January 6-16: Long, hard riding days
Panoramic views of Iguazu Falls from Argentina
For the last 10 days, we have been riding hard.
We left Iguazu Falls with the intention of going to Paraguay, but when we got to the border we were denied entry since we did not have a Visa and you must apply for one in advance.
The triple frontier is where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet at the Iguazu River
For the record, we were on Paraguay soil, so even though our passports were denied we were briefly in the country. So, we made a quick change in our plans and continued west and north towards Bolivia. We stopped for the night in Salta, Argentina to learn that the Dakar 2016 race had a stop here. We saw so many people roadside waiving and cheering as we came in on Highway 9.
Stumbling upon the Dakar Rally in Bolivia
From Salta, we went straight north to Bolivia. The border was extremely busy. We made it across around 9 pm and found a hotel right over the border, which made for a long day of riding an paperwork.
Native woman walking along the shore near the Peru/Bolivia border.
Once in Bolivia, we rode hard for three days in the mountains. The road conditions were much better than I expected - except in La Paz. The capital city, La Paz s located on the western side of Bolivia at an elevation of roughly 11,975 ft) above sea level and is the world’s highest capital city. It is huge, and still growing. Building and road construction is everywhere, making travel through the city chaotic. We all were thankful to get out of the city as quickly as possible!
Mountain views in Bolivia
We crossed back into Peru on Jan 13th. I was honestly a little worried about the roads because we had to cross the Andes again to get back to the coast, but this time I rocked it. We were on wider roads, and the twisty roads were much more comfortable. I kept up much better with the boys this time, helping my confidence. Once we got back to the coast on 1S, it was familiar since we took this route south, and great to see the north view of the coast. Part of 1S heads inland through the desert and then back to the coast. We rode through some intense sand storms again, but only for a short time.
14,000 feet above sea level in the Andes mountains
We are now in Lima, Peru, and taking a two-day break. The bikes are at the Harley dealer here getting oil changes and new tires. Tomorrow (Jan 17) we will continue our journey back north. We have been gone for 78 days and have racked up 13,500 miles in total, yet, strangely, we are on our way home.
