After waiting for the bad weather front to pass through San Pedro de Atacama, we finally set off on Thursday. We didn’t get very far, though: our journey came to a halt at the customs checkpoint in San Pedro, since the Bolivians hadn’t yet opened the border due to the snow from the past few days. Shortly after 10 a.m., however, the border finally opened, and we set off. But we only made it about two kilometers before we were […]
The journey to San Antonio de los Cobres was just the prelude to a bigger challenge: the Paso Sico. The challenge lies, on the one hand, in the altitude (over 4,500 meters), and on the other, in the road (practically all unpaved) and the lack of infrastructure (there’s practically nothing for over 200 km, and not much at all for over 350 km). But we’d somewhat overlooked the main challenge: the wind (which almost always comes from the west—meaning headwinds). […]
As mentioned in the last article, we met Heidi from Switzerland and Jeremias from Liechtenstein in Salta. They’ve been traveling through South America for quite some time and had planned a similar route from Salta as we had. So it made sense that we’d continue on together. And so we left Salta (a good 1,200 meters above sea level) together. Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that they were considerably fitter than we were and therefore traveled faster (which we already […]
As mentioned in the last article, we met Claire and Sam (UK), a couple of cyclists, in Belén. They’ve been traveling by bike for a good two years now—all over the world. Together, we continued north. We were accompanied by winds from various directions and, as a result, occasional sandstorms. Fortunately, however, these were kept to a minimum. It can apparently be much sandier… The area along Ruta 40 remained desert-like. We crossed river valleys every now and then, but […]
For once, there’s no long written report—just more pictures :-). As always, feedback is welcome! After we assembled our bikes in La Rioja, we finally set off. Unfortunately, things didn’t start off very well: After just a few kilometers, we passed an accident involving two cars. That reminded us that the most dangerous part of our trip is the traffic on the road… At first, we headed slightly south, even though we were actually supposed to go north. But we […]
We’ve already taken the bus to La Rioja, where our bike trip is finally set to begin. We just had to get there first. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but there were a few logistical challenges along the way. Zurich – Buenos Aires In the cold weather, we transported the bikes to the airport in Zurich. Fortunately, that went off without a hitch. Checking in the bikes with Iberia (75 euros each way) was also hassle-free and surprisingly affordable. I’m always […]
Deutsch
