South America Nov 2010 - Mar 2011

Finally arrived in Cartagena Friday 5th Nov and bikes at the port. Hot and wet ! flooded streets and a bloke called Johnny who could get us anything we wanted.... we opted for a cheap beer which he sorted us out with and we called it quits at that!! Cartagena old city really nice architecture and plaza´s which means we cant afford it! nightlife very loud, struggling with veggie food but entertainment good, random bloke in wig and girls short top belly dancing ish!

saturday 13th November. Come to a huge traffic jam and make our way to the front, theres been a landslide that covers the road. We have to wait about an hour for diggers to clear a bit and then bikes can pass. Park bikes that night in a hotel corridor with a pristine floor (not for long)! Scenery stunning still, just so green with amazing views across the andes. Pass a bike with the chap on the back holding upright a shower cubicle frame with door, mad! Head south to try and get out of rain. They ve had 60% more rain than normal here already!

We ve had an interesting few days, remote off roading in the andes! Before that though we met a couple push biking from the states through SA they had done 9 months with another 6 to go! looked seriously hard work in the mountains! We stayed in Vilcabamba a small town that attracts a lot of backpackers and hippies as it apparently holds the secret to a long, healthy life, there is something in the water in the 'valley of longevity' we ll wait and see!

30th november-we had a tour around the Huaca Del Sol y De La Luna today. The guide spoke english which was great as we learnt all the history, well worth a visit, the symbols and paintings they have already uncovered in all the temples are fantastic. there s also a museum with all the artefacts they have found in the burial chambers. Camp that evening in a very nice ladys garden by a beach near Chimbote.

Fab twisty tarmac road over to Cuzco, even the usual cow, sheep, alpaca, pig, dog, hole in the road or person (or all of the mentioned) thats usually round each corner in the middle of the road didnt spoil it! Cuzco is definately worth a visit. It has some amazing cathedrals, churches, and old buildings, it has a really good atmosphere about it. Went to the Norton rats biker bar and met Wolfgang, a German biker on a transalp. We had a really good day with him out on the bikes visiting some of the Inca sites, all similar to Machu Picchu but much cheaper!

The photos seem to have totally disappeared so ignore last blog entry, will try harder!!!! Sorry grant!

tim, see the entry on your home page with MORE underlined in blue NOW.

Sorry if the blog doesnt make any sense at the moment! We tryed to put some photos on and it all went a bit pear shaped! If you click on the time under a photo some forward/backward arrows appear and you can flick through just a few of the photos that made it on (out of lots) and get back to the last written entry. We are so rubbish at this! Hopefully sort it soon!

We have decided not to go into Bolivia. We were just going to ride around Lake Titicaca on the Bolivia side and then into Chile, but we just don t have enough time as the roads there are all dirt so it would take a long time and we want to go further south in Argentina. So visiting the lake from Puno, it is the largest high altitude body of water. Nice dirt roads in places around the lake and the views are amazing, I now understand the term 'big skies'!

5am in the morning we all got up to go and see the condors. Two hour dirt track to the canyon, apparently the best time to see them is between 8 & 9am. Got sat in a good spot and waited and waited, nothing. All the tour company buses left and we waited, a local chap said stay until 11am. I really needed a wee by now so of course as soon as I went the first condor materialised, typical!! So worth the wait though, one was so close catching a thermal and circled up level with us, so huge.

We can not work out how to get photos on to the blog so we have put some on to Flickr and will keep adding to them. When you go into Flickr put nadin_tim[at]yahoo[dot]com into the search, then nothing seems to happen so click on the people at the top and our photos should appear!!

Happy New Year to all, sorry its a bit delayed, lots of camping so usually more remote, not many internet cafes! Had nice new years eve in Cachi with the campervan families, BBQ, beers and good company! Decided to catch the Dakar in Cafayate, was really good to see it but was a little disapointed with the spectator viewing spot, close to the bikes but just a straight track, especially as we were up at 5am to see it!

Never thought I d wish for good old fashioned mud dirt roads!! All gravel, like riding on marbles with corrigations at the moment with really strong side winds, hard work! Met a really nice family at the campsite though that have invited us to stay at their house in Buenos Aries. The ride to the Chile border was really nice, lots of monkey puzzle trees on the mountains, like a scene from jurassic park. Border crossing took ages, but this area is stunning, lakes, snow capped mountains, waterfalls, rivers and wild flowers all over.

Well we officially ran out of money about a week ago!! Its stunning in this area of Argentina, but not cheap. Everyone we speak to says everything goes up in price here each year by a lot!! Apart from Ecuador all the countries we have visited have been more expensive than we thought. The fuel is expensive and with 2 bikes and the miles we re doing thats not good. It didnt help not been able to camp for the first 2 months, which means your buying food out too, even though we were really careful.

New pics and maybe a video on Flickr!! Will update blog in the next couple of days.

Back in Argentina and a really easy border crossing. Taking what the locals call the 7 lakes route, its really beautiful, it starts around San Martin, nice but expensive town, has a German log cabin feel about it. Thats where we bumped into Dan and Marien again, small world!! We ride the route to Angostura with them and find a really nice campsite off a dirt road. lots of lakes to see and cool roads to ride so have a couple of days here.

Well think we ve sorted out what to do with the bikes. Shipping them from Santiago in Chile, its cheaper than Buenos Aries (approx 1600 pounds for both bikes) and it means we get to ride up the Chile coast which should be really nice, rather than miles across a straight flat road through desert to Buenos Aries, which is further as well. We could sell them but it is illegal (in most of South America), theres ways around it but its risky and we dont think worth it. Hopefully should be able to clear customs (least do some of it) ourselves in UK to so that will save a bit of money.

Well back in Chile, border crossing really busy and we had the usual confusion of us having two bikes! (not sure why but it seems to be confusing) Stunning road again into Chile, but raining so decide to get away from the mountains and head to the coast. Stay in a little town that has a huge covered area with loads of little eateries that were really cheap (try crab and cheese empanards - pasties to us, yum) and traditional dancing on a stage. Camping not cheap around here (lots of haggling!) and most of the showers only have cold water.

More pics on Flickr!! Bikes crated and ready to go, cost less than we thought too!