Riding into the sky at 16,500 feet.....Altiplano, Bolivia

simon thomas

www.2ridetheworld.com
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What a ride.....
right now we are in Sucre, the official capital of Bolivia, after pushing ourselves and our bikes pretty dam hard through the Altiplano region of Bolivia.....but boy was it worth it.
The colours, the light, the scenary, the landscape.....were all like something out of a Jules Vern novel. We dreamt for so long about being in this region it felt strangely surreal to finally be here.

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Like so many of us we saw first pictures of this remote landscape when the r1100gs adventure was launched and the brochure and advertising campaign were shot here. We can tell you....its even better in the flesh! Getting to the Arbol del Piedra (rock tree) felt wonderful.

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We left San Pedro de Atacama on 8th August both a little nervous of what laid ahead. Simon's having problems with his 1100gs and we'd already spoken to several friends in Salta (Mike and John, Katrin and Ralph) who'd warned us that they'd had to turn back on one sandy section, that and the fact that neither of us have been atover 16,000 feet let alone ridden a bike that high ....the Bolivian Aduana is at 16,522 feet!

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As we rode higher the temperature was dropping by the second, and even in the midday sun our sexy black thermals were hard at work.

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By the time we'd reached Lago Verde we'd comletley forgotten about the temperature.....as our eyes feasted on the turquoise/emerald green waters sitting at the base of the snow capped volcano, Licancabur. The hairs on the back of our necks were stood to attention, for so many reasons the both of us there was more of a 'buzz' and sense of achievement getting here than there had been arriving in Ushuaia.

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The days came and went as did the long sandy sections of volcanic dust and grit, the rocky tracks and the flocks of candy-floss pink flamingos that call this area home. It's almost pointless to try to verbalise this incredible landscape so instead we'll let a few photographs do the explaining.

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As you know we've ridden through some pretty tough terrains over our 3 years and 3months on the road......however, the last section from Laguna Hedionda (see photos) over the mountains to the 'so called' main road before the small pueblo of San Juan was still testing stuff...as we clumsily bounced our over-laden heavy machines up and down boulder-ridden tracks at over 15,000 feet.
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Sillly mistakes were made with tiring consequences. We were getting little sleep at night as temperatures plummeted to minus 20 deg C. and during the day our unconditioned lungs were struggling with the thinner air.......and still it was all worth it.

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hope you enjoy the photographs, if you want to read more our diary will be up in the next few days at www.2ridetheworld.com along with the re-worked and NEW gallery!

see you on the road,
Simon and Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com
 
Great pictures. You really are dreaming with your eyes open. :bow
I'm not in the least bit envious. :thumb
 
Hi Simon and Liz

Just picked up your post on Altiplana and will read previous posts in next few days
Was privilaged to be in that area recently and appreciate you being lost for words to describe.I was too! Words and photos are awesome......but being there.....whow

Thanks for reminding me (as if I needed reminding)

Ride safe

Liam
 
simon thomas said:
Like so many of us we saw first pictures of this remote landscape when the R1100GS Adventure was launched and the brochure and advertising campaign were shot here.
Hi Simon and Lisa

Quick, chew some coca leaves, the altitude's getting to you and you're dreaming up new models. :eek:

In all seriousness, superb pictures :bow , and I look forward to the full report on your website. :clap

Regards, Mick :beerjug:
 
Fantastic!!

Really inspiring. Our departure for a mere 3 month jaunt (by comparison) is only 4 weeks away. We're sticking to Argentina and Chile, but we are not excluding a detour into Southern Bolivia. This sort of studd tends to tip the scales rather effectively!!
 
Hi Simon & Lisa,

Good to hear from you guys again-we hope the heater serves you well !!

Capetown is great although we've had the odd incident or two. including a two teenagers pulling a knife on us in the street to try and get some "change". They weren't "professionals" and I managed to get hold of his knife hand, soon after that he and his accomplice left. However, we've made some good contacts and recieved all the help we've needed.

Apart from to say Hi, my main reason for writing is to compliment you on your photos :bow - they are excellent. I'm glad my tuition in Salta has paid off for you !! ;) I actually managed to buy another D70s in Buenos Aires and so am now getting back on track.

If you're still at Sucre, please return Gerts Hi and say Hi to Lettie for me too, Gert will introduce you.

Well, regards for now. Safe riding.

Mike & John
 
Truly incredible pictures. I can only try to imagine how great it must be to be there and to be making that journey :thumb
 
Simon & Lisa

Absolutely Awesome Photo's,had wondered where you pair had got to, I was begining to get worried as I have been following your adventures and was begining to think some thing had happened to you.

:beerjug:

Schultz
 
simon thomas said:
As we rode higher the temperature was dropping by the second, and even in the midday sun our sexy black thermals were hard at work.

We were getting little sleep at night as temperatures plummeted to minus 20 deg C. and during the day our unconditioned lungs were struggling with the thinner air.......

:eek: :eek: Nah, wouldn't want to go there. :eek: :eek: :D :D

Wonderful post Simon & Lisa. Thanks. :clap
 
Wow? Umm, no sure what to say other than a huge thank you. We didn´t expect such truly kind words.

Like many of you say it is a truly amazing place and even the most poetic and well articulated words just seem to fall short. When you´re not battling for breath or fighting the rocks or soft sand you do spend most of your time just thinking about how dam privelidged you are to be here riding a bike...incredible!

We`ve used a fuji S700 for much of our trip but after some difficulties we`ve changed to a Nikon D70s. All the photos on this thread were taken using the Nikon and a wide angled zoom lens. The photos are also taken in RAW format using nikon´s NEF files and then converted to JPG later for things like websites.

We´re heading off in 10 minutes to Lake Titicaca and then Peru where, if we get thre chance we´ll post a few more photos of the Solar de Uyuni, Worlds largest Salt Pan...mind-blowing, now that realy looks like the moon and again early morning and Sunset are staggeringly beautiful, the colours are surreal.

Thanks again
Ride safe, take care
Simon T
www.2ridetheworld.com
 
Don't be fooled by this post.See those flamingo's,that's dudley zoo that is.He's having a larf,two years in redditch,now he's gone all the way to dudley.the reason it takes him so long to post all the pictures,is he's trying to work out how the new photoshop works!!

Not a bad effort though I suppose :rolleyes:

Keep going the pair of you,ride safe :beerjug:
 


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