El Calafate to Puerto Natales, 230 miles

We were very rudely rushed out of Hostel Norte at 10am, even though the check out time was not conveyed to us or posted anywhere we could see. In a mad rush we packed up as the old lady practically chased us out with a broom.

The chain has the o-rings pushing through. Its not long now before she goes. How long we've got on her I don't know. I'd hate to have to buy a new chain in Chile at the end of the trip, but I would also hate to have the chain break in the middle of no where... I cleaned and lubed it as best I could and we pressed on to Esperanza with the "esperanza" we would make it without trouble.

At the YPF gas station, our half way stopping point, we ran into some Brazilians and our Portuguese friends we met at the argentina/chile boarder crossing in route to Ushuaia. The Portugese couple is on a Honda Transalp, and the Brazilian couple a Yamaha dirt bike with the best "strap work" I've ever seen. There site is rotacheguevara.blogspot.com and rotacheguevara.smugmug.com. I had my favorite heart attack plate, steak with two fried eggs on top, French fries and sautéed onions. I’ve been having that a lot lately…

Before crossing the border (again) back into Chile, we made the wise decision of topping off the tank at the gas station and stocking up on groceries for the ferry ride. The price difference between the two countries has me wondering if I should be crossing the border just to get gas… However, although the lines were very short, the folks were bored and not always that friendly. For example, while struggling with my gloves, I was asked about our trip by a customs official. His tone was strange, I couldn’t tell if he was genuinely curious or not. Something told me not. He started asking about what gear we had, and then turned and said, “you had better claimed all that with customs.” ??? Luckily he got distracted by someone and we were able to leave.

We also met a nice gentleman in Rio Turbio who was planning on doing a similar trip to ours next year with his girlfriend. He had lived in the US for a while, and was now living back in his hometown of Argentina. He also gave us some interesting information: In the south, there are no motorcycles available to buy, and for that reason, people are willing to pay incredible prices for them. Further, because there is mining and oil out here, the people make a lot of money and have nothing to spend it on. Maybe I should sell Yosh here, I thought immediately! But our trip isn’t over. He reckoned my bike would fetch $8000, but did not know how easy it would be to convert the US documents to Argentine. He didn’t think it would be too hard however. Its good to know we still have this option.

Back in Puerto Natales it felt like a ghost town, nothing like when we last left. A good thing for us as we were able to go back to our $20 hotel room steal we had the night before without worry of it not being available.

This guy gets an A+ in strapsmanship!

This young pup wanted to come along soooo bad...