Chile ? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Chile ?

MacDoc

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We are part way through a long planned 5 weeks in Chile by car and have seen a reasonable number of distance touring riders

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Some more photos here.


Couple of caveats. Altitude sickness is a thing ....this was taken at the geyser fields at 14,000' and I really felt it.
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That's limit for flying without oxygen and even San Pedro de Atacama where we are staying ( the rider with the volcano behind him) is at 8,000' and that altitude can cause symptoms.....not a good mix with riding. You can acclimatise )

The other issues ...in the north ( of Santiago ) it's long distances with very little to see..reallllllly lifeless stoney desert ..tho the side valleys are pretty ...Elqi Valley notably.

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Main roads are very good and well signed with speed limits to 120 kph. Fuel costs about the same but you need to fill up given the distances.

If planning I'd say south of Santiago is where to concentrate. Patagonia is flat out spectacular which is where we are going next ( by plane then small ship ) but driving there is a tough go with border crossings, iffy roads and ferries but then that might just be the ticket for the adventurous rider.

 
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14,000 can be really dangerous if you get there in a hurry
I've walked to 20,000 but we did that over 4 days
still felt absolutely knackered trying to move at all

keep sharing pics MD, beautiful
 
Thanks ....I've flown the sailplane to 14k briefly but younger and fitter and was too stoked anyways setting a personal climb record.

Today at 14k it was an effort to get out of the car to take photos. Found big deep breaths helped.

Makes one appreciate Sherpas etc :coffee:
 
Thanks ....last day at height - 350 shots to go through and an altitude headache but some new birds and
had another good day with both of us shooting ..
Just could not get the angle on this but worth it in the end ....to get vicuna and mountain....Was right in between lenses. Outcome worth while

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Scampering home only halfway done but expedition ship and accommodation and car rental in the south have been good about cancelling

Trying to get home and we are high in the Andes with a good case of altitude sickness in Putre Chile which will persist until tomorrow when we get back down to coast. Jude doing better but still affected.

Spent days/hours trying to cancel and reschedule cars, hotels, flights and our Australis cruise on marginal internet.
We were at 8,000’ in San Pedro de Atacama and I felt it when we went to 14,000 a couple of times to the geyser fields.But staying at 11,500 at Putre and going to 15,500 today to Lago Chungara has laid me out,..can’t catch my breath completely so hard to sleep. Impossible to concentrate but worth it
We were at 15,500 and nearly at permanent snowline so you can imagine how high this monster is on the border between Chile and Bolivia and Peru

3878C890-45EC-48AA-A96F-C89FE069CC68.jpeg

Llamas all over - clearly bred for different coats

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and road hazard vicunas - note the skid marks

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and some neat rabbit analogs we cannot pronounce


Not much in the way of bird pictures but big scores in sightings

cutie flitted across - oriole look BLACK-HOODED SIERRA-FINCH

Andean Condor quite near but could not stop to get a shot - that was on the bucket list - big buggers

Image result for condors in chile
Image result for condors in chile

Darwin’s Rheas - big flightless birds - up real close but they are crazy fast and gorgeous - picture does not do them justice and rarely seen with the wings out …

They were running - one crossed the road startling us and the other put the air brakes out and circled right
Not my photos

Image result for chilean rheas running wings outImage result for chilean rheas running wings out

img

Long drive ( only 60 km which google turned into 160 ) with tons of border crossing trucks and crazy potholes and hills the car and trucks could barely climb.

So that’s likely it for the more spectacular aspects of Chile.

We will come back to do the southern half and the Australis expedition cruise hopefully next year

Now for the 2,000 km trek back down the coast …..mostly moonscape/marscape ….there is not even road kill

2D2FE01C-CE21-424A-8068-40A730ECAFA7.tiff


….to get to the airport and home on the 24th straight into self isolation and a strange new world to deal with

See you at the Forks in a few weeks ....have to self isolate for two weeks
 
Someone from a cruise ship posted they are stranded and can't leave the ship due to COVID. No one on the ship is sick or has symptoms but cruise ships are a no-no until September. The ship has been offshore for 15 days. May have to evacuate via the Falklands
 
Someone from a cruise ship posted they are stranded and can't leave the ship due to COVID. No one on the ship is sick or has symptoms but cruise ships are a no-no until September. The ship has been offshore for 15 days. May have to evacuate via the Falklands
I imagine the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands will be real happy to see that ship come into port :unsure:
"No one on the ship is sick or has symptoms" good, how many are just mildly infected?
 
I imagine the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands will be real happy to see that ship come into port :unsure:
"No one on the ship is sick or has symptoms" good, how many are just mildly infected?

The ship's been isolated for 15 days and will have a few more days at sea to get to the Falklands. Where do you draw the line?

Do you get mail?

Who coughed on the envelope?

Who coughed on the person that handled the envelope?

Did the envelope touch another envelope that had been touched by someone who had been coughed on?
 
Stunning pictures.
Must be an awesome trip

Too bad you have to cut the trip short
But I guess you get to relive parts of it again next year.
 
Our suppliers for second half of the trip have been superb including the $5k each US expedition ship and we think we can do the second half at very low cost comparatively on Sept 21st this year which will be southern spring. The boat will be prepaid and easy to recreate where we stay in Torres del Paine

Still a bit of work to recover costs but not a lot. We actually will complete the first half of the trip - the northern half with all our reservations we made and a couple extra nights holed up at the Airport Holiday Inn - 100m walk to the check in counter.

of course we still have to clear Pearson :eek:
 
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Scrambling home to beat the flight cut offs at end of March and thought photo ops not so likely but hotel looked over the ocean and rafts of seabirds were about that I could not identify easily by eye. So grabbed the long lens ....lighting was excellent as sun setting - very pleased with outcome. 10 minutes later not a bird to be seen.


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Thanks - official cut off is the 28th - I'm leaving Chile the 23rd arriving 24th red eye
Might change to one day earlier. Liked the way the sun came through his pouch. Very long range for the Leica 100-400 ( 800mm equiv )
pelica2 copy.jpeg
 
The ship's been isolated for 15 days and will have a few more days at sea to get to the Falklands. Where do you draw the line?

Do you get mail?

Who coughed on the envelope?

Who coughed on the person that handled the envelope?

Did the envelope touch another envelope that had been touched by someone who had been coughed on?
No, no mail delivery here.
lol How did you come up with a coughed on envelope, from a cruise ship landing with a couple thousand people on it!
They probably just doubled the islands population.
 

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