Quito, Ecuador via Peru to Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia, a little cycle, simple. Except, we have no support vehicle, we have to carry all our equipment on the bikes, there is the small issue of the Andes in the way, the majority of the route is at an altitude of 3000m + with passes over 4500m, temperatures below -15, wild rabid dogs, living off only guinea pigs, 3 day stints without water or food, off-road, waist deep rivers, no nail polish for Amanda and only 3 weeks to plan due to Will's inability to decide on which adventure would be 'challenging enough'. If you would like to support us, please visit the fundraising page on this blog. We are supporting a fantastic charity called SOS childrens villages which helps children all over the world to be brought up in a family environment which we have been lucky enough to take for granted.







Monday, May 17, 2010

Houston, we have lift-off, or rather Houston, we have a problem!

Classic bike touring error #1 - Not realising you should deflate tyres on bikes before sending them on a plane
Classic traveller error #1 - Not realising we would have to clear customs in transit through Houston
The first was easily solved by slicing open our expertly boxed up bikes and then going crazy with sellotape - though it did look like Will was milking something inside. The second meant a frantic dash to the internet during a pitstop in Tokyo to apply for pre-visa waiver approval. They were radioing our boxes off the plane as we ran back to the gate!

But finally after a 28 hour journey on 3 planes we AND all our gear miraculously landed in Quito, Ecuador. A little tired and very bloated having sat and been fed airplane food every few hours but happy, relaxed and well-movied up; loved Invictus, City of God (getting me in the latin mood) and Lovely Bones.

Now to catch our breath at a starting height of 2,800m and pray that Will The Mechanic can re-assemble our bikes ;)
Ax
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1 comment:

  1. JamesMay 19, 2010 at 1:00 PM

    Glad you guys got there?

    Managed to do any cycling yet?

    Hope you get out of Quito alive - once you have done that it is easy from there on!!

    ReplyDelete

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