Up, down, over, and through; the mountains never stop.
The rest break in Chile was far too short-lived. We want to make a summit-attempt on the second largest peak of South America and means moving quickly through the low-altitudes before the body acclimatizes back to "normal" living. By now, it's been over four months above 10,000 feet, and it looks like it will be a few more weeks...
After a significant pass (and crossing into Argentina!), we bike for several days in the altiplano to arrive to the first real town we've seen in several weeks. Right as we roll in , a dude in a large delivery truck offers a ride. We ask a few details and then agree to the welcome change of pace. He'll be leaving in approximately 3-5 hours, so we settle-down for a wait.
Eventually, everything is in order and we are off for what turns out to be one hell of an adventure. We load the bikes and lay on the hay in the back. Mid-route we stop to load diesel (in a highly-irregular road-side stop), unload the hay, load adobe bricks, and upload adobe bricks. We stop in town to say hello (and ask how much we charge to load and unload items) and eat dinner with some old dude that lives 10 hours away... by walking! Eventually, we (four grown men) stop at the house of "the old man" and sleep the night on the dirt floor of his kitchen/shed/wind protection for the flocks.
The early-morning finds us looking for food (sounds like all I ever do) in San Antonio with a big ride in front of us.
The rest break in Chile was far too short-lived. We want to make a summit-attempt on the second largest peak of South America and means moving quickly through the low-altitudes before the body acclimatizes back to "normal" living. By now, it's been over four months above 10,000 feet, and it looks like it will be a few more weeks...
After a significant pass (and crossing into Argentina!), we bike for several days in the altiplano to arrive to the first real town we've seen in several weeks. Right as we roll in , a dude in a large delivery truck offers a ride. We ask a few details and then agree to the welcome change of pace. He'll be leaving in approximately 3-5 hours, so we settle-down for a wait.
Eventually, everything is in order and we are off for what turns out to be one hell of an adventure. We load the bikes and lay on the hay in the back. Mid-route we stop to load diesel (in a highly-irregular road-side stop), unload the hay, load adobe bricks, and upload adobe bricks. We stop in town to say hello (and ask how much we charge to load and unload items) and eat dinner with some old dude that lives 10 hours away... by walking! Eventually, we (four grown men) stop at the house of "the old man" and sleep the night on the dirt floor of his kitchen/shed/wind protection for the flocks.
The early-morning finds us looking for food (sounds like all I ever do) in San Antonio with a big ride in front of us.
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