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El Camino del Cambio has been overfunded through Startnext with 147%! We are happy and gratefull that the dream of being able to realize a journey and an idea has become true.

to relieve the headache and foster the adaptation. This picture is taken in La Salina Grande, a salt dessert.

In Susques we stayed two days. It is a small mountain-village with dirt roads, some lithium-mining companies,

the oldest cemetary in south-america and a big carnival festival. It was hard to get to the people, we were

perceived with a lot of scepticism (not in a bad way, the people seemed more shy than angry). A lady had died two days ago.

She had been hit by a blizzard while cutting grass for her animals. We met an activist whos face we were not

allowed to film, because she was afraid for the security of her and her daughter.

In Jama, the last Argentinian town before the border to Chile we stayed two days. One day after we arrived, the road

behind us had been washed away by heavy rain. The truckers who came from Chile showed us pictures

on their phones of white roads and massive snow-falls. We had hard moments at night with snow, doubts if we could do it, doubt

about the altitude, the wind and the water (we had to carry water for two days, 10l per Person, from 4100m up to 4800m at a distance of 150 km)

At the day we left to cross the highest part of our trip, the wind cleaned the sky and allowed us a (almost)snow-free

crossing.

At this Laguna Flamingos enjoyed the view at least as much as we did.

While cycling we kept warm, but the moment we stopped the cold wind became heavy.

The first pass: 4815m. 50% of oxygen only.

Our first night at 4600m. We camped behind a road-work container, the only wind-shadow in 100km.

The night cooled down to minus 7 degrees.

Pasta with tuna has never been more delicious.

Heavy counter-wind. Exhausted

Gustavo with a happy red nose.

Mate and chocolate at 4830m.

Thank you for your support and interest!

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Bastian Klügel & Claus Reichel Filmproduktion GbR
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Some thoughts about our journey, about what we learned, miss, think, expect in this first 1200km. First Gustavo in spanish and then Diego in english.

Gustavo:
1. Como te sientes con la mitad del cambino y del tiempo pasado?

Bien, estamos cumplindo en plan de viaje, en algunas partes incluso adelantados. Pero, como hablé hoy a Diego, as veces siento que si me dan la oportunidad de volver a Córdoba y empezar todo nuevamiente, yo lo haria, y mejor!
Pero creo que este es el precio de la aprendizaje del camino.

2. Que aprendiste?
Aprendi sobretodo a tener paciencia. Paciencia en las grandes subidas con la bici (en Infernillo a los 3000metros); paciencia en los dias pedaleando contra el viento (con las Salinas de Catamarca); paciencia cuando las gravaciones no andan o llevan mucho tiempo para
pocos segundos gravados.

3. Cuales fueran los momentos más dificiles?
Para mi el momento mas difcil fue la subida hasta el Infenilo. No tanto por la subida, pero sobretodo por el dolor en mi rodilla derecha. Muy fuerte el dolor. Pero bien, yo lo hice, fué una grande clase de..paciencia

4. Que hay que aprender todavia?
Aunque las preguntas del documental me parecen estar buenas, creo que tenemos que mejorar todavia “el aire” de las entrevistas, hacer con que la cosa tenga mas flujo.. que sea sencilla pero profunda. Eso es directamente dificil, pero creo que ya caminamos un poquino, pero no lo bastante.

5. Que esperas para el resto del camino?
Mucho frio y poco oxigeno en la travesia de los Andes, a 4800metros. Buenas entrevistas con los chilenos (con todo el aire de protesta por que pasa Chile); buenas tomas y videos del paisaje y de la gente de los Andes. Y que el agua del pacíifico estea calientita, un poquito que sea.

6. Que extrañas?
Tomar un bueno mate de Brasil con mi padre y mi madre. Hablar tonterias con mi amigos (aunque Diego cumple muy bien esta función jajaja). Pero está bien, el viaje es taaan intenso, con aprendizajes tan fuertes, con desafios tan grandes que yo puedo manejar bien con la “saudade”.

7. Tu comida favorita en el camino?
Helado artesanal en la ruta desde Tucuman a camino de Salta (capital)
Y empanadas con cerveza!!

Diego:

How do I feel at half-way&half-time?
The first day of our trip seems so far away already. I feel excited to cross the Andes. I have respect for the altitude, the wind and the low temperatures.

What did I learn?
If I shout against the wind to stop coming in our direction, it won’t stop.
Never forget to fill up the water-bottles in the morning.
“Pancho-Electronico” is a hot-dog in a pancake.
People often feel uncomfortable in front of a camera.

What do we expect for the rest of the trip?
I hope to sleep under the starts without rain many times. I hope we meet more inspiring people. I hope we stay healthy and without accidents.

What do I miss?
I miss to be with my family and friends. I miss to be in my own room and throw my cloths in every corner (setting up and taking down the tent twice a day is so tiring). Ich vermisse die Hackerbruecke mit Brezen, Spezi und Obazda und Freunden in Muenchen.

My favorite food?
Definately Sandwich! With cheese, ham, olives, avocado, chilli, mayonese, tomatoes.

The most difficult moments?
Crossing the Salt-Dessert in Catamarca. The heat made me tired and took all my energy.

What do we need to learn still?
Wake up early even though we are dead-tired.

When we arrived to Salta we were tired, we had doubts about our project. Who are we doing this for? Is it going to turn out right? We felt not satisfied, lost somehow. This feeling of doubt, of being scared to fail made it clear to us, how important this project is. We learn a lot. About the people we meet. In Salta we were doing interviews in a barrio called Floresta with two ladies in their fifties, sixties who are activists for Barrio en Pie. It was so hard to get them to talk, they had their arms folded and gave really short answers. Maybe they were shy, scared, felt uncomfortable with the camera. Probably various factors. But we learned a lot. On how we have to change our style of questions, to change the conversation, to not feel frustrated but go with the situation.

Pepe, an activist took us there. He was very helpfull, took us arund the entire Barrio on bicicles, showed us where his organisation is working. We are glad we met him.

We think the last 4 days in Salta did their job. We are full of energy and full of new ideas.

Salta to Jujuy. A narrow road in the sub-tropical mountains. 216 curves. Jungle, Birds, heat. No cars. We loved it. The 100 km seemed so easy. After Cafayate to Salta it was the most beautiful part so far.

Today we are in Jujuy and will continue to Purmamarca.

Ver mapa más grande

We always try to wake up as early as possible, here at 5 am, to avoid the heat in the middle of the day when the sun burns down with over 40 degrees. This is what we have for breakfast, six eggs and corn

The fourth night

I didn’t know this actually can happen: we had three flat tires at the same moment. Gustavo both and my front tire. We ran over a plant that has those nasty nails. Took us almost two hours to fix the SEVEN! holes.

I would like to write more about this trip, about the people we meet, about the food we eat, the wind, the sun, the animals, the road, our feelings and thoughts. But we are going to wake up at 5 am tomorrow to hit the road and climb up to 2000m the first time. We need a lot of energy and will go sleep soon.

The only way we can post news on the way is via twitter.com/whywetravel if youre curious.

Happy Travels

The last half an hour we left the bicycles at a restaurant and walked to the top. The view is impressive. We could see lakes, Eukalyptus forests, Cordoba far away, Cosquin a small town.

The lady in the restaurant, Fernanda, had seen us in the News last night (she told us we’ve been shown over and over all day long, with news about how Cordobas tourism is increasing). We aked her for water to cook the pasta we brang along. As we set up the stove outside, ready to cook, we realized we did indeed bring the tuna-cans, tomatosauce, onion, garlic, but no spaghettis. She laughed and invited us for a delicious lunch with steak and mashed potatoes.

The best part was the way back, rolling down the 20km we cycled up before.

When we left Buenos Aires I arrived pretty late to the busterminal. Gustavo was waiting for me and we wanted to check in our luggage. It was supposed to be the groundfloor but everything was closed. So we went directly to the terminal, talked to the busdriver and he told us, there is no way he?s going to take us with the bicicles not covered in the supposed cartons. We tried not to scream at him, as time was running, we paid 500 pesos for the trip and did not want to miss the bus.
We started fixing the bikes as good as possible, and as we turn around, the door is closing and the bus left. Shit.

Gustavo went to the terminal and started talking, talking, talking. He made them change our tickets for one hour later. We set up the bikes, covered them in our sleeping mats, towels, everything we had. At first to protect our bikes. Secondly, because otherwise they would not take them on board. Argentinian busdrivers are really strict to take biciycles as luggage. It’s not (yet) a bicycle country we guess.

We got lucky on the bus at 22 hours, watched Robert de Niros movie Meet the Fockers (perfect to fall asleep) and arrived at 7 am in the morning in Cordoba. We set up the bikes and I went quickly to the tourist information to ask for a map and directions to a Camping.

When I came back, Gustavo was shining from the flashlights of a TV-Team of Canal 8 of Cordoba. They were interviewing him, what the hell he would do with the bicycle and all the luggage.

As I arrived they called their boss, and then made a live interview with both of us.It was TeleOcho morning show. They asked us about our trip, where we want to go, why we are doing it, if we have been training before.

As we were cycling to the hostel first a guy at the traffic light said “hola chicos, los he visto en la television”, in the afternoon we asked a policeman for directions and he smiled and said “are you the ones who are cycling to Chile?”. This were our fifteen minutes of fame in Cordoba.

This city is so welcoming. The guy at the “Ferreteria” Tools-Store gave us a eletrconic plug for free, we were invited to “Super Pancho Electronico” (hot dog in a Crepe). Everybody is so helpful.
We stay in Aldea Hostel Cordoba, a really nice place with a lot of Isrealis travellers. Tomorrow we are going to a Mountain called Champaqui, a guy on the street recommended it to us. It’s 32 km away from Cordoba Capital and he told us it’s one of the most “espectacular” places to cycle. We will upload some photos tomorrow.

Ah and while we were cycling around the city and crossed the street to see an old brewery (no we were not drunk) Gustavo hit a hole in the ground and fell. This was our first (and last) accident.

It looks worse than it is. (to calm Gustavos mother: tá tudo bem! foi só um arranhaozinho)
Our bikes are ready to leave. Talk to you soon.

Our bikes are ready and waiting.

In our case for example handmade postcards with travel stories, DVD’s of our documentary; a travel book with photos, stories, memories of our bikeride through northern Argentina. And many more. If you are curious just have a look. We are trying to get closer to the idea, to realize our dreams though the concept of togetherness and sharing.

In a few days the finance-phase will open. What does this mean? That from this point, if you like one of the gifts you can transfer money via a normal banking transfer (just for germans) paypal (for internationals). YOu will need to sign in to Startnext, it will take you a few minutes. On the top left is a “en” button to change the page into english.

If we reach our goal of 1250 EUro of support, the financiation will be realized and the money transferred to us. If we dont reach the goal, the money will be re-transfered to your bank account.

If you have any questions please ask us! And thank you very much for your support and your interest.

Happy Travels!
Diego&Gustavo