The Honeymoon is Over

2 weeks in and just over 400 miles under our belts - the honeymoon period of the first few days of gentle sunshine and tarmac is over, now the challenge has started.

Our first day on dirt roads was incredibly hot,
nificant sections where the road was just soft deep sand.  The occasional breeze and draft from the occasional car was fantastic relief from the heat - if only it came a little more often!

Day 2 on the dirt - a lesson in being careful what you wish for!  At 11am we stopped to make lunch, half way through the wind got up - ruining our lunch! - that´s sand not pepper!

A sandstorm ensued for the rest of the day - at times turning the sky dark and red with dust.  It was incredibly difficult to keep our eyes open, let alone cycle!

The challenge continued for the next few days as we climbed to what is likely the high point of the trip at 4895m.  Again the road got thick with soft sand, making our heavily laden bikes impossible to ride, at times taking both of us to wheel each bike in turn.  The irony of having over 20kg of water between us, while struggling to drag our bikes through crystal clear, knee deep rivers was at times testing to morale!

The road was steep and progress was very slow, so we ended up camping high for 2 nights in a row - so had to live off cookies as the stove would not burn in the thin air.  We were saved by 3 wonderful dutch people, who gave us hot drinks, and spent hours fixing Catriona´s front wheel that was falling apart - we wouldnt have made it under our own steam without them.

The elation of reaching the pass was amazing, although savoured briefly, as we descended to try to cure Catriona´s headache and severe nausea.

After a much needed rest day in San Antonio de los Cobres - we´ve renamed it hell on earth; it was impossible to get food, internet access or cash from the 1 cash point in the town.  We were stranded for 2 days awaiting the arrival of the bank truck to refill the cashpoint, which never came.  Eventually we resorted to begging a tourist to exchange our emergency dollars.  It would have been better to be stranded on the mountain.

We´ve now headed north and west across the atacama desert.  a desolae but beautiful place, with massive salt lakes, and snow capped mountains in the distance.  Unfortunately cycing into a headwind for the past 3 days has been extremely testing - taking all day to cover just 25 miles.  When we arrived at the border post, we werent asked how long we wanted to stay in Chile, but did we want a room for the night!  We´d heard they would be very friendly here, and we have our own room, hot shower, stove all to ourselves for free - a welcome rest from the challenge of the desert!
Here´s the view from the border post: