San Pedro

Hi,
I pulled into San pedro (Chile) after dark today. The ride from Uyuni through the high remote south west corner was nothing short of completly epic! It was the hardest tour ride I´ve ever done. Got good practiced dodging lightning, acting like a windsock and carrying enough water for days. The 4x4 tracks I was following were so rough I could only go 4-5 mph the whole time. Usually between 14,000 and 16,000´´ 30 miles was a full day. So much to tell, it was amazing and amazingly hard. Knees held up for the most part!

To finish yesterday I pulled into Laguna Verde and pushed up to this old track and camped at 15,000´below Volcan Llicanbur, got up at 3am this morning(jeeze its been a long day!) was very cold starting out, nights in the teens & 20´s and I had a hard time keeping my feet warm in running shoes, but once the sun came out it was all better, I made it all the way up. 19,500´ in trail runners! big rocky scrambling slog. Made it back down by noon, and was back in my tent resting a bit, when the craving for real food after a week out kicked in and I decided to head to san pedro.

Mistake! I thouht it was all downhill, but leaving L. Verde I had 3 hrs of climbing and a hellacous headwind back up to 16,000´ I was spent and my legs were toast after a week of hard riding AND the peak! finally made it to Chile and a nice paved road which dropped 7,000´in 25 miles into the desert. Again had hell cross winds on this never ending flat section coming into san pedro. Cant believe I´m still awake...Ok, will write more tomorrow. I´m so happy I pulled this section off, its what I had been thinking off ever since I wanted to come here years ago. time for more food.

love, Eric