On the road in South America

'It's not a holiday ... it's an adventure.' Driving through the vast, empty Atacama desert Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

A picturesque church in the Altiplano, Chile Photograph: Julia Sanders/Mike Carter

Enormous sculptures add to the surreal quality of the landscape near the Peru/Chile border Photograph: Julia Sanders/Mike Carter

Watch out! Vicuñas crossing Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

Add windchill from the speed of the bike to already freezing temperatures and you're hitting minus 30°C - but the ground is white with salt, not snow Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

Fellow travellers on the road - the llamas are a regular feature of the landscape Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

El Tatio geysers. They pop their boiling spumes at exactly the moment the sun rises over the mountains Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

High-altitude lakes in the Chilean Altiplano attract flocks of flamingos Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

Mike Carter and Kevin Sanders (in the foreground) taking time out Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

Riding in formation across the blazing white expanses of the salt flats Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

Crossing the border from Chile into Argentina Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

The road descends in graceful curves into north-west Argentina Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

'In the middle of nowhere, we passed processions of devotees, walking who knows where ... ' Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

A fellow biker takes a closer look at the drying tobacco leaves in Argentina Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders

The team line up outside the childhood house of Argentina's most famous biker, Che Guevara, in Alta Gracia near Córdoba Photograph: Mike Carter/Julia Sanders