After our 3-month training on the Camino de Santiago, we flew from Lisbon, Portugal to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in October 2005. From there our route led us south to Sao Paulo, across to the Iguazú Falls, and through Paraguay and Uruguay, to Buenos Aires, Argentina for Christmas.
Due to the harsh climatic conditions in Patagonia, January is the best time to cycle this mountainous wonderland. Weeks of pushing through pampa to reach Tierra del Fuego did not really sound like riveting travel, so we took an internal flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, down south at the end of the world.
From the southern tip of South America we started our trail northwards through Argentina and Chile, before exploring Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Glaciers, volcanoes, salt lakes, the Amazon jungle, Inca ruins, colourful markets and friendly folk were the order of the day for these fascinating 14 months on the bikes.
![Samaptoquito2[1]](https://gonebikeabout.com/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/samaptoquito21-o4vhrg0vwbvwntsg39qda4uciwqwntdgnhp7jingdg.jpg "Samaptoquito2[1]")