Some scenes from South America

Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
10,140
Location
Europe
I'm currently travelling South America by motorcycle, and while I'm stuck in Salta with a broken shock absorber I thought I'd share some of the scenes I've witnessed with you.

I'm travelling with a Sony A7, 35/2.8, 50/1.7, 10-18/4, and a 70-210/4.5-5.6 (basically too much gear).

I'm recording my trip on my blog, Facebook, and occasionally Twitter and Instagram, so many of these images will be duplicated there.

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The coatis of Iguazu. They look like cute fury little creatures, but they have massive teeth and super sharp claws. You should see them quibble of scraps of food.




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Isuzu falls were amazing. definitely worth the four days of riding from Buenos Aires. I was gutted that I left my polariser and ND filter back at the hotel.




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Iguana isn't just about the falls though. There's plenty of wildlife, from birds, to lizards, and even crocs.




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In Bolivia I took the shortest route from Tupiza to Uyuni. Those 150 miles took two days due to the road, but the scenery was breathtaking. Ended up camping at 4,000 metres.




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Of course no-one goes to Uyuni without visiting the train cemetery.




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Incahuasi Island is at the centre of the Salar, and is home to thousands of cacti. They grow at something like 10mm per year, so these are very old.




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The Salar de Uyuni. The largest salt flat in the world. Great for messing about on. I won a gopro for this image in a competition by Travelex.



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Of course I decided to ride the Yungas Road. Formerly the most dangerous road in the world. It's much tamer these days as all the big trucks now take the bypass.




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Stayed at a lodge in the small Bolivian town of Coroico. I loved waking up to this view every morning.




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Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable body of water.




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Spent two weeks in Cusco, Peru, waiting for a delivery. It was two days from arriving when the postal service decided to strike indefinitely.




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Part of the old town of Cusco with its steep, narrow streets.
 
Great shots! Awesome places, we (my sister and I) went to South America last year. Didn't have time to do the salt flats though :(
Are you going on one of the treks to Machu Picchu? If you have 3/4 days to spare, I'd recommend it. Fairly expensive but great trek and some of the best views in my whole trip! I have yet to go through most of the photos :p
 
Great shots! Awesome places, we (my sister and I) went to South America last year. Didn't have time to do the salt flats though :(
Are you going on one of the treks to Machu Picchu? If you have 3/4 days to spare, I'd recommend it. Fairly expensive but great trek and some of the best views in my whole trip! I have yet to go through most of the photos :p

I've been to Machu Picchu but thought better of sharing the images as everyone has seen it millions of times in photos.

I rode to Santa Theresa then hiked from Hydroelectrica to Aguas Calientes.

The road on the way from Cusco to Santa Theresa looked like this:

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Heading south through Peru we came upon the the last Inca rope bridge.




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The bridge had a nasty slant to it, so originally we were told not to walk across. Later a guardian of the bridge walked over to check it out, and let us have a play on it.




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Once at Colca Canyon (the 2nd deepest in the world), we hiked down to the oasis at the bottom.




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This is how the locals get up and down it, and carry their supplies.




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The donkeys that carry the local supplies get very hungry.




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The very bottom of Colca Canyon.
 
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The road from southern Peru, into Chile to Arica, and beyond is long and boring.




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I went surfing in Arica, but the coastline of Iquique was much more interesting.




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And the the beach was of course fantastic.
 
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Back tracking a little. I completely forgot about the Salinas de Maras visit whilst I was staying in Cusco.




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I have a thing for road scenes. Here's the road from Iquique to San Pedro de Atacama. Taken about 15 miles away from SPdA.
 
Loving the vast emptiness of those two road pictures.

The vastness and isolation of some of the places here is just mind blowing. I ride off road at times, and on more than one occasion I've not seen anyone for days.

I've been to Morocco and ridden in the Sahara but there people pop up all over the place. Not so here. If you're not careful you can get into a pretty bad situation, as I did near the Bolivian border when I ran out of water and had to camp at over 4,000m after surfing the day before.

Anyway, I've now go my shock welded (badly), and am back on the road.

I snapped this on the 900 mile journey to Mendoza. Taken at around 200mm (Nikon 70-210 4/5.6) through some crazy heat haze.

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