frames, twelve wheels, two Bob trailers and eight panniers safely in the luggage compartment. Unfortunately as the drivers had refused to listen to us and our bikes were packed last and we had to watch on helplessly at each stop as our bikes were man-handled in and out of the bus by the drivers bearing bruised egos!

From lush green beech forests to rainless expanses and cactuses- the land north of Santiago was in stark contrast to southern Chile. We were all relieved not to be riding the 2000 plus kms of desolate coast raod, with little water and unchanging landscape.

We were all stoked to arrive in San Pedro and relieved to find our bikes all still in working order. San Pedro is a cute little town at 2400m set in the heart of the Atacama desert (the driest in the world). The town has small mud buildings, narrow streets and lots of bikes. Unaclimatised to the desert heat we were happy to find a swimming pool at our camp ground. We cooled off and then headed out for a bike ride to a salt laguna 30km out of town (Laguna Cejas), which is similar to the Dead Sea. It was a crazy sensation floating as buoyant as if we were wearing life jackets, with a back-drop of volcanoes and desert. Kate attempted diving under head first but could hardly get her feet submerged, and came up with very sore eyes. Afterwards our bodies were caked with salt and it stung to move and put on our clothes. Matilda had her first puncture on the way back to camp- but Shane managed to dub her and push her bike at the same time!

The next morning we set off early with a local mountain bike guide we had met on the bus - between his limited english and our limited spanish we managed to arrange for him to show us some of the local riding for free. Slightly intimidated by his extreme training regime at altitude and his mean physique we were all excited to be going proper mountain bike riding with no panniers or Bobs!

We rode through some stunning landscapes- the valley of death, crazy rock formations, sand dunes, tricky rocky descents and bit of pushing through thick sand. The morning was topped off with some Inca ruins and un-lit clambering through ancient cave systems. An eager dog had joined us earlier in the morning and followed us the whole time mountain biking. We were parked beside a water resevoir with steep sides and the dog accidently fell in, he was trapped and couldn´t get out. Luckily Anna came to the rescue, we lowered her down by her feet and she plucked the panicked dog to safety. That afternoon we did jobs around town and prepared for our 3 day jeep trip in Bolivia (we had done some tough negotiating with the jeep company to carry our 5 bikes on the roof of the jeep!) We went out that night and ate well, realising it could be our last good feast for some time (Bolivia is not known for its cuisine!!)

The next day was probably our toughest day riding so far.....only 50 km but a continuous climb of over 2200m to a maximum altitude of 4600m. We set off early hoping to avoid the worst of the desert heat, but Shane still managed to sweat several litres. We all found the altitude pretty taxing (shortness of breath, nausea, lethargy and headaches) and we made slow progress with frequent stops for dry wretching and lots of water.

The altitude took its toll....

After a total of 6.45 hours riding we were delighted to reach the pass and absolutely buzzing on the 5km descent to the Bolivian border post. The scenery was amazing as we entered Bolivia... mountains of every colour, 6000m volcanoes and vast stretches of barren land. We got our passports stamped and set up camp a few kms down the road behind some large rocks (trying to escape from the now bitterly cold wind). All exhausted and cold but happy, we cooked our usual tomato pasta meal for dinner and climbed into our tents for a very early night! Unfortunately none of us slept much that night (possibly altitude?) and we awoke to a temperature of -6 degrees and our tents covered in ice. We packed up and rode the last 5km to meet our jeep for the tour. That morning we meet a couple of small children who live in this very remote part of Bolivia. They were fascinated by our bikes and Shane spent half an hour towing them around in his Bob trailer!! We were then met by our jeep and other passengers. They had been told to expect five Polish girls on bikes- so were a bit disappointed to meet four smelly Kiwi chicas and one bearded boy!

We spent the next three days getting driven through southwest Bolivia in a Toyota Landcruiser, passing through some of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth - different coloured lagoons, geysers, crazy rock formations, volcanoes, islands covered in cacti and the huge Uyuni salt plain. Our jeep was pretty comfortable, we were joined by a German girl called Irena and our driver Danielo. We gradually adjusted to the altitude- although it provided it provided a multitude of excuses for various things- including Shane getting boozed on only three beers! The salar provided a great oppurtunity to take crazy perspective photos.....And our favourite....Following the trip we drove into our first Bolivian town Uunyi. The poverty and dirt strewn streets came as a bit of a shock to us- but we ended up having a nice evening enjoying the sun and pizza with other travellers. Next stop La Paz...Bolivia´s capital where we hope to do some good riding before the other three have to head back to New Zealand and we continue our journey through South America.