Bolivia I: Friends, Flamingos & Salt Flats

We have an absolute great first day together. We take one of the many teleféricos that span over La Paz’ skyline. It brings us up and out of the valley that La Paz is wedged in. After that it’s a super easy 20 kilometer out of the city: slightly downhill and with a tailwind we don’t have to spend any energy to make progress. We have a stop at the plaza of a village, Sander smokes a cigarette, we talk to some locals and have lunch.

View More Bolivia I: Friends, Flamingos & Salt Flats

Peru VI: The Next Peruvian Movie Star

Dear dear dear Perú,

To be honest, I didn’t know much about you and didn’t know what to expect from you. I only knew about Machu Picchu and your Inca past.

But wow, how you’ve impressed me!

So I wanna say “gracias”. Gracias for showing me your beautiful culture, land and people. You have always approached me with a mix of shyness and curiosity, but thankfully the curiosity always won.

View More Peru VI: The Next Peruvian Movie Star

Peru V: An Unforgettable Adventure With Arjo

I know Arjo from my first year in university in Delft. We both started our bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design Engineering. Both coming from rather rural parts of the Netherlands, trying to figure out how this new student life was supposed to be done in a new and big city. Although from completely different parts of the country, he from The West and I from The South, we clicked because of our down-to-earth mentality.

View More Peru V: An Unforgettable Adventure With Arjo

Peru IV: Solo Again in Rainy Peru

In the morning I say goodbye to Jesús. We’ve had a great run together. What is it? Five or six weeks together? Crazy. During our time together he has been thinking about doing a carpentry course back in Europe. A few days ago he booked his flight ticket back home from Bolivia. He has been looking forward to spend some more time in Bolivia before he returns home and that’s why he decides to take the better traveled asphalt roads to the border with Bolivia. Leaving me behind in the dust and on the unpaved roads.

View More Peru IV: Solo Again in Rainy Peru

Peru III: Gunshots in the Night & Eyeball Soup

I’m almost a month in Peru now, at this point I’m still sharing the route with the Swiss’ Dea and Gaetan and the Spanish Jesús. Absolutely loved our last weeks together over gravel, down deep valleys and over stunning high-altitude plateaus. But I also would’ve liked to stay a bit longer in Caraz. I have the feeling that after almost one and a half year on the road I need to recharge my batteries faster and longer than before.

View More Peru III: Gunshots in the Night & Eyeball Soup

Peru II: Canyons, Lagunas & High Altitude Plains

I’ve been in Peru now for a couple of weeks and I have to say that it’s rising quick on my list of “Countries that I like”. The people are super friendly, hospitable and curious. A nice mix. Many times we hear people say “welcome to Peru”, cars honk at us, people invite us in for a coffee or a place to stay the night. Moreover the landscapes here are stunning, majestic mountains towering over our heads, thousand-meter deep canyons seem to swallow you up, glacier-topped Andes peaks around every corner of the numerous switchbacks. Which brings me to my last reason why I like Peru: gentle gradients. Peruvians sure know how to build roads and especially bicycle-friendly roads. Although they probably did not have cyclists in the back of their minds when constructing these roads (instead most probably heavily loaded mining trucks). Roads are not crazy steep because of the many switchbacks that they’ve introduced here. It makes for stunning scenes.

View More Peru II: Canyons, Lagunas & High Altitude Plains

Ecuador I: Camping in the Cold at 4.000 Meter

In the south of Colombia I’ve met two other cyclists, Gaetan and Dea. They’re a couple from Switzerland and they’re cycling from Colombia to Argentina. We decided to start cycling together. We don’t know for how long. We just go with the flow as long as we still like cycling together. It’s been since Nicaragua that I’ve cycled together with someone (with Fernanda) and I was actually looking forward to meet some fellow cyclists again.

View More Ecuador I: Camping in the Cold at 4.000 Meter