Adventure Altiplano AAP 1401
29 Aug 2014
DAY 16
San Pedro de Atacama - Antofagasta
We made a short stop once more at "Valle de la Luna":
and went then directly to Antofagasta
where our tour ended with a very pleasant farewell evening.
We had a wonderful time together with a lot of adventure, good motorcycle ridings, beautiful sceneries and one Spanish word which we will never ever forget: desvio ;)
Buenas noches from Antofagasta & keep the rubber side down!
DAY 15
San Pedro de Atacama
We had a relaxing restday today in San Pedro:
In the evening we took our motorcycle and went to the "Valle de la Luna" which looks somewhat similar to the surface of the moon:
We walked up the highest sand dunes and enjoyed the sunset and the spectacular colors:
DAY 14
Purmamarca - San Pedro de Atacama
We definitely loved the mountain road today when we left Purnamarca and Argentina on our way to "Paso de Jama":
We entered Chile and rode the motorcycles for several hours over 12.000 ft at about 1 °C. Even if it was really cold today it was for sure the most colorful day on this tour and the ride through this landscape was just stunning:
We reached also the highest point of the tour:
What a beautiful day with breathtaking impressions :)
DAY 13
Salta - Purmamarca
On tiny little roads and through beautiful scenery we left Salta:
The landscape and its colors changed once more:
In the early afternoon we reached Purmamarca which is located in the middle of amazing rock formations:
DAY 12
Salta
After the long day from yesterday we have a restday in Salta which is probably the most Spanish-esque city in Argentina:
DAY 11
Tarija - Salta
Today we had a great riding through lush green countryside following the Bermejo River all the way to the Argentinian border:
Here we are leaving Bolivia and entering into Argentina:
DAY 10
Potosi - Tarija
On the route to Tarija we crossed beautiful landscapes with intense colors:
We went up to a pass where we had a nice view over the beginning of the yungas:
Tarija:
DAY 9
Potosi
Today we have a restday in Potosi.
Potosi has legendary silver mines where workers still work under the same conditions as hundreds of years ago. Some of us visited the mines:
Others (those who are claustrophobic :D) enjoyed Potosi:
DAY 8
Salar de Uyuni - Potosi
After just a few gravel kilometers we reached Uyuni where our motorcycles got some face-lift:
After washing the bikes they seemed not to be ours anymore. We couldn't believe how clean our bikes can be:
Back on the pavement we enjoyed a beautiful and relaxing ride in an absolutely amazing scenery:
DAY 7
Salar de Uyuni
The Salar de Uyuni is just 1 km from the hotel. Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi) and riding the motorcycle on it is like riding on ice but it's not slippery. The first contact with the Salar de Uyuni was very careful and timid but after the first few meters we loved it and just let the motorcycles go:
what's going on here? :D
DAY 6
La Paz - Uyuni
Today we had to start very early as there were a lot of km to do. Starting early has one very big advantage: less traffic in La Paz :D The first part of the road was easy, almost straight ahead with beautiful landscape and nice crossing of some small villages:
That was the point where the paved road ended :
and from now on it was REAL ADVENTURE (written in capital letters) till we reached the hotel:
DAY 5
Lake Titicaca
Leaving La Paz was already a real adventure and when we finally made it out of the city we reached lake Titicaca after a two hour ride. We crossed a narrow part of the lake by ferry:
Putting the motorcycles on the ferry was easy but for getting them off was a little different:
The lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake with its altitude of 3.800 meters:
We rode the motorcycles till Copacapana and on the way back we could admire the breathtaking mountain range "Cordillera Real", measuring 125 km in length and 20 km in width :
Reaching La Paz after the trip to lake Titicaca was again a very special experience. The traffic situation is just unbelievable but we had a nice view over La Paz:
DAY 4
La Ruta de la Muerte
During the breakfast we found out that the today’s loop to the „Ruta de la Muerte“ made not sleep to some clients this night ....
On the way to the „Ruta de la Muerte“ we stopped at the top of the Pass road where we had a dizzy view in the valley.
There was also a sign there which didn’t catch a lot of attention but after a second look at the content we knew it was even more than important to read it:
Arrived at the „La Ruta de la Muerte“:
and that's how it is:
We all did it and can ride back to the hotel very proudly!
DAY 3
Putre – La Paz
We want to reach higher altitudes, that’s why we are here, so we ride up to more than 4000 meters.
The view along the road to the border is just outstanding:
After a very pleasant ride we arrive to the Bolivian border. Our tourguide told us that it might take some hours, but we never expected that it took that long. Bolivia welcomed us showing also that refueling gas is not easy neither with our Chilean licence plate so we spent some more time also at the gas station ;)
In the evening we reached La Paz, which is beautifully surrounded by high mountains. Also the administrative capital of Bolivia surprised us with it’s terrific traffic and it’s permanent horns. After a little while (don’t ask why ;D) we reached our hotel.
DAY 2
Arica - Putre
We start our tour with a nice view over Arica from the „Morro“ cliff:
After some kilometers we already left the paved road and started with some nice gravel and sand:
From sea level zero up to 3650 meters we arrived Putre, a very little village which surprised us with it’s very low temperature during the night. Lucky clients who brought some winter clothes with them :)
DAY 1
All Altiplano tour clients arrived well in Arica after very long flights and are looking forward to this great Adventure in Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. Bienvenidos!
Mark:
Bernhard:
Boris:
Jörg:
Andreas:
Adam:
Willi:
Erich:
Rita and Wolfgang:
Jochen:
Vicky:
Victor our mechanic:
and our tour guide Florian: