reports of real adventure

[Bill]

Received via email..... ***************************************** Hello everyone: We are in SALTA, Argentina. We crossed the Andes mountains from Chile to Argentina a couple days ago. The pass that we took across the mountains got us up to almost 16000 feet with mounts even higher above us. The peaks were at 6800 kilometers. The 500 kilometer road was one of the most desolate places I ve been. We took along extra fuel as no towns or gas along the way. We made it fine. It was below freezing for about 3 hours in higher elevations but we were dressed for it. We saw two other vehicles during the 8-9 hour trip. Roads were almost all dirt(gravel). We met three other guys on motorcycles like ours who were heading the other way. We stood and talked at 14000 feet altitude, below freezing in 30 mph wind in different languages, but sort of "bonded" as we had similar interests. Neat. At the highest elevations we stopped at the Chile-Argentine border where I walked about 20 feet over to look at a sign. I had to stop and bend over to catch my breath as the air was so thin. I felt like I had run a marathon. The bikes are running fine with some power loss at the high elevations. Yesterday we rode through a 100 km canyon on nice paved road(route 40) through scenery that was absolutely fantastic. It was like the Copper Canyoon and Grand Canyon combined and minimal traffic. It was at about 5000 feet elevation. Rudi who is 70 and has traveled all his life said it was the most spectacular 100 km that he has ever ridden. Will spend two nights here in Salta, do some laundry etc and head for toward Bolivia tomorrow. Won t get into Bolivia until next day. Will keep you posted...... Adios! Arlen Aas Hutchinson Minnesota USA Traveling in South America