Miserable Lies: November 2006

Take me anywhere, I don´t care, I don´t care, I don´t care...

First things first, check this out. It´s one of the best things I´ve seen in a bit.

After this I´ll be all caught up blow-wise; I´m thinking that might be a big releif.

The world´s deadliest road was fun, but somewhat bogus. I´m glad I was in a small group because the bigger groups were really slow, I was allready riding the brake as it was. But anyway, this is the start..

I promise there is a Jesus statue in their somewhere..

Our guide Christophe was the least annoying of all guides.

The first hour of the ride is asphalt. You don´t need a break, but my hand hurt afterwards from using it..

One hand at 45km/h feels sketchy on a wonky wheel. Quick release sucks..

Oh, did I mention you start in the clouds and ride through this insane valley?

You can´t ride through the tunnel anymore. I think a bunch of Jewish people probably died or something. Note: Jewish tourists love south Peru. Every time you hear a story about someone dying doing something touristy they were Jewish. No I´m not anti-semitic.

I got a mystery cut on my thumb..

This section was fun..

Steed art..

Weird French dude..

About half way down things turn into super warm cloud forest. Lots of people die on the right side of this corner..

During the rainy season there is a full on waterfall here. This is where the most people die.

I shredded it with a camera..

It´s a bad photo, but if you can see that patch on the hillside, it´s a coca field.

After the wet section..

The end..

I call this one: totally illegal gear Bram would never let me buy/your christmas presents.

Even though that Canada Dry was totally fake, it was a welcome releif.

Since Andy was real sick, I did lots of this..

The vaccum was neat..

La Paz is cool..

Andy thought these guys were going to murder me so we walked away very briskly..

He´s riding the keg...

Teenage smokers..

Dried Llama fetuses. The Leica crapped out so this is the only photo I have of them. These ones are tiny and hairless, there were far more intense ones...

I don´t know what you do with this much confetti, but there were tons of places just selling confetti..

Wow, is that,, Nah, it´s not bramwell.. -Bram, blog your cycling gear..

The carnival was closed...

Check this out, that´s real rusty sheet metal alongside that shabby-chique nouveu industrial architecture...

Andy busted a nut over this corner so I blogged it..

Another South American Barkman project. There was a killer bank spot that ran for 3 blocks to the right..

Pretty much a clown..

A very nice Burger King..

This building would make Andy Blum´s mouth water at its squattablity. But my camera sucks..

That wall was just too cool..

Bramwell thinks that Ecuadors ¨hand painted¨buses are super cool. But dude, in Bolivia you can airbrush whatever you want. Highligths included - but weren´t blogged - Chick with a snake and shark, Saddam with 2 f-16s, Star Wars, Spiderman, A different chick with snake and tiger..

This is where 3 days of driving through postcards really started. The Uyuni area is pretty cool. I tried to take the worst blog photos possible so as to not distract from my slides later..

Train Graveyard.. Coolest place ever..

That´s where salt comes from...

Just like all of the other warm water in South America, this stuff cures leprosy too.

Andy, before I wanted to stab him in the neck for slurping soup and chewing with his mouth open..

About as close to Antarctica as I´ve been..

Then there is just an island of cacti all of a sudden..

Hey Jimbo, I love you buddy..

The salt was very nice to lay on..

Later for you salt flats..

We should have gone here with better light. It made up for the catacombs in Lima being so bogus..

Why hello..

So all of them crazy bones were in this weird moonscape place..

It was almost as if the wind is on Bone Zone´s pay role..

Over to the left things got really cool.. But that´s a volcano or something.

This road was the perfect time for me to finally for the first time on the whole trip develop a case of mud butt..

Our guide Luiz said flamingos smell like farts..

He wasn´t wrong..

I think this is white lagoon?

Rommel showed up..

We fed him some old bread..

Benco´s whip..

More moon rock..
That isn´t color replacement. That lagoon is really red..

I chased the Llamas for a bit trying to get within 3 feet of one with the red lagoon in the background. It might have happened, I´m just glad that Llamas only really spit in captivity or when you punch them in the face..

This cat melted a pair of hearts..

Some geysers..

At this point I was so over it. When you start saying things like ¨why are we stopping, there is no foreground elemet¨ you´re being an asshole and need some alone time..

Hey Tara, this place was called Dali´s dessert. Just like Dali it sucked.. Well not really, I just wanted to die and it was cold..

For some reason I didn´t take a real photo of Luiz. He was a very nice dude. So funny too. He asked us for a list of insults and bad words..

I can´t stress how over it I was feeling. But skipping stones is a sure fire cure for just about anything. On top of that, I´ve been wanting to shoot stone skipping action shots. Scratch one of the list of things to do. Instant rejuvination..

Back in the real world. The light posts in Chile are pretty cool..

First sunset on the pacific. Andy and I thought about making out because it was really nice, but we´re both kind of haggard so ...

I forgot this place´s name allready.. They had a church..

And a pretty good pedestrian street..

I guess at least one person´s bike sucks more than Bram´s

The ocean is good for you..

These old bros were playing some sort of tennis with wooden paddles. It seemed that the only rules were that you had to wear a speedo and hit the ball as hard as possible.