Adventure Atacama - AAP2202
After our yesterdays welcome briefing we are on the road this morning. From the right Peter, Jochen, Alexander and Marcel. Welcome on this adventure tour through the Atacama desert, the most driest place on earth! Really? All of the sudden one rides on a twisty road through the jungle... Our first coffee break, trying the local baked bread... Luis, our Pickup driver, showing some pics of Ducatis and later we found out that Luis met our Domenico on a road in Italy - el mundo es pequeno! Roads to somewhere... ...and later in the afternoon our playground in the Cerros de Los Siete Colores!
Impressions of this lovely village... Our icy early morning start First light plays And again...just amazing! Jochen faking the sign...in fact we will later ride on 4.818 meters, but there is no sign :-) Alex trying the other way to elevate...:-) Jochen at his best Just wow! Marcel said, this is for his son - some secret talks :-) Cool troup in cool surroundings, drinking Mate de Coca...this is just for height adjustment! the desert fueling experience A coffee in the middle of nowhere... ...an Jochen serving it. Thank you! Impressions of our flight AAP2202 over 4.800 meters :-) Volcan Licancabur Luis, hace frio? Serving a hot coffee en el desierto!
From the cute, turisty San Pedro to the mining town Calama - with a detour over the moon :-) Valle de la luna - with overwhelming beauty it seems to be okay for the moon crew :-) just amazing ...and a happy fotographer :-) Luis waiting for us at this little sandwicheria Jochen waiting for other things...:-) ...and all of the sudden a small sandstorm started in our paradise. Let's get of here and on our way to Calama! And el viento developed...one could just lean into it Peter... Alex... Marcel... ...and Jochen, now on the moon :-) ...and just shortly before Calama. Not only a mining town, but also photovoltaic and wind plants. Here we will stay for the night in a small oasis before taking off tomorrow into the desert again, towards Bolivia!
A fresh early morning start brought us into the desert...and in the wide open one enters a Quebrada and finds a small oasis down there..since more than 1.000 years people live here, hiding from the desert storms At the salar Ascotan...just amazing Luis preparing coffee and tea for us, super stop! Vicunas in the wide open...on 4.200m We passed this friendly police officers before, standing beside the road, waving at us and we all passed waiving back...and missed a small detail :-) a stop sign in front of a railway crossing - in the middle of nowhere, one could see the train approx. 10km ahead - and later while making some pictures of the fantastic landscape, these guys stopped and we got an interview :-) All cool, we just got a special teaching in the middle of nowhere about stop (here pare) signs and they agreed with having some fotos with them. Welcome to Bolivia!!! Mad Max III...:-) Here the sand games started... Dusty Peter! :-) Well done, all of you! This was not an easy day, challenging, long, but fantastic memories! Tough rides!
A tranquilo morning start, well not for Louis, fixing the bikes... After breakfast we took off to the Dakar salt monument, of course a must :-) and after, the salt games developed..:-) also funny animals around ...and yes, salt turtles as well... ...insects embracing cactus.. and many more :-) ..and Jochen inventing the shadow games Relaxed coffee on the Isla Incahuasi.. The obligatory bike wash after the fun on the Salar Our almuerzo in Uyuni "downtown" :-) After we returned to our beautiful salt hotel - what a great day again!
Riding over the salar..asking yourself "is it snow or ice"..? No, in fact it has the best grip you can imagine... En el cemetario de trenes en Uyuni It says that it is the biggest train cemetery on earth. 1872 the train line was built in order to transport the precious metals from the mines...however by 1940 the local industries collapsed and the trains were left to decay. About a 100 locomotives shall be found here in the desert.. Peter making the train..:-) Jochen inside the train... we felt already the wind while climbing the first mountain range and on the other side we got into a sandstorm, not that bad though another experience when the wind eased we stopped for a coffee in the middle of nowhere...but in the middle of red rocks ..changing landscape all day long! ... With Alex in the air at one of the canyons.. The altitude demands its tribute...This guy we will just strap down on the trailer and take him to the hotel :-) No, all good, but one can feel the height, everything demands a bit more energy El Cerro Rico in Potosi - it says that the Spanish conquistadores could have build a bridge out of silver from South America to Spain with the silver they mined just out of this single mountain! And families are still mining here today silver! Duzati also here...and good: We got fuel! Always a kind of negotiation for extranjeros! In Potosi only 1/8 of the traffic...hoy hay un festivo in Bolivia: The Bolivian independence was proclaimed on August 6 of 1825. Pero mucho borrachos en la ciudad...:-) But let them celebrate and they were very kind to us
Dogs meeting in Vitichi...on our way to Villazon Marcel made a good buy in this small village :-) ..some fun on side roads ...amazing landscape! ..our lunchstop in Tupiza on our way to Villazon No we are not in Bangkok or Chiang Mai! :-))
That is how we started in the morning...when we had a "high" of 4 degrees, for sure it would go down again to 1 or 1.5°C. Tough! Tourguide recovering again...hands cold, feet cold, everything cold.. ...indigenous sign to the next village :-) ...and changing landscape again...from wide open desert to canyons, various colored mountains and rocks back to open desert and canyons...fascinating these countries! ...and now it is getting turisty...on a small market beside the road..:-) with nice garbage bins.. Our nice coffe stop which developed to a lunch stop; which was good because lateron the weather changed completely (again:-) :-) ..and finally we had to put a Lama pic here...so many Lamas we passed on our trip oink! :-) Rain in paradise! Unbelievable and nearly impossible but we had it on the rest of our way to Salta What a great tour with super riders, taking the challenge for such an adventure trip! And it was an adventure combined with lots of talks and fun! Thank you Peter, Marcel, Alex, Jochen and Luis for a super tour, actually you guys made it great! Thank you very much! Holger