Started out with great ride up the fake looking sand mountains.
once on top a lanscape I’ve never seen before. Very spark and dead..up to high for anything to grow I guess. …reddish color rounded craterish bluffs like imagination of what mars may be.
After awhile going higher it changed to a rugged rocky land and then superimposed yellow highland short grass area…altitude ranging from 14,000-15,500ft. 
Riding thru was great but gas was low and nothing around for 100+ miles. Found a little village and got a gallon of low octane 84 from a that a guy that used it in as his energy source. no choice we put a gallon in and went off.
Right away it was bogging down simons bike and causing it to die every 10 minutes or so…the altitude didn’t help im sure. 
After hour or so I stopped waiting for him in middle of nowhere near a shanty trucker stop store with one lady and child living there and what looked an old government semi-abandoned animal reserve ,1 person still caretaking (there are thousands of llama’s, alpaca and these small gazelle/deer like animals up here..1000’s everywhere.. so much free range wildlife and dodging them on the bike because the deerlikes blend into the yellow landscape) 
there was a store across from it that sold gas in milk carton gallons. They had 1gallon to sell. Siphoned out the little bit of bad gas and put the new gallon in.
ok back at it though it was getting dark. 5 miles down the road and my bike is going out of gas. Shite what now? Go on into nothingness getting dark and no towns for 100 miles or go back see if we can get more gas or stay somewhere. (at this point wishing I hadn’t dumped my tent) 
Go back…. Get there and no more gas but some in the morning…you can stay at the reserve. Ok great thankful. Go into the reserve to find its actually Norman Bates residence. 
Scary pitch black middle of nowhere peru 15000 ft up on lonely night trucker route and the guy who opened the place for us took off for nazca 2hrs away after letting us in.
I mean pitch black no electricity no light anywhere around except head flashlight and reflections of semi lights on the road. “what was that? Did you hear that” spooked ourselves stupid. Walked around to check perimeter making sure no one there….then a clunk noise right by my head…holy shite, m’ f’er!.... Heart stopped simon looked in panic…damn bat bouncing off an awning. Ok ok this is ridiculous lets go sleep.
Ya right maybe an hour or two…couldn’t shake the spook.
All good though…got the gas in a.m. and back on the road…thankful but had biggest ‘what the hell am I doing?’ feeling of the trip
cold up here....had to bust out the deliverance warm riding bibs
once on top a lanscape I’ve never seen before. Very spark and dead..up to high for anything to grow I guess. …reddish color rounded craterish bluffs like imagination of what mars may be. After awhile going higher it changed to a rugged rocky land and then superimposed yellow highland short grass area…altitude ranging from 14,000-15,500ft. Riding thru was great but gas was low and nothing around for 100+ miles. Found a little village and got a gallon of low octane 84 from a that a guy that used it in as his energy source. no choice we put a gallon in and went off. Right away it was bogging down simons bike and causing it to die every 10 minutes or so…the altitude didn’t help im sure. After hour or so I stopped waiting for him in middle of nowhere near a shanty trucker stop store with one lady and child living there and what looked an old government semi-abandoned animal reserve ,1 person still caretaking (there are thousands of llama’s, alpaca and these small gazelle/deer like animals up here..1000’s everywhere.. so much free range wildlife and dodging them on the bike because the deerlikes blend into the yellow landscape) there was a store across from it that sold gas in milk carton gallons. They had 1gallon to sell. Siphoned out the little bit of bad gas and put the new gallon in. ok back at it though it was getting dark. 5 miles down the road and my bike is going out of gas. Shite what now? Go on into nothingness getting dark and no towns for 100 miles or go back see if we can get more gas or stay somewhere. (at this point wishing I hadn’t dumped my tent) Go back…. Get there and no more gas but some in the morning…you can stay at the reserve. Ok great thankful. Go into the reserve to find its actually Norman Bates residence. Scary pitch black middle of nowhere peru 15000 ft up on lonely night trucker route and the guy who opened the place for us took off for nazca 2hrs away after letting us in.I mean pitch black no electricity no light anywhere around except head flashlight and reflections of semi lights on the road. “what was that? Did you hear that” spooked ourselves stupid. Walked around to check perimeter making sure no one there….then a clunk noise right by my head…holy shite, m’ f’er!.... Heart stopped simon looked in panic…damn bat bouncing off an awning. Ok ok this is ridiculous lets go sleep.
Ya right maybe an hour or two…couldn’t shake the spook.
All good though…got the gas in a.m. and back on the road…thankful but had biggest ‘what the hell am I doing?’ feeling of the trip
cold up here....had to bust out the deliverance warm riding bibs 
4 comments:
Just had our first real snow up here, I'm sure you really miss it. Looked you up on a map, looks like one more border crossing, and then lots and lots of mountain riding.
Shane
hey shane
nice to hear from you...
ran into some slush-snow myself yesterday but not like midwest im sure...gonna cross to bolivia then chile and split chile/argentina down. bolivias the brute they say
Hey Mike! Love the bibs! You be careful out there. Again, your photos are amazing - can't imagine what it's like to be there in the flesh. Getting colder here - you stay warm and safe down there!
Leslie
thanks leslie. hey what was that area with the migrations you went to in chile..penguins?
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