Day 15 San Pedro De Atacama to Salta Argentina

We have become relaxed thinking the worst is over so we head off a little late (9am start) and go south through the Atacama desert before climbing back up over the Andes on a south southeast heading. The electronic navigator seems to have the maps a little out in this part of the world as the plot points we take are about 40km away from where the device says they are, so I navigate manually for this leg.

We are enjoying the tar seal as we climb up the mountains on highway 23 when suddenly it runs out and we are gravelling again. we pass 4000 meters again and spend most of the day over this altitude.

We make progress and climb over a pass and straight down to the customs post - Sam T rides the verge of one corner and narrowly escapes going over the side of a mount slope. Other wise the border exit was easy with friendly officials.

We enter another martian planet with a recent volcanic Field sitting in the middle of the Andes. the Argentinian border post was a slow process as it was there siesta time, however we made it through without bother and instead they gave us some directions and advise.

We were running low on fuel so were keen to find a gas station, to our horror we were told that there were not gas stations until San Antonio over 100 Km away. This was not in the brochures, or the guides - we had not filled our cells as we expected thriving border towns. We hit the next village in the middle of a dry valley and started the process of asking for Gasolina. The whole place was dry, no Gasolina. Sam C measured his tank and there was only about an inch and a half left, my tank had quite a bit more. Unfortunately we had another 60km to do to get to the nearest gas station so we set off in single file with me at the back as I had the most fuel. Sam C was the first to run out so we drained my tank twice along the way (about a liter) both Sam C and Sam T then ran out again together about 30Km out from San Antonio. Brian and I made a dash to the town, by this time it was nearing 5pm due to all the time we had wasted looking for gas.

I turned the bike off down the hills and conserved fuel as much as possible, hitting reserve 15Km out. Brian was still following along behind. I got into town and proceeded to look for a gas station only to run out just when a local had given me directions. I left the bike with a local watching it and ran on foot to the station with the fuel cell. I managed to get the bike filled and the cell to take back to the others, in the meantime Brian had not turned up -he had run out of gas just before town.
It turns out we had all got to the town - the Sam's had managed to flag down a local who gave them enough gas to get to the town. After a while we all found each other and filled to the brim.

It was now a desperate charge to Salta 160km away and it was 6pm. We had an hour of daylight left and at least 2 hours of riding to do - as there isn't much in between.

The high plateaus gave way to canyons and large valleys as we descended from 4000 meters. We hit tar seal and then more shingle as it got dark. More roadworks meant that the roads were diverted to the mostly dry river beds. At virtually the last corner of the shingle roads the worst happened, Sam T went straight on at the corner and disappeared into the darkness. Sam C was behind him and witnessed the drama. However he did not disappear into a paddock as first though but down a bank where bike and rider hung precariously over the edge of a raging river. The bike was facing back up the bank and must have been hanging by its foot pegs and weight. By the time I got back to find out what was happening behind me Sam and Brian were holding onto the bike and Sam T was clear of the bike.

A truck driver had stopped and managed to tie a strap to the bike. Locals also helped anchor the bike before the truck driver pulled it up from the murky depths. So number 2 for Sam and he has been really lucky - one more inch, him and the bike would have been in a whole lot more trouble sweeping away down river.

Strangely that last corner led out onto tar seal and civilisation. We managed to find a hotel by about 10:30pm due to no vacancies everywhere.

Well deserved Lay day tomorrow - We are at 1200 meters and the climate is warm.