The second day after crossing into Chile, we got a very strong and cold headwind. With the 10 days of food and 13 l’s of water each that we carried, we simply couldn’t cycle anymore but had to push the bikes into the wind. After a few kilometers, a car with road workers stopped and asked if they could give us a ride. We were so happy about this offer, considering that this weather could ruin our plans to head straight into Bolivia due to the food supply, so we gladly jumped in! We hitchhiked the last 100 km’s to the Bolivian border, 40 km’s before San Pedro de Atacama, and found ourselves very relieved of not having to push for perhaps five days! We quickly continued to the border post and then to the camp at Laguna Blanca where we got served soup and a plate of llama meat with rice. I fell asleep that night excited about being in a new country with a different culture, and also at a place that I visited in 2006.

The landscape on the altiplano is stunning! The colors are amazing, and even though the landscape is very harsh, the long distances make everything look soft and harmless. Especially this part of Bolivia, the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve, looks very surrealistic. It looks like you are on another planet! On our first day, we cycled from the turquoise/emerald green lagoon Laguna Verde with the cone-shaped volcano Licancabur in the background. After a 4,650 m pass and cycling through Valle Salvador Dalí, we made it to the natural hot springs of Polques, where we had beer and Pringles in the 38° water, watching a clear starry sky appear. A relaxing and rewarding end of our first day on the laguna route.

The second day took us up to Sol de Mañana, a volcanic site with bubbling, sulfur-stinking mudpots and steaming fumaroles. The steam sets such a magical touch to this place. Fascinating! The following day, we cycled over the highest pass so far on almost 5,000 meters above sea level. Up here, the density of oxygen molecules is only about 50% of that of sea level, which means struggling to breathe properly. We made Indian face paintings with the mud from the mudpots and pepped each other by ululating, and made it all the way to the flamingo lagoon Laguna Colorada. Here, we met up with Brian, an Australian cyclist that we both had met a couple of times before. We had obviously been lucky with the weather so far. A guide from one of the many jeep tours that pass here every day told us that it was snowing and -25° the previous week!

After Laguna Colorada, we chose to head for the east route instead of the west, due to better road conditions and more villages. The hot springs that we used on our way always left you with a slight smell of sulfur and we never used soap here. But, when we got to the village Villamar, I had the first shower in 12 days and it felt really good even though it was lukewarm!

When we cycled on the abandoned road between Alota and San Agustín, we passed through a fertile valley with a “Jurassic Park”-feeling to it. We saw some men working in a cave next to the road. At first, I thought it was some sort of mine, but suddenly an American PhD student appears and invites us to have a look. It turned out that they recently had discovered the oldest archeological site in the Andes – 13,000 years old! This cave had wall paintings, and in another cave nearby they had just found the remains of a shaman. Their excavation is funded by National Geographic, and the head archaeologist is Bolivian and a copy of Indiana Jones himself.

When we arrived to San Agustín, there was an annual party going on. Everyone were drinking and dancing on the plaza and we were not late to join them! The orchestra got more and more drunk and the music slower and slower. People poured half their drinks on the ground as a toast to Pachamama, “Mother Earth”. What a scene! I even made a deal with a local farmer to investigate the possibilities for Swedish companies to import his quinoa, haha! At 9 o’clock the following morning, the most persistent guys were still sitting on the street drinking (two hours before driving back home).

The road conditions have been really bad with lots of washboard and sand, but I haven’t had any problems with the bike even when it’s been fully loaded, except for breaking the mudguard. Jenny sheared a bolt on her rack as well as snapping the wire of the handlebar bag. Brian’s rear tire blew in the middle of a sand storm, but he fixed it surprisingly quick using duct tape and the old inner tube.

Leaving these bumpy roads behind, we entered the world’s biggest salt flat Salar de Uyuni. Bolivia has built a pilot plant for extracting lithium from the huge lake that is underneath the crust of salt. Several countries with car and battery industry have shown interest in this, but Bolivias president Evo Morales has been very clear that this should be for export only and benefit their country. We camped at one of the pools that they have made for taking samples for this plant. Cycling on the salt flat is a unique experience! We crossed it from Rio Grande to Colchani, and by cycling on the car tracks it feels smoother than fresh pavement. This white and perfectly flat surface makes it hard for the eye to get a perspective. That’s why you are able to take pictures like this one:

It was such a relief to finally get to Uyuni and back to civilization. The ability to eat any kind of food, surf the Internet, buy things etc. made us very, very happy! You appreciate these things that you otherwise take for granted so much when you have been away for this long. It’s an amazing feeling that I wish everyone could experience once in a while! Being able to leave your clothes to a laundry after three weeks was also a treat ;-)

My plan for Bolivia is now to make a circle via Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. One reason for this “detour” is to get a bit of warmth for a change, and to see parts of Bolivia other than the altiplano. By descending to the lowlands on this latitude (17°) means tropical climate and jungle, ahhh!

Talking about tropics, I have now finally decided whether to continue along the Andes or across the Amazon. I love mountains and the views that you get by standing on the edge of them. I also like the feeling of getting exhausted by climbing and then rewarded with a downhill, plus that curvy roads are more entertaining than straight ones. By choosing this route, I will also get to Colombia which I’ve heard so many good things about. Not to mention the famous Galápagos Islands in Ecuador that helped Charles Darwin to develop his evolution theory!

It would undoubtedly be a great challenge to cross the Amazon by bicycle, especially the part Humaitá to Manaus in Brazil, but I’m afraid that I would get bored of only tropics and straight, “flat” roads. I also have experience of cycling on muddy roads now, and that’s simply impossible with my bike. Constantly damp clothes and hungry mosquitoes would probably drive me insane as well, so it feels better to stick to the mountains/coast!

Since I don’t write new blog posts very frequently, I thought it might be more convenient for you to get notified instead of having to check the blog (i.e. if you don’t use RSS feeds). Therefore, I have added a new widget called “Mailing List” in the sidebar, where you can easily subscribe/unsubscribe to updates and then just follow the link in the e-mail. Cheers!

When I came to Cafayate, Argentinas second largest wine region, I met up with Jenny & Jason from the UK again! They were travelling with Michele & Dominique from South Africa but we had different routes planned before Salta. I continued through Quebrada de las Conchas on road 68 and saw beautiful stone formations in all colors of red. One night, I camped inside a natural amphitheatre which was a cool experience! The sound of my harmonica echoed through the night…

The next day, it rained for the first time in over 3 months! It was a weird feeling and I thought I was going to appreciate it for a change but I didn’t. Later the same day, I went to an Internet café in a small village to check some stuff, but only the local network was working. Instead, I ended up playing Counter Strike with a bunch of local guys – what a nostalgia! It must have been 10 years ago or something, haha! Quite surprisingly, I actually won. Sueco Loco – Argentinos, 1-0, YES!

When I got to Salta, I found the same hostel which I stayed at 4 years ago, but I couldn’t recall that there were so many hippies! The other guys arrived some days after me since they went via Cachi. As I mentioned in the last post, I was thinking about doing the “laguna route” into Bolivia. Jason had a contract starting in June so he went back to London, while the others, just like me, were very eager to do this route! I ended up staying 10 nights in Salta because we had to prepare and buy a lot of things and many shops were closed due to 25 de Mayo, a kind of indepence day here in Argentina.

I sent back a package with 2 kg of things that I did not use or found unnecessary. I probably threw away 1 kg as well, and the boots that I used for trekking at Cerro Olivares got a new and happy owner. I bought a great down jacket and down gloves (with Windstopper) from the local brand Ansilta to prepare for the cold altiplano, so it feels good to know that I will be able to sleep even if it gets down to -20 C at night.

We have been counting calories and trying to find the most energy-vs-weight-efficient food. I made a 4-kg mix of walnuts, almonds, cashewnuts, peanuts and raisins (around 20,000 calories!) just for snack. I’ll also bring quinoa, pasta, oats and tuna/sausages. We will carry a maximum of 9 days of food supply, and around 13 l of water on the longest parts.

Michele & Dominique are close to the end of their trip and decided in the last minute not to join, so now it’s me and Jenny that will continue together. This will definitely be the toughest part of my trip but I’m looking forward to it a lot! We are now in Purmamarca at 2,194 m, and will climb to 4,100 and then probably have a day off in Susques to rest and acclimatize. Then it’s 3 more days to the border at Paso de Jama (4,400 m) where we will enter Chile and have a 2-3 day ride until we reach the Bolivian border crossing at Laguna Verde. That’s the start of the laguna route, and further on we will then cross the world’s biggest salt flat Salar de Uyuni. I won’t have access to Internet for about 3 weeks from now, but if the connection is good I will make another post when I reach Uyuni.

Adiós, Argentina!

The climate has become a bit more chilly these days because the winter is approaching. At the same time I’m slowly moving north where the seasons are less obvious. I remember when I started in Ushuaia on a surprisingly warm spring day with dandelions lined up by the road. Now, the fall has arrived and the treetops cover the whole spectrum from yellow to red!

One of Sweden’s most famous touring cyclists and mountaineers Janne Corax (blog) is here to continue a trip that he started in 2005. He e-mailed me about a month ago and we finally met in Rodeo with the intention to climb some 6,000 m peaks together.

I bought a pair of cheap boots, 3 pair of llama socks, 2 walking sticks (broom handles) and managed to borrow a backpack. The day before he arrived I met Rolando Coria, a very friendly children’s doctor who happened to be the father of the Argentinian touring cyclist Ivana Coria. He borrowed me some winter clothes, including Ivanas boyfriend Harry Kikstras (www.7summits.com) jacket that he wore when summiting Mount Everest, and then gave us a lift towards Paso de Agua Negra and to our start at 4,100 m.

The military at the pre-border checkpoint were a bit skeptical to why we wanted to go up there when it was off season but we just had to sign a paper saying that they didn’t take any responsibility for us whatsoever and then it was fine. The sudden altitude gain from 1,600 m made us feel dizzy and I just laughed at forgetting small things all the time. The nearby river was frozen but luckily the water was running underneath so we only had to make a hole and then we had fresh mineral water.

The first mountain we would try to climb was Cerro Olivares (6,216 m) and then, if we had time, Majadita (6,266 m). Both these mountains are non-technical so this is basically just a matter of high-altitude trekking. I didn’t sleep well the first night and Corax started to feel a cold that he had caught earlier so we started walking slowly the following day. The weather was great with sun and without any wind, and the views breathtaking! We camped at 4,500 m and managed to find some running water again. The second night was cold (-10 degrees) and the water froze in the bottles. I still slept ok and used all my clothes in my -1 degree sleeping bag.

We came up to a pass the third day and got an overview of the mountain, but quickly realized that we wouldn’t be able to continue on that side because the whole ridge was covered with glaciers, and at one place 7-8 m tall and impassable penitentes. We turned back and continued along the mountain side to another plateau to camp for the night just below 5,000 m. Later that evening, an ice avalanche rolled just above the place where we had been walking!

The third night went down to -15 degrees and this time I was freezing a lot because my sleeping bag wasn’t completely dry due to all the condensation and frost that I get in my tent. We were too lazy to go back to the river to get running water so we had to melt snow instead, a very time and fuel consuming task. We walked up to 5,500 m to acclimatize more and plan the following day’s route, and it looked promising.

During the fourth night, Corax cold and cough unfortunately got worse so we decided to not try to summit after all. The morning weather was perfect and it had been snowing more during the night so we had a beautiful descent down to the road. It didn’t matter much that we didn’t summit because it was a great trek anyhow! And the pizza and ice cream we had when returning to Rodeo was REALLY good :-)

The day after, we cycled to San José de Jáchal through a nicely colored mountain valley. We met a British couple on bikes heading north as well. I ate 8 scoops of ice cream that day, ahh. Then I continued on my own to Villa Unión and today Corax arrived with the bus. He will continue north-west from here to climb several peaks on his list on Punan and I will continue towards Cafayate, so from now on we go separate ways, but might see each other again further north.

Here are some of the other things that happened lately:
- Met two truck drivers who patiently were warming water for their mate using the truck battery. Meanwhile, the next village were waiting for the food delivery that they were carrying. Argentinian prioritization!
- Caught a cold in Calingasta because I showered with an ice-cold garden hose on a football field.
- Had a morning visit by a young and curious guanaco in my tent.
- Discovered mosquito larvae in my water bottle after almost having drunk all of it.
- Realized that yawns are contagious even between humans and dogs.
- For a second I considered to show who’s territory my tent was after a dog peed on it.
- Got mentioned on the local radio in Rodeo as being a “lost Swedish cyclist” when I cycled almost 30 km in one day in the small (but long!) village just looking for things.

I think Bolivia is only about 2.5 weeks away from now and I am really looking forward to a different culture and return to places that I visited in 2006! However, I am also thinking about heading to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile and enter Bolivia by cycling the “laguna route” to Uyuni. I did this scenic route with a jeep during my last trip and it’s absolutely stunning, but the road conditions were really bad and it’s on an altitude of about 3,500-5,000 m. Last time I didn’t pay much attention to how much sand there was so I need to do some research before I can come to a decision. I need to carry around 12 days of food on this part, and in combination with a lot of water my thin tires will probably force me to push the bike a lot!

On my way towards Chos Malal, I once camped in a dried out riverbed and it turned out that I literally was going to sleep on a field of fossils! The fact that one of my biggest hobbies as a kid was to collect minerals and fossils made me very excited about this discovery! The following morning, I walked upstreams and found plenty of fossils of ammonites (same class as today’s octopus/squid) and shells. Argentina, and in particular Patagonia, is very famous for fossils. I’ve seen many spots on the map denoting petrified forests, and this is also an area where many dinosaur fossils have been found. An owner of one of the estancias I stayed at showed me a petrified crocodile that he had found on his property, along with some stones that could be dinosaur eggs.

That same morning, a couple from Holland who were travelling in a 4WD Toyota Land Cruiser (70 Series) stopped next to the road. They were old bikers, and very kind, so they refilled my water supplies and gave me bread, yoghurt, cheese and even a cold beer when I finally arrived at the camping in Chos Malal later the same day. Their car was impressive and equipped with many smart solutions due to several Sahara expeditions made by the former owner. It had an integrated tent with beds on the roof, solar panels, compressor, custom designed bumper that also worked as an extra 110 liter water tank etc.

I got invited to a goat dinner by some locals that I met on the street in Chos Malal. Goat is a local speciality in this area, but I was not a big fan of it, especially not the pungent testicles that they insisted me to try :-) I met another cyclist at the camping (Lorenzo from Basque Country). He had been on the road for 13 years with only two 6 month breaks!

At a hostel in a small town called Buta Ranquil the owner told me that there was no problem if I wanted to use the kitchen. I preferred not to, and here you can se why – haha!

The landscape has been very barren and arid with mountains and extinct volcanoes shaped by weather and wind, and there has not been many animals to see but surprisingly many roadkills: snakes, birds, tarantulas, amardillos, foxes and dogs. Even though the scenery could be described as rather monotonous, it still has many parts that are beautiful.

By the end of the calm week I got taken by surprise when the road turned into a valley and one hour later I was in the middle of a sandstorm. One gust was so bad that it felt like someone threw a bucket of sand right in my face! I didn’t take any photos from this for obvious reasons. The next day was completely calm and again this continued for one week.

When I got to Malargüe I made some cultural sightseeing like visiting its famous planetarium, going to the museum and on top of that cinema. From here, I had 400 km left to Mendoza. I went via San Rafael, because the gravel road (Ruta 40) had washboard all over the place so I decided that it would not be worth it just to have 50 km less or so. When I entered San Rafael, I got a flat on both my tires at the same time, caused by a plant which releases several pieces with thorns. These pieces have the same construction as caltrops, these things that are used to cause flats on vehicles because they always have one nail pointing upward no matter how you place them. Irritating but a bit ironic, I got the same kind of double flat when I left San Rafael! If I just rolled my wheel 1 m next to the road, I would have 10 of these sitting in the tire – horrible…

I entered Mendoza on a road parallel to the highway referred to as “camino del vino”. Along this tree lined avenue, several bodegas (wineries) were located. I stopped at one of them, Cabrini, and they had free wine tasting! This bodega was started by Italian immigrants, now run by the 4th generation. The first generation included a priest who was a friend of the Vatican, and since then Cabrini produces the church wine here in Argentina. Moreover, the pope decided to celebrate the millennium with their wine.

Mendoza is a big city and my intention was to take some days off the bike here. But, I happened to have a friend who recently moved to Pichilemu in Chile, 3 hours south of the capital Santiago, so I decided to go visit her instead. I took a bus that got me close to the border and left the bike at a hostel. Then I hitchhiked with some road workers to the other side of a tunnel, and from there I hitchhiked with an Argentinian couple to the border. They were going to Santiago, but unfortunately the guy had brought the wrong passport with him so they had to turn back and me enter by foot, which required some extra papers to be filled in. At the other side, I tried hitchhiking with truck drivers but they weren’t keen on picking me up at all. Instead a big van stopped, and offered me to put up a foldable sun chair in the open space in the back. I gladly accepted the offer, and later managed to sleep (!) through the steep switchbacks leading down to the valley while somehow successfully keeping the balance.

Pichilemu is famous for its surfing, which is actully considered to be one of the world’s best, and many professional big-wave competitions are held here during the winter when the waves can reach 15 m. I rented equipment two days at the central beach, but after the tsunami, the seabed is completely messed up so the waves were not so good. The water was cold as well so I needed both wetsuit, boots and a hood. I’ve felt a couple of minor aftershocks from the earthquake but the people here seem to be very accustomed!

Tomorrow morning it’s time to go back to Argentina. South Americas highest mountain, Aconcagua (6962 m), is located very near the border and where I have the bike. The season is over, but I still think you’re allowed to do some short treks just to get a glimpse of this tall beast!

I made stickers for the bike with the blog address while staying in Bariloche, and this is great to have when I meet people along the road who wants to follow my trip. Talking about stickers… I’ve seen plenty of www.ridingthespine.com-stickers at hostels etc. on my way. When I got to Bike Hostel in San Martin de los Andes, I met one of these guys, Goat, who turned out to be a funny dude. He and his friends went from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in 3.5 years (carrying 10,000 stickers), on the smallest roads/paths they could find. They even kayaked from Panama to Colombia. Goat has a custom longtail bicycle with motorbike-wide tires to be able to deal with sand, snow and mud, and he always rides barefoot.

During the days in the saddle, there is often small things that amuses me. One day I found some crayfish in the river at which I was having lunch, and suddenly I turned it into a “crayfish party”. I only missed the snaps, and of course someone to eat with. One day, a bug hitchhiked on my leg for 7 km’s and probably enjoyed the view. While making my way up on some steep switchbacks, I met a group of friends who were doing a tour from Antofagasta to Ushuaia with veteran Citroën cars. In the service car, the guy was driving in a Hawaiian shirt and his wife sitting next to him wore a t-shirt with a viking saying “SWEDEN – The Land Of The Vikings”. Sweet mix!

When I left Junín de los Andes, I knew that there would basically be no more touristic places until reaching Mendoza (1,111 km). Instead of continuing on Ruta 40 I went on the smaller roads 23 + 46 towards Zapala. Here, nearly all cars waved at me but that stopped as soon as I turned out on the Ruta 40 again. These roads were very nice, I saw the volcanoes Lanín and Villarrica from the top of a mountain pass where I camped. Later I cycled over a kind of altiplano through Argentina’s densest area of extinct volcanoes, and also experienced two 10-km-downhills without pedalling – awesome! During the first one I listened to Baz Luhrmann’s version of Wear Sunscreen and realized that the song (essay) makes a lot of sense, and that I live up to it quite well! During the second descent, I broke my old speed record and the new one is now 73 km/h!

Zapala, that’s where I am right now. This is a windy, sandy and dry place. The campground is only half finished because the new government didn’t have the same intentions as the old one. Still, it’s funny how they prioritized the construction of a huge swimming pool instead of a proper wind shield for the tents. This is a different side of Argentina, but I like it – and the people here are very friendly!

I will stay for a couple of days because I need to fix a few things. My rear derailleur somehow came into my rear wheel and got bent, as well as making the rim skew. I also need to visit the shoemaker to fix a broken shoe, and the locksmith to make a copy of my bike key that I broke while being inside the lock. Oh, that was actually a funny incident! I stopped at the gas station to get some fuel for my stove and happened to hit the key with my leg when getting off the bike. I tried to get the other part out of the lock for about 15 minutes without any success whatsoever. Then a random guy shows up, offering me some help. I barely had time to peel a banana until he managed to get the piece out! I wonder what he does during the night :-)