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WEEK 31 : 31st May - 6th June 2002 | ||||
| Trip Distance (km) | Quote of the Week | Country | ||
| 28,763 | "Gibberish, gibberish, gibberish........." Checkpoint guard on the Chilean border. We translated this to basically mean " You two are clowns " "I left Jamie on the side of the road 10km back, he has a flat tyre and doesn't have a pump." - Chris, an american rider on a Suzuki DR650 who joined us across the Salar de Uyuni. | Argentina Salar de Uyuni - San Pedro - Salta - Cordoba - Rosario  Map |
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Memorable Moment Once more we were a little late leaving town but hey, this late in the trip a 500km afternoon ride from Chile to Argentina over the Andes is just childs play. Maybe. With 70 kms to go until we reached the 'pass' there was more and more snow we could see on the hill sides. Still clear weather though so we pressed on, not really absorbing the fact that there was not much other traffic. The first couple snow drifts were fairly tame but when we hit the deeper ones the bikes were sliding all over the place. Back on clear road as we picked up speed the snow which had built up in the wheel spokes flew out and wizzed passed our helmets. No turning back now, as a small 4WD in front gave up due to snow too deep on the road we went off the road and made our own track.Being bogged in snow is quite amusing, the first time. The wind by this time was approaching gale force but the valley ahead looked clearer and maybe the last section would be easy going. Halfway down the road we stopped at the military check point where the road was blocked. The older officer who came out asked us where we were from then guided us inside. What we proceeded to find out(with lots of hand signals and a dictionary) was that the pass ahead was covered in 1m of snow, we had no time to go back as it would be dark in an hour, we were lucky we didn't get stuck and freeze to death. Our response was to help the guy gather some wood, sit by the small pot belly and gladly accept the cup of coffee. We spent the night and with the help of two more junior officers convinced the old guy that we cold get around the snow, bought some extra fuel and left for the pass. What we found was no snow at all and an easy run to the border, as it would have been the night before. Maybe they just wanted company.
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Pictures of the Week |
Competition Armed with two sticks of dynamite each we competed to see who could make the most impressive explosion. Both were pretty good and the final consensus was basically that 'dynamite is fun'. |
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Highlight Meeting up with 7 other motorbike travellers in Uyuni. It's great to be able to talk the same 'bike' language for a while. The trip across the salt plains and through the mountains with 4 other bikers was excellent as the pictures try to show. |
Risk Activity Riding around for 3 days with 8 sticks of dynamite in your back pack. Risk Factor 2/10 |
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Lowlight Getting up at 6 in the morning to sub zero temperatures, needing to pour hot water over the ignition switch to defrost it and then riding off with numb fingers and toes. It was this morning when Cris from Ultimatejourney was not accused of being soft for having heated grips on his BMW. |
Road Tally 1 Honda Transalp, 1 Yamaha Tenere. The altitude took it's toll on both bikes. |
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