Obviously, we have a bit of catching up to do.
To be honest we gave Chi
le 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.
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 witness
ed 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.
ed 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.
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.
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