May 13th, 2007, 7:30pm Santiago time
Chanarla, Chile
GPS: S26 34.222 W070 61.981

First things first.  We'd like to send a happy Mother's Day out to the mothers in our lives – to all of us, a Happy Mother's day to our loving mom, Kathy – we love you!

Rob would like to send his love on to Tanya - “Happy Mother's day, sorry for not being there.  We'll have a make-up Mother's Day when we get back.”

For myself, I'm gonna embarrass Natalie again.  “You're the greatest, and I'm on my way home to you.”

Due to Rob's diligence in providing us with a new schedule to hit Cartagena several days early, and because we had such a crazy day yesterday, he booked us a distance today that was fairly light.  From the resort hotel in Pichingua to Chanarla is a distance of about 800 kms, quite tame compared to what we've been working up to.

For the last five days, we've been riding late and sleeping late, and it was getting out of control – we were on the road until almost midnight last night.  Tonight, we're all going to bed early, and we're going to be on the road at 6:30am, up with the sunrise, and stopping when the sun sets.  Justin's the only one of us who doesn't mind driving at night, so he's always the hardest to motivate to get going in the morning.  Our goal tomorrow is either Tilviche or Cuya, both in Chile, so we're not going to be crossing into Peru until Tuesday.  

Today we managed to hit the road at approximately 8:30am, reluctantly 'cause we had to skip out on the breakfast our hosts were laying out for us.  Justin was especially bitter about skipping breakfast, and kept bringing that up throughout the rest of the day.  “It's the most important meal of the day, guys!”.

My hand is still a bit stiff, but the scratch is even smaller than it was yesterday.  I really miss my windshield, and am going to try to source one in Colombia.  

It's been neat driving so far so quickly – the radical changes in the terrain are quite noticeable.  Two days ago we were in heavily forested mountain regions – today we're on a desert plain, with red sand and rolling hills as far as the eye can see, with rocks and boulders strewn across the volcanic(?) landscape.  Especially striking is the contrast between the blue sea with the white-capped waves and the jagged peaks and massive boulders breaking up the smooth horizon.

Three days ago we were dealing with temperatures approaching zero – today, we started out at fourteen degrees, and by the time we got off our bikes at 5pm, it was a balmy 24 degrees.  We started stripping off clothing when we stopped for lunch at three (especially Justin).  I'm not going to miss the long john underwear with the little blue flowers on it.  Oh yeah - thanks for lending me that, Natalie.  <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="Very Happy" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

We're in this little town right on the ocean.  As we pulled up to the hotel, we attracted quite a large crowd of onlookers – mostly young boys, all of them extremely interested in our motorcycles.  This made Justin nervous, until we found out that the hotel has a gated parking lot in the back.  He's been pretty paranoid throughout this whole trip – justified, as I found out, by the fact that if we lose the bikes, we also lose the money Sean had to put down to get the Carnets for all the border crossings we're doing.
I believe I mentioned this pink yoghurt drink we first had for breakfast in Ushuaia.  Justin was so bitter about missing breakfast this morning, and his desire for it tomorrow so strong, that he went to the local supermercado and did some shopping.  He found me some of that yoghurt drink!  Woot!  Thanks Justin!  Strangely, though – no fruit is to be found, anywhere.  Dad's had a hankering for several days now, and we can't find any fruit, anywhere.

I've managed to spend the last two and a half hours on this computer, writing email and uploading pictures and whatnot, and i think it's time for a bath.  I've had a knot in my shoulders for a million years, now, and i'd like to soak it out.

Ryan Noble
Chanarla, Chile