A Ride for the Climate

Santiago, Chile

January 16th, 2007 by David

After four days biking south along the Chilean coast, I arrived in Santiago, Chile’s capital and largest city. I lived in Santiago for a few months during college (one reason that I seem to speak Spanish), and returned to visit the family that I had stayed with six years earlier.

Chile’s economy, unlike many places in Latin America, has grown impressively over the past decade. There are new buildings, new highways, new busses, and more cars than I remember. There are also new bike lanes, and, amazingly, more bike commuters. I saw a surprising number of people who were middle class biking around Santiago, and met with Arriba e la Chancha, a bike promoting group, who also gave me a plate to put on my bike reading ‘Un Auto Menos’ (One Less Car).

It is summer here, and schools are on vacation, meaning I could give no school presentations. I did the next best thing, though, and was interviewed by channel 13. For those of you who failed to tune into Chilean national TV last week, fortunately, there is YouTube. Click below to watch (Sorry — it’s all in Spanish!)

I also appeared in The Santiago Times, a publication in English, La Nacion, a respected national publication, and La Cuarta, a journal ‘for the masses’ that for some reason, in addition to providing news, always seems to have a picture of an attractive woman on the cover.

Also, if you are in Santiago and need help with your bicycle, I strongly recommend Luis Cabalin at Doctor Bike on Coquimbo 1114 (ph: 698-4193, email cabalin@doctorbike.cl) Definitely one of the best bike mechanics in town.

I stayed in Santiago a long time, spending time with my former host brother and sister, visiting my former academic program, and even climbing a mountain over Santiago. I also stopped by CONAM, Chile’s version of the EPA, and Terram, a local environmental NGO. Thanks again to Juan and Myriam for housing me for so long! (Juan can be seen trying to ride my bike away on the right). I am now headed south through Chile, with only two months of biking left.

Posted in Chile | 4 Comments »

Northern Argentina and crossing the Andes (again)

December 29th, 2006 by David

Biking south from Salta, green forest eventually gave away to desert landscape, and I again found myself biking long stretches of desert between small towns.

Biking Argentina (and Chile) after traveling the northern countries of South America is a bit of a shock. The people here are far wealthier. Stores are stocked with all the food I could want (I get to drink my daily liter of chocolate milk in Argentina, for instance). People also treat me more like an equal and stare at me less when I bike into a plaza.

Northern Argentina is also relaxed. They have a siesta that lasts from 12:30 to almost six in the afternoon. More than once I biked into a town at 4pm and wanted to buy some food, and I was told ”Not at this hour! You have to wait until the store opens at 5:30 or 6.” It is hot in the afternoon (it is summer here), so I suppose this is somewhat understandable. An amazing number of people use bicycles in the small towns, and I enjoyed sitting in the town plazas and seeing few cars. (click on video below right to see bikes).

My friend Dave Johnson flew in to join me for this section (and brought the new bike fork — see last entry). We celebrated Christmas biking up into the Andes, crossing into Chile. Santa brought us a dirt road, a steep climb, and a fierce headwind that made us travel half as fast. (Watch the ‘official Ride for Climate Christmas Video’ by clicking on the video on the right).

Crossing a 15,500 ft pass (Paso Aguas Negras) on a road that sees less than 30 cars a day, we passed glaciers and snowfields in an experience that seemed more like mountaineering than bicycling. Following the road 150 miles down the deep Elqui Valley, we arrived quickly to sea level and the beach town of La Serena, Chile.

Posted in Argentina, Chile | 5 Comments »

A broken fork and a welder

December 17th, 2006 by David

Twenty kilometers north of Salta, Argentina my bicycle fork sheared off at the top of the headset. Thousands and thousands of miles of having the handlebars adjusted too high (so I learned later) weakened the metal, and it finally broke. By some stroke of luck, it sheared off while I was stopped, instead of when I was biking.

Shocked that my handlebars no longer connected to the bike, I hitched a ride to Salta, Argentina, where I was dropped off a bike store. The owner of the store immediately told me that the town’s frame builder could weld the broken fork back together, and that I would only have to wait until Monday until the frame builder could do it.

Two days later, Alberto Alconce (below left) cut the arms of my fork off and welded a new stem that would go through the frame and connect to the handlebar stem. The pictures below show more or less show what happened. In the middle is a photo of me holding the old fork stem next to the bike, and where it broke. Alberto cut the arms off the old fork and welded the arms to a new stem — you can see the new welds on the photo on the right.

Perhaps because the operation cost me only $5, I was not sure to trust the fork the rest of the trip. Fortunately, a good friend of mine, Dave Johnson, was flying in a few days to join me, and I was able to get him to carry a new fork from the U.S. I biked a few days south on the old welded fork, and then Dave showed up with a new fork that I installed. You can see Dave flexing and showing off ‘his muscle’ on the right.

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South into Argentina

December 11th, 2006 by David

I spent a week in La Paz, where I talked to almost the entire American School. I also somehow managed to get in two major newspapers, three radio stations, and a morning live interview on national television (the program ‘Al Despertar,’ for those of you who tune into Bolivian television…)

From La Paz, I basically started biking south as fast as I could, and I am now in Northern Argentina. I have been traveling fast for a few reasons — the end of the school year (southern hemisphere summer) means I can’t give presentations, I have a desire to not be rushed later in the trip, and I made a promise to meet a friend who is flying in to bike with me.

The terrain has been breathtaking. I crossed the world’s largest salt flat, and biked across the Atacama Desert, crossing sections of the desert by moonlight. There were few services on these roads – at one point had to carry 30lbs of food and water. Click on the images below to visit the photo albums of the past few weeks.

Southern Bolivia, including the world’s largest salt flat (biked partially with Wouter):

The Atacama Desert of Chile, including some incredible night biking:

Northern Argentina, where I am now. I caught up with Brooks and Gregg (and another cyclist Tom). Remember Gregg and Brooks? I biked across sections of Mexico with them, and just ran into them again:

Posted in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Schools | 1 Comment »

Travel Summary – Brazil, Peru, Bolivia

November 24th, 2006 by David

Hello from Bolivia! Welcome to the 5th travel summary of Ride for Climate: The Americas.

In the past two and a half months, I have crossed some of the most impressive terrain of this journey (see map of Peru). I traveled two weeks on a boat up the Amazon, crossed the Peruvian Andes (including a section where I had to put my bike on the back of the horse), and followed many dirt roads, camping next to houses where people live off only what they can grow on the mountainsides. I Visited 9 schools (sometimes talking to the entire school) and appeared in the national media of both Peru and Bolivia. I celebrated my one year anniversary of travel overlooking the ruins of Machu Pichu, and I am now in La Paz, Bolivia.

Thank you again to all of the people who have helped me out and sent me positive messages from the road. As always, the people I meet along this journey continue to keep me going (even if I have to learn how to count to ten in the local indigenous language).

ENTRIES FROM PERU (and parts of Brazil and Bolivia)

9/6, Two weeks traveling up the Amazon River

9/14, Ride for Climate passes 100,000 page loads

9/15, Biking the Peruvian Jungle

9/27, Putting my bike on a horse and crossing the Andes

9/28, What do I say to public schools?

10/2, Climbing a mountain and melting glaciers

10/15, Into Lima, Peru’s capital

10/16, Water problems in Peru and Global Warming

10/17, Transportation in Lima

11/2, Dirt roads through the Andes to Cusco

11/15, Machu Pichu, Cusco, and Lake Titicaca

11/21, Announcing Ride for Climate USA

BEST VIDEOS

Running around a boat to get exercise while floating up the Amazon
My bike on the back of a horse
Getting caught in a thunderstorm at 12000 ft
learning to count to ten in Quechua, the native language of the Andes
The view from 19,000 ft
biking in Lima
Camping next to llamas
Students saying ‘take care of the environment’ in the native language of Quechua
Biking by a political parade near Lake Titicaca

WHAT DOES GLOBAL WARMING MEAN FOR BRAZIL, PERU, AND BOLIVIA?

In my last update, I wrote about the dangers that the Amazon rain forest might face under global warming.

   I spent most of the past few months, though, in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. The clearest problem in the Andes is that much of the water supply and hydroelectric power during the region’s dry seasons is based on glacial water. In the next 50 years, we will likely lose all of these glaciers, resulting in major costs to Peruvians and Bolivians. These countries are also very poor, and the costs to adapt to losing these glaciers is likely to be very high (a world bank study puts the number in the billions of dollars for Peru).
   I did not write about this in my entries, but the region is also vulnerable to El Niño, a phenomenon that causes floods in northern Peru and a collapse of fisheries all along the coast (I talked with
some fishermen about this, and during El Niño years they said they had to find other work). It is unclear how El Niño will change under global warming, but there is some suggestion that El Niños may be stronger or more frequent, or even that the world would turn into a permanent el nino state. How El Niño may change, though, is still very scientifically uncertain.
   More likely is a loss of biodiversity. The Andes here are incredibly biologically diverse, and traveling up and down in the mountains, I have seen the vegetation change dramatically (just look through the photos from Peru). A rapid warming, as is predicted, may result in major extinctions.

ANNOUNCING RIDE FOR CLIMATE USA
Yes, I know you all just received an email about this, but I am so excited about this project that I am telling you again: www.rideforclimate.com/usa. And don’t forget to tell people you know who are near our route! The trip starts April 21st, 2007, in Boston.

DO YOU KNOW PEOPLE IN ARGENTINA AND CHILE?
From La Paz, I will be traveling south through Oruro, Bolivia, then down to Salta, Argentina. I will follow the east side of the Andes, and then likely cross into Chile at La Serena before arriving in Santiago just after the new year. If you know people on the route that would be interested in Ride for Climate, let me know!

I now have a little over four months to make it to the tip of Argentina and Chile. Until next time, probably from southern Chile,

David

(I am actually in northern Chile right now, and not La Paz – I wrote this almost two weeks ago, but found almost no internet in southern Bolivia to send it out!)