San Martin

The second day I was in San Rafael I went for a ride to find one of the spots they use for the water sports activities here, rafting and canoeing, but I got lost and didn’t make it. On the way back into town I pulled up alongside a couple of guys on a BMW 1150GS Jorge Chaves and Alejandro Spinello . We stopped for a chat (as much as possible with my limited Spanish) and they invited me to go along with them and a couple of others that were going out for a ride to a canyon that afternoon.


The ride through the Gorge was spectacular


Alejandro liked the Wombat


And he had one or two bikes that I liked!

The ride was spectacular (even though we got wet on the way back, but we called in to say hello to some friends of Alejandro, who invited us to stay for dinner. I got back to the hotel at three in the morning!! But had a very nice evening.

Jorge invited me to come and stay with him in San Martin a small town just outside Mendoza until I could get the bike serviced so I’m experiencing some real Argentinean family life with Jorge, his wife Ingrid and their son Julio. I don’t want to outstay my welcome, but there have been hints that there will be an Asado (BBQ) at the weekend.


Jorge (on the right) with his friend Adriano (who makes some award winning Grappa)


One of the water irrigation channels that feed San Martin


Who needs tread on tyres?? Formula one don't have it.

The bike is with the BMW agent in Mendoza for a 50,000km service. I asked about tyres but they don’t have the Metzler Tourance and the Michelins they offered are quite expensive (maybe because they were made in Spain not Brazil, so I have decided to wait and see what I can get in Santiago in Chile, where they don’t have the import restrictions or high taxes that Argentina does. The back tyre isn’t worn out yet, and the front will last for a little while.


The BMW agent in Mendoza


All ready for the Dakar? This one was used by a local driver last year

Even the ride out of Bariloche is spectacular as you travel around the end of the lake then climb up into the mountains and get a panoramic view across the lake to the town. The route up to Zapala takes you through winding valleys and follows the rivers that have cut through this volcanic area. Condors float above you riding the thermals effortlessly.



Zapala is another small town in the middle of nowhere but it seems to have a civic pride that some of the larger towns lack. The Hotel with the casino seemed to be the nicest with secure parking. It seems that throughout Argentina a three star hotel will set you back about $40 t0 $50 and the older I get the more I like my comfort. I’ll put up with quite a bit of shit during the day, but it’s nice to have somewhere comfortable and clean to stay at night.

The next day was a big one. A 530km ride up to Malargue with nowhere but a fuel stop in-between. Unfortunately they were delivering fuel when I got there and for the next hour nothing gets served. No choice but to wait patiently until they decide that it’s OK to pump gas again.



Just when you think you’ve got it licked, Routa 40 throws it’s last little bit of a challenge at you. The last 100km is ripio, and some rough stuff at that. Corregations that rattle your eyeballs, and for the first time what we in Australia call bull dust in Africa it’s called “fesh, fesh” its basically very fine dust that is like talcum powder. At one point there was no way round it, but the hole that I hit must have been eight inches deep. The resulting dust cloud from the front wheel covered everything from the knees down in this fine powder. I rolled into Malarque looking like I’d done a hard day on the Dakar!! The hotel gave me a broom to try to get the worst of it off before I went to my room.



I’m now in San Rafael an easy ride through the last of the scrubland and valleys until you come over a crest and are confronted with a lush green valley filled with vineyards. Lots of vineyards, I’m into the main wine producing area of Argentina. The tree lined avenues and streets are well thought out, with a irrigation system to water the trees. Just keep an eye on where you are walking or you can end up in a four-foot channel full of water!!

Next stop is another short hop up to Mendoza, the capital of the area. Time to get the wombat serviced, and some fresh rubber. The front has taken a beating from the sharp rocks on the ripio, and the back while not worn out, best be changed now, then it should last me through until I hit the Dalton Highway in Alaska. the Dempster Highway in Canada.

The next days ride was the sort you dream of, long sweeping bend one after the other. Climbing up through valleys into the mountains with scenery that just gets better all the time, and the sun shining. These days take me back to the first time on a bike when I was sixteen, and it’s why I still ride motorcycles.



I made contact with Jorge and Claudia Alegre whom I had met earlier over on the east coast. They live in San Carlos de Bariloche and had said that if I needed a hand to find some good, cheap accommodation then to let them know. They found me this very nice little self-contained cabana a short ride out of town but with a supermarket and restaurants close by if I needed them. I waked into the town the next day and there was a parade of the local Gauchos through one of the main streets.





This place has some of the largest shops selling chocolate that I have ever seen. Chocoholics strike this place off your list!! The hot chocolate is just like drinking it pure.



The next day I took a ride out along the lake, Lago Nahuel Huapi, and a ride up the chair lift to the top of Cerro Campanario (Bell Tower Hill) where you get three hundred and sixty degree views of the surrounding countryside.



I continued at a very slow pace around what they call the circuit chica, no point in rushing when the views are this good.



I’ve got one more day here, posting this blog some more Emails and some route planning. I’ve got to try to make up my mind if I cross into Chile as planned in Mendoza or carry on further north and stay in Argentina.

Routa 40

I think It’s something like 80km of asphalt as you leave El Calafate, then the road runs out and the ripio begins. It then goes on and on and on, slowly making it’s dusty way north. There is one fuel stop at Tres Lagos, and then not another for the next 370 km at Bajo Caracoles. I filled the spare can up and tied it securely to the right hand rear footrest and set off with a certain amount of trepidation as to what was coming that day. I was lucky in that the sun was shining and there was not a lot of wind. It was bad enough doing that road in the dry, if it had been wet and windy it would have rapidly become a nightmare!! I had planned to stay in Bajo Caracoles, as there was a hotel marked on the GPS, but when I got there it was about 3.30 in the afternoon and I figured seening it was only another 120km to Perito Moreno there would be more choice and more life!! And I could again have two nights there and have a chance to rest up.

Having said all this the scenery as you ride Routa 40 is lovely. It isn’t as flat and desolate as the Patagonian roads on the east coast, and the rolling hills and the constant presence of the Andean mountains to your west, always provide the promise of what’s to come.



Two nights in the nice little Hotel Americano was enough to allow the antibiotics to work their magic and allow me to carry on without someone standing on my chest. The bike also had another good clean, and check over from top to bottom. I’ve made it my goal to have the cleanest travellers bike on the north south route. It may not give you the street cred, but it makes me feel good about my ride.



Even if it was only going to last 20km outside the town the next day before the ripio started again. It only lasted 120km, but it was some of the most difficult that I’ve ridden. The gravel was deeper, which kept the speed well down, and it took me nearly three hours to cover that distance. Luckily that was all it was that day, and although I had another 520km to cover it soon turned into rough tarmac at Rio Mayo, where the potholes were more than willing to swallow the front wheel of a drowsy rider, and then onto smoother two lane highway all the way up to Esquel.

It was a cold day as I left Ushuaia in the company of Scott and Claire, an English couple I met in town and had dinner with the night before. They had already finished their journey down Routa 40 on their Yamaha Xt600, and were now heading North up to Buenos Aires, so for a day at least I had a travelling companion back up to Rio Grande. A short and non-eventful day, but so cold!!

I left early the next day to get across the border and start heading across Tierra del Fuego to the most Northerly Chilean town of Puerto Natales a big day on the bike of 550km I say big, normaly that would be fine, but when the temperature is 10 degrees Celcius it’s not funny, plus as I left Rio it was raining. I was glad to pull into town and find a nice little hotel almost straight away. While I was trying to warm up and also decide if I was going to stay in the Torres Del Paine national park the Hotel owner suggested that I take a tour the next day and come back to them the next night. I was already starting to feel crook so I took the offer. Boy was that the right idea, the next day was a twelve hour tour around the park, mainly on rough surface “ripio” which would have been very hard on the bike, and I don’t think I would have got to see half of what I did. Plus by the time I got back all I could do was try to find a pharmacy to get something to stop me coughing and my head from exploding!!


Torres del Paine




The Waterfalls in the park


Icebergs from the Grey Glacier


Finally a chance to phtograph the Guanacos (not Lamas)


And even more timid choique (like a small Emu)

I left the next day with a reasonable 350km to do and a border crossing almost straight away. The border crossings are fairly straight forward, with the passport done first followed by the bike paperwork. Apart from being behind a coach that was full, all was going smoothly until I came to do the bike into Argentina again. They asked for the paperwork for the bike? Of course coming into the country they needed to fill in the temporary import papers, but all of this seemed to cause confusion, but they stamped the back of something the customs in Buenos Aires had given me, and said it was all fine, I have my doubts, but we will see when I cross into Chile again.

El Calafate is a lakeside town that once again is a centre for the tourist trade for the area. The main attraction here is the Perito Moreno Glacier a gentle 70km ride out of town around the lake and toward the mountains. The last twenty km in the National park (once you’ve paid you 75 Pecos entrance fee) is a spectacular ride on a bike with beautiful twisty roads surrounded by he mountain scenery. A free shuttle service runs from the carpark up to the viewing platforms for the Glacier. After visiting the Hubbard and one or two other Glaciers in Alaska last year, they realy have got it right here, with layers of viewing platform that almost take you right up (it seems) to the face of the Glacier.







Only when I turned around to climb back up the stairs did I realise how bad my chest was. I could hardly breath! And my right lung was painful. The decision was made there and then to break out the emergency supply of antibiotics I had got from the travel doctor as a last minute decision (a good one as it turns out) Whatever I had it wasn’t going to go away on it’s own!! And tomorrow was the start of Routa 40 and a ball breaking 620km most of which was going to be off road!!

I'm in El Calafate, back in Argentina once again. This is a beautiful place by the side of a lake with a backdrop of mountains. About 70km away is the Puerto Moreno Glacier. There's no apology for this being short because I've been as sick as a dog for the last three days, so bad this morning after climbing up from the glacier viewing platforms that I decided to break out the emergency supply of Antibiotics. Hopefully I'll feel a little better in the morning because there is a very long day ahead of me to get anywhere. I'll update when I get the chance with some beautiful photos.

Ushuaia

Wednesday 3rd Nov

Mike Green had already warned me that Ushuaia is an oasis for the traveller here, and he was right.

Ushuaia is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra Del Fuego. It is commonly regarded as the southernmost city, bounded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel. During the first half of the 20th century, the city centred around a prison built by the Argentine government to increase the Argentine population here and to ensure Argentine sovereignty over Tierra del Fuego. The prison was intended for repeat offenders and serious criminals, following the example of the British in Tasmania and the French in Devils Island.





These days it not only is a container port, but a port for the cruise ships that call in here and also a departure point for the tour ships that head for Antarctica. There is a good variety of shops in the main street, and the restaurants cater for the European tourists and open at around seven o’clock, which is great for me as I don’t have to eat in the middle of the night for the next three days.

The National Park is about 20km outside town, and in-between the coaches pulling in I managed to get the bike in front of the sign for the obligatory photo shoot.



Once done a look around and more photo’s of the magnificent views, on once again a perfect day. The fairies must have kissed me again!! I’m sure my luck with the weather is going to run out sooner or later.





On the way back into town I decided to give the wombat a treat and to it to the local car wash to get rid of the grime and dust of the last 3000km. Given the right conditions it will be covered again in no time!! But for now it’s clean.

The next step is to turn around and start heading north, for the next 18000km!! The next stop will be up to Rio Grande then across Tierra Del Fuego to the Chilean town of Puerto Natalis. I’ve also bought a 4ltr fuel can for the next leg.

Down to Ushuaia

Saturday 30th Oct

What a change Puerto San Julian was, a small seaside village half way between the two oil towns. At the end of the main street you are staring at a replica of a Portuguese sailing ship, a little way further down there is a Mirage jet on a pedestal as a memorial to those who died in the Falklands/Mavinas war. I had a very nice room in the Hostelria Miramar and a very nice meal in the restaurant just up the road. A very nice little place to stop.







There are also some cascades just at the back of the town, I couldn't see them the first time I walked round to look, but then I realised it was a tidal pool that filled up when the tide came in but then as the tide went out the water was trapped and slowly falls out over the rock/corral wall. I've seen a similar thing on the Great Barrier Reef.



The Dukes of Hazard are also alive and well in Puerto San Julian!!



Sunday 31st OCT

Rio Gallegos is another industrial town and the 430km to get to it are as featureless as the town. The only benefit is that it is only about 70km from the Chilean border.

Monday 1st Nov

Tierra Del Fuego is split in two halves. One half belongs to Chile and the other to Argentina. Neither side is willing to give their half up. So you have to cross the border twice to get to Ushuaia. Once into Chile the road finishes and the dirt (or ripio) begins, about 120km of it. Now why the Chileans haven’t paved their bit is a either that there is not enough traffic to justify it, or that by not paving it, that keeps the amount of travellers down that want to get to Ushuaia. It's also an Island so you have to get a ferry across the 5km of water.





Either way it’s a pain. Luckily the weather was good, the border crossings went smoothly and by the time I got to Rio Grande, which was were I thought I’d stay the night, it was only 14.30, so I pushed on the last 200km as I figured that I could then stay in Usuaia for three nights and not have to worry about packing everything up for a short day.

The last 100km made all the aches and pains go away. You start to approach the mountains at the back of Ushuaia. Snow capped peaks soon surround you on twisty alpine roads as you climb up over them, and then drop down the other side and into the town.