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, June 14, 2010

Day 15 - Santiago to Vilcabamba - The valley of longevity

Distance Cycled: 77km
Total Cycled to date: 544km


After a surprisingly good nights sleep we couldnt get out of our cosy sleeping bags. When I say cosy I mean HOT. In fear of Amanda being cold and moaning I'd bought arctic proof sleeping bags that are good for temperatures down to -15 degrees. At +15 degrees these were roasting and I spent the whole night in my sheet sleeping bag. I damn well hope its colder later on!


First up, a short uphill climb of 400m (that used to be a big climb, we must be getting slightly fitter!) through some gorgeous forest. On the way up we met a lady called Dorothee from Germany coming the other way. Dorothee had cycled across Europe, Asia, Australia, NZ and up through S America over 2 years, inspirational stuff! Was embarrassed how clean and new looking all our gear was in comparison to hers.


A big downhill with beautfiful views took us all the way to Loja, a smallish city which was meant to be our end point for the day. After lunch of gorgeous empanadas and humitas it was still 3pm so we decidied to press on to Vilcabamba, a bit of a detour but with a rest day up ahead, this was supposed to be a cool place to chill our for a day (known as the valley of longevity as people never die here!)


We had been informed that it was downhill all the way to Vilcabamba but this wasn't strictly true. It was a 300m climb out of the valley but we didn't know this and it looked like the hill went on forever! After being tempted by the bus, luckily we stuck at it as the downhill afterwards was fantastic dropping from 2400m to 1500m along a beatiful valley. The valley of longevity appeared at the bottom like some kind of illusion, with clouds all around it was the only spot in the sun and it felt like we were in the south of France. Beautiful houses, vineyards, and lovely roads with a big rainbow over the whole valley. Unfortunately, the rainbow means rain and it started to chuck it down. It was 5:30pm and only 10k to go so we thought we'd be fine. Unfortunately we were totally aware that the 'road god' decided to put a big hill in the way. So in the rain and the dark, after cycling 75kms we had to push the bike up the hill in the pitch black and try to cycle down the other side safely. Luckily at the bottom there was a hostel with a courtyard garden and fantastic mexican food, and a rest day ahead, phew!
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