Day 02-Quick, chew some of these leaves

When anticipating multiple crossings of the Andes Mountains in excess of 15,000 feet, it’s wise to acclimate.  This is especially true when your origin is at sea level.  To that end, today’s route was a 200 mile loop leaving the seaside town of Arica and topping out just under 15,050 feet.  The bikes are electronically fuel injected, but the riders are still normally aspirated.  A little altitude goofiness presented itself, which I quickly found to be quite charming, at least it was at the party that was going on inside my head.  In Putre, Chile, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putre) at just under 12,000 feet, we stopped for lunch.  I thought it was hilarious to ask the llamas, “como te llama, llama?” and then actually wait for an answer.  Some of the locals found it humorous, too, but then quickly offered me some of the coca leaves that they were chewing.

Our route briefly flirted with the Rio Lluta but as that fell away much of the remainder of today’s ride was through the Atacama desert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert).  Think Mars.  It’s known as the driest place on Earth with an annual rainfall averaging 15 mm.  Some of today’s scenic highlights were 2 Andean peaks, Cerro Parinacota at 20,807 ft. and Volcan Pomerade at 20,610 ft.   I shot the below photo of them from 14,974 ft. after we rolled out of Putre.

Being the altitude gluttons that we were, we pressed on until the altimeter hit 15,050 ft. before heading back to Arica, the city of eternal sun.  We rode up the bluff to El Morro de Arica overlooking the city and the sea.  Everyone’s red cell count was now adequately up as their heads hit the pillow for the night and the odometers had added another 200 miles.