Over the Andes into Chile

Having thought my head was going to explode due to the altitude when I went to see the Dakar we decided to do the ride over the Andes in 2 days to allow time to acclimatise. The road was stunning and remote and made us appreciate riding a motorcycle. Reaching the proposed campsite I felt fine though a little light headed so the decision was made to press on. I put my lack of altitude sickness symptoms down to the local remedy of chewing coca leaves. Tasted horrible, turned my lips green but it worked.

The road was stunning though if you were an overloaded lorry it was perilous.

Our planned fuel stop was found after much searching amongst some mud huts

but the owner was at lunch and since we had sufficient to reach the next stop we decided to carry on.

As we descended into San Pedro we found ourselves firstly in a bizarre and then a potentially dangerous but mind blowing situation. We were above the volcano ahead of us that was covered in snow but strangely we were snow free. Odd that somewhere lower than us was apparently colder. I seem to remember something about temperature inversions or something from meteorology classes. We descended a little lower and were dismayed to see the road turning towards a huge thunderstorm. Getting wet was not a favoured option. So into the storm we rode. The lightening was striking the ground all around us. Probably a strike every 3 or 4 seconds. It was stunning. Where each bolt touched down it produced a huge cloud of steam. I do not suppose that a bolt came closer than 300 metres but I was expecting to feel the hairs to stand up on the back of my neck which apparently indicates that you have been targeted. I kept checking my mirrors half expecting to see Des's bike coming up behind me being ridden by his charred remains. I was trying to decide whether I could survive a direct strike and then survive the inevitable crash. Fortunately we came through it OK and arrived in San Pedro cleared Chilean customs and found a good and cheap, for San Pedro, hostel. Today was easily the best day of the trip so far.