The Salt Flats were just amazing, they went on and on. A game you play on salt flats is get your bike going full out then close your eyes and see how long you can keep them closed. Nobody has gotten to a minute yet.
Argentina sort of took us by surprise. We had planned on being in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile for a while waiting for Liz´s bank card and Credit Card to show up (they were stolen at the border to Peru) from Fedex but we had at least a six day wait and San Pedro was way to expensive. It was a beautiful little town for tourist with lots of money and we really don´t fit into that group. They wanted $20 just for camping! Anyway so we decided we would go into Argentina and get the package re routed to Argentina. So off we went, we had Bob and Angie with us still so the four of us left for Argentina. The Passage to Argentina was amazing, I thought at this point I could not see more beautiful landscapes but we did. We went from sea level to over 5000 meters 5km or 16404.2 Feet or 196850.40000000002 inches but whatever way you look at it it was really really high and we went up that distance almost instantly. Liz´s little 250 did well, we only had one time that she pulled over and kicked it and got mad that it would not go fast enough. But it made it up there. Once we were up that high it began to snow. I knew it was cold but when it started snowing I realized how cold and how high we really were. Bob (the english guy) said ¨I guess it only makes sence you travel with Canadians and its bound to snow¨. The landscape was like nothing I have ever seen before, we were sourrounded by snow capped mountians and Volcano´s, salt flats and feilds. There was packs of wild donkeys, things that looked kinda like dear, and packs of alpacas. It was just spectacular. The air was crisp and clear and the smells were a freshness I don´t think I have ever experianced before. It was cold but the landscape kept you busy enough to keep your mind off the cold. So after one night and a day we finaly came back down to about a 1000 meters and it was warm again, we were back in the jungle and out of the desert finaly. We had spent nearly a month and a half in the desert. The Atacama desert is the dryest place on earth it hasn´t rained in 400 years. So the jungle and windy roads were a nice change. While we were on our way to Salta Argentina, I took a small secondary road that was about 5 feet wide and was just corner after corner after corner. Liz was leading and Bob and I could just barely keep up with her. Roads like that is where a 250 with very little gear can really shine. Bob and I trying to throw our big bikes around those corners over loaded with stuff gets exaughsting. So we made it to Salt, Argentina. This will be my home for a few days because Liz is going to take a bus back to San Padro to pick up her Cards. Turns out Fedex can´t redirect the shippment to a new country. So when Liz gets back from San Padro we are off to explore a little bit of Argentina but then for the fist time in nearly five months we are going to start heading North. Its a little sad, but I can´t wait to have a Tim Hortens Coffee.
Caleb
Bob & Angie. Bobs bike can hold about 44 liters. Liz´s bike can hold about 6 liters. Liz and I have never run out of fuel on the entire trip but since we met bob Liz has ran out every day that we have been riding with him. We are so glad that we met Bob and Angie or we would still be stuck somewhere in the Atacama Desert. Thank you bob. You can read about bob´s travels at www.smellybiker.com
Liz and I looking like we are on Mars...