More of Bolivia

Ahhh, and yet we aren't done with Bolivia, just yet. Will and I ran out of money, well the acsess to it by way of having no banks or cash machines since Uyuni. Needing some to contiue our next leg into the Chilean Mountains for seven days, and... missing the last buss into Chile for the night, we decided to bus further into Bolivia, Four hours, (Ah...Bolivian roads...they are truely beyond words) to the city of Oruro. It is really big, the biggest we have seen yet in Bolivia. Something told us when we entered that we didn't need to come quiet this far for a bank. But here we are, with our pick of the crop are far as internet postoffice and banks...Yey civilaization! And yet all these modern convenaces we prefer the smaller towns to the cities. Its funny when we talked about getting here, "So what did we come here for..? Oh yeh...a bank." Thats funny. We left our bikes at the paduana( customes) and took a bus that cost next to nothing. Bolivias are unbelievable friendly and nice. They seem to have their feelings hurt when we talk about leaving the country and going into Chile. They say..." they don't have the salars, the cactuses, the charm." It is true I like Bolivians they are really sweet poeple. I thouroughly enjoyed playing soccer with they on the island of Incahuasi in the Salar de Uyuni. Although the girls humilated me at the sport. I should have seen it coming, but really, I have an excues, my lugs don't usualy burn at sea level the way they do at 3600 mts above. I think any person playing anything remotly physical at such a level should be considerd hard core for just the effort. And now we will enjoy this city of Oruro and then head for the boarder of Chile, to take advantage of the beautiful mountains, hotspiring and the end of our time here.

Salars and Sand

Amigos,
Trevor and I are happy to be done with the Bolivian portion of our trip. It´s been beautiful and the people are quite interesting, but the air is cold and the roads are sandy and we´re just plain excited to get home. Friends, of course, are a huge draw, but it´s also amazing just how enticing things like school and work can seem to us.
As for Bolivia, it really has been wonderful, and we are continually taken care of. The salars really are all salt, in case you might have thought otherwise, big flat sheets of salt generally packed as hard as concrete. The Bolivian roads are as sandy as our experience on the bus led us to believe, and I managed to fall to the ground probably six times the other day trying to stay on my bicycle through the sand (my pedals were also very stiff so it was difficult to click-out).
From here, we're headed into northern Chile for a weeks worth of bicycling through four national forests and will finish it off with a climb over a 15,000ft pass.
We´re excited.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
We're almost done!
William and Trev

And here are some photos!

Traversing the Salars of Bolivia

Welcome to Bolivia

Trevor and I have been off our bicycles for several days enjoying some rest and allowing Trevor´s abrasions to heal. That doesn´t mean, however, that we haven´t been traveling.
We have had a sobering introduction to the nature of Bolivia´s system of roads by way of our bus travels from the border to the city of Potosi, and then to Uyuni, from which we´ll begin bicycling again.
After traveling a little more and doing some intensive route planning, we´ve decided not to go up to Peru after all. We just don´t really have the time for it in this trip, and there´s plenty to enjoy in volcanic northern-Chile.

Oh yes, and here are some wonderful pictures from the last stretch of our trip.

Jujuy Argentina

It´s interesting how the end of the trip doesn´t seem easier than the beginning. It is, in many ways, I suppose, but the reality that my relationships with God and Trev and friends and family are so much more important than this particular journey is...right in my face. While Trev and I have gotten a lot closer during this trip, it still seems...I don´t know. I´m stopping and starting and generally wandering around my mind not sure of what I want to say or how to say it.

I guess the bottom line is, please keep praying for us, that we might finish well and continue to learn to love eachother more.

Thank you!
William and Trevor

Also, thank you for your comments! We found some antiseptic cream, and along with rest days, Trev´s almost completely healed up.

Elevation

Trev and I have been getting high the last few days. Slowly and steadily higher and higher...wouldn´t want to rush such things.
Up at 3,500m (we got to descend about 280m to finish off this days riding) we´re higher than all but a handfull of places in the state of Washington, yet all around is desert with rolling hills and frozen streams (the ones in the shade, anyway).
We do well, and find ourselves about 70km from the southern border of Bolivia. Trev started having some interesting chafing issues, so if anyone can recommend a miracle remedy that we´ll be able to get ahold of here, please do. I´ve suggested butter and chain-lube, but he´s not interested.
Ahh, the journey goes well, but we´ve only got a few weeks left on this continent!
Yikes...
Love,
Will and Trev

Our Last Visit to Tucuman...For Now...

It's been good returning to Tucuman. We've gotten to spend time with Fernando, relax, celebrate Trevor's birthday, visit friends we made on our last visit, and plan for the next portion of our trip. Life always has its difficulties, of course.
I found myself not particularly good at adjusting to life here. There are many opportunities or eager distractions, things that are not important to me, that have come in and taken the place of some things that I really do want to invest time into. Perhaps it's been a bit of a window through which I get to see what some of the difficulties of getting home might be. Either way, it's been good time and a welcome break from cycling.
The next portion of our trip will take us through the last stretch of northern Argentina into Bolivia where we'll ride through the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world, and then across the arid and remote high plains. From there we'll swing west to La Paz and then, hopefully, up to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. We didn't want to spend the money necessary to change our tickets and fly out of Lima, so we're going to have to hustle it back to Santiago before the 8th to dismantle our bikes and get ready to return to San Francisco.
And...here are some pictures!

I've been getting some route advice from other cyclists that we've met in our journeys and I think this will be the best route for us to take through Bolivia. Perhaps the most difficult as well.

I was up and antsy quite early, but I could only stand around 10 minutes at a time outside of the tent because of the cold.

Finally in Tucuman, Fernando took us to a futbol game at the local stadium. Their team isn't even in the top division, but the stands were packed out and it was plenty loud. They won, too!

The warmer northern climate seems to support larger bug-life. Look at the needle on that thing.

One of our friends, Pablo, who introduced us to some beautiful bike rides here in Tucuman, made this model of the three of us so that he could travel with us in effigy. I think he did a fantastic job, and even included such details our Crocs.

We never know quite what to expect when we head out for a new leg of our trip, but we have been wonderfully cared for thus far, and I have every reason to believe that as we throw ourselves into new and difficult situations, that great care will continue.
Love,
William and Trevor

A Tucuman Birthday

Not knowing what to expect in an Argentine celebration. I awoke uncertain on my birthday. The night before, Paster Aguirres told me I would learn, how we celebrate birthdays. This comment sent my mind spinning with crazy unsertanty about the day. In Argentine Weddings the groom is egged and feathered and paraded around town in his birthday suite. I got to see this first hand and almost interfered for him until someone told me they were his friends... But, when I arrived downstairs and found two dozen donuts, Facturas as they call them, to my name, my mind was at ease. I knew this was going to be a good day. Oh...and it was glorious. We finished the donuts and later played video games and drank beer in coke together. Hey! don't judge, the coke gave it some badly needed flavor. The gloriously burned CDs for the Playstation were crappy but we made the best of it. Then we watched movies until the party started at a early 10pm. Totally for getting about our massages...Aaaaaaaah, oh well. Really I felt loved the whole day...I don't even speak Spanish and everyone was at my party. Hats, balloons, crazy Spanish dance music, Meat, Empenatas, pizza, Wine and coke together... the list goes on! Really, if I couldn't spend my birthday with my family back home this is were I wanted to be, with my family here. Who cares whether we can't understand each other, words are a secondary and almost unnecessary line of communication, really. Ok, maybe not, But, I felt like a King all day. A king that gets egged and floured and his hair straightened. Thank you Fer, Will, Aguirres Family and Abuala Clerita por el todo feliz! Grasias, I will never forget my twenty eighth cumpianos.

Here are some photos from the day for you to enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Trevor!

Frozen Water

This morning was only the second in which Trevor and I awoke to find the water in our bottles decidedly crystalized. It´s not a particularly welcome discovery considering that the only two warm places around are inside our sleeping bags, and that there´s not really enough warmth to share with the crystalized water.
Fortunately for us, out in the middle of the desert where we´d camped, there are no pesky trees or large bushes to block the sun. So, at the not so early hour of 7:30 when it finally showed itself over the distant hills we enjoyed it´s slow but thorough warming of this side of the planet.
We finished our ride through the beautiful and arid mountain valley in the northern part of the province of Mendoza, and now have plans to bus the rest of the way to Tucuman. We´re hoping to leave as much time and money as possible for the next portion of our trip. The budgeting is getting a bit tighter, but we´re still hoping to make it through the huge salt flats in southern Bolivia, the volcanic desert of north Chile, and up to Macchu Picchu (I really need to check to see if I´m spelling that correctly) before returning to Santiago for our flight out.
It´s strange to feel that our adventure is coming to an end, but as I´ve been reminded by Trev´s girlfriend, we´ll be back in the US next month!

Thank you to all who love and encourage and pray for us.
Will and Trev