The Trip Begins!

Para leer este entrada en español, ir aquí.

UPDATE:

Our last few to-dos took until 3pm so we've put off starting until tomorrow, Tuesday.

In the meantime, here are some details of the route we will be following. From Tarija we head northwest to Tupiza, the last largish town we'll encounter before San Pedro de Atacama, in Chile, about 8 days later. From there onto the altiplano, passing through the villages of San Vicente, San Pablo de Lipez, Queteña, then joining the main north/south tourist route (jeep tours!) for the last couple days to San Pedro de Atacama. 

Today is the day! We are finally taking off on our South American adventure! We have heard from various friends and bloggers that Bolivia is generally considering one of the toughest countries to bike tour in, so we are considering it our test to see if we have it in us to make it back to the US. Not only that, but we are starting out in one of the hardest parts of the country, the southwest, so this month is sure to be a grueling one!

We came to the city of Tarija with our bikes a couple days ago, and would like to be back in the Cochabamba area by the end of the month, so our plan is to traverse the southwest corner of the country to Chile, then head north via the Salar de Uyuni. First we have to climb about 7,000 feet to reach the altiplano, then cross the mountainous, deserty, mostly empty region to make it to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. From there, we will head north for a week or so in Chile, then reenter Bolivia to visit the world-famous salt flats. If we survive all that, we'll hopefully be able to reunite with friends to celebrate Lucy's birthday and Carnaval!

The past week or two have been filled with makeovers. First, Lucy decided to replace her broken glasses with a new, sturdier pair:

Then, after a one night test trip, we decided that our gears were way too mis-matched: Adie was spinning away up the hills while Lucy was grinding away behind, destroying her knees in the process.

 So, at the last minute, we decided to overhaul Lucy's drive system, replacing the entire rear wheel and cassette, shifters, front chain rings and cranks. And adding a front rack for extra space! At this point, the only things left on the bike from before it entered our hands are the derailleurs and the rear brakes! Everything else has been swapped out! It took a lot of energy to run around Cochabamba for two days, searching for the best quality and prices, but, given that it is Bolivia's bike city, we knew we had to get everything done before taking off. 

At the same time, Lucy was finishing up the illustrations for the children's book that she wrote for her final project. The theme? Bikes of course! She is now looking for funding to cover the publication costs. The total is $900 and any donations are greatly appreciated! If you are willing to contribute, a donation of $10 or more will be reciprocated with a copy of the book! You can donate by sending a gift via PayPal (to Lucy.bergwall@gmail.com) or a check to 7 Shaw St, Lebanon, NH 03766. Thanks!!

After our hurried preparations of the bikes, we jumped on a bus to Tarija to spend New Years there with some of Lucy's friends! It was a 17 hour ride, but we rationalized it by bringing our bikes so that we can bike back to Cochabamba instead of taking a bus back. Luckily, there is one warm shower host in Tarija, and he was kind enough to store our bikes for a few days while we did touristy things with the friends. Now, we are finishing up the last few to-dos this morning, then hitting the road after lunch!

We'll try to update when we can!

Otra cosa: desde ahora, vamos a tratar de hacer el blog en Español también¡  (from now on, we will try to blog in Spanish as well as English!)