La Paz - Cuzco. 10/06 - 20/06 : Welcome to Peru...

First day out of La Paz, and its an evening by lake Titicaca.

We had heard that the road to Cuzco was busy, but it was a surprise to be playing chicken with buses!

Dinner also had surprise chicken...

5000km

And it´s not just our legs that are worn out.

The scenary was getting nicer and the roads quieter... We had heard rumours of road blocks, but a scattering of rocks and glass was not going to stop us!

An angry mob however is a different matter.

After 80km of road blocks we eventually reached Urcos, and a surprise party. The next day to Cuzco was hard work!

San Pedro De Atacama to Uyuni. 8/05 - 17/05 : Mission

A change of plan... We were given a map and some GPS readings for a good route into Bolivia. Shame we don´t have GPS.















So back up the Paso de Jama... the easy way!













We had no idea what would be in store for us but we didn´t expect wind like this!

Nights were cold (-20C) and the roads seriously bad

Sometimes so bad, even the bikes went on strike!











There were some impressive sights











But pushing your bike 10km uphill can really piss you off!













Sometimes you wish you were travelling like everyone else

Until you get to places like this

Our map was not the best, so we were lucky there were signs to help

After 8 days of cycling on sand we eventually made the Salar de Uyuni. Time to work on the tans.

And a good opportunity to meet typical Bolivian women

550km later; Uyuni. Who needs GPS?!

Salta to San Pedro de Atacama. 24/04 - 3/05 : Cycling higher than Mont Blanc

The riding from Salta to Jujuy was amazing but unfortunately cloudy. Jujuy is not the nicest city, but at least the poor weather reminded us of home.

Jujuy to Pumamacra was surprisingly tough until we realised we´d climbed 1200m (the Andes are big!). John had even taken to map reading as an excuse to rest.

This was the big one! 1800m of ascent in 37km. 34km and over 4000m high, Will was feeling it!

Back down to 3600m and our first salt flat. Pretty impressive!

Halfway and guess what. Yes. This should not be Berry and Bradwell cycling around South America, but Berry and Bradwell sh*tting around South America.

A couple of days later and 4000m passes are lunch breaks.

The riding was not that inspiring so John found some ass to chat up. He was doing well until he took his hat off.

Goodbye Argentina. Hello Chile. The scenary can be unbelieveable. One minute barren mountains, next vivid salt lagoons.

We are now camping at over 4500m and nights are cold (-15C).

This was it. Over 550km cycling, five 4000m passes (two at over 4800), salt flats, sickness, freezing nights, finally we are here. 35km and 2200m below: San Pedro de Atacama.

Half an hour later we are there. Yes over 70kmh for half an hour! Strangely there are no photos. Was it worth it? Of course! We are going back up it in a couple of days.

Paso de Jama. Done.

Tucuman to Salta. 11/04 - 21/04 : A 4 day trip that turned into 10

A pretty crazy tour, but it was good to be back on the road!

It started with cycling 1500m up through rain forest, in swealtering heat. Lukily there were some waterfalls to cool off in. Some even came with thier own buff man...

The following day was another 1000m climb, but this time it looked more like Scotland.

The next day and downhill through a candelabra cactus forest. Some over 8m tall.

Day 4 and we were in wine country. Free tasting and 2 quid a bottle. You just have to be served by ex cons...








Day 5 and we still had some wine left,

to fuel us on our ride through some amazing valleys.

Day 6 and sand. F**K sand.

There is only one way, well two ways to get through cycling like that. Coca and cake.

Day 8 and the 2000 mile mark.

Even the locals dress up for the occasion

Day 9 Salta, only 157km, including a 50km climb to 3348 easy! Well maybe not. We managed the 50km of climbing, but not the 157km.

So, day 10. 6 days late, 200km and 4000m of ascent more than expected and we reached Salta. We are happy about it honest!

Valpo to Mendoza. 28/03 - 05/04 : 29 Hairpins

Back on the bikes and guess what... back to breakages













and bugs, no not funky ones from MIB, but D&V again!!













We cycled to Hurcon, which was meant to be a hippy haven (we should have been more wary of hippies after El Bolson!).













Luckily we bumped into a very kind chap who let us camp in his garden with views of the Pacific Ocean

The next day we made it a massive 1.5 miles to a junction where we collapsed in a wood for 24 hours of sh*tting and puking!

As a result the next 110km to Los Andes took longer than anticipated but we enjoyed the luxury breaks.

From Los Andes it is 70km to the Argentinian border, climbing to over 3180m via a series of 29 hairpins.

Hard going, unless you are super fit cyclists like us...
















It is then downhill for 70km to Uspallata, almost no pedalling. Awesome! On the way down we were caught by Amy, another cyclist (we had stopped to take photos!!).














From Uspallata it was unbelievably another 50km downhill before a short uphill where Amy was hit, by a van! She seemed ok, but got a lift to hospital, so we continued to Mendoza. 130km in a day and a well earned beer