Author: Mike
2014: The Year That Was
Presenting my passport to the Ecuadorian border official raises a smile as he leafs through my passport and inspects my Peruvian exit stamp, the inedible red stamp reads “En Exceso de Permeanencia”. In many countries the implications of over staying your visa would result in you being banned from the country, deported or worse. Instead […]
Punta Olympica: Triple Heart Bypassing
The Peruvian rainy season provides us with ample rainy days to tick our way through Huaraz’s various restaurants, cafes, street markets, (plentiful) panaderias and of course sampling some exceedingly strong ale courteousy of the Sierra Andina brewery. Just as things start feeling a bit too comfortable to contemplate moving, blue skies and clear views of […]
Huancavellica to Huaraz: El Silencio Continuado
After 10 days relaxing in Huaraz the weather finally lifts to reveal stunning views of the surrounding Cordeillera Blanca. It seems Peru’s rainy season isn’t conducive to far reaching views. Cloud lingers low down in the valley as we are treated to a series of dull overcast days, and afternoon rain reimisicent of an English […]
Cusco to Huancavellica: Missing Links and El Silencio
After our riotous arrival in to Cusco following the Ausangate Traverse. We ritefully put our feet up in the historic capital of the Incan Empire. Internet fixes completed and sweet toothes sated Cass and I cook up an equally grand plan to take us north to the large town of Abancay. Navigating our way out […]
La Paz to Cusco: The Mountains
By Checacupe we finally branch off the rail trail linking Cusco and Juliaca. A veritable feast of narrow singletrack, railway sleepers and dirt roads. 200kms of riding, hefting bikes across rails and occasional buskwhacking our way across fields. Leaving the towns main plaza we branch off toward Pitamarca and the Ausangate valley, home to the […]
La Paz to Cusco: Riding the Rails
What do you do when you become the new owner of a fat bike? You ride tarmac. Perhaps there was a certain amount of inneudo intended when Cass thrusts a 7 percent beer named “Judas” in to my hand the night before we are due to leave La Paz. Whichever way it makes for another […]
Bolivian Backlog: The Road to La Paz
After abruptly jerking you forward, I am once again hitting rewind with the next installment in the Bolivian Backlog that sees us deposited in Bolivia’s capital; La Paz. As with much of our travels in Bolivia it has rarely been in a straight line, jaggedly weaving our way across the Bolivian Antiplano. Leaving the Salars […]
Machu Picchu
For the moment at least I am fast forwarding you through my journey from the Bolivian Antiplano and onward to the Peruvian Andes. Leaving Cass behind at the road head in the Peruvian town of Tinqui, 130 kilometers outside Cusco I take a bus in to the historic capital of the Incan Empire to meet […]
Bolivian Backlog:¡Salar Espectacular!
As the dirt road peters out, the crunch beneath our tyres signals our entry in to the Salar De Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat. A vast white expanse of nothingness, measuring over 12,106 sq km. Under the dazzling light our eyes begin to adjust. Stopping for a moment we gaze ahead, the scale difficult […]
Bolivian Backlog: ¡Viva Bolivia!
Over a month ago our adventures took us deep in to the Bolivian Antiplano, a land of fluffy Llamas, dramatic landscapes and non existent internet. Here is the first of my attempts to bring you up to date as I currently head north toward the Peruvian border and in to the Corderilla Real. The tally […]
The Lagunas Route
Another year older, another year wiser; at least so the saying goes. As we say goodbye to our adopted home of San Pedro De Atacama, we begin the long ramp like climb from the Atacama Desert toward the lofty heights of the Bolivian Antiplano. Heads gently thumping, as the midday sun beats down on us […]
Adventures in San Pedro De Atacama
Arriving in San Pedro De Atacama on my birthday should have been the thinly veiled excuse Cass and I needed to go out and party after weeks spent on the road. Instead uncharacteristically I want nothing more than an early night and something to soothe a cough and cold picked up over the previous weeks […]