Camp Tres Cruces Chile

After pulling into our first camping stop during the acclimatization process, we didn't need to camp much at all!  There is actually a little house (refugio) here.  It was too dark last night, so below are the early morning photos while the boys are still sleeping.

I'm an early riser anyway, but the elevation headache has got me pretty good this morning.  Gee whiz, aspirin anyone??

Parque Nacional Nevado de Tres Cruces

Besides, I was so excited from what I saw last night, I couldn't wait to have a wander in the morning with my camera. We're going to be here for 2 or 3 days.  I know the boys will sleep in a bit.  They have been working hard since the moment they arrived from overseas.  I'll be back soon enough to put the kettle on for them.

I liked this photo from the still water. Without the reflection of the house, I'd nearly think it's just dirt to walk across as well.

Anyway, the refugio is just that.  A little refuge for people so far from civilization who need it (or want it) if it's available.  Door open, no fees, but we do have permission from the park authorities in Copiapo.

Just a building, nothing inside.  There are 4 rooms, one I used for the kitchen and the other ones we sorted out for sleeping. 

My room. I used my normal tent floor to cover up the dirty mattress.  Along with my sleeping bag, it was quite a comfortable place.. Cold, but comfortable.  I was quite happy about staying here!

I'd show you Walter and Lukas's space, but I better not.  Don't want to embarrass them... ;-) Barton stayed outside in his new red tent.  He thought we were crazy for sleeping under a roof.  I get his point, but this has it's pluses too.  We have plenty more opportunities for the tents coming up.

My little kitchen.  Three of us have cook stoves we carry for camping.  We bought a big pot at the supermarket, so I can make loads of hot water, for tea, Milo and hot porridge each morning.

The view out the front door.. LOVE IT HERE!!

There are flamingos everywhere. I've always thought of flamingos as a warm weather bird.  We saw heaps of them in the Galapagos. I didn't expect to see them here at 3700 cold meters! (12,140 ft)

Better get back to see if any movement in camp. I don't want to get fired from my day job.. I must have wandered over an hour, but I'm safe. Not a sound from any of them yet.

Once the boys did get up, it was time to play with the bikes.  They've done a lot of work preparing the bikes already, but they have many more things to do.  I'm not technically minded, so if I try to explain what they are doing to alter their bikes for high elevation, I'll get it wrong.  Besides alterations, they are just setting up their new bikes in general.  Everyone has a different idea of how to make the bike their own.

I'm busy in my little refugio sorting out all the food we bought.  Everthing was still in boxes and grocery bags, and I wanted it organized.  Breakfast food, lunch food, dinner and snacks.

Then I counted and wrote down everything I have so I can keep track of it.  I have no experience in keeping an expedition fed, but I will soon!  And I want to make sure it's all sorted (minus all the tins of tuna for Lukas.. ha!)  For instance, the first night I made pasta and heated up a bag of that pre-made pasta sauce (ick). It turned out one bag was not enough to feed 4 people.  When a packet says "serves 4" it should be more specific.  Two adults and two children?  More like four little children?  I have 3 hungry men!

Every now and then I'd peek out the front door and LOVED watching the weather change.  The colors are amazing here.

The next day is another beautiful day in the Chilean Andes.. and more bike works..

Laguna Santa Rosa, Chile

I've learned the weather here seems to have a pattern.  Morning is clear. Early afternoon is the warm bit where you don't need to wear a jacket for a while. But the late afternoon seems to muster up clouds along with rain, wind and snow.

Walter doesn't mind the oncoming weather. He keeps tinkering away at whatever needs tinkering..

Another morning and a beautiful view of the snow that last nights little dark cloud storm left behind.

I've put my foot down and being the 4th day since I last washed my hair, I'm ready to do the arctic dip.

This is my bath 'tub'.  The boys told me where to find it.  I waited until after they were fed, dishes clean and gave the sun time to warm the little pool up.  Then with a little warning, "do not come down to the lake for a few minutes.. "  I managed to get clean.  It was actually very nice!  Yes, cold.  But once I was used to it, I loved it!  And how could you complain about taking a bath in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  I would be one of only a few who ever have or ever will in this place. I actually feel really honored to take a bath here.

You know what was in that pool?  Lots of tiny little shrimps.  Really cute to watch.  Now I know why the flamingos are here...

I started walking back to the refugio when I spotted something.  It's a vicuna that was actually really near my little bath.  Heck!  He/she doesn't seem fussed I'm here!  At the time I didn't know if it was alpaca or llama.  It's neither.  Vicuna is actually a member of the camel family.

In the 1970's they had been hunted and the population sunk to around 500.  Since they have been protected, they have bounced back.  And lucky for me in 2012, I see one right close to my bath.  It didn't have much fear and let me get quite close for a photo which I needed as I'm only carrying my little point and shoot.

What a little sweetheart.  And with the flamingos and ducks in the background, this place is pure magic. ;-))

Arriving back to camp.. and being teased.  "Hey SJ, we got photos of you with the zoom lens.."  Aw, bugger..  ;-/

Tomorrow we pack up and head for camp #2 at a higher elevation.  You can't see it in the photos, but we all had big head aches. However the longer we were here, they subsided quite a bit. Taking pain relief medicine is one thing, but the real trick is drinking as much water as possible.  This really works, however we are still in the beginning stages and need to be careful at the same time with the amount of water we drink so it lasts. 

Ometepe Nicaragua

On to the island Ometepe in Nicaragua!  Ometepe is basically made up of 2 volcanoes that rise out of the gigantic Lake Nicaragua. Kevin had done the research and really wanted to go here.  There is a road (granted not a good one we hear in some areas) that follows the perimeter of both volcanoes.

But first we need to get there by ferry.

Discrimination!!

 

The Che Guevara boat!  Which was parked next to our ferry.  We took the lesser known Motorcycle Diaries guy boat instead.  Go the underdogs! ;-)

Not sure why they chose Kevin's bike to secure all the little bikes!

Once we arrived Ometepe, I'm trying my best to get off the ferry before the new passengers get on.  I'm also not sure why they just can't let us all off before the new ones get on.  Kevin is laughing of coarse and taking photos of me trying not to run over anybody.

We don't have any need to rent a motorcycle, but we quite like the detailed map.

We didn't get too far down the road on the first volcano when my motorcycle completely died.  This just doesn't happen to Sherri Jo!  Seriously, I have been so lucky the entire world over without mechanical problems.  So I am totally at a loss what is making the bike die.  If I let it rest about 15 minutes it would start again, I would go down the road about 100 meters and it would die.  Really weird symptoms.  Kevin has far more mechanical skills than I do (well, everybody does really ;-)  And we both agree that is sounds and feels like it is a fuel problem.  And we are guessing that I probably picked up bad fuel at my last stop.  We are thinking that the fuel filter might be clogged.  And while the bike was resting, it would allow the tiniest amount of fuel through, which is why it would start after 15 minutes.  Then that fuel ran out so fast within a hundred meters and it was clogged again.

The problem is that we are on the road, and there no houses around.  We are both keen enough to jump the fence and pop up the tent.  But Kevin asked me to wait here and he'd see if he can find a place to stay for the night.  He left me alone in the dark!! ;-)  But he came back quite proud of what he found.  His thinking was that the problem seems serious enough that we would want some place under cover to put the bike and be able to work on it. It's a humid climate and rains on and off quite frequently.

We got to our little cabin on the beach.  It costs a bit more than we'd usually pay, but beggars can't be choosers when the bike breaks down.  We dropped the gear inside, went straight for dinner and beer on the beach. (Luckily the little resort place we stayed had a restaurant!)

The next morning a reminder as soon as I open the front door.. Gotta get to work on figuring out the problem.

The guy at breakfast says he knows of a mechanic at the village where we got off the ferry.  He is not a motorcycle mechanic, but we are pretty convinced it's a fuel problem and if so, I might need a mechanic to help me figure out if it's the fuel pump or fuel filter.  We could also tell by the looks of the barely populated island that finding any mechanic with any background might be a challenge.

Kevin was awesome and tried to work on my bike.  I was busy on the internet consulting with every person I ever met who rides a KTM to see what they think.  I was talking with Lukas Matzinger in Austria who Walter put me on to,  John from RallyRaid International in England and Craig Johnson from CJ Designs in the United States all on this early morning of Christmas Eve!  In the meantime, I had the hotel guy send the non-motorcycle mechanics over so I have all my bases covered.

I loved that they showed up about 2 hours late (again beggars can't be choosers) with their little cardboard box with some tools.  Luckily Kevin has some better tools than I do and I have my little set of KTM essential tools.  We made it work... as we do. ;-)

We started off draining my very full Safari Fuel tank into a clear plastic bottle to see if we can find any hints that it might have water or dirt inside.  We didn't find any evidence.

I'm feeling horribly guilty that my break down is ruining the day that Kevin had planned.  On top of that it is Christmas Eve.  Along with the mechanics, I have my wonderful helpers around the world talking with me on skype or email.  As well as the KTM mechanics manuel they sent over with diagrams. I think we have the resources needed to figure this out.

In order to reduce my feelings of guilt,  I talked Kevin into going with a guy from the hotel for some zip-lining. 

He was gone about 2 hours and returned with a huge smile on his face.  I feel better now.. ;-)

However we (the mechanics.. and me!... ha!) are still on a mission.  They are trying to dig out the fuel pump and filter.  I am telling them in my Spanish that one suggestion is that it might be the spark plug.  Can we do that first as it would be the easier solution. I showed them the diagram of the spark plug, where it's located, how you take it out, etc.  They said yes (Si) and then kept carrying on with digging out the fuel pump.  I'm wondering what they didn't understand about that.  I know my Spanish can be bad, but I showed them dag gone diagrams!  By then, Kevin came back and I went to them with my "big man" back up and repeated it.  These guys were nice, there was nothing wrong, I just needed to figure out how to be clear about "Stop with the fuel pump, lets go to the spark plug and it if doesn't work go back to the fuel pump".  They understood clearly this time.. not sure what the difference was other than Kevin was standing behind me. ;-)  (It could have been the classic idea that the lady motorcycle rider is a ding dong and doesn't know what she's talking about, so let's just say "si" and get back to what we know."  They would be right of course, but I didn't want them to know that.  Plus I had confidence in what my helpers were telling me and just passing it on.  urgh! ;-))

I had a brand new spare spark plug with me in my spare parts bag.  We checked the old one for white or black debris, it seems fine.  We checked the distance for spark with Kevin's tool, it seemed fine too.  So it mustn't be the problem.  But I had them put the new one in anyway.  Might as well while we're here.

And guess what.  The bike started!!!!!  Hallelujah!!!! (It wasn't as simple as that.. In order to see if the spark plug works, you need to put everything back together, re-attach the Safari tank, add the fuel back in, etc.. but I am sooooo happy!)

Since 90% of the people here are Catholic, I was feeling guilty about these guys being away from their family to fix my bike.  So I bought all of them, Kevin too, a nice big lunch.  Beers for the mechanics, none for Kevin and I as we are happy that we can pack the bikes and get on the road, even at this late afternoon hour.

I left that decision to Kevin.  I am happy to continue around the island as we started.  It was his original plan.  But he's decided to let it go and get off the island so we can get to San Juan del Sur Nicaragua for sunset.  It didn't matter to me one way or the other if I see sunset over a lake or the ocean.  But to him there was no question we needed to get to the ocean for Christmas Eve sunset.  He's the boss!  So we packed and left.

Lucky us, it started to rain just as we were boarding the ferry.

This young guy who works on the ferry is hiding out from the rain (and probably his boss!)

Adios Ometepe... thanks for the memories!!  And big special thanks to Lukas, Craig and John who I mentioned above for all their help.  I think it's so cool that I live in the world that I can talk to 3 other countries simultaneously from Nicaragua and get the answers I would have never figured out on my own.

From the ferry port to San Juan del Sur was only 35 kilometers (21 miles). 

We literally got to the beach just in time!!!!!  Since I ruined the day, as long as Kevin is happy, I am happy!  And he is!  (Whew..... ! ;-)

I love my life! ;-)