Having spent over a year living in Chile way back when, I can attest that the Andes Mountains are a photographer's dream. The scale of these towering peaks and gaping valleys are like nothing most of us know wen we think of mountains. This hemisphere's largest mountain, Aconcagua, is in the Andes.

Indeed they are lovely, and so that is why I'd like to direct you to this nice little photo essay over at National Geographic that features a bunch of great pics of the Andes. Rather than hike these massive peaks, however, Henry von Wartenberg covered some 5,000 miles on his motorcycle, cruising along mountain passes through four countries in five weeks. From the salt flats and the altiplano to Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, the series here actually conjured up some vivid memories for me.

Filed under: Biking, Photos, South America, Argentina, Bolivia