more pictures

our hotel, made out of salt!

riding over saltwith some great people

 A hugh meteorite crater, the pictures are a bit random, sorry for that. The guy standing at the motor was Max, the tour guide for the group of motors below. I met them at the hotel when I checked out, they were also going to Uyuni, but via some great off road tracks. It was a tour of 7 days, organized by bmw bolivia. They let me drive with them and we had a great time, on the bikes and off.

 Bolivia gas station, don't tell them you are a foreigner, you don't get any fuel. Again, it was very good the guys were with me, they gave me a full tank!

 The beast on a salt flat, amazing views, I will post some more pictures later

 The dirt roads here are hard for a big bike like the beast, but he did great

 My bike and the support van.

during the 3 days that I rode with the guys, 3 batteries died, all of the f800gs, very strange. It was a great day and I was very happy to be riding with the group. I wouldn't have done this by myself

no pictures

Yep, it is sad, but for the last 3 days I have not been able to update the blog. I am now in Humahuacas, North Argentina and I spend the last two days riding with a group of fellow bmw riders from bolivia, we did the salt flats, saw the trains, did lots and lots of off road driving. This afternoon I parted from them and crossed into Argentina. I wll make my way down to Mendoza and cross into Chile for some new tires and make my way down. Hopefully I can post some pictures tomorrow, as I have some really good ones.

The police again!

 You know when the entrance of the hotel looks like this, it is going to cost you. But it was a very nice hotel, met some great people there and relaxed. I slept in, woke up at 8!

 The drive was nice, sunny and smooth. Some more old stuff on route

 An old women, nice thing to see is that everybody where the local outfits, it is not a tourist thing.

 back in the mountains, 4000 meters.

I am getting a little bit frustrated with the police now, they stop me frequently and all want money. Sometimes they are very insisting and you can't get away without paying. It is just so normall over here, it is wrong. Today is my last day in Peru, I drive to Bolivia tomorrow.

Macchu Picchu, what can I say. I know, it rained.

 But that didn't stop me from having a great time there, such a stunning place, every minute the scenery changes with the clouds and the fog.

 We were with 3 people from the hotel and had a guide all the way trough, very nice girl, explained alot about the place and got soaked with us.

 I was still a bit dry here.

It was a great day, this place does have something special, and I am not the person to say that quickly about a place. Go there, if you have a sunday off.

This is what it's all about!

 What a day! I got on the bike at 06.30 to climb some mountains. I reached 4566 meters! I must say I did get very strange in the head, even more then usual. I am now at 3400 meters, still high, but no side effects from the altitude.

 It started of with climbing and dessert, truly nothing there.

 Besides this animal, I don't know what it is, but there are plenty along the first part of this road.

 The valleys are green and lots of farming going on.

 A Lama. I had to keep moving, didn't want to be spitted on.

 More of his or her friends. It looks like they are just eating dirt, but there must be something there that they like.

 Just a picture of the very blue sky.

 4566 meters! The bike did great, better then me, I was struggling a bit with keeping focussed, I got easily confused between clutch and break and stuff like that. Funny to notice.

 This was a while later, the gps and google maps told me it was a 7 hour drive, it took me 11.5 to do 557 km and I still didn't reach my destination. Maybe if I hadn't stopped to look at this rather big spider, I would have.I got to Urubamba when it became dark, I wanted to push on, but then I almost went full speed over a speedbump and I decided to check into the nearest hotel. I found a hotel, it is above my budget, but it is really nice, and they could arrange the trip to Macchu Picchu for tomorrow, so all is well at the end. It was a great drive trough the mountains, with friendly people, cows, pigs llama's, dogs, cats, goats and sheep. Very long, maybe too long, but I made it, tomorrow is a rest day for the beast and then it is off to Puno, the last stop in Peru before entering Bolivia. Below is a picture of the sunset on some farmlands. It was stunning.

The sand continued. So did the riding

 Another great day, not too much to report. I am in Nazca now, famous from the massive lines in the earth. They can only been seen from the sky, and as the beast is capable of many things, but not flying, no pictures of that. Above some guys playing soccer in the mud.

 Dessert town, I got pulled over for speeding here, and I did, so I had to pay a fine. I could pay at the bank, or at the men in blue. At the bank, 36 dollar, the men wanted 10. I know it is not correct, but it saved me a lot of trouble. I did take it a bit slower, but it is strange here, one moment it is 60, then 90, then 80, there are so many signs.
I also drove trough Lima, 7 million people life there. I think they were all on the road when I drove trough.

 One moment I ride in the dessert, the next moment it is all green

 View from the roof of my hotel, these guys must have some serious reception. Every taxi that drives around here honks his horn about every 3 seconds, so it is a very noise town.

My bike is once again parked in the lobby of the hotel. So nice. I did 751 kilometers today! Tomorrow I go to Ollantaytamba, the gateway to Macchu Picchu. Back to the mountains, with a pass of 4360 meters! Let's see how I do without oxygen.