Last day in Chile.

January 13, 2011

Rode from Antofagasto to Arica, 750kms on Ruta 5 through the desert.  Stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn and took pictures to how that we were there. 

Temperature was almost perfect 20º- 24ºc, light winds, but in the deserts, there was a garden of dirt-devils spinning all over the desert floors. Pretty cool. Arrived in Arica and stayed in the same hotel as 3 months ago. Went for a walk and past a printer, guess what,, they were printing Dakar Memorabilia. Go figure. Spent our final Chilean pesos at our printer friends. They gave us a great deal and did great work. Tomorrow, border crossing day. Again, we are going to the first border we crossed. Oh boy!

January 12, 2011

Superslab stopped back at La Serena and highway continued up to Antofagasto, the turning point for the 2011 Dakar Race. Looked for Dakar t-shirts and patches, but were informed that the Dakar tour comes in with memorabilia and leaves with it. They left the town 2 days ago and we can not get any patches hats, t-shirts, nothing, nada, zilch. I guess we are out of luck. Too bad, they down get our money.

January 11, 2011

Superslab riding all day from Los Villos to Calderra. We stayed here the second night of our trip. Same hotel and now again. Went for dinner and ordered local beer, they had none. Didn't have hamburgers and ordered chicken. It was almost cold,  turned it back 3 times. Not impressed..

Day of the Redentor!

January 10, 2011

Rode to the Redentor Pass and it did not disappoint. Wow, we rode up to the top and back down. Once each way. Perfectly blue sky, traffic was light and pavement pretty darn good. Not perfect though. A few dips in the corners, the odd pothole that added to the twisties. 29 switch-backs and we officially touched down on both pegs and side boxes. We both have scrapes on the bottom corners of both boxes to prove the leans.. Take a look at the video and visualize how far over we were leaning in the corners. It was bike riding heaven….. Watch Michael overtake a car on the outside of one of the corners. He was able to see 3 switch-backs ahead so he was able to pass carefully, HaHa.. Then back to the Superslab to Los Villos. At the ocean, temperatures plummeted and we had to put our electric jackets back on.

Michaels's Utube Video of the ride down

Paso Redentor

January 9, 2011

Lazy day, we planned to go up to the Derentor Pass linking Santiago with Mendoza, Argentina. Martina talked us out of it, saying that it would be busy on a summer holiday Sunday. We did laundry, Michael updated his blog and we sat around and chatted with Adam from Israel and Guido from Germany. They are just starting there ride in South America, still waiting for Adam's Bike to arrive. We arranged to have  a bbq together with them so Michael and I picked up steaks and they picked up  the trimmings. Great dinner!

January 8, 2011

We chose a nice windy road out of Dichato and Tome' for the morning ride. Lots of fun. Then back to Superslab on Ruta 5, Toll Highway. Got to Villekunterbunt at 5pm as arranged. Nice to see Martina and Enzo again. Went to dinner at the cafe we frequented the first time there. It is 3 months to the day that we left and are back.

 Parking your donkey in Valparaiso