Iguazu Falls

November 30, 2010

Today we visited Iguazu Falls. The Falls are on the Iguazu River which means big water. It certain holds true to its name. The Falls are bordered by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. We visited from the Argentina National Park.

There are over 275 individual cataracts where the water plunges in awesome sprays. It is said that when Eleanor Roosevelt visited these falls that she commented "poor Niagara." We can echo Ms. Roosevelt's comments.

We are going to let the photos speak for themselves and trust me they do not do this natural wonder justice.

IN AWESOME WONDER!

Anaconda Copper Mining, A National Coup, and Gary DuBois

November 29, 2010

What do these subjects have in common?
First: A little simple history.
In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected president of Chile with a minority of the votes. He was the first freely elected Socialist president in the Americas and maybe the world. This was during the Cold War between Communist USSR and Capitalist USA. The USA already had Cuba as a Communist thorn in its American side. The USA feared that another Socialist government that was friendly to Communist Russia would adversely affect the balance of power and also would be another base to forment other Socialist/Communist takeovers in the Americas.
President Allende campaigned on nationalizing foreign owned industries within Chile. Copper mining was and still is the major industry in Chile. At the time of Allende’s ascent to the presidency of Chile, Anaconda Mining and Kennecott Mining owned most of the Chilean mining operations. There were other major industries involved in other sectors of the economy most notably that of International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) control of national telecommunications.
Allende and his government nationalized these industries without compensation to the previous owners. Allende’s major attempts to socialize the economy made the economic situation in Chile worse and there were national strikes. The military, along with major assistance and encouragement from the US CIA and money from the ITT and the mining operators, staged a coup d’état and overthrew the Allende government.
As a senior at Jacksonville State and trying to get my degree on a shoestring budget, I did one of my term papers in International Relations on the election and overthrow of Salvador Allende. At that time I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to visit the old Anaconda Mine in Chuquicamata Chile - the ownership of which was one of the prime issues in the overthrow of a president.
The mine is now called the Codelco Norte mine and is still owned by the Chilean government. This is the largest open face copper mine in the world. It is 4700 meters long, 3000 meters wide and 1000 meters deep. Codelco is no longer making the mine any deeper as it takes the monster trucks too long to climb the six miles out of the winding road to the top. Current mining at this site is being done underground with the use of conveyor belts to get the copper ore to the trucks at the bottom of the mine.
There are 100 of these large trucks which can haul between 310 and 440 tons each depending on the model. Seventy-five of the trucks are in twenty-four hour a day service with the other twenty-five being rotated through scheduled maintenance.
The trucks consume three liters of diesel a minute. The fuel tanks on the largest trucks hold 4000 liters. (Ms. Debbie’s fourth grade class: I want you to tell me how many hours one truck can operate on one tank of diesel. No calculators please. I know it is a reading problem, but get used to it – life is a reading problem.)
The tires on these trucks are over ten feet tall. The Toyota mid-size pickups that are servicing the large the large trucks look like midgets.
It takes 100 tons of copper ore to make one ton of copper. The process takes 14 days.
To say I enjoyed my tour is an understatement and completes a circle for me that took nearly 40 years.

Chile to Argentina

November 28, 2010
Obviously, we have a bit of catching up to do.
To be honest we gave Chile short riff, only riding through the extreme northern section of the country. We rode through the northern section of the Atacama Desert which is one of the driest regions on earth. One of the communities we passed through was Quilagua which our tour book lists as the driest spot on earth. Couldn’t say I would disagree with this.

As we neared Calama we passed the Codelco Norte copper mine at Chuquicamata. This is the old Anaconda mine and is the world’s largest open pit copper mine. I checked on doing a tour and was scheduled for the next day as we were to late for the current day’s tour. We rode to San Pedro de Atacama where Roger graciously agreed to hold over for an additional day so I could tour the mine. More on the Anaconda mine and my interest in it in a later post.
San Pedro de Atacama is a dusty little tour with all dirt roads but has become sort of a hippie hang out and a place to base tours for some of the notable regions of the Atacama such as the Valley of the Moon. Yes, we both rode through this section, but quite honestly it only looked like a very much smaller section of the Badlands National Park in South Dakota.
We camped in San Pedro which was the first time we set up our camping gear on this trip. The night air at 10,000 feet was nothing short of brisk.
Even though San Pedro is 100 miles from the border with Argentina it is the last Chilean outpost and one must clear immigration and customs in San Pedro if going to Argentina or Bolivia from there. The process of clearing was probably as easy as we have encountered on this trip.
The trip over the Jama Pass carried us parallel to the Bolivian border for several miles and through the highest point we will experience on this trip – over 16,000 feet. The Bolivian government requires U.S. citizens to pay a $135 entry fee for a Visa and for this reason we did not go to Bolivia not to mention it would have added one more border crossing to our stress level for borders.

Near the top of the pass, a quick fix for a nail puncture with slime that we had performed on Roger’s rear tire gave way. He rode a couple of miles on a flat tire to find a suitable place to get off of the road. He plugged the tire and we were on our way again – it continues to hold at this point.

It probably didn’t matter because the entry into Argentina was nothing short of painful. There were long lines for personnel only entry and a long line for entry with a vehicle. There were six stations we had to pass though and get our required stamp at each one, but before we ever entered the building we witnessed two near fights between the border officials on how they would handle the long lines. I spent three plus years in Naples where queuing for lines can test the best western mind, but I don’t think I saw anything to rival chaos at the Jama border station. It gets better! At the last station after waiting for about ten minutes for the official to show at his duty station, we were presented with a fat official who obviously was more interested in the latest Futbol news on ESPN than he was in processing our forms. Finally, he processed the forms and hit the print button. The printer either jammed or was out of toner. After ten minutes of this no-good and his supervisor messing with the printer, the supervisor took over the work station and loaded a new chip and directed our print queue to another printer. Two hours at this border station.

From Jama Pass we began our descent out of the Andes and at times the descent was quite steep with multiple switchbacks.
Much of the ride down the mountains reminded me of northern Arizona with the red in the mountain slopes and the various landscapes. One small resort village was very much like Sedona Arizona.
Yesterday and today we paralleled the Paraguayan border as we rode through flat non-descript landscapes. We did not enter Paraguay as they require a complicated visa processing for U.S. citizens. The difference was that yesterday the temperatures were between 95 and 100 degrees with a light crosswind. Today was an all day ride in cool temperatures but with a crosswind that would rival anything I ever experienced in crossing a similarly flat Kansas landscape.

We are one day’s ride from Iguazu Falls which we expect to be the scenic highlight of our trip.

Thanksgiving

Tried to post this las night and could not get an internet connection. The thoughts are the same a day later.

To all our followers, friends and family an early Happy Thanksgiving.
Being it will be Thanksgiving in the USA in a few hours, I would like to list a few of the things I am thankful for.
Firstly, I am thankful we are out of Peru. Although Peru has some of the friendliest folk I have anywhere, I felt our lives were in constant danger from the traffic and animals/people on the roads. One could never let their guard down. Chile is a much more relaxed riding environment and we expect Argentina to be likewise.
I am thankful the Lord has provided me with the health and means to pursue such off-the-wall challenges.
I am thankful the Lord has sufficient Grace to Save a wayward sinner such as myself.
I am thankful for all m y friends around the world.
I am particularly thankful for my wife allowing me to leave home for such a long stretch of time through the middle of the winter. Angie, I love you!
I am thankful for my extended family that supports me in my wild pursuits even though they surely do not understand why I do such.
Every time I travel in the third world, I realize how fortunate I am to live in a country where we have freedom of thought and freedom of movement. If you live in such a country and it does not have to be the USA, you should also be thankful.
I am particularly thankful for our military families around the world who serve their countries with honor, regardless of the current regime and its current thinking whatever that may be. It is always the bane of the soldier to salute the flag and say “Yes Sir.”
Around the dinner table tomorrow, take time and remember the things you are thankful for.
Gary

Chile Today, Hot Tomorrow

November 23, 2010

First - Happy Birthday to my brother Jackie - man we are all getting old!

Yesterday we rode from Puno/Lake Titicaca Peru in the High Andes to Tacna Peru on the coastal desert. We rode over 400 miles - by far long our longest ride in Latin America. The riding was really good through long sweeping curves and very little traffic.
Our ride began at over 12,000 feet and went up to where we spent most of the morning above 14,000 feet before dropping down to a low of 482 feet and then climbing back to an average of 2000 feet for the remainder of the day. Again we saw many herds of llamas, alpacas and vicunas in the high plains. We stopped by a large lake to photo a flamengo colony. We didn't know it at the time but the Jean, the Frenchman, we met on the Stahlratte was stopped about one quarter of a mile down the road from us with his wife and friends. They were viewing the same colony. We were traveling in opposite directions. This is the second time Jean has spotted us in Peru and notified us by email that night. Small world!
As many of you have know, I have been sick with digestive problems and a very high temperature. This was over the weekend and I am glad to report that I am doing much better but still with a tender stomach.
Today we crossed into Chile for a another two hour experience with a border crossing with the last item to turn in a form with several stamps into a booth about 100 meters past the border. My turn went fine, but when I looked in my mirror I could tell Roger and the official were trying to sort things. Apparently, someone missed putting one of the boo-coo stamps on his form. He had to walk back to the border offices and find the person with the precious stamp. I am not sure how many countries there are in the world (Ms. Debbie's Fourth grade class please research this for me and provide the answer when I present my trip to your class), but we are amazed that each of them can seemingly come up with a unique way of entering and exiting there country. The good news is that we have only one more border crossing left or possibly two depending on where we ship our motorcycles from.
First item of business in a new country is to find a bank o ATM machine and buy local cash.
That was accomplished about 10 miles south of the border and yahoo now that we have local maps on our GPS's which provide us such information this task will be mcuh easier.
Chile is a very narrow country east to west being wedged between the Andes mountain chain on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west. The northern region along the coast is all desert and even more stark than the deserts of Peru. At times we would ride through miles and miles of varying desert landscapes without seeing a single blade of vegetation unless we dropped down into a valley floor while crossing from one high area to the next. For a while we rode along the rim of a canyon that was about 3000 feet deep - no guard rails, but there were several areas where stones had fallen into the road.
Tomorrow, we will continue our ride into the Atacama Desert which is one of the dryest regions of the world.
One of the first observations about Chile is that the driving is civilized. Let's see when was the last time we noted this - not on this trip? They use their signals, they don't constantly blow their horns, and they stop for pedestians in crosswalks. Where did these people come from? In all honesty, Roger and I just had a conversation saying how thankful we are that we are out of Peru. We spent longer there than anywhere else and it is probably a small miracle that we were not run over by a taxi or a bus, and that we did not run over some person or animal as they all walk out in front of moving traffic. Maybe tomorrow I will stop and erect a shine to St.Christopher or some other saint for this miracle. There seems to be plenty of those type shines along the roadside - here in Chile most so far have been honoring San Sebastian.

Machupicchu

Roger speaking.

We were up at the crack of dawn for a full day of sight seeing. 6:30 a.m. for breakfast and depart via taxi at 7:00 for an hour an a half ride to Ollantaytambo to catch the train. After certain delays, we were on the train and bounding away on a narrow gage train track at a blistering pace of 20 mph. Two hours later (11:30), we arrived at Agua Caliente -- the end of the train ride and jump off point for Machupicchu. We met our guide and were told that others would be joining our tourist group from a later train -- come back in twenty minutes. After the others arrived, we boarded a bus for the trip from Agua Caliente to Machupicchu -- a twenty minute, up the hill, switchback laden, dirt road that frequently did not accomodate two way traffic. Once on top of the mountain (8,000 to 9,000 feet altitude), we were instantly introduced to the psysiological effects of high altitude, we had a 10 minute walk uphill on a stone stairways to begin the tour. Boy, was I wheezing!
A little history. Machupicchu was built in a period spanning the 1400's and 1500's. It was a place for the Inca nobles to relax and worship their Gods. The site sits on top of a mountain and is surrounded by mountain peaks in all quadrants. There were 80+ Inca villages that surrounded Machupicchu and provided the labor for building the structures and farming the land to provide food for the visitors. The entire complex could house approximately 700 people. Machupicchu was never discovered by the Spanish Conquistadores and remained a lost city until the early 1900's when Hiram Bingham (a U.S. archeologist) discovered the site. Why the Inca's left the city is unknown.
Well, we spent the next two hours stumbling around on the stone walkways -- in and out of the structures. The important building, temples, etc., received extra attention on the stonework and the pieces fit like an expensive jigsaw puzzle -- pretty amazing considering the stones were all hand cut with crude implements. Interestingly, the entire site is a series of terraces that would have been farmed to supply food. The buildings were constructed on some of the terraces. And in line with the Peruvian way, llamas are used to maintain the lawns.
After our two hour tour of the ruins, we took the twenty minute bus ride back to Agua Caliente where we had to wait until 7:00 p.m. (four hours) to board the train bound for Ollantaytambo. Our taxi driver met us and then we had the one and a half ride back to Cusco. Now, I don't consider myself faint of heart but I will say the taxi ride back was one cushion biting event -- at night, in the mountains, third world taxi driver (get the picture). We arrived at our hotel in Cusco at 11:30 p.m. -- a full day and some for another.
Pictures later.

Images from the Peruvian Andes

November 18, 2010

We left Lima Tuesday morning and rode to Nazca to view the Nazca lines. The Nazca lines date from the 800-1000 BC as a best guess. They were sketched on the desert and cover hundreds of miles. The more interesting lines depict animals or birds although some are just straight lines which run for miles. As is normal for many pre-historic artifacts, someone forgot to continue to tell the story of why and how the lines were sketched. So we are left with only conjecture to their real meaning and what technology the Indians used to lay out the very exact patterns over the desert. The lines in the photo are called the hand.
Thought some of the kids following our travels would be interested in my breakfast of champions and later in the same day the lunch of champions.

This is bleak territory and the driving/riding in the mountains can be harzardous. Some places there are guard rails, but most of the mountain roads do not have guard rails. You only get to run wide in the curves one time as witnessed by the photos of the truck. You do see lots of crosses or mini-memorials posted along the mountain curves. It is not unusual to meet one trailer truck passing another allowing us only about two feet of road along the outside stripe.

Yesterday (Wednesday), we rode from Nazca to Abancay on our trip to Cusco. We transitioned through high Andes desert and pampas. In the pampas we saw herds of wild vicuna, multiple herds of llamas and alpacas (which are very similiar to the llamas only smaller.)

We crossed a couple of passes at registered 14,960 feet in altitude. So we were at a point that was over half way to the highest point on earth - Mount Everest at 29,029 feet. Can't speak for Roger, but I caught myself and my motorcycle gasping for breath in the thin air.

We stopped in a small village for lunch. The owner of the store fried us some trout and potatoes.

Today we rode from Abancay to Cusco. We started at a base of about 8500 feet and began a steep climb to over 13,000 feet. The scenery changed from mountain deserts to mountain forests. Along the way we passed through a plateau at about 11,000 feet that was a thriving farming regions with various crops being grown. We also passed several sheperds tending their flocks of sheep and herds cattle. A couple of times we had to stop in the road to allow the herds to pass by us. We stopped in a small town to buy a bottle of water. I noticed a baby sitting in her stroller and commented how pretty she was and asked if I could take her photo. After taking a couple of photos of the baby and her mother, I left the store. As I was getting on my bike, the mother came running across the street towards me with the baby and a camera. She wanted me to hold the baby by my motorcycle so she could take our picture. I also had her to take photo with my camera. It was a special moment for me.

Arriving in the larger towns is always interesting. Number one on our list is finding a hotel, and we generally have no ideal of where to look nor what prices we will find. We just mix it up with the traffic and believe me that is saying a mouth full. It really is to busy taking photos but I did get one of this car being loaded with lumber as we were floundering around in Cusco. Then three individuals rode off in the car.

Cusco is the capital of the Peruvian Inca region and was founded around 1100 A.D. It is a thriving metropolitian city. It really is a tourist mecca for those wanting to visit the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. We will do that tomorrow. The downtown square is quite beautiful and has the two cathedrals sitting around the fountained square.

Lima, Peru

Lima, Peru (Roger speaking)
We arrived in Lima late Sunday (14 Nov) after dark. Driving in a city of 10 million people on a motorcycle after dark is challenging – following the leader (Gary was following) is even more challenging. We found a hotel after some thrashing about and contacted my brother-in-law’s (Jim) cousin, Tency. We made arrangements for her to stop by our hotel the next afternoon. She invited Gary and I to her house – she drove and we enjoyed hors d'oeuvres and met her mother Blanca (Jim’s mother, Becky and Blanca are sisters). Adding to the mix was Manuela (Blanca’s sister-in-law) and two of her grandchildren. Tency’s English was much better than our Spanish so she was able to hold the conversations together. Gary and I both enjoyed the repartee and Tency graciously returned us to our hotel.
A few comments about the flora of Peru. We found ourselves riding along the coast of Peru in a desert that apparently wicks a lot of moisture from the Pacific Ocean. A climate that approaches that of San Francisco (foggy and cool) permeates the entire coastal area. That said, we rode through the breadbasket of Peru. Irrigated fields of asparagus, artichokes, carrots, onions, potatoes, melons, cotton, sugar cane, cacti, corn and groves of olives trees and citrus fruits were all along the roadway.
The coastal area of Peru is sandy – even the mountains are sand. The mountains have developed a crust, and in combination with some forms of arid vegetation, reduces the amount of erosion but it’s still all sand. When the wind starts blowing, the sandstorms start. We rode hours in winds estimated at 30 – 40 knots and they kicked up a lot of sand.
So, the coastal road is a combination of irrigated, fruitful acreage interspersed with areas of shifting and blowing sand.

Images of Peru

In my initial impressions of Peru, I stated that trash is everywhere. This continues true, but the Peruvians have one quality that trumps all others. They are some of the friendliest people I have ever met. Almost everyone waves as we go by. They come over to talk with us when we are stopped and they are interested in our trip. They go out of their way to help us and are very accommodating to motorcyclist. The hotel in Trujillo allowed us to park the bikes in their resturant. They wave us to the heads of construction zones and allow us passage against oncoming traffic. The owner of the oil change shop - who had worked in Murfreesboro TN didn't want to charge us for using his facility. We tipped him accordingly.
In the south we claim the mantle of Southern Hospitality, but we could learn a lot about true hospitality from the Peruvians.
Other than the larger cities, all the riding has been through the desert with its varying landscapes. There have been high dunes, high cliffs looking the Pacific and blowing sand everywhere. At times yesterday we estimated the wind was approaching 50 mph and there was near brown out conditions. Yet the locals live and survive there in meager huts surrounded by cane woven windbreaks. At times we passed patches of various farm crops and chicken houses.
We arrived in the capital of Lima last night and intend to remain here another day to visit the city and to visit with Roger's brother-in-law's family who are Peruvian.
Lima is a large city and very metropolitian in the center. It looked like Times Square as we rode in looking for a hotel last night. Athough very modern and business like in the downtown area, it is surrounded slum areas of tiny shacks that are sprawled over the hillsides. I am sure we will have a better report after touring the city.
I want to leave you with a variety of images we have taken in Peru. The last two were taken in Ecuador with the cathedral being in Cuenca.