Feb 11, 2006
I rode here last night.
It is about 150 miles and took about 5 hours.
From Santiago the road goes straight up the Andes through a series ofcurves they call the Caracoles, and gets colder and colder as you climb. The surface is paved, but looks like they drive tanks up and down it on a daily basis. Chunks are missing, and it is full of large slow moving trucks and buses. The fact that they are climbing a steep hill, or descending, doesn´t seem to impede their passion to pass one another. At night it is difficult to see the holes, so it really works a suspension.
Once at the summit, there is a really long tunnel, then you are in Argentina, and because it was late and I am only here for the weekend, the customs agents decided to just let me go without doing the paperwork to import the bike, so I am running around without papers. About 50 miles outside of Uspallata, it started to rain. But the air is clear, you can see the mountains around the town, it and green, and the best hotel is setting me back about $35 a night. So life could be worse. I could be in Ohio awaiting the snowstorm.
No comments:
Post a Comment