It's All Part Of The Adventure

Guillermo

Isabel and Johan

January 17, 2010
Sunday

I’ve been replaying the events of the past few days in my head, and thinking that as bad as things could have been, I couldn’t have been rescued by nicer people. First off, I met Guillermo Troncoso who rescued me from the Desert, drove me and my bike all the back to San Pedro De Atacama. He then took the time to find me a way to get me back to Santiago using all his connection. He found a friend of his, Johan Schulin, who happened to be heading to Santiago tomorrow and was willing to take me and all my baggage along. Johan drove all the way from Calama to San Pedro De Atacama, a two hour round trip, on Saturday to pick me up and take me to a hotel in Calama, and we will be leaving Calama in the morning heading to Santiago. A 1000 mile trip. This afternoon, Johan invited me to his house for coffee and Empanadas, and to meet Isabel. Empanadas are a very Chilean food, like a turnover filled with ground beef with spices, an olive, a piece of egg (I take that out first thing!!) and raisins, Baked in the oven. Very good!
I could have done without getting so up close and personal with the Desert, but I have met some of the nicest, kindest people ever, due to this event. I now have two new friends in Chile. It’s all part of the adventure!

Desert Rescue On The Bolivian Border

The scene,.....can you guess where the bike landed?

My savior, Guillermo

His helpers

Success

January 16, 2010
Saturday

I just found a way to get the pictures off my iPhone without having to “Sync” the phone, so I thought I would share these with you since my Nikon camera is out of order for the moment and the iPhone is the best I can do.

Change Of Plans

January 16, 2010
Saturday
Slight change of plans! Guillermo, who was the guy that rescued me from the Desert, made a bunch of phone calls and found a friend of his that is going to Santiago on Monday, so he arranged for me to ride with him as well as the bike, for a price of course. But it’s the best thing that has happened in this whole disaster. I also looked the bike over and found that I could fix the two directional’s and all I will need are the lenses. Also, I spoke with the BMW dealer in Santiago, and they have the valve cover in stock. So this might not take as long to fix as I thought.
I will be in the hotel in Calama until Monday morning, because tomorrow is Presidential Elections day here in Chile, and it is compulsory that everyone vote.

San Pedro De Atacama

January 15, 2010
Friday

I made it to San Pedro De Atacama this morning, and found myself a place to stay for the night because they told me in town that it gets filled up in a hurry in the afternoon. Once I was settled, I decided to take a ride to the Geysers of Tatio about 53 miles away in the Chilean Altiplano. It was a nice ride at first as the road was a hard packed oiled surface. The farther into the Desert I went, the road became a typical Chilean dirt road, something I have ridden many miles on. About 50 miles into the trip, I suddenly encountered a deep section of sand on the road that caught me by surprise. The bike suddenly began to swerve to one side, then the other, and it was then I realized there was no saving this. The bike was going down, and since I was headed in the same direction, I followed close behind. Once the cloud of dust settled, I could see….this wasn’t good! Right away I saw oil spilling from under the bike. There’s only one place for that to come from, so I shut it down quickly. As I stood the bike up, I could see a substantial hole in the right side cover of the valves. It was at this time that the possibility of being stuck out here in the Atacama Desert for quite a while became evident. I took stock of my physical condition, and found no broken bones, although I had taken a pretty hard hit. I looked back in the direction I had come, and saw a debris field the likes of the Titanic. One of my saddle bags was ripped off the side of the bike, as well as both directionals on the right side. As I looked back, to my horror, I saw my expensive Nikon camera lying in the sand in the middle of the road. As I picked it up I could see that the lens had pulled away from the camera body. The end of that lens. Well, to make a long story short, after composing myself, I took out my S.P.O.T. Emergency Locator Beacon that I carried for this very possibility, and hit the 911 button to summon help. The cell phone was of absolutely no use out here, and since S.P.O.T. relies on satellite communication, it was my only hope. Last year in the Dakar Rally that ran thru Chile and Argentina, one of the competitors died in a very similar incident. He spent a few days in this very same desert, and didn’t make it.
By a stroke of luck, after being stranded in the Desert for about four hours, a pickup truck came by. I explained to the gentleman what had transpired, and right away he said “We’re going to load the bike in the truck”. Guillermo, as I later found out owns the same kind of bike, and was on vacation with his family. Well, they all got out and proceeded to unload the back of the truck to make room for the bike. After a lot of work, we managed to load the bike, and headed back to San Pedro De Atacama. On the way, we encountered the police that where responding to the message sent by satellite to the emergency center in the USA. The Emergency Center contacted authorities here in San Pedro and the police responded.
Today Guillermo is going to take me to Calama, the nearest city, to try and rent a pickup truck to take the bike back to Santiago for repairs.

Off To Calama

Mano Del Desierto

Sea Lions on the Pacific

January 14, 2010
Thursday

I had a great deal of time to think as I rode thru the desert today, and one irony came to mind. How can the driest desert on Earth be right next to the largest body of water on Earth? I do know the answer to this one! While driving north along the coast there was abundant evidence that the Pacific Ocean isn’t always pacific. In at least two places there was evidence of the mighty Pacific coming a quarter mile inland to claim a piece of the Pan-American Highway. I’d love to see that storm! Took the road right out!
How do you say Jack Ass in Spanish? This morning, as I prepared to leave the place I stayed at last night, I found my motorcycle blocked in by a car. I mean this guy left me no way to get my bike out, at all! It was nearly nine in the morning, so I went and knocked on the door of the cabin to which the vehicle belonged, and an older guy answered the door. I explained, very nicely, that his vehicle was blocking my bike and I had no way to get it out, to which he proceeded to bitch me out for waking him at that hour of the day, and then told me he was going back to bed and I would get out when he was ready. Oh boy! If you know anything about me, you know that ain’t gonna fly! I didn’t take him seriously so I waited for him to come move his car. Five minutes…Ten minutes. OK times up! I wound up having to get someone from the office to wake Sleeping Beauty up so he’d move his damn car. He finally did! I guess some people around here must get up at the crack of noon! What a Jack Ass!
The rest of the day was a long ride across the desert. I did stop at a few interesting places along the way. You can see them in the Photo Gallery. One thing I can say is, I have see all the dirt and rocks I want to see for quite a while. I’m hoping the next day or two will be a bit more picturesque. We’ll see!

In The Atacama

January 13, 2010
Wednesday

I left Valle Del Elqui early yesterday morning and headed north into the heart of the Atacama Desert, leaving just about anything green behind. This is an interesting landscape of what appears to be only two kinds of vegetation, some kind of a scrubby bush, and Cacti. Nothing else! As I rode farther north into the Atacama there was nothing growing, and I had to laugh as I passed a sign that had a Deer crossing symbol on it. The Deer down here must be pretty tough, because the only two things to eat in this area are rocks and dirt!
I reached Bahia Inglesa (English Bay) late in the day. From all I have heard about Bahia Inglesa, it’s big with the tourists, especially the ones from Argentina. Bahia Inglesa is right on the Pacific Ocean and it has a beautiful crescent shaped beech. This is where I stopped for the night. This morning I will push on northward toward Antofagasta, not knowing where I’ll end up.

Off To The Desert

Valle Del Elqui


Dakar rider waves to me as he passes by

Tuesday January 12, 2010
10:00am

As I headed north out of Santiago this morning, it was a beautiful clear day with not a cloud in the sky. As I expected, it wasn’t all that easy to find Route 5 North, the PanAmerican Highway. I could see it on my GPS, and I watched as the bike passed over it, but you think they might put up a sign telling you how to get to it, NO. I stopped to ask a taxi driver, and he told me it was possible, his hand flew in all directions as he explained how to get on to Rt. 5. Anyways, I kinda got the general idea of how to find it, and after a little dead reckoning, there I was, heading north on Ruta 5 Norte. Piece of cake from here! Just stay on Ruta 5.
About an hour out of Santiago, I noticed hundreds people lined up all along the road side, honking their car horns, and waving Chilean flags and waving at me. People gathered on all the pedestrian overpasses. I thought to myself, how did they know I was going to be passing this way? They were so exited and enthusiastic. So being the nice guy that I am, I waved back. It was then that I realized, you idiot, they’re waving at the Dakar Rally participants. How did I know? I was on a motorcycle, many of the Dakar drivers were also on motorcycle…it’s all good!
Anyhow, I drove farther north for a while, then found a place where I could pull off the road and get some good pictures as the Dakar Rally passed by. There were motorcycles, 4X4’s, massive support trucks and even 4 wheeler ATV’s competing. Quite a sight! Something you don’t see every day.
My aim was to get to "Valle Del Elqui", near the city of La Serena, Chile. I had been to La Serena a few years ago, with my Aunt Eliana. She invited me to spend about a week at a beach side resort in La Serena, but for some reason, I thought it only took us about four or five hours to get here that time. Even though I stopped only for gas a couple of times and once to get a sandwich, it took me a good seven hours to get here! Guess I thought it was closer.
Once in the city of La Serena, I headed east, into the Andes Mountains following the Valle Del Elqui (Elqui Valley) incase you hadn’t figured that one out. As I drove farther into the valley, I came across a large reservoir called "Embalse Puclaro" (Embalse means reservoir) this looked like a nice place to stop and take a picture. Continuing on, I noticed it was now passed six in the afternoon, and I thought to myself, I might want to start looking for a place to stay for the night if I didn’t want to pitch a tent. The town of Pisco Elqui was about seven miles away, and I had read that it was an interesting town to explore. So, I’m in Pisco Elqui at a nice little cabin for the night. Tomorrow I will explore the Valley a bit more before heading farther north.
On another note, I was thinking, as the day drew late and I rode farther and farther into the ruggedness of the Andes Mountains, this is a strange feeling riding a motorcycle alone in some pretty remote parts of South America, not knowing where or if I would find a place to stay for the night. It kind of puts the sense of Adventure Riding into perspective. Sorta puts the “Adventure” in Adventure Riding!