4,836, or, Cycling over the Andes via the Paso de Jama
In any bike tour of South America, the Andes loom large. Every rider needs to decide whether to cross the cordillera; and, if so, where, when, how and how often. Some riders choose to avoid the issue, sticking on one side or crossing by bus. Others stay within the mountains as much as possible. Most...
Scenes in America Deserta
The vineyards, tobacco fields and smallholdings that flourish in the lee of the Andes from Mendoza north to the Bolivian border are anomalies. Most draw their water from glacier melt and mountain streams, some funnelled into channels originally excavated by the Incas, at the southern extreme of their domain. The sound of these fast-flowing culverts,...
Parish notices, January 2014
Followers of this blog may have noticed our occasional posts about other touring cyclists we’ve met during the course of this trip. We’re hoping to photograph and write something about every cicloturista we encounter, a small attempt at documenting the variety of two-wheeled touring traffic that’s constantly on the move throughout the Americas. We’ve now...
Sparrows, snails and the dizzy heights
It is a truth universally acknowledged that in every major city around the world, you’re never more than three wrong turns from encountering a troupe of brightly clothed street musicians playing ‘El Cóndor Pasa‘ on the pan-pipes. This is as much a hazard in Chicago as it is in Covent Garden, as problematic in Paris...
Month 6
10 December 2013 – 9 January 2014 Countries Argentina & Chile (total 5) Distance 1,450.04km (total 6,565.62km) Climb 7,677m (total 40,675m) Longest day 123.95km, Chilecito to Salicas in Argentina (longest so far: 142.26km) Top speed 60.6kmh (fastest so far: 62kmh) Punctures 4 (total 15; Will leads 11-4) Falls 1 (Will, who came a cropper in...
Here’s that rainy day
After threatening for a few days, the thick clouds above the tourist honeypot of Cafayate broke on the second night of the year, soaking a town that spends much of January braced for the worst. Both the main roads north from Cafayate run through valleys; when heavy rain hits the hills and mountains on either...
Snaps – December 2013
Allow us to ease you gently into the new year with our monthly selection of clumsy holiday snaps and mirthless captions. For past months, click here, and click here to visit our Flickr page (which we’ll be updating just as soon as we get a decent Wi-Fi connection). Gaby said hello to us on...