Llanos de Challe - Bahia Salado - Caldera

This has been a year of comebacks

September 2014. We decided to bike across Llanos the Challe in the Atacama Desert once again.

We take a comfortable night bus to Copiapó and got off 40 Km past the city of Vallenar.

6 AM and the morning is misty and cold with the usual "Camanchaca" fog that rolls in from the ocean.

After finishing off the night's leftovers (peanuts and scotch, a recommended staple in these long journeys), we assemble our bikes and begin the journey.

First stop, Canto del Agua. (song of the water), formerly just a couple of shaggy mud huts with few green spots in an otherwise desperately dry landscape. Nowadays a fast growing agricultural community based on olive production, anxiously awaiting the arrival of electricity that will get them hooked to modernity

A couple of hours later we reach the ruins of Carrizal Alto's mining facilities. Some structures are still visible.

The actual mining town is a few Kilometers uphill, but we decide to continue to the coast across Llanos de Challe National Park. The road is good, a mixture of salt and soil that is constantly watered, forming a hard, pavement-like surface.

Along the way, herds of guanacos, the males standing defiant as the females and young ones move for cover. They seem to have become shyer since our last visit.

It took us a relaxed 3-hour ride to get to the coast town of Carrizal Bajo, the mine's old port, just in time for lunch. After a 3-course marine feast that was little too abundant in protein and alcohol, as we would later find out, we take a delightful siesta at the beach. 


 
With still half the journey ahead, we continue north along the coast.  

The trip becomes harder; the landscape is overwhelming. Nobody speaks; the group breaks apart, everyone progressing at their own rhythm, immersed in their own personal thoughts.  

We pass the 100 Km mark with little water left and with the sun rushing fast into the horizon. Still 40 Km more to go and the road becomes an endless slope as it traverses inland across a large peninsula beyond which I keep hoping to spot the familiar hills near Bahia Salado, the day's goal.

The second day is a prize to our endurance: Mostly downwind and sloping into the Copiapo River, we make it in few hours at an incredible 35Km/h into the port of Caldera and the resort, Bahia Inglesa. Few times have I wished so hard not to arrive too soon.
 

 














Logistics: fresh clothes and supplies were previously shipped to Caldera by Bus.
Arrangements also made to get water and food at Bahia Salado.

Problems encountered: The salty solution used to consolidate the road gets in all moving parts of the bikes. Even after hosing them down with fresh water, chains start failing on second day. Back in Santiago had to be replaced completely.
Some protective liquid like WD-60 could have helped save the chains.

Award Ceremony was held at El Plateao in Bahia Inglesa.

KMZ day 1 
KMZ day 2

Around Villarrica Volcano

Once again we go back to review one of our most exciting routes: Around Villarrica Volcano. Three days, two lakes, two volcanoes, riding in the perennial woods of Chile’s deep South. The most intense nature one can get. 


The grand prize: crossing Villarrica National Park, one of the most stunning natural settings, and a magnificent remainder of the prehistoric rainforests that once covered most of Chile.

We traveled to Pucón on a comfortable night bus. Right off the bus we take off. 
Half a day of enjoyable backcountry roads riding along Lake Caburgua to my cabin in the woods near Huife hot springs. 
It's early December, the weather is fine and the high season has not yet started.

Second day, we cross the Park. The terrain is difficult with steep climbs over a ridge that connects two active volcanoes: Villarrica and Quetrupillán. The downhill could have been exhilarating, but we prefer to go slow and admire the landscape.

The majesty of these araucaria forests is impossible to describe in words or in pictures. 
It's so nice to sit alone and just listen to the soft whisper of the wind as it passes over the canopies, more than 30 meters above.

Let us just hope that these noble giants remain there for another million years.

Second night and award ceremony is on a nice lodge at Coñaripe, next to Lake Calafquén. The last day is a smooth ride around the Lake back to Pucón. Paved roads this time, but we will be exploring something a little more rugged for this stage in a next trip.


kmzs here

Bolivia: La Ruta de la Muerte

Before the construction of a modern (?!) highway, this route was the only connection between La Paz, at 4.650 mt. and Coroico, in the Yungas rainforest, under 1,000 mt.

Infamous for the average of over 250 deaths each year due to the impossible terrain and forbidding weather, and with vertical cliffs 800 mts. in some places, this road is today a much desired ride for bikers, not to mention still a busy and dangerous alternative route for many other vehicles.
A variety of tour operators offer trips from La Paz, including bike rentals transport and gear, with prices ranging from US$ per person.
An investment we thought was worth for every drop of adrenalin flowing.
We had to go and see.
It was a memorable experience. Emotions of the good kind and in quantities (this includes the bus back)

The guide was a cool cat but disrespected this old rider in a downhill race.

A peek into the Maule oak forests: the best kept secret.

I'ts strange to find out that only three hours away from noisy Santiago, in the fothills of the Andes, there are primitive chilean oak forests, most of which remain yet unexplored.
A trip to a relative's log cabin in Buchen private reserve was the oportunity to browse a bit into this rare treasure.

But, on second thought, let's leave it there for the time being, or hopefully for ever.
The secret better be kept unrevealed...