Bonus gallery 🙂 Remember when you were a kid and you played with electricity? Your dad showed you how to pin 4 batteries and a light bulb to a wooden board using a handful of nails. Then you crudely attached a few wires to make the light bulb light. Perhaps a switch was introduced. All just made up by wrapping wires around each other.

Something like this – only much more crude and simple.

Well… it would seem like that the Bolivians have not gotten any further… Take a look at the small sample gallery of everyday electrical installations 🙂

Ps.: Featured image stolen shamelessly from tinkering.exploratorium.edu.

So I am sitting here with my hotel complementary breakfast, and don’t quite know what to make of it.

1 white bun, a couple of crackers, butter, jam, warm milk, and juice. Not much for a tall Dane to go on.

1 white bun, a couple of crackers, butter, jam, warm milk, and juice. Not much for a tall Dane to go on. Oh well…

But wait… why are you on a hotel?

Well… the climate here in southern Bolivia (Oruro, to be exact) is not quite friendly for camping. I had been looking at weather graphs when I was back in Denmark and thought, well… just drive a bit more north, and you can have the weather you want. Well… The day-time temperatures are 15-20 degrees (I think) which is quite good 🙂 But the sun is very strong. I am using sunscreen factor 50 – and still my skin (mainly face / lips) is having a difficult time. Not just the sun, but also the dry air and wind (when you are driving) really dries out your skin. At night, the temperatures falls to -10 +/- degrees… No bueno with my camping gear.

Then why not a cheaper hostel? Hm… they are a bit difficult to find in a non-tourist-oriented city, also taking into consideration that I would like a (secure) parking space for my bike.

Then why not couch surfing? Turns out, it is difficult to search for hosts while being out in Salar de Uyuni without internet 😉 But hey… I also get this complementary view of Oruro from the hotel restaurant:

Complementary view of Oruro from the hotel restaurant.

Salar de Uyuni

And speaking of Salar de Uyuni, I took my chances and drove through the salt desert on my own. I had been a bit worried, though, because when I was staying in Ollargüe (border-city in Chile) 2 groups of bikers came driving south from Bolivia to Chile, and I saw my chances to get some intel from them 🙂 Friendly and helpful, but also a bit disconcerting when the (most often asked) question is put out there:

Other biker: So you are traveling on your own?
Me: Yes 😀

… followed by looks of worry and concern.

You take good care of yourself!

Yes… same well-meaning(!) advice as I got back home in Denmark – a little more worrisome when it comes from a fellow traveler, along with explanations of quick salt (like quick sand, just with salt) and stories about travelers dying out there because they got lost and got caught in -20 degrees.

If, by 4 o clock, you cannot see your end destination, turn around and go back where you came from.

He relaxes a bit more, when he learns that I got a GPS 🙂 But then again… when he realizes it is my phone in my hand that is my GPS, his eye brows raises skeptically once again…

Find somebody – another biker or car – to drive after out in the desert. That way you will avoid the quick salt. Or better yet, find a local guide to drive with you.

So… I play it safe and drive to Uyuni (the city) instead of going directly out in the desert, thinking I might just take a guided-tour – you know… the touristy kind of thing… 7 Europeans crammed into a 4×4 with a Castellano¹ speaking only guide racing through all the sights as fast as possible. Also, I needed to get a SOAT² which I (of course) forgot to buy at the border.

Uyuni is filled with backpackers as well as cafés and restaurants and tour companies catering for the same. Also, Abogados (lawyers) on every street corner. Don’t know why they need so many lawyers in such a small town!?!?!? Anyway… If you like to hang out with other backpackers, eating pizza or Mexican tortillas in nice cafés (with wifi), drinking beer (all of which are very good things to pass your time with) then yes, Uyuni is a great place. If you just want to get your SOAT, then you are told to go to Potosi or Oruro. They don’t even question how you get there with your bike… I mean, driving around without a (mandatory) insurance!?!?³

So I take a quick decision, and the next morning I head for the salt desert:

You just keep going…

The first stop a few km into the salar is the Ojos del Salar; water holes at the edge of the salar, where fresh water is pushed up from underground. I keep my bike at a distance (along with the other cars) while I think of the well-meaning advice of quick salt. Also, can’t help but laugh a bit at the tourists making funny pictures a few 50m away:

All the tourists making funny photos 🙂

When I drove into the desert, I just happened to stumble into a fellow biker from Argentina. I follow him out into the white, since he seems to know where to go – and yes… the next stop is where I get my tourist photo 😀

So I got myself a Dakar-photo – the moment just came up 🙂

Dakar 2016 was marketed heavily in Uyuni.

After that, the Argentinian biker and I say goodbye (he wants to head south; the salar was just a quick tourist thing for him) and I dot in a spot on my GPS marked as a “Cave entrance”. When I get there, it turns out it is one of the islands in the desert (of course) and I go exploring on the island:

 

I do notice 4x4s driving past the island, around the corner, and there is also a few tourist walking from the corner out into “my side” of the island. So after a while, I take my bike and drive around the corner, and find the tourist establishment:

I explored this island from the other side – hiking up a bit. It was only when I got down again (at a slightly different spot) I noticed the do-not-enter sign. Then I drove to the other side of the island, and saw the tourist-establishment…

Apparently the access to the island is restricted to specific paths and, of course, there is an entrance fee. Oh well…

I also ran into a couple of backpackers that told me they were going to camp in the cave. Cool! I want to join 🙂 But I chickened out… the thought of (possible) -20 degrees in the night did not seem pleasant. And it also seemed a bit too forward to ask the girls if I could cuddle with them during the night 😉 Instead, the next morning when I woke up in my hostel and walked out to my bike to find my water bottle filled with ice, I sent them a warm thought. Hope they had a good night.

Other stuff

Other stuff of course also happened. I spend some days in San Pedro de Atacama with Kat⁴ playing tourists. Valle de Luna (Moon Valley) was really beautiful:

Valle de Lunar

In Calama, I made preparations to go to Bolivia and Peru by buying 2 x 4L of gas canisters. Although, so far, I have had no problems, rumors have it that it might become difficult to get (good) gasoline in some of these parts. Anyway… it just leveled-up my never-ending game of Tetris-packing my gear:

Tetris — Motor cycle edition.

On the way from Calama to Ollagüe, you will also find a green canyon in the middle of the desert. The water comes down from the mountains, and the locals use it to make it a nice place to live:

Green canyon in the middle of the desert.

And as a final note, I think I need to make it a bit up again for the dogs. In a previous post I ranted on about dogs and their tendency to chase me (and other bikers) while driving. While the problem has not completely gone away, it seems that my worst experiences with this were to be found in the southern part of Chile (Chiloé and Coyhaique). So when I met this dog in a hostel, I just had to take a photo. A dog after my heart:

<3 A dog after my heart <3

Oruro

It is evening now (yes… time traveling is easy on the net 😉 ) and I have been walking a bit around the city. I just thought I would share a few impressions with you – while I still (?) have your attention…

First of all, the air is dirty. My friends in Denmark know that one of my complaints with Copenhagen is that the air is polluted. And it is! But this is 10 times worse. The car park is very old (cars, vans, buses alike) and they crowd the streets all day, moving around slowly, polluting the air. From time to time you will see a (relatively) new Suzuki Swift (or the like), but most often, the car looks like something that rent-a-wreck would have given up years ago.

But it is a very quiet city. People get in and out of the collectivos⁵ all the time, and cars waiting behind most often waits with patience. Sometimes, though, they will honk their horn. But not an Italian style hoooooooooooooooooooooonk-I-want-to-move-forward-now kind of honk, but more a small and shy I-almost-did-not-touch-my-horn honk.

That and the fairs. The fairs are great. They are anywhere, and in places where you have a street wide enough to support two lanes of cars in each direction, at least one lane and the sidewalk is covered with stalls and individuals selling everything. I repeat everything. You can get everything you want – as long as it is cheap! But in relation to the quiet city, it is worth mentioning that they do not shout out peddling their goods. Occasionally one will have a microphone and a speaker, or some shop will play loud music, but most of the time, the local people just sits back and lets the potential customers walk by without shouting them down. Me gusta. Me gusta mucho 🙂 Of course, if you pay interest in their goods, they will be attentive 🙂

The down side is that it is difficult to get a good photo of the fairs. Partly because they are so compact. But more because the local (indigenous) people most often do not like people taking photos of them. And I mostly don’t feel comfortable taking photos of people – so this is the best shot I dared to take today:

I love the markets and the local people in their indigenous outfit. Unfortunately it is difficult to catch a good photo of the colourfulness of the markets – not least because most indigenous people don’t really like being taking photos of.

Other impressions… I mentioned above that Uyuni got loads of abogados. Turns out… Uyuni is not the only one. In this street there were 10(!) abogados side by side. Again, don’t quite know why, but perhaps it is a sign that the Bolivians love their paper works as much as their Chileans neighbors 🙂

Bolivians love their abogados. In this street there was at least 10 of them. Perhaps it is a sign that the Bolivians love their paper work as much as their Chilean neighbors…?

Another oddity… Take a look at this photo:

Sometimes you spot some oddities… like this police woman… she is wearing high heels. Somehow that does not seem practical…

I did not dare to take a photo while she was close – her being a police woman and all – but I hope you spotted that she is actually wearing high heels. Somehow that does not seem right, considering her line of work.

Another little thing. We are all familiar with the concept that sex sells. Sex is used widely in the western marketing culture – but still… this surprised me a bit. Sex sells public toilets…

Sex sells, yes, we know from the western world. But sex selling public toilets!?!?!?

Let me end this long long post with a nice photo from one of the squares in the city:

Oruro by night. Looks like something that would attract tourists – but not many tourists in this town (at least in June).

The end…

If you got this far, then thank you for reading. Hope you liked it. If you just skipped down to the photo album… No worries. No hard feelings 🙂

While technically I have been traveling in the Andes for a while, I have now had my first encounter with the challenges of gaining higher altitude… here are a couple of tales 🙂

Parque de Nieve Cerro Wayle

On my way up north through the western parts of Argentina, I drove through Parque de Nieve Cerro Wayle. The national park encapsulates the Vulcan Tromen and the Laguna Tromen along with a shelter, so I thought I would check it out and perhaps stay the night.

Arriving there, it actually turned out that there was also an information office – but nobody was there – and there were some cabañas and an old shed with scrap parts of quick locks for ski boots!?!? Opening hours announced from 6.30 to 13, and 16 to 20. Clearly not happening today 😮 Everything was deserted. There were, however, two small cabañas which were open, so I made the decision to stay there for the night and went hiking a little bit up the mountains.

Laguna Tromen @ Parque de Nieve Cerro Wayle

I spend a couple of hours walking around the landscape, reading, enjoying the silence – and noticing the clouds coming in. There had been clouds around all day, but now they were headed my way. And not clouds like up in the sky – well, yes – but I was at 2250m height, so I was “in the sky” and the clouds came rolling over the landscape. It looked really cool with the wall of fog coming towards me.

The fog is coming… @ Parque de Nieve Cerro Wayle

Fast forward a couple of hours… It was dark and cold, and I had been hiding away in one of the cabañas, cooking food, reading a bit, and listening to pod-casts. But at 8 o clock it had gotten too cold to be anywhere but in my sleeping bag, and being too tired to read, but not tired enough to sleep, the mind starts wandering and all sorts of questions starts to pop up… like…

How high was I up? GPS said 2250m – but how high is that really? I mean could I get altitude sickness? At what height are you at risk?¹ Do I have a slight headache now? Or is it just me thinking about it? I was getting pretty exhausted and dizzy while hiking… But would they build a shelter/cabañas at a height where people could be at a risk?

And…

And…

Lots and lots of worries… in the end I woke up to a beautiful morning, my bike started in the first attempt, and I had a lovely ride out of the park 🙂

Laguna Tromen @ Parque de Nieve Cerro Wayle

There seems to be something to be learned from this experience, but I am not quite sure what 😮 I mean… definitely do it again, but perhaps be a little more prepared… I guess that comes with experience 🙂

Going back to Chile

I had been driving back and forth between Argentina and Chile a couple of times, enjoying the roads in the mountains – no problems at all². So when my gps application suggested a new border crossing for going back to Chile, I thought not much of it. I could see that it would cross at 2800m height, but after hiking around in ~2500m height in the national park, I thought driving through 2800m height would be no problem.

Well… the view was amazing, of course. The road was dirt road, but mostly good. There were a few places where you had to be extra careful, like passing this…

At around 2500m height, the snow started to appear on the landscape. No problem, though, the road was still clear. Well… at 2600m height, the road became a lot more uneven and harsh cobbles were spread out with a loose hand. Further more, snow and ice had started to take bigger and bigger bites of the road. So I had to realize that this way was a no go…

2600m height… the mountain pass would be in 2800m height, so I turned around :-/

Returning back to the hostel I had left in the morning, I of course shared my story. The hostel owner was not very surprised of my findings! After all… that pass had been closed down since March, meaning even if I had managed to cross through, there would not have been any officers at the border, and I would not have been able to get my paper work done. Lesson learned? Learn some Spanish! Get more comfortable with asking locals for advice on your plans 😮

So, the next day I had the options of going up north to the Los Libertadores crossing near Mendoza, or to drive a bit down again to another pass, roughly 50km further south than the pass I tried the previous day. Looking at the twitter account (!) for the Los Libertadores pass, they announced that it would be open from 8 morning to 8 evening – but snow chains were mandatory! So I chose the southern crossing. Almost same height (2600m height) but paved road all the way. And extremely beautiful. I had said to myself to just drive quickly through it (I wanted to go to Santiago and had a long drive ahead) but you cannot go through this place and not stop for a picture! Or 10!

Santiago again

So… now I am back in Santiago for a while. I expect around one week – but who knows. The plan is to fix up my bike a bit and (of course) do some acro again. After that, I will start to go north. A big goal for me is Peru; to see the remains of the Inca culture.

Hasta luego.

I love autumn. I mean, really love. It is one of my favorite seasons. At least among top 4 😉 When September comes, I can almost not wait to get my hiking boots (or motorcycle) and get over to Sweden. Taking a walk in the beautiful Söderåsen – or any of their other beech forests, for that matter – while the leave turns yellow, red, and brown. All the colors. It is simply amazing.

The last couple of days I have been driving back up north in chilean Patagonia. Winter is coming. It is getting cold and (unfortunately) wet. But it has its positive sides as well! We are in the middle of the Chilean autumn, and the trees are chaning colours. And the amazing thing is that, thanks to the mountains, you can have 3 seasons in one image. Summer green at the bottom, various degrees of autumn in the middle, and winter snow on top – or the bare black rock above the treeline. Simply amazing to drive through!

Love how you can “see 3 seasons” in this image. Summer at bottom, various degrees of autumn in the middle, and winter/treeline at the top 🙂

Anyway… my bike and I have become friends again. A new tyre and she¹ drives really good 🙂 I decided to skip El Chaltén and Calafate – i.e. no glazier for me this time. The time I got in Perito Moreno opened my eyes to the situation I had gotten myself into. El Chaltén had become a goal for me. Not a goal because I wanted to go and see it (although the national park is beautiful) but because others had recommended it for me. And that was not the original plan!

My bike gets a lift. Chile Chico -> Coyhaique.

From the beginning, I had two location goals on this trip: Patagonia and Inkas. And apart from that, the goal was to take it slow. So going to El Chaltén had become a stressful goal. Even-though there is a long time to August; if I want to take it slow, and still see Peru, then El Chaltén (and further south) had to go. And it felt good to let it go. To go back north – to warmer temperatures 🙂

So… now I am in Futalefeu. It is a really nice little town with beautiful scenery all around. I am lodged in a cozy hostel² with a the wood stove in the common area. Absolutely great. And the hosts (Nancy and Nathanial) also seems really great 🙂 So the plan is to stay here a couple of days before I try my luck with Argentina again 😉

Take care – see you out there 🙂

I just updated the blog yesterday, but I have just driven 160km on the worst and most beautiful ever gravel road! It follows the shores of Lago Gral Carrera¹:

It is the worst ever² because of the many ripples. Kilometers of hard gravel road that, at a distance, looks really good, but when you get closer, is full of ripples (created by the traffic). You have two options… drive really really slow. That is 10km/h or so. Or drive fast (60-70km/h) that so you fly over the ripples. The trouble is that either you reach a bend in the road and you have to decelerate, or (worse) some bigger holes or ripples comes up and the fast approach do not work. Either way… it requires quite some attention to drive on and is very tiresome. Also, it rattles loose the bolts on your bike 🙁

But! It is also the most beautiful ever road to drive on. The turquoise blue/green water. The mountains. The green/yellow color of the starting autumn. It is absolutely amazing. Every bend there is a photo opportunity, and is why I just had to post a separate post with images from today. And also because tomorrow I expect to go into Argentina; if I read the map correctly, the landscape is going to change quite a bit. Argentina is rather flat and non-green (in these parts) compared to the landscape I have just driven in in Chile.

Writing my last post, I had just dissed the ferry from Quellon (Chiloé) to Chaitén (on the mainland) because the timetable was kind of inconvenient and I thought I could drive around almost just as fast myself. Well… guess what… that did not happen 😮 Partly due to other ferries, partly due to Chile introducing gravel roads 😮 But… it was a good choice none the less, because basically from Puerto Monnt (where I updated my blog last) and downwards, the landscape just kept getting more and more beautiful and interesting¹.

On the way south I have also started to meet the first other biker companions. First I met Horacio and we kind of formed a need-friendship; we were both looking for solutions to the, hm… challenging ferry timetables, and he seemed almost as challenged by the dirt roads as I felt. On the other hand, the language barrier (he knew less English than my poor Spanish) made it difficult to have a fluent conversation. But practice makes better… 🙂

Later, in Coyhaique, I had an appointment to stay with Patty and Fabian (couch surfing). They live in a small (50m²) house divided into 3 rooms. It had been raining all day and I had been looking forward to spread my things out to get them dry. The house seemed a little compact, but I thought it would be ok. Then to my surprise Fabian announced that they had also accepted 3 other guests as a last minute request. I felt a little panic for my plan to go awash. How would we manage 6 persons (4 of us wet and with motorcycle gear) in this small house? But all went really well, and we all stayed there 3 nights 🙂

At the moment, I am sharing a cabaña with 3 Spanish travelers – also on motorbikes. I met them on the way to Puerto Tranquillo (where I am now) and we went on a small sight-seeing trip together to see some marble caves. Beautiful. But this time I let the language barrier sit, and stuffed myself away with my computer and blog update. It seemed a bit more relaxing than trying to learn more Spanish right now 😮

Tomorrow I will drive towards the Argentinian border. Just before the border there is a city named Chile Chico. Perhaps I will stay there a day, perhaps I will just go into Argentina and see what the fuss is about² 😉

So… when I left you last time, I promised a photo of the active volcano. Well… it did not become a great photo – there was too much artificial light around it and no good places nearby to go with a good view and no light 🙁 But here goes:

Villarica volcano

So not much has happened since last – except for small lessons here and there. Like… sit relaxed on your bike while driving dirt road. Your bike works much better that way. But after 60km of dirt road, you will still be tired in your mind and shoulders, though. And check the ferry plan before your drive an hour to the city with the ferry. While getting to Chiloé by sailing from Pargua to Chacao was pretty easy¹, leaving Chiloé from Quellón was not. The next ferry was a night ferry from 2am to 9am Saturday night – and there were no cabins. Only regurlar seats in a big passenger lounge. The probability of getting sleep in that place? Close to zero :-/

Another lesson was more a revelation of why it is so good that we do not have stray dogs in Denmark. They have plenty here in Chile, and while they were not so visible in Santiago, in the smaller towns they are more visible. First of all, they love to chase motorbikes. Don’t know why… sometimes they chase cars as well, but mostly they have a keen eye for two wheels. They can lie absolute peaceful on the sidewalk (several cars passing by), but when I pass them by, they jump up, barking and running for about 30 to 50 meters. Don’t think they would bite if they could – but sometimes you do get the feeling. Other behaviour includes territorial behaviour when in pack. Not quite fun when walking alone. And if they are not territorial they can be possesive – of you (as a tourist). One dog will “make you his friend²” and follow you while you walk. If other dogs come near (e.g. just passing them by) your “friend dog” will be aggressive towards them, but still kind and friendly towards you in hope of getting some food. Almost too friendly – like walking half a meter behind you or next to you, sniffing your legs. One dog followed me for a km and I was afraid I would be stuck on it all night – it waiting outside my tent, hoping for a snack. Luckily (for me) another camping couple did the mistake of petting it. Do. Not. Pet. A. Stray. Dog. It will think you are it’s friend. So it followed them home. Unfortunately, they camped in the same camp ground as me – so I had a (luckily brief) visit from the dog later in the evening.

Ok – so much for the negative side of things. On the bright side… I liked the Chiloé. Nice roads in a hilly country side. Not quite mountains yet – but nice and green. I really liked the national park on the Island. It had a really nice little café with a beautiful view over the lake. Walking out to the sea felt a bit like walking out to the northen sea on the Danish west coast – although a bit more harsh. Not quite so fine sand and harsher waves. One little thing that you also notice (in a lot of places) are the little evacuation signs in case of tsunamis. And in case of Villarica, in case of a volcanic outburst. It all just reminds you that nature is a bit more harsh down here than in little Denmark.

And oh yeah… I almost forgot… I incidently ran into the climbing hall in Castro (the central city of Chiloé). Turns out, though, that it was “only” a bouldering hall for kids! But who needs climbing gyms when you live in Chile!?!?!?

A quick update… again the acroyoga family comes to the rescue. After a night in some not-so-fancy-hostel (read: small animal poop on the bathroom floor) I arrived in Concepción where Mónica lent me her bed while she snugged in with her flat mate. Had a great time doing acro (of course) and got introduced to aerial silks. Definitely one of the more strength-requirering sports to do. At least when you have no technique nor patience to learn it 😉 Big thanks and warm hugs to Camila for having such great patience with my non-existing spanish, and to Noelia – just for having a great time together. I’m gonna miss you! 🙂

Yesterday I drove the 400km (by small roads) from Concepción to Villarica, where I crossed my first small bridge, and got my first inauguration into gravel-road driving. I think it went well – considering I did not get the off-road course in Santiago, but instead only read about it in a magazine. I only had 2 near-falls and one time ending in the grass next to the road 🙂 Today I woke up in Villarica; a nice little (tourist-oriented) town with an active volcano. Yes, you can see the red glow from the top of it in the night. Need to take a picture of that.

Anyway… Sun is shining, and already spent too much time in front of the computer… Take care 🙂