Pedro and Maria Motorcycle South America!

Our book is FINALLY available!

2011-06-20T14:14:00.001-07:00

For all of you who are interested in purchasing our book, you can through our website www.motorcyclesouthamerica.com or going directly to Purchase Book.

We hope our book can help you to prepare and plan a similar adventure. In our book you will find our daily log, tips on gear and motorcycles, lessons learned, FAQ as well as the sometimes exhausting and always exciting details of a trip of a lifetime.

We have a new website!

2010-09-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

We recently discovered that Blogger has taken down around 90% of our postings. For those of you who would like to read our entire journey, we have created a website where you will be able to purchase our entire journal and additional useful information for those of you who are planning on making the amazing journey. As there are very limited resources out there for preparation of a trip like this, we hope this will help. The book will be available to purchase through Amazon in the near future.

www.motorcyclesouthamerica.com

Quite often we get a wonderful email from someone who read our story and is planning one of their own, thank you! We love hearing from all the people who share our passion. Please contact us with any questions, stories or if in need of some motivation to make your own adventure a reality!

~ Amie (Maria)

3 Year Anniversary

2009-10-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today we left our driveway in San Jose for Tierra del Fuego. We knew it was going to be an adventure, and we knew there were risks, but what we couldn't know was how profoundly it would change us, our perspective, and our relationship.

We get about an email a week from readers that stumble upon this page. Whether they are planning something similar or not, the common theme is how inspiring this trip is. If you are just finding the site now, on the left you will see months in reverse chronological order, start there to see how it all went down.

Gear Review

2007-04-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

The Motorcycle

Our Motorcycle of choice was the 2004 V-Strom 650, or DL650, or “Wee-Strom.” We came to this decision after a fair bit of research. We started down the path of BMW GS, as this is what nearly everyone before us was using for this trip, two-up. Although the GS is no doubt a great choice, it was out of budget for us. The second most popular bike from our research was the Kawasaki KLR650. The KLR has a lot to offer the adventure traveler, but comfort is not one of them, especially two up. Enter the V-Strom. Priced between a KLR and a BMW it was attainable. The twin cylinder engine made it smooth. The new technology (compared to KLR) made it much more potent, even though the same capacity. The largest difference, and what caused us to sell our KLR and get the ‘Strom was comfort. We could do 400 miles a day on the Suzuki. We could not on a KLR.

After 20,000 miles in the saddle, we are convinced the V-Strom is THE two-up adventure bike. Obviously, if you are going two-up you are focusing on an asphalt based trip, but by nature of an “adventure” you need to be able to tackle a bit of gravel, streams, dirt, etc. The ‘Strom can do it. And it will blow the doors off a KLR on the pavement, and will cost you nearly 50% less than a new BMW GS.

· Reliability: We had no problems, while others we met did (mostly late model BMW GSs suffering from clutch issues or rear wheel bearing failure). Our bike needed only normal maintenance, and even that was light. No need for throttle body adjustment yet, or valve shims. Just a chain, brakes, tires, and filters.
· Economy: Two-up, and loaded, we were getting around 45mpg.
· Robust Design: We could cruise at 90mph on 80 octane gass at 4000m altitude all day long. We could hit a massive pot hole at 50mph unscathed. We could dump the bike over in gravel, and not suffer a scratch (this was in large part thanks to the panniers however).
· Performance: The 650cc was the right choice for us. If you want more, there is a 1000cc. It will cost you about 40lbs more weight, and a bit more in gasoline. For a trip to Australia, or across the states I would have gone for the 1000cc. But for South America, there were only a few times I wish I had more power. More often the road will not allow you to run at excessive speeds, and the loss in economy and addition of weight were not attractive to us. To be honest, we needed the bike as light as possible for this trip.
· Comfort: Twins are always smoother than single cylinders, but this engine was extra smooth. With the addition of the corbin seat with backrest, Amie was comfy as well. As the saying goes, “happy wife, happy life.”

Modifications

Yes, the V-Strom is an excellent bike, but here is a list of things we did to make it even better! By better I mean mostly more built proof and more comfortable.

Pro Taper Handle Bars: I had heard the stock bars get a bit flimsy when the bike is loaded and in the dirt, so I switched out for BMW GS pro-taper bars on a set of risers to fortify my steering and put me at a comfortable riding position.
Acerbis Rally Pro Hand Guards: These were a bit tricky to get on, but offer wrap around aluminum protection for the levers (saved me at least twice). The hand guards are a bit small. Look cool, but do not offer much by way of wind/rain protection. These were adequate, but there may be a better choice.
Adhesive-Type Heated Grips: $20 online, and worth much more when its cold.
SW Motech Engine Guards: These guards were great. Simple, clean, strong.
SW Motech Bash Plate: Integrates nicely with the engine guards, however, not really that robust. Not recommended. There were a few problems I had with this bashplate. First, the mounting screws for the rear are not recessed or protected. In fact they are very pronounced and the first thing to scrape. The topes and mexico all but sheared the heads off the bolts making it difficult to remove the bashplate. Second, below the mounting points in the front are three large holes drilled to allow airflow through the oil cooler. These points would break incessantly. I had to have them welded at least three times. I don’t know who makes a better one, but I encourage you to look elsewhere…
Dished Corbin Seat with Backrest: Quite a big ticket item at $600, but for all the hours we did in the saddle it was worth it. Very comfortable for the passenger. For me, I wish I’d got it customized because the front dish was too big for my skinny @ss. Still, a very comfortable addition, especially for the passenger.
Remus Revolution Exhaust: Previous owner installed, but nice. Gave the bike a great sound, and was a fair bit lighter than the stock unit.
Highway Pegs: I got a set of $20 highway pegs from the bike shop and fastened them to the engine guards. A good decision it was.
PVC Tool kit: A Happy-Trails inspired PVC tube was made and mounted where the second exhaust lives on the 1000cc model.
12VDC Outlet: I wired a 12V outlet and attached it to the back of the PVC tool kit. This was handy for charging ipods, digi-cams, and heated clothing.
Tires: We used Michelin Anakees and Metzler Tourances on this trip. Both were great tires on the street, but neither instilled much confidence off road, two up. That said, I don’t know a dual purpose tire that will. We got about 6-8,000 miles out of the rear tires, the Tourances lasting a bit longer.

Luggage

We did a lot of research on what luggage to bring and settled on a mix of hard and soft luggage. Price was always a concern. We ended up very happy with the items we chose.

Happy Trails Aluminum Panniers and Rack: Our most expensive piece of gear at $900, was much more than I expected to have to pay initially. In fact, the sticker shock had me considering welding up a rack and boxes myself. The time required and complexity led me to just pony up. Low production USA MFG isn’t cheap. This was the best value I could find compared to the other players including Jesse, Touratech, and others. I forget the name of the size we opted for, but it was second to the largest. I was talked out of the largest by the sales person, and I’m glad I was, I still managed to scrape the corners of the boxes when cornering at times. The install was easy, but the fitment was not precise. For nearly $1000 you would think the mounting points would line up! Is HT not using a Jig or is it just off? Regardless, the rack and boxes worked great for us. The rack was very substantial and well made otherwise, as were the boxes. The locking mechanism might last 15 minutes on the street—the aluminium loop can be snapped by a 12 year old with a screw driver. The other short coming was lack of passenger grips. The HT rack replaces the stock rack, and consequently the passenger grips. Turned out I got to do some welding afterall. I cut my stock handlebars in half and welded them into the rack to make grips for Amie. As for capacity, one box had our clothing and toiletries, the other tools, parts, electronics, etc.
REI’s Large Waterproof Duffle: A perfect choice. We looked at the “trunks” and other hard luggage available for behind the passenger seat but were not impressed. The duffle bag strapped to the rack with two tie-downs was our solution and one we are very pleased with. First, it cost us only $60 (compare that to the HT trunk). Second, it has straps like a backpack, so you can just put it on your back as you head to lodging, or wherever. It actually is completely waterproof (strapped zipper side down) and very durable. We still have it and its still in great shape. This duffle bag held the entire campsite (tent, sleeping bags, mattress, pillows) as well as tennis shoes and dirty clothes.
Wolfman Expedition Tank Bag: Rave reviews online lead us to Wolfman. The product they make is well thought out and of high quality. It is not cheap at $150 for a tank bag, but it is a very nice product. We packed it to the gills at times and it stayed put. We paid an extra $15 for back pack straps—don’t recommend this, it doesn’t make a very good backpack. We didn’t pay the extra for the rain fly (I had to stop the bleeding!) but kind of wish we did in retrospect. When it rained, we were scrambling for a plastic bag we could pull over the tank bag. Though this worked quite well, the hassle was annoying. The tankbag had our documents, guide book, map, and other handy necessities like chap stick, matches, a pen, a leathermen, first aid kit, headlamp, etc.
Granite Gear’s Compression Sacks: A bag you can cinch down to compress sleeping bags, pillows, or anything to a smaller size. This was a key item used in getting everything to fit into the duffle bag.
Eagle Creek Clothing Organizers: The eagle creek trapper-keeper-esque clothing organizers were invaluable. We packed our items in these, folded them up, and jammed them in the panniers. Everything stayed clean and tidy. Well worth $15-$20.
Bungy Cargo Net: The $5 cargo net is another must. This thing saved the day many times. Whenever there was something we didn’t want to pack or didn’t have room to pack we would just strap it (like muddy shoes, water bottles, wet swim trunks) with the net to the top of the panniers.

The Riding Gear

We rode in our riding gear every day, without exception. All in all, we loved our choices. We were not always comfortable in the heat, but we were amazed with the versatility and quality of the gear we chose.

Mike’s Gear

Aerostitch Darien Light Motorcycle Jacket: Love it. I did not want to shell out the big bucks for it, but from the reviews I read, it sounded like a good choice. I ended up finding one used off advrider.com for $100. Even in used condition, it was a fantastic jacket. The quality is there, and after a trip like this, I would not hesitate recommending to someone by an Aerostitch. Even at $400. Every day I rode I wore this jacket. The only other jacket I brought was the fleece liner (which I wore almost every evening off the bike). I’m sure there are better jackets for a hot weather trip, but for us, going from Central America, to the Andes, to the Pampas, to Tierra del Fuego, this jacket performed adequately in the heat, and exceptionally in all other climates. The fit was excellent, the padding substantial yet not cumbersome, I could go on all day. Great jacket.
Aerostitch Darien Light Pants: Great. Pants to me are not as critical, or as difficult to come by as a good jacket, but that being said, these were very good. Again, kept me dry, felt comfortable on and off the bike. They do not breath very well and my legs were sweaty whenever we were not moving and the temperature was over 80F/30C. Also, the knee pads were a bit annoying when walking around, but just fine when on the bike. Good pants.
Scorpion brand Helmet: Scorpion is a discount brand helmet from Canada sold at our local motorcycle shop Road Rider in San Jose. They are about half the price of the big named brands, but with superb quality. Highly recommended for those on a budget. We replaced the transparent faceshield with a smoked version before we left as we live by the “don’t ride at night” rule.
Sidi’s Strada Evo Air Boots: Fantastic. I considered dumping my pair of tennis shoes as I was wearing these on and off the bike. Great quality boot. I opted for the Evo-Airs, which are the same as the EVOs but with vents. I suffer from sweaty feet, that’s what drove me to the decision, and while it was a good one most the time, when it was raining I really wished I didn’t have the vents (however wrapping duct tape around them works well for about the first 30min).
Alpine Star MX Gloves: I don’t know exactly what model these are, but they were great for hot weather. They are mostly mesh on top with some knuckle protection, with a soft leather palm and fingers. I loved these gloves in the heat, but they didn’t cut it for the andes or TDF. For the really chilly days I put on a pair of Snowboard mits we picked up along the way: water proof gauntlets with fleece lining.

Amie’s Gear

First Gear: Kilimanjaro: Love it.
Aerostitch Darien Light Pants: Good pants.
Scorpion brand Helmet: Scorpion
Sidi’s Strada Evo Boots: Fantastic.
Alpine Star MX Gloves: Great warm weather glove

Camping Gear

Rei’s “Half Dome” 2-man Tent: A little small and overpriced. We needed the tent to be small and light, and this fit the bill, but ended up being a bit cramped, and at $200, more than we wanted to spend. With that said, we did get our money’s worth out of the tent and it has held up very well. We did not camp much throughout Central America and most of South America, but we used the tent almost every night. Accommodations are generally inexpensive (and organized camping generally non-existent outside of Chile and Argentina) but most are not very pleasant and are rather insect infested (especially mesquitos). The best thing about this it goes up in two pieces: a pop up mesh dome, and an optional rainfly. For avoiding the mesquitos we never wrestled with mesquito nets, sprays, or coils, we just pitched our mesh tent right on the bed and slept soundly and safetly away from them as well as other pests we ran into (like spiders and scorpions!)
Whisper’s International Lite Camp Stove: This stove made the most sense for us, small and light, and runs on unleaded (we’ve got plenty of that), but halfway through Mexico we gave it away—we just weren’t cooking. The food was cheap and we weren’t camping. The only time we wished we had it was the end of our trip in Argentina and Chile.
Thermarest’s Sleeping Mats: Another item we ditched in the first weeks of the trip. They were massively bulky and cumbersome. We simply weren’t camping enough to justify them. This hurt because they cost us about $60 each. In Argentina, when camping was the only way to go, we bought an inflatable mattress, with pump, that was the identical dimensions of our tent’s footprint for $29. This was a bit heavier than the thermarests were, but not near as bulky, and much more comfortable.
MSR’s Stainless Cooking Set: This made a Mexican family very happy. Another ditched item.
Northface’s Algheny 4C Synthetic Sleeping Bags: These were great. They packed up small, poofed up comfy, and kept us warm everywhere but TDF.
The Company Store’s Cotton Travel Pillows: I scoffed at the idea of bringing pillows on a motorcycle. I mean how much room does the wife think we have?! This was another item that was really great. They packed down small in a compression pack and we used them very often, even in many hotels (because they were so much nicer).

Misc

Cheap Laptop: Another item that I was against, but my wife pressed for. It was a great choice. I had two gripes: Expensive and extra weight. These were both addressed. We got the laptop for $399 at Walmart (its not the fastest machine I’ve used, but its got a 40G disk, wifi, and 3 hour battery) and it is the same size as the V-Strom service manual. We put the service manual in the computer, and now its no extra weight. Its been invaluable for storing photos (we upload the photos to the laptop, burn them to CDs, then mail them home. Once we have confirmed receipt, we delete them from the harddrive). We have also been able to glean wireless internet for free on many occasions, watch DVDs in our hotel room, play solitare, etc. I would definitely recommend bringing along a cheap laptop on any trip over a few months.

Canon Rebel XT Digital Camera: A $900 digital camera I was against, but the wife was for. Her argument was that I had the motorcycle riding as my hobby, she had photography as hers. The truth is the MAJORITY of our photos were taken on the point and shoot pocket cam as it is way easier to just whip out, way less flashy for the less than safe city streets, and far less cumbersome to just grab and go. For me the bulk and risk associated with bringing this camera led me to say no, however, I choose my battles. J
Canon SD500 PowerShot Digital Camera: This pocket sized camera took the majority of our fotos and performed very well. We were also able to take many video clips. At the end of our trip, the flash began smoking. Strange, I know, but other than this, Canon makes an excellent camera.
Ipod Nano: We started out with an Ipod each but Amie’s got wet in Guatamala and was ruined. My Nano survived the length of the trip and was a fantastic accessory. Amie would listen to music in her helmet as we rode along many of the days.
Lonely Planet Guidebooks: Central America and South America on a Showstring were our two guides for the trip and they served us very well. Our only problem with them was they were if anything too budget conscious. When in Bolivia for example and fine dining is $5 a head, and the best hotel in town is $20/night, you don’t want to know where the cheapest hostel is or where to get a saltena for $0.10.
Nelles Maps: We bought Nelles Maps from Amazon.com for all the countries we were heading before we left. These maps are very accurate and detailed and also include many points of interest right on the map. We loved them.

Loaded up on the day of departure, October 1, 2006

Detail of passenger grip, 12v placement, and tool tube

Our riding gear

The economical tankbag rainfly

Amie models the eagle creek packing cubes

(not the tent in the funky mexican motel room)

THE two-up adventure bike

The End of the Adventure, Santiago Chile

2007-02-20T23:59:00.000-08:00

Amie’s Parting Words
Our adventuring has come to an end. Yes, that is right; we are departing South America, land of adventure, and continuing our travels to other regions of the world.

Back when this trip was just an idea, a thought that Mike and I entertained with excitement, I can say now that I had not a single clue what was ahead of us. A lot had to be accomplished to make this happen, and I truly believe we are very lucky to have all the cards laid just right so that our dream did become a reality. The trip was a very vague concept requiring much mental and physical work even before we set out on the road. Not quite knowing what was ahead, but strongly continuing with curiosity and freedom as our only fuel we persevered. I would almost say that the mental aspect of changing our lives to focus around only one thing, the trip, was the hardest thing for me. I had slowly grown into a life which was very comfortable and enjoyable. I loved my life, but I had to change everything about it and give up so much for this trip with no real expectations or knowledge of what I was going towards.

Once on the road, a whole new set of challenges hit me. I remember on the second day of riding realizing that I didn’t have a phone or a vehicle which I could control and I was completely dependant on Mike. I have gone through several painful withdrawals in which I desperately miss my family and friends. I have been in extremely uncomfortable situations where I have realized I don’t have any other option than sucking it up and pressing on. I have been hungry. I have been so hot that I felt I couldn’t even hold myself up, so cold that I felt I may loose my fingers. I have had the worst stomach pains, diarrhea and food poisoning. I have gotten filthy. I have broken down and wondered why I would ever put myself in the situation I was in. The list goes on and on, but throughout all the aches and pains I have had the most wonderful time of my life. I have seen so many different cultures, met so many different people, gazed upon some of the most unique and beautiful sites, become closer friends with Mike, have done some amazing things and lastly I have completed a huge accomplishment in my life. It feels great and I can say now that I am a changed person. For those of you who have dreams of adventuring, I greatly encourage you to make it happen. Anything is possible with ambition and effort.

I would still consider the rest of our journey an ‘adventure’ if Yoshita was to be a part of it, but over much discussion and time, we have made the decision to ship her home and continue our travels with backpacks. The reason for this conclusion are as follows: the cost of shipping her to Australia and Turkey, the great hassles of importing and exporting her in the various countries ahead of us, my desire to be able to help with the driving, my desire for a break from the saddle… the list goes on. I know Mike is a bit disappointed, but also strongly understands and agrees with the reasons, namely the first two. We are going to continue to the countries we originally set out to see, but utilize airplanes and rental cars to get around. I know we will still run across many adventures and great stories, but I do not think it will be as often and therefore our daily blog will not be continued.

We will post occasional stories and pictures to “Part II” at mikeandamie.blogspot.com for those that are interested.

Mike's Parting Words
I’ll never look at a globe the same.

This trip hasn’t been easy, but it hasn’t been impossible. If you are dreaming of doing something like this I would advise you to stop dreaming and start planning. 5 months traversing the Americas by motorcycle will cost you between 10-20K, a lot less than you would expect I bet. That is all inclusive, bike, flight home, shipping of the moto, everything. If you really want it, just do it (sorry Nike). Really, plan it, work towads it and do it. This trip has made me think its just that easy (because it is).

It was the best of times it was the worst of times. It was trying, not always fun (often we asked ourselves why are we doing this? Are we crazy?) almost never comfortable… but the worst memories soon become the best. I’ve come away with a new perspective, focus, appreciation, and confidence—not to mention an incredible bonding experience with my wife.

We said to eachother before we left “This will make or break our relationship.” Honestly, I felt like our relationship was already “made” but a bit nervous that 5 months together, 24 hours a day, through tough times might strain the relationship to a point where we might not be able to recover. But I decided we needed to do this, especially now. If we can survive this together, we are ready to start a family together. Maybe a bit more rigorous than other couples trials…

One of the biggest eye openers for me has been in regards to the perspective of time. Four and a half months at home, in the routine, goes by in the blink of an eye. There are birthday parties, a BBQ or two, maybe something a bit more exciting, but really, not all that much happens and everyone just grinds through the days, weeks, and months. For a bit of sacrifice, Amie and I were able to live, really live, for 4.5 months, and it felt like we’ve lived years—experiencing things you couldn’t experience in a thousand weekends.

Thanks
We want all of our fans and readers of the blog to know that you have all made our trip so much more enjoyable and have been the ones that inspired and encouraged us to keep up the journal so diligently. We have felt our friends, family and interested persons are almost right there with us, sharing our adventures as well as misadventures. It has kept us from profound homesickness and encouraged us to keep going during trying times. Thank you all!

We also would like to thank Brian for generously giving us the only ipod which has brought us music on our entire journey (after Amie managed to destroy it in Mexico); We don’t know what we’d do without such a generous gift! Also, thank you for the compression sack as we use it everyday! Thanks to Keith for bringing out all kinds of goodies to us in Ecuador (Yosh thanks you too)! Thank you mom (Pele) for providing us so many delicious snacks that have saved us many times and taking care of our red tape while away! Thank you Aunt Debbie for taking care of our baby, Candy, so well while we are away, we don´t know how we would do all of this without you! Thanks you Grandma M for hosting a wonderful Bon Voyage party for us. Thank you to Tornincasas for the great sendoff and mini vacation in Ensenada; great times. Thank you Gina and Tariq for taking such good care of our house while we are away. Thank you Adam Pate for being a great travel friend and contributing to the many great memories on the trip. Lastly we would like to thank Adam and Valerie for the inspiration of this whole trip.

Gear Review
Coming soon...

Lessons Learned-Tips
Coming soon...

Part II: mikeandamie.blogspot.com

2007-02-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

Santiago, Chile

2007-02-20T10:08:00.001-08:00

Well, what can I say. All the worrying was for nothing. Well, not really, Acecargo just got there act together today at about 9am. We arrived at 10am, and Paola (Ronalds assitant) gave us the directions to a crating company that would drain the fluids and provide the certificate, as well as crate the bike, and drive the box down to Valparaiso. This was sounding much better than leaving it in the grocery store parking garage.

We got down to United Shippers, and were very impressed with the level of professionalism and eagerness to help. This is where we needed to come first! Pablo Moreno was awesome. He showed us photos of other crates built for motorcycles and gave us a ride back to the metro. His storage area was very secure, and all and all we feel 100% better about the situation. Yoshita should be back in the USA in 22 days. If she arrives safetly and all goes well, I will share all the details of the shipping with the adventure rider community.

We rode the subway back to our hotel feeling very strange: excited and relieved to have found a solution we are happy with and at the same time said to be short a friend. Yoshita has taken on more than a human name, she has served us so well she is like a pal, a travelling partner throught the best and the worst of things. Safe travels old girl!

We'll miss you, champion of motorcycles!

Santiago, Chile

2007-02-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

What a stressful day today has been trying to get the bike shipped home. We got here with plenty of time, but have been on a wild goose chase for days, and now we are down to the wire far from confident the bike will be safe and we will be on our flight tomorrow.

It wasnt always like this. On the internet, I found acecargo.cl, which from email correspondence I felt very confident was up to the job, if a bit more expensive than I expected. I went back and forth for weeks with Ronald Chaytor with schedules, pricing, measurements, etc. When we finally arrived in Santiago everything seemed to be on the level. We felt fine leaving for Vina for the weekend, with no concerns or worries. When we got back today, all that had changed. Ronald was gone, on vacation at his beach house. His assitant was less than helpful. Everything she said gave amie and I more to worry about. Where they planned on keeping the bike was not safe OR secure, the pricing had already gone up, things like the draining of the gasoline, oil, brake fluid, etc was not addressed... All this and we leave tomorrow. We are supposed to give these folks $1000 and our bike with the keys and leave the country!? I have no confidence we will see the bike again! I would rather just gift it to someone on the street then pay $1000 extra on top of never seeing our bike again!

The reality is, if this doesnt work out tomorrow, we will just have to change our flight and use plan B shipper in Valparaiso, who requires two days minimum. Amie and I had a tough decision to make if we move forward with AceCargo or scrap everything we have done and start over in Valpo. The situation was sticky because the chain could go at any time (its past all adjustment and very noisy) and Valpo is about 70 miles away, plus we pre-paid for our hotel tonight, and we would be SOL on a ride back to the airport, etc. We decided to give AceCargo the shot. I went to bed with a few more grey hairs. Nothing we can do but wait and see...

Amie models her new purse

Amie wonders... Will she ship??

A giant beer and the decor at Schopdog got my mind off our woes

Santiago

2007-02-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

Today the plan was to head off to the “nice” part of Santiago. We didn’t sleep that great, even on our blow up mattress. It’s a bit like a water bed when its not full of air, and I toss and turn which drives Amie nuts. So I guess, neither of us slept that well. I think we were woken up to a superstar couple upstairs going at it on a very squeaky bed. Superstar because we tried to ignore them for about an hour and a half.

We took the subway down to Provencia and Los Leones. It was a bit nicer indeed. Amie found her purse, and we enjoyed lunch at an outdoor café. We’ve learned the hard way to add up the bill in our heads before we actually get it so we know right away if it is correct. There have been numerous incidences where we have been over charged, or given the wrong change. In fact, it already happened here in Santiago last night. The change came back, $2 less than was expected. I made a point of it, and then saved money on the tip (I don’t leave one in those situations).

We tried again without success to contact our shipping agent, Ronald Chaytor of AceCargo. Its optimistic to think I’d get him on his cellphone on a Sunday, but it was worth a shot. I’m more than a little anxious for tomorrow when we drop Yoshita off. I really hope it goes smoothly. I’ve always read, “make sure the bike goes before you do” and I don’t think we will be able to accommodate that. We leave on Tuesday, and we are dropping the bike off for crating on Monday. I’m crossing fingers and toes things go smooth.

Middle of the night emergency bed inflation

Lots of subways in Santiago

We are HERE

Santiago contrast

Vina del Mar to Santiago, 80 miles

2007-02-17T13:20:00.000-08:00

It was an easy ride back to Santiago in the sun. I’m glad we decided to stay another day in Vina, even if it was at “Chifa” (what we’ve named our hotel there). We pulled back into Santiago and began looking for the Acecargo office we were at two days before. Our plan was to find it, then find a place for ourselves in the same general vicinity, or at least near the same metro line so we could get back and forth easily.

We did the hotel shuffle for a bit, and ended up in the Paris Londres neighborhood. Its very nice here and the majority of the hotels are budget. I guess this used to be Franciscan Friar territories, with awesome homes built in the 1920s. It really is very pleasant. Unfortunately, our hotel isn’t. We had to settle on the only one of 4 that would allow us to park our moto inside. And boy was it a pain shoe-horning it in the front door, and then around two tight corners into its own room deep in the house. The idiot hotel employee brought me a piece of sheetrock two use as a ramp for the 3 steps out front. I mean really…. Sheetrock? Are you kidding? He wasn’t…

We struck out to do some shopping in order to prepare us for the next leg of the trip. We visited the central station shopping area and the Mall de Centro near Plaza de Armas. The central station shopping area felt like we were in Latin America again. Lots of graffiti, beggars and buscars, Pirate CD vendors, imitation gear, pickpockets (one tried me), etc.

The pickpocket attempted went something like this. Amie and I were walking through the crowd with our arms around each other. Two guys approached from behind and one bumped into me pretty good. I had my wallet deep in my front pocket turned so the wide side was perpendicular to my leg, basically as deep and as difficult to get out as possible. He then proceeded, dramatically to distract me by yelling and gesturing that I bumped into him and hurt him, or knocked his drink on him or something. While I was assessing the situation, his partner was hovering me from behind very closely trying to make the grab. Amie and I didn’t miss a beat, I kept my arm around her, ignored both of them, put my other hand in my pocket and pressed on. The two start shouting at us, but we just ignored them.

From what we saw today, our mind hasn’t changed on Chile. Not that great a country. Very American feeling, very expensive, not that clean, not that friendly. The only place we really like here was Torres del Paine, and that’s a natural park—hard for humans to screw that up.

Leaving Vina del Mar - Clear skies

A view of Valpariso

Driving through Santiago...the hotel shuffle

I sure wouldn't want that job

Yosh awaiting her parking spot

What a pain it was to get her in here!

Thumbs down to pushy people and pickpocketers!

Vina del Mar

2007-02-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

We woke up to the woman, with her bright red lipstick, knocking on the door only to mention that it was raining out and that we might want to stay another night at the “Chifa” (Chinese restaurant in Spanish) house. Well, sure enough it was raining, actually pouring—a bit of surprise from the sunny day prior.

We decided we better just stay put as we had the time and wandering through the rain to find another little beach town and doing the hotel shuffle didn’t sound like fun. Yes, we were looking forward to checking out from our hotel room which brings us wafts of foul Chinese food every so often, but at least the bed was comfy (as long as you didn’t take too big of a whiff of the sheets).

A rainy day in a beach town doesn’t make us too motivated to get out of bed so we slept in, talked, rested and did not much of anything until we had a little break in the rain in the early afternoon. We walked to the same restaurant that we enjoyed a delicious sandwich at the day before. I had to know what exactly they put in their chicken club sandwich so I could replicate it at home! Thinly sliced chicken breast, thick bacon, herb cream cheese inside a pita bread with a side of guacamole…fantastic.

The remainder of the day stayed dry for us, but the weather was still ugly and chilly. We wandered the streets some more—much needed on our legs as it seems few and far in-between when we actually get physical exercise on this trip.

Not much to our day, but before we knew it we were watching the Grammy’s until the wee hours of the night.

Hello Sirs

Vina del Mar

2007-02-15T13:12:00.000-08:00

We must have gotten used to staying up late because we didn’t fall asleep last night until nearly 2am. For the first time in what feels like weeks we got our 8 hours of sleep though, which was fantastic. Breakfast in bed arrived at 10am and was a pleasant surprise for Amie. ;-)

We lounged around catching up on this blog and photo downloading until about 2pm and then headed off to “McCafe” for free wireless and frappaccinos (is McDonalds starting its attack on Starbucks in South America??). We had lunch at a ritzy waterfront bistro. The food was fantastic and we couldn’t help but notice how American/European things feel. It definitely doesn’t feel like the rest of South America in central Chile.

Vina del Mar is the seaside resort for Santiago’s citizens. Its got a carny area, a pedestrian mall/promenade, a posh beachfront Malecon, highrise condos and casinos. The pacific is cold, just like home, and the weather is usually overcast in the morning and not all that balmy in the summer, much like Santa Cruz, CA (in fact the ride here over the hill yesterday was a lot like highway 17 with tall pines along a windy mountain road).

On the way back to the hotel I stopped to say hello to an old lady and a giant rottweiler. As I approached the lady was fear stricken that her dog might chew me up she pulled his leash so tight and told me to get away. What was that dog capable of we wondered. We spent the rest of the evening catching up on US gossip thanks to the E channel and watched American Idol.

Exquisite Chilean food

Everyone enjoying summer

Where's Mike?

This lady didn't want Mike NEAR her dog/beast

Los Andes to Santiago then to Vina del Mar 140 miles

2007-02-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Chile reminds us a lot of the states; I think we have a lot of influence here. Everything seems a bit more organized, clean and structured. Although, just when we started feeling that way, we encountered quite a few situations with our hotel that made us wonder if we were back in Central America.

The last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed and hit the road this morning. I felt extremely exhausted from all the late nights and weird sleep patterns from the days prior. Knowing we needed to press on to organize the bike shipping and the fact that our hotel was $46 a night (and not even nice) motivated me enough to pack up and put my gear on.

Our first stop was the shipping company that had told us yesterday to return in the morning. Well, just as we suspected, once we got there they really had no more information than the night before other than an address of a man in Valparaiso. This is precisely why we gave ourselves so many days to handle the bike shipping; nothing ever seems to go as planned. Mike decided it best to continue to pursue a guy in Santiago that he has been emailing back and forth about shipping for the last month—our next destination, Santiago.

We heard that Santiago is the most polluted city in South America. You could definitely see the smog as we began to approach the city. Once downtown we felt we were definitely in the states. Giant skyscrapers, business people bustling around on the wide sidewalks, clean streets, a nice place! With just an address we were both a little nervous that finding our contact would cause us to tour the whole massive city, but luck was with us and after a handful of inquiries we found AceCargo and met Ronald Chaytor. Ronald was an older man who is from Chile, but spoke great English from his many visits to his warehouse in Miami. He was what I would call a fuddy-duddy—shuffling around, mumbling ideas off left and right. Surprisingly his assistant gathered all the required paperwork and knew exactly what needed to be done. What a relief. We are to return Yoshita to his office in Santiago on Monday. From there, he is hiring a company to come to the office and crate her and our belongings. After she is crated he is hiring another company to pick her up and take her to Valparaiso where she will be shipped on a boat. Quite a few steps which makes us a little nervous, but it seemed to be well thought out and legit. Sometimes I wonder how many times people just drop their belongings never to see them again…

With Yoshita’s departure planned, we now have 6 days to ourselves before flying out. We were told not to miss the beach town of Vina del Mar which is just about 2 hours away from Santiago. There is an impressive new freeway connecting the two cities as it seems many people from Santiago spend their weekend and holidays here. On our way, we ran into a couple on a Harley Davidson at the gas station. Mike has become super-socialite and after chatting with them we rode together towards Vina del Mar as our destination was the same. They had full Harley gear on, belt buckle, hats, shirts, jackets, etc. They even sported an American flag bandana which was tied around the handlebars. They definitely drove a bit fast for my taste, but I let Mike have his fun following them and refrained from my usual leg squeezes to get him to slow down. Chile is more like the US than any country we have been on this trip: lunch at Mcdonalds, riding with a Harley, and on a good freeway no less!

Vina del Mar is HUGE—its as much a big city as a beach town. As we arrived we could see the view confirming both. The sun was shining, it was warm, but not too hot; a beautiful day. Our Harley friends were kind enough to escort us to a decent priced hotel and to inquire about a price as they said tourists always get a higher rate. They landed us in a Chinese owned hotel, first one we’ve stayed at. It is 35 dollar per night, which from what we have heard is a good price for this town during this season. Clean enough in the rooms, although when you walk into the lobby it smells of funky fried rice. The smell in the lobby I could handle as long as I kept the door to our room closed. We crashed on the bed for a while and caught up on some R&R. Since it is Valentine’s day, we wanted to make sure to have a nice dinner out, so just when I started to get ready, I noticed there was no hot water. A pain, but usually something easily fixed when inquired. I went out to the lobby and explained the situation. She said a few things in Spanish I didn’t understand then shuffled out to the backyard where I heard her turning some knobs, more walking back and forth, and at that point I thought Mike better take over. The solution the woman offered was for us to walk upstairs and have a shower. Heck no, if we were to have a separate bath, then we shouldn’t be paying private bath prices which are usually twice as much. The lady then proceeded to tell Mike that she can’t fix it until the ‘boss’ is back, but she didn’t know when the ‘boss’ would be back. She expected this to be sufficient, but not to us. We were upset and had already pre-paid for two nights. Mike returned stating that if he is going to have to use another bathroom, he wanted to pay less. If they didn’t know when the boss was to return, that is not acceptable and he would either have them move us to another room with working water or we would find another hotel. As soon as he said that, the lady looked shocked and then said ‘hold on let me talk to the boss’. Oh! So, now the boss is available to talk with. What BS, we thought we had left this type of service behind in Central America. Mike stood outside the room to add to the urgency and importance as the lobby clerk and ‘boss’, huffed and shuffled back and forth. Much time passed and we couldn’t believe the customer service we were receiving. They finally returned and ushered us to another room upstairs. They obviously didn’t want to put us in here as it hosts 3 separate beds. Yes, there was hot water at least although you receive it in spurts in between freezing cold….oh boy.

We took a bus into the central plaza area of the city which was supposed to have all the restaurants. We were hoping to find a nice little romantic place and enjoy some delicious seafood. We didn’t want to ask any particular recommendations as we usually only receives someone’s uncles restaurant. We figured it was our best bet to walk around the region of the plaza where the restaurants were. The plaza was beautiful, all lined with lights and bustling with people. Much to our surprise all of the restaurants were all fast food types, so we continued to walk down the busy street, after about 5 or 6 blocks ending with pubs and discotechs, no nice restaurants. After much walking and feeling quite chilled from the crisp ocean air, we settled for a little pub type place by the plaza which served Mexican food. I had my reservations on how good the Mexican food would be, but much to my surprise it was quite tasty.

We took a Taxi back to our hotel as it is a bit out of the way from everything but we forgot to buy water and being very thirsty did so at the hotel for the steep price of $1.50 per tiny bottle. Man, I miss Argentina already! Prices are SO high here it makes us both cringe. Well, we paid our 3 dollars for the water, brought them up to the room and while I took my first sip asked myself why I smelt that terrible funky fried ride… Looking at the bottle I noticed it was caked with funkiness which reeked of dirty Chinese food floor. UGH! The odor was so strong, that when you drank from the bottle you actually thought you could taste it. I tried to rinse the bottle, but to no avail. I smelled my hand after holding the bottle and it was as if the smell had absorbed into my skin. The most fowl smell you could imagine. We put the bottles down in disgust not knowing how to get the water out of them without having to endure such smells. We then noticed the room beginning to smell of the Chinese funkiness. We must get rid of the bottles! We scrambled in hopes of finding a cup of sorts, but with no options we plugged our noses and downed the water. Afterwards, we came to the conclusion that the smell wasn’t just coming from the bottle, but from the water as well as we could taste it lining our mouths. We quickly rushed the bottles to the hall and completely showered and soaped ourselves, hoping to rid us of the odor. 2 nights in this hotel and it has already caused us so much grief!

Old salty Chileans

Wanna go for a sweet ride???

Pedal to the metal Grandpa!

Chilean vineyard

Our first view of Vina del Mar...

...and our new Harley friends

Matching outfits again

Night out on the town for V-day! Ouuuu!

Mendoza, Argentina to Los Andes, Chile, 176 Miles and one border crossing

2007-02-13T12:21:00.000-08:00

It was hard to say goodbye to our new friends today. They all made us feel so comfortable as if we had known them for years. Leaving from such comforts to the open road again wasn’t easy, but needed to be done as we need all the time we can get to sort out the shipping of Yoshita. Unfortunately we have learned on this trip that even the simplest things usually require more effort than expected and thus much time to sort out.

No matter how many hours of sleep we get, Mike and I still wake up feeling completely exhausted. Today we did wake up a bit earlier than our usual mid day hour, but that is because we had to pack up and hit the road by noon. We had another great breakfast waiting for us which we enjoyed with Camila and soon after Francsico came home from work. He, Camila, Walter and Betty all wanted to join us on a farewell ride through the mountains towards Chile. It was great to have a farewell train of motos taking us out through town, almost felt just like the first day we left from our house, being surrounded by our friends and family.

As we headed out of town the scenery started to become full of beautiful mountain ranges, and the more miles we rode, the more beautiful it all became. Sunny skies, warm air, but not too hot, a perfect ride to remember as one of our last in South America.

As we weaved through the Andes, through tunnels and over bridges, we passed a few other motorists--four of them actually, 3 of which were V-stroms. Shortly after, we stopped for lunch at a parilla and met all of them. They were Brazilians. Mike somehow managed to pay for the lunch bill without Francisco noticing which was the first time we were able to pay for anything during the past 3 days.

We rode a few miles further and said our goodbyes. I have never met such generous people, and after being on the road for so long, they had truly made me feel at home in a sense and it was sad to say goodbye. I hope that they will come to visit us as I am not sure when we will be in Argentina next.

Soon after our departure, we started climbing higher and higher into the steep mountains. As we climbed the weather cooled down, until a point where we were actually cold again and could see snow not far up on the mountains peaks. We passed Camagoura on this ride, the second tallest mountain in the world. Right at the very top of our climb was the border crossing. By far the most organized and efficient border crossing we have come across on our entire trip. It was so well organized, you didn’t even have to get out of your car to exit Argentina or enter Chile. There were little booths set up that you drove up to, it was great; what a way to finish off our last border crossing in South America!

Mike found the shipping company in Los Andes who Francisco had mad a few calls to and setup all the information for us to ship. Well, just as we have come to expect, nothing seems as easy as it sounds. Sure enough the shipping company knew nothing of the information Francisco had given Mike and requested us to come back at 10:30 the next morning after they make some phone calls. That puts us a few blocks down in a little hotel for the evening.

No more Bife de Chorizo, Alfajores (little cakes), delicious empanadas…we sure will miss Argentina.

Mike made friends with this local mechanic

Our departure entourage

Francisco and Camila on the Africa Twin

Walter and Betty on the Varadero

Lunch stop with the Brazilians on the vstroms

Our final farwell...so sad

We will miss you guys!

Scenery was outstanding!

Back in the Andes!

Brrr...

Mendoza

2007-02-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

Amie and I were comatose. We cannot keep up. Even sleeping in until 11am did us no good. We were completely useless, however, that didn’t stop our hosts. They had a whole day planned for us. Camila was to take us on a city tour until Francisco came home from work for lunch, then we were going to pressure wash the motorcycle while the girls went shopping, and finish the afternoon at a vineyard wine tasting. Finally, dinner at Walters.

There are a lot of cities that are great to visit, but few that I could say I would like to live. Mendoza is one. Its about 600,000 people. Not too big, not too small. The climate is mild and dry. The downtown has incredibly wide avenues with old-growth trees offering abundant shade. There is a central park like NYC’s or Golden Gate park, complete with a lake, and all types of sporting clubs (rowing, golf, basketball, soccer, etc). Its got a bunch of universities and a solid 5 blocks dedicated to bars and restaurants. It is also the wine capitol of South America.

Camila was an excellent guide and we enjoyed seeing the city in style (from the air conditioned Chevy S-10). Marta, the maid, made us an amazing lunch (and did our laundry) and we rushed around doing all of the activities I described in the first paragraph. After a few glasses of wine at the vineyard I was really struggling to stay awake.

At 10:30 we arrived at Walter’s castle for dinner. His home is incredible. Brick porticos separate the living room and the foyer and kitchen. The backyard is even more fantastic if that is possible with 20’ high walls covered in vines, manicured lawn and garden, pool, fanciful lighting, and a table setting almost to pleasant to burden with a meal. Amie and I had mentioned in passing that we absolutely love Bife de Chorizo (sirloin steak) and Empenadas de Carne (meat pies). We were amazed to see mountains of perfectly made Empenadas on the table and thick juicy steaks on the grill. These people are the best!

Ice cream bomb!

Yoshita gets her second bath of the trip

Nothing like free wine and friends

(see above)

The grand tour

Betty treated us right with some homemade Empenadas

Perfect and delicous!

Sweet sweet Bife de Chorizo

Francisco's party trick (moments before he was covered in wine)

Lago Reynuso to Mendoza, 120 Miles with "Truck-Man"

2007-02-11T05:04:00.000-08:00

Lots of “Lysol and Cola” (as Amie calls it) was our excuse for sleeping in until almost 11am. As we were concluding our late breakfast of bread, dulce de leche and mate, more friends of Francisco’s arrived to enjoy some lake time and a Sunday BBQ. Ernesto and his new girlfriend Susana (or Susie) are in there late 50s/early 60s and quite eccentric. Ernesto has a little poodle he cuddles named Pepina, and Susana was just down right whacky (more on that in a minute). Walter and his wife Beatriz are cut from the same gracious mold as our host, and with them came there two sons Maxi and Mati. Maxi is finishing his last year of Chef school and Mati is a monster of a kid; 21 years old, basketball star.

The wood for the asado (bbq, and yes they always bbq with wood) was lit at noon, and the feast that ensued soon after will not be soon forgotten. Ribs, sausage, steaks of all different varieties were served in succession over the course of 2 hours. Amie and I could hardly believe the quantity of meat consumed. We were shocked when we learned that this was not even a special occasion feast, just a typical Sunday asado!

After lunch all of the adults took a nap. It was incredible, all of these people just sawing logs at 3pm in the afternoon. The kids (or those under 30, including us) enjoyed more lakeside activities. Amie and I learned a bunch more Spanish and our new friends a bunch more English. We also spent some time clearing up the pronunciation differences between the words “Bitch, Beach and Peach.”

Marisol has to complete a physical test which includes multiple handstands and things for her major as a physical therapist. I thought I could help her out, you know, since I’d been practicing and all. What followed was an all out Gymnastic expo. A 5 year old girl ended up stealing the show with a tumble routine and splits made to look effortless.

We started to pack up for the three hour drive back to Mendoza at about 9pm. I thought this was a bit late as Francisco and the others had to work tomorrow (it was Sunday remember). While Amie and I were packing up our things, we noticed more meat coming out of the refridgerator and more wood being lit. No one was going anywhere without dinner first! Yes, that’s right, we had another heart-attack asado at midnight, everyone gorging themselves on sausage and steak (with almost no vegetables or side dishes) before heading out on the road for a 3 hour drive. We pulled into Francisco’s garage in Mendoza at 3:45am. He was at work at 8am the next day.

The patio on Sunday

Ernesto and his stuffed animal

Walter the grill-master

Salud!

Gymnastics Session

Francisco curing Amie's headache

Yoshita gets a break

The second round of food
Dinner at midnight, sunday night (our only foto of the very zaney Susie)

Lago Reynuso

2007-02-10T04:49:00.000-08:00

Francisco has a 800cc two stroke wave runner and has given Amie and I cart blanche access. We spent the morning taking turns zooming around the lake and water skiing. It was great fun. Amie popped right up on the water skis and was doing awesome. I had a bit more trouble, but eventually got up. The lake itself is really calm and there are remarkably hardly any boats out even on the weekend!

Francisco’s daughter Camila and her friend Marisol are both 18 and amazingly mature. Our hosts have treated us so well and have been so kind and generous Amie and I cannot think of anyone we’ve ever met more friendly.

By the end of the day we gave Francisco the nick-name “El Salvador” or “The Savior” because in the course of one day, he saved the day 4 times. First a child was fishing and snagged himself on the cast, bearing the hook deep into the back of his arm. Francisco grabbed the pliers and yanked it out while the kids dad stood around shaking. Second, someone couldn’t get their boat to start, guess who got it running? A couple on a jet ski had fallen over in the middle of the lake and they could not get back on without flipping it again. Old man Francisco zoomed out there and set them right (leaving with the girl!). I don’t remember the last one but you get the drift…

Camila made pasta for lunch and we all enjoyed a siesta. We’ve got our own room with a queen sized bet. Its like we are at some 4 star resort and Francisco won’t let us pay a dime for anything! Who would have believed we would be here after a chance encounter at a gas station a few weeks before!

We were treated to pizza and beer for dinner and then went over to a neighbor’s house for drinks. The cocktail of choice in Argentina is undoubtedly Fernet and Cola. Fernet Branca is an Italian liquor, licensed for production in Argentina. It tastes a bit like cleaning solvent, but after one or two, they begin to taste pretty nice! We discussed the differences of our respective countries into the wee hours. Some of the most interesting facts about Argentina we took away with us include that the state-sponsored universities are 100% free, and that everything imported has an 80% tax added to it. Yes, you read that right, 80%. If they buy a laptop, motorcycle, ipod, or anything made outside of Argentina it is 80% more expensive than in the USA.

We had the lake practically to ourselves

Cute kid
Jet skiis are called Agua Motores
Camila and Marisol

Amie claims she has water skiing skills
OK, lets see what you got...
She was awesome!
Marisol preferred tubing
Say "Queso"

Francisco gives his best godfather impression
We had a blast with our new friends
The late night "Fernet" party

San Rafael to Lago Reynuso, 40 Miles

2007-02-09T04:41:00.000-08:00

Even though it was hot and blue skies the day before, we woke up to dark thick clouds and eventually rain. Not a very good start to a day at the lake.

We had some time to kill before riding out to meet our friend Francisco at his lake house. We walked the town until it started to rain, did our taxes in the comforts of the hotel lobby and enjoyed some more bbq’d chicken.

The drive to the lake wound us through many tree lined suburban streets. Even though it looked from the map like there were several lakes nearby, you couldn’t tell from the road. We had to cross a couple of raging rivers swollen from the rain. This time I actually stayed on the back of the bike as I’ve learned that when I get off and walk myself across I usually get much more wet than if I just stay on. My new approach proved to be best.

Once we arrived at the gate, Mike was told by Francisco on the phone the prior day to head down the dirt road about 7km, from there you will see a restaurant, to go into the restaurant and ask for Mauro, Mauro would take us to his house. We hoped that we could follow his directions successfully as otherwise we’d be nowhere. The scenery once we hit the dirt road was fantastic. You could see the lake and the steep mountains surrounding it. Sure enough at the end of the dirt road was a restaurant and inside was a man named Mauro who worked there. He was a little guy and with a big grin once he heard the name Francisco, he hopped on his tiny scooter and we followed him through the trees to a house right beside the lake. The house it self was simple with three bedrooms up stairs and a spacious living area and kitchen downstairs. We didn’t snoop around too much, rather we made ourselves comfortable on the back patio and enjoyed the gorgeous lake view.

Not long after, Francisco arrived with his daughter Camilla, her friend and a jet ski. Even though we barely know Francisco, they all made us feel so comfortable and at home right away. After way too much food, tons of fun on the jet ski and a couple nice swims, Mike and I felt we were at an exclusive resort. Since it was Friday, there weren’t many people on the lake either, at times you felt you had the entire gorgeous, calm lake to yourself.

We stayed out on the water until the sun was setting and Francisco began to prepare his delicious bbq’d chicken. Dinner was a giant feast. Mike and I feel completely honored and lucky to be guests in their house, we were having a great time and it felt so good to stay in a real home with a family as this is the first time since we left San Jose.

Beautiful tree lined streets

Following 'Mauro'

Lago Reynuso

Francisco!

Fun in the sun

We help where we can...

Argentine BBQ (Asado)

Margerue to San Rafael, 122 Miles

2007-02-08T04:35:00.000-08:00

Before heading out of time we had to make a stop to clean the chain as it is in extremely bad shape and we just pray everyday that it will get us the last few miles that we need it to. We had to stop at a grocery store to buy a kitchen towel to use with the WD40 for cleaning. While I went into the store, Mike started to take of the chain guard and meanwhile the old gentlemen who happened to own the grocery store insisted that Mike work on the bike within his back parking lot space. He was extremely helpful, wanting to assist mike with every move in amazement of the bike and our journey. He had his workers bring us out fresh baked croissants, coffee, juice and insisted that we take his offerings. It was a nice start to the morning.

We were back on the road. We didn’t know if we would ride to San Rafael for the night, or continue the additional 150 or so miles to Mendoza in hopes to meet up with our new friend Francisco. The ride wasn’t too exciting, the beautiful and big mountains slowly dissipated as we approached San Rafeal, but the road was fairly straight and flat and the 220 went by quickly. It was about 1:30 when we arrived in San Rafeal, you could already tell we are approaching and entering wine country (Mendoza is the wine county of Argentina). There were plenty of beautiful great big tree lined streets, little vineyard and some small orchards. San Rafeal itself seemed more like a working town, although I think the nearby lakes draw some tourism. We checked our emails in hopes that we heard from Francisio, and sure enough he wrote, invited us to stay with him and his daughter at their lake house nearby San Rafeal for the weekend. Perfect timing!

We set out for lunch before it was too late as we’ve learned that lesson the hard way too many times. We just made the lunch hour and enjoyed a nice Milanese. People sure love our motorcycle as large sized motorcycles are very few in all of Latin America. People always ask how big and some show their interest in buying it. I’m really surprised that larger bikes are so hard to come by and so expensive as there seems to be enough people interested and who have the money. We had a couple guys approach us about our bike while enjoying lunch.

After lunch we were on the hotel shuffle. Even though there were several hotels along the main strip, it seemed we were driving around and inquiring forever. Either too expensive, no bike parking or too dumpy. There seems to be quite a few poverty stricken people in this town as there are quite a few, young and very old trying to sell something or beg, haven’t seem that in quite some time. Other than the solicitors and beggers there are several people riding old bicycles all over town. After circling through the streets for quite some time we discovered a really nice hotel with a new A/C unit. Yes, it has gotten quite warm already and the A/C was much appreciated. So much so that Mike and I feel asleep for a 3 hr siesta.

Ride, Eat and sleep, mike said that is all we do lately. Soon after we found a parilla to have dinner, which seemed to conclude his comment quite nice. BBQ’d chicken and salad. The salads here in Argentina are far from what we get at home. First of all there is no such thing as salad dressing here. Even if you search out for some type in the large grocery stores, you won’t find anything. They strictly use oil, vinegar and lemon for the topping of the enseladas. Also, the variety of vegetables in the salad is not near as wide or creative as in the states. For example you usually can get one or two ingredients (lettuce and tomato, carrot and egg, etc). What you usually get is a big bowl of grated carrots with a hard boiled egg on top or diced tomato. I personally order salads as often as they are offered as I never feel I get enough greens on this trip, but this time the salad came out with their ‘dressing’ on it already. The dressing this time included the usual oil and vinegar, but also lemon. Whoa! Flavor explosion! You don’t even know what hit you when you take your first bite. Let’s just say I’ll pass on the lemon from here on…

Argentine Kindness

Road-side stinker

All smiles

2-7-07 Chos Malal to Margarue, 220 miles (about 50 miles of rough road with deep gravel)

2007-02-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

The deliciously fatty food is taking its toll. Amie pinched my “back fat” today, something she hasn’t seen in months. I guess that’s what a month in Argentina will do; a month full of Alfajors, Steak and mash, giant ice cream scoops, beer, greasy empanadas… all this without any vegetables. The lack of veggies isn’t by choice either (if you can believe that!). Yes, all the weight we lost in central America, Peru and Bolivia is nearly back.

Today’s ride was beautiful—one of the best of the trip for natural beauty. We headed up Ruta 40 from Chos Malal towards Mendoza stopping in Margerue (spelling?). Amie was snapping photos like paparazzi as we past some amazingly stunning rivers and mountains. About 150 miles in today, the fantastically maintained road just gave out to gravel and sand. It was incredible. Here we were in the middle of nowhere on perfect pavement, only to turn a corner and see a sign “Fin Pavimiento” and it meant it. We slid and skid for 30 miles before reaching pavement again. After 20 miles or so of 70mph glee, it was back to white knuckle concentration at 20mph for another hour or so. Mentally and physically strained we decided to stop in Merguere instead of San Rafael.

Merguere is the gateway to the best skiing in Argentina. That is great news to us because we haven’t been anywhere where it is off season in a while. Off season is great—everything is cheap! This town is quaint enough, there are all the services we need, and the hotel we have is nearly sanctuary status. It wasn’t easy to find, the hotel shuffle today had 5 other stops, but persistence pays off. The nicest one is also the cheapest.

My little spot on www.beastskills.com made me blush. I’ve been following the site since we left and am inspired by the creator to no end. Anyway, if you type Mike Tornincasa at Google, it is now one of the first places my name appears. Good thing too, my old friend from UCSC, Paul Foster was searching for me after having lost my contact info and was able to get in touch thanks to the site!

I love the old cars, mostly american and italian

Scenary is incredible (again)
Strange clouds today
Mike sore from all the kidney punches
I recommend this road to all motorists

Junin de los Andes to Chos Malal, 272 miles

2007-02-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

After a long and boring drive to the very un-touristy town of Chos Malal, Amie spent about 5 hours online and I read Che Guevara’s “Motorcycle Diaries.” It was a relaxing afternoon.

Our hotel is nice and cheap, with the big bonus of free wireless (hence Amie’e extended online session). There were not many restaurants in town however so we had to cruise it for a while before settling in for dinner. I’ve got into the habit of adding up the bill in my head so I know what to expect when “la cuenta” arrives. Often, there is a mistake making the total a couple dollars more than it should be. I wonder if these are honest, or geared towards milking the unsuspecting tourist for all they’re worth. Either way, we have been traveling far too long for this BS. You could imagine my surprise when the waiter gave us a total much less than we had expected. It was like he just pulled a number out of thin air right in front of us. We paid and left a good tip.

One other interesting thing happened at dinner. I ordered a Fernet and Cola, one of the national drinks. What arrived was not what I expected, the waiter brought a bottle of Frenet and an unopened 1 liter bottle of coca cola, he set them on the table and walked away. I mixed my own drink, and then when we asked for the bill, he asked me how many drinks I had. Maybe I got a discount for being my own bartender?

A word on “Motorcycle Diaries.” This was one of the books I wanted to read on the trip and in fact brought with us from home. I leant it to Adam Pate who was in need of some reading material in Mexico but he left the book behind at a hostel. After searching most of South America for another copy he found one in BsAs and I was finally able to read the book. Che Guevara is probably the largest cultural icon there is in Latin America. His image is everywhere: t-shirts, tattoos, graffiti, stickers, you name it. Nearly everyone we meet compares our journey to his… Americans say snidely “Oh, cool! You’re doing motorcycle diaries.” But Argentine’s hold motorcycle travel near and dear as Che Guevara was indeed Argentine. If George Washington, or Ben Franklin went on a life changing trip by motorcycle when he was young, Americans might feel similar.

We in advertently followed most of Che’s route: from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, then down the Atlantic coast to Villa Geselle, Neocochea, and Bahia Blanca, our route exactly. From there he cut straight across to Bariloche, Junin de los Andes, the 7 lakes route and San Pedro de los Andes, where the Norton 500cc died. Many of the observations made 50 some odd years ago are very similar to ours (however infinitely more eloquently recorded.)

The trout capitol of Argentina

A 40's army jeep almost as nice as my uncles
Beautiful rivers at every turn
Thanks adam for these great photos!

Villa la Angostura to Junin de los Andes, 180 miles

2007-02-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

Mike woke up to the alarm as it was regimen time with Adam before we parted our ways. At 8:30 the boys were out back of the hostel doing their list of various pushups and pull-ups. I packed up.

It was sad to part ways with Adam. We had a great few days with him, and it was tough to leave without knowing we will see him again on the road further ahead. He is going south towards Ushuaia, and we are going up North towards Santiago where we will be leaving South America. It was a shame we didn’t get anymore time riding with him in South America, although I am just lucky for the last week relaxing in the Lake District with him; good times.

We headed out on the paved road which we’d already ridden on our way into Bariloche originally, and continued on up route 40 through the beautiful lakes, forests and rocky mountains. Nice scenery although both Mike and I felt a bit sleepy. Maybe we were getting too used to not riding with all the downtime we’ve had the last few days…

We originally hoped to get to a town off 40 about 115 miles further than we had ridden, but once we hit the intersection to either go to our last chance at the lake district quaint towns or press on to an unknown city off route 40, we chose to end the day earlier and enjoy more of what this lovely district has to offer. We didn’t quite ride the whole way to San Martin de los Andes, but stopped just 40 miles short at Junin de los Andes. It is a town known for its trout fishing, small and quaint. The trout is delicious! Empanadas delicious and already we are feeling the price of food going down; we love it. Empanada at lunch was 30 cents, can’t beat that.

We have a nice sanctuary hotel room tonight which we have fully utilized by a long nap and lounging on the large comfy bed.

So long baby face

On the road again, in the land o' lakes

How many lakes are on the "Seven Lakes Route"?
Mike in "time out" (punishment for driving too fast)

Villa la Angostura

2007-02-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

We decided to stay here for Super Bowl Sunday. The hostel had a good sized TV and comfortable seating area. We were told the game was on at 5pm so we planned the day around it. We thought we would go for it and make a big spread: Nachos as big as your ass, chili dogs, etc. That was the plan anyway, but it didn’t turn out as well as we hoped. We stuffed ourselves right before going to the grocery store and without much motivation to shop for food we left empty handed—well, that and the fact that we couldn’t get any type of tortilla chips or chili.

My hands were sore from spending the better part of the morning trying to break Adam’s chain. He was long over due for a chain and sprocket change and we thought the early afternoon before the game would be a good time. Besides, two sets of hands and two sets of tools would make the job easier. Without a chain breaker, or a good solid screwdriver or chisel, or die grinder, or anything other than a hammer and some odds and ends, breaking the chain was a real challenge. After about 15 minutes of strategic effort it turned into a primal exercise in brute force. About 2 hours later it gave way. Those OEM Japanese chains are tough!

We settled in for kickoff at 5pm, but were told by “El Ruso” the flash Russian manager of the hostel, that the kickoff was at 6pm. Turned out the national anthem wasn’t sang until about 8:30. Oh well. We could tell immediately that this superbowl was going to be different than any other. First, the announcers are speaking Spanish. Ok. That we could have anticipated. The real bummer was that we got NONE of the great commercials we expected. NONE! We thought we’d at least get a couple. Nope. All we got were the same 4 or 5 ESPN commercials promoting the same 4 or 5 programs (like German Silva, etc)

There was another American in the hostel excited about the super bowl, she was from Chicago and very excited to have the Bears in the game. So was Adam, who is also a Bears fan. We were all pumped to see, when the ball was finally kicked off, it ran back for a touchdown. Adam was dancing and shouting for all to enjoy. It wasn’t soccer, no, but I think we made an impression on the Argentine on lookers.

In true super bowl fashion, we had pizza delivered, and when the game looked out of reach turned it off. At this point it was about 11pm… we had been in front of the tube for about 6 hour, drinking beer and eating pizza. This was the closest I felt to being home in 4 months.

Damn these chains are tough
Go John Henry!
Two hours and two bloody knuckles laterAmie pumped for the Super Bowl
The beards last day
I'll never call Amie anti-social again, look how easy she made friends with this gnome!

Traful to Villa Angostura, 50 or so miles of mostly dirt

2007-02-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

Although our little campground and beautiful lake in Villa Traful would make anyone want to spend as many days as possible, the need for laundry overpowered the possibility of staying another night, so we pressed on. We decided to ride just a few miles down a dirt road to Villa la Angostura. It is a small sized lake town not far from Bariloche which again reminds us all of lake tahoe.

We knew the dirt roads around here are dusty as we had them on our drive into Villa la Angostura, but it still blew our minds how much dust was in the air. You couldn’t avoid it, there really isn’t any wind to speak of, so when a car passes and kicks up dust, it lingers in the air just long enough to plaster your body and Yoshita as you pass through the cloud. You just have to accept the dust…we did and were covered by the time we reached pavement. Other than that, the dirt roads were very smooth and I didn’t have that constant feeling that we are going to wipe out!

The countryside is fantastic, patches of forests, crystal blue rivers, lakes, streams and little towns spotted here and there with their giant wood beamed frames.

We enjoyed a light lunch when we entered town before going through the hostel-shuffle to find a room. Given that it is Saturday, we knew it wouldn’t be easy to find something available. Great cheap food under the most enjoyable settings…we sure love Argentina. After we searched out the only hostel in this town, unfortunately they didn’t have any double rooms left, but fortunately they did have something for us. We all shared a 4 bedroom dorm room, in hopes that the fourth bed wouldn’t be filled throughout the night. Ten bucks each including breakfast, not a bad deal as it is a nice big and clean hostel with kitchen access.

We utilized the kitchen, Mike made bolenese pasta, Adam made fruit salad and I was the assistant cook. We followed that up with some helado in town while we picked up our laundry.

Ready to face the day

So long Traful, we will miss you

Highly visible, but at the same time, invisible
Hello from Lake Tahoe!
Introducing Team T... and A
Thanks Adam for the great photo!

More of Adam's photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atompate/

Traful

2007-02-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

None of us really wanted to leave just yet. We slept in for a bit and then had a mediocre breakfast across the street. The conversation turned to the man book I am writing and some interesting brain storming passed more than a few hours.

The campground we are at now is very nice and run by a german couple. The area itself really is beautiful and unspoiled. It feels a bit like lake tahoe, but a bit more majestic and with a fraction of visitors.

Amie was on the hunt for adam today—trekking the campground, engaging cute girls in conversation on his behalf. The verdict was the campground is too family oriented. We revived the hackey sack competition, and adam kicked my butt with 105 today. We both enjoyed the exercise. We made lunch out of fresh bread, fresh honey, and homemade raspberry jam. Delicious.

The rastaman at the market charged us a hefty deposit on the beer bottles of 4 pesos (about a $1.33) each. Adam thought the rastaman looked like the pimp in the movie “True Romance.” I thought that price was crazy, but then I thought it might be imposed to insure people don’t break bottles on the beach. Anyway, when we went to take them back, no one wanted to help us. They just told me to put them in the pile of empty bottles in the back. When I asked for my money they offered me 2 pesos per bottle. I told them I had paid 4 yesterday, and I wanted my 4. The dude asked me if I had a ticket. No, no one gave me a ticket. Who did you talk to he asked. I said rasta dude. Then he said come back and talk to rasta dude for your money. I said this is not my problem, this is your business, your business charged me 4. It seems to me you should talk to rastadude and give me my 4 pesos. He said sorry. I walked out seeing red. I would expect this BS in Honduras, not in small town Argentina.

Camping!

Day 2: Hackey Sack Challenge

Action shot

The regimen

I'm up to 10
Choripan!
Caption contest
We didn't see adam the rest of the night

Bariloche to Traful, 5x miles (x dirt)

2007-02-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

The campground was loud and the services were lacking. The toilets were not toilets, but the infamous “squatters” (two footprints and a hole in the gound). One night here was plenty. Before we left I changed the rear brake pads as the rotor was getting scraped by the bald original set. I also took a hose and gave Yoshita rinse, had to get the salt spray off after the boat ride. Adam washed his bike for the first time on the whole trip.

Our destination was a dot on the map on a lonely dirt road—Traful comes highly recommended by some nice older ladies we met in line at the border crossing into Argentina. The ride here was magnificent with crystal clear, mirror image ponds and rivers, dramatic rock formations and patches of dense forest—a beautiful landscape that feels remote but was not far from Bariloche.

The last 20 miles or so was dirt and Amie was very unsettled giving me the thigh squeeze at every turn. She has a sinking feeling that something will happen to us at the end of the trip as we may let our guard down during our last days in South America. Knock on wood! We made it to Traful. We were concerned we may not get laundry done, internet, or even a grocery store out here as it is indeed pretty remote. Luckily around the next corner we found everything we would need for the next few days of relaxation and catching up with our old friend Adam Pate, El Guapo himself.

Before pitching our tent we had a delicious lunch consisting of Ravioli in Trout sauce, Trout in Garlic, and delicious mutton sausage… all at Argentine prices. Back at the campsite we got set up and went down to the waters edge. The water is cold (there is still snow on the mountain peaks afterall) but beautifully clear. There were families relaxing, children playing, teens frolicking, and one particular guy who was hooting. Yes, hooting, and hollering. We thought at first because the water was at his “tender bits” but when the hollering didn’t stop for some minutes we all realized he must be mentally handicapped.

Adam and I passed the rest of the day in Hackey Sack competition. I felt good with my best effort at 63, but adam maintain his claim of “winning all games” turning in 88 continuous kicks. Adam is also implementing a regimen. I advised push ups, pull-ups, handstands, and handstand pushups. We will see how long he keeps it up.

After dinner at the same glorious restaurant, young Fidel and I had cigars on the beach. I tried to talk to him about life, goals, and basically getting his act in together in general. I don’t think it fell on deaf ears, but I do think it was in vain. Adam and I are very different, but regardless he is still a good friend.

Bariloche

Look who's back in town!
Riding the good earth
Another magical land
Like Adam says, the road is dusty
Camping in Traful
The water is ICE
Mike's attempt at a Quilmes comercial

Puerto Varas to Bariloche, 200 miles and a border crossing

2007-01-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

We were able to take advantage of the really nice kitchen in the morning before heading off. Had some oatmeal, yogurt and banana; delicious and healthy. We love it when we have a grocery store option.

The ride was absolutely beautiful today, and as the day progressed so did the beauty. We are officially in the ‘lake district’. Mountains, grassy rolling hills, small thick forests and crystal clear lakes amongst snowy topped mountains; all with beautiful sunny skies. The miles went by quick as the road was great and scenery pleasurable. We made it back over into Argentina, even though we’ve done the Chile-Argentina shuffles several times already, every border crossing proves to be different. This time as we exited Chile we read a sign on the side of the road stating to buy our mandatory Argentinean insurance here. Well, we learned in Nicaragua that we had to purchase this insurance as about a mile down the road from the border crossing you are pulled over and requested to show proof. But, considering we have not been told to buy insurance in Argentina thus far on our trip AND the cops here have not yet pulled us over (knock on wood), we decided to take a chance and ignore the sign. It was a good choice, at least so far, as we somehow got through the aduana and importation personnel without them asking for it. Maybe we were lucky, or maybe Mikes very strategically place questions were at our aid.

It felt good to be back in Argentina, we got gas and filled up for about a third of the cost. The YPF stations were yet again filled with delicious snacks all for a great price and you actually felt you could buy yourself something to eat anywhere you wanted and not break the bank.

All day today Yosh wasn’t feeling too good. Poor thing only has to take us about another 1K miles, but she is in bad need for a new chain and a rear brake. The brake pad we have, but the chain, we’re hoping she will last…

We knew Adam was camping just outside of Bariloche, so we cruised through the town until we ran across the campground. We spotted his tent right away as it is the same as ours (how cute), pulled up the bank and just as he was stepping out of his tent from his siesta Mike dropped the bike to the side. Nothing like a crash landing welcome!

Adam, resembling a young Fidel Castro looks great. He has a wicked beard growing, but a nice addition to his character. After chatting it up with some stories we walked into town to get some of the great Argentinean steaks, ice cream and chocolate which is what Bariloche is known for. Great steak, amazing ice cream and outstanding chocolate! This country sure knows how to treat you right…although I’m sure my heart and butt are singing another story!

Before the end of the night even though we had been riding out own way for just about 2 months, I felt it was just yesterday that we went our separate ways in Huanchacho Peru. It was nice to be reunited with Adam.

Leaving our nice hostal

Beautiful drive out of Chile

Argentina...

Whoops!

Fuerte!

Bariloche is known for their chocolates!

...and that makes Amie happy

Puerto Varas

2007-01-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

Today we did indeed go horseback riding—it has been something Amie has wanted to do on this trip for a long time. I haven’t gone horseback riding since I was 6 I think, and I don’t have fond memories. I distinctly remember soaking in oatmeal after having been bucked off into poison oak and manzanilla bushes. Nevertheless, we went, and we had a great time. Amie mentioned we would be getting some exercise today, but I thought the horse was going to be doing the work. Let’s just say, I’m sore, and I didn’t even fall off.

When we woke up, neither of us wanted to pack up and push on back across the border into Argentina. It won’t sound like fun tomorrow morning either, but we’ve got to do it. Adam Pate, aka Chepe Grande, aka El Guapo is waiting for us in Bariloche and we can’t wait to see him.

Not much else happened today. We walked along the beautiful lake and marveled at how German everything is. The lake districts of Chile and Argentina had heavy German migration in the late 1940s… It shouldn’t take you but a minute to realize this is where many Nazi’s fled to after ww2.

The nature and land here is fantastic. This is the first place we have seen on the entire trip where I would consider moving. It’s that nice. Don’t worry moms, we are not going to. It’s too German, the flies are insanely large and aggressive, and to far from you!

More German influence

"Easy Olof"

"I'm doing it Amie, I'm doing it!"

"And having fun!"
Amie enjoyed the ride We troted through some amazing land

Olof was all love
A couple of dusty cowpokes

Puerto Natales Ferry to Puerto Varas, 14 miles

2007-01-29T10:06:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the Puerto Montt port in the middle of the night, but the announcer didn’t blare her usual loud message across the entire ferry’s loudspeaker at that moment, she waited until about 7:30AM in which to announce that breakfast was ready and we had landed in Puerto Montt. I already knew we were there as I remember hearing the loud grumbling sounds of the ferry stop during my sleep.

I was anxious to place my feet on land, so as soon as the announcement was broadcasted I got up and encouraged Mike to do the same. After a quick packing, we were able to sneak the bike off on the elevator with another car and bicyclists while most of the other passengers had just started to enjoy breakfast.

The town resembled Puerto Natales a bit as it looked like a old fishing town which recently done some expansion due to the tourist industry. The old wood shingled buildings, having their once bright colors fading from years in the sun all lined the waterway. As Puerto Montt doesn’t have too much to offer other than it’s location for the Navimag ferry to us, we decided to press on the entire 12 miles to the next town Puerto Vares which was supposed to be quite pleasant.

Puerto Vares, set along a lake, is on the common touristy route to Bariloch. It again has several old wood shingled houses lining the streets. Each house has so much character, and it looks like either they have been built centuries ago, or the ground has moved from underneath them a bit as most of them are a bit crooked in one place versus the other. I think you could make a great haunted house movie with just about any of these old buildings!

There is also a strong German vibe to the entire town, shown through it in much of the architecture. We ended up finding a really nice little hostel which happens to be German owned and full of Germans. Practically everyone here is speaking German to each other, at times I feel I missed the memo on the front of the door. The hostel is one of the nicest we’ve stayed on our trip. There is a really nice garden out front with a fountain that sings a relaxing tune of trickling water, a great kitchen facility, internet (supposedly wifi, but we couldn’t get the darn thing to work) and a nice cozy and clean room. Since we are not in too much of a rush I am considering staying two nights here! I wouldn’t mind looking into the horseback riding they offer around here???

Our first look at Puerto Montt

Somewhat scenic

Amie thought every house looked haunted

German influence?
I'm a land lover

Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt Ferry, Day 3

2007-01-28T05:54:00.000-08:00

The last day on the ferry, and I woke up in much better spirits from the night before as we were back in the safe and sheltered sound of the Chilean islands. At about 4AM I believe we entered back into our safe and calm waters.

At 7:30AM the loudspeaker announced breakfast (repeatedly) and for the first time I got myself out of bed to enjoy it. The last few days I would rather not rush to get up just for a plate of uncooked eggs, stale biscuit, butter and jam, but since I didn’t have dinner the night before my stomach gave me that extra push I needed.

Right away I could feel that the air was much warmer, and the skies clearer. You could easily see plenty layers of little islands off in the distance at different depths; it was beautiful. Glassy waters, clear blue skies and that morning glow placed over the entire view.

Most of the passengers on this ship have over the last couple of days gotten to know each other quite well as you can hear the volume in the lounge or cafeteria area increase as the hours and days go by. Although somehow I find myself not wanting to socialize. I think that Mike would be a bit more social if it weren’t for me, always wandering to my cabin or somewhere where nobody will strike a conversation. I honestly don’t know exactly why I feel so anti-social, not just now, but on the trip in general, other than lack of interest. I am not interested in why they are here, what they are seeing, etc. I don’t mean that in a snobbish way either, but I guess I find myself enjoying time by myself or with Mike other than a stranger. I miss my friends, I don’t feel the desire to try and find new ones unless the opportunity presents itself. You don’t realize how enjoyable time by yourself can be when you don’t get it often. At home, between work, all your forms of communication (cell phone, telephone, emails, etc), Mike, my friends and Candy, there is very little time just for you.

Throughout the day, the weather still stayed on the cold side, surprising to me as we are quite a bit north of our original location. We got to see some whales today from beside the ship. Watched pirates of the Caribbean, finished my other book and got a couple good naps in. I think I’m napped out!

Early morning, at like 3AM the boat is supposed to land in Puerto Montt, although they will not let the passengers off the boat until 7AM. I’m looking forward to putting my feet on land!!! I’m sure not born to live on the sea! I miss land!

"I slept great!"

"I'll be happy to get off this thing"

This sheep convinced Amie not to eat mutton ever again

Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt Ferry, Day 2

2007-01-27T05:51:00.000-08:00

I thought I couldn’t possibly have more time in the day to think while on the bike, but this ferry has definitely proved me wrong. You literally don’t do anything all day other than wait for your next meal and occasionally fight the cold, wind and at times rain/snow to catch a glimpse of the scenery outside.

As our nights have been late the past month in Argentina and mornings always rushed to get out of the hostel before the early checkout time, having some time to catch up on sleep with nothing better to do was quite nice. I got to finish one of my books, sleep, eat, gaze at the surrounding islands and do the whole thing over again.

I received some really bad and extremely surprising news from home right before boarding onto the ferry, the kind that you don’t sit well with which has become quite tortuous on such a stretch of days with not much to do other than ponder thoughts in your head. Not the best timing to be disconnected from any form of communication that is for sure.

Today out of all the days on the ship was one I wasn’t looking forward to. We were having to go outside the sheltering fjords and into the pacific ocean, which was supposed to be quite stormy. I made sure to take my motion sickness pill, but when the waves started to rock the boat up and down, side to side, I sure pushed those pills to their limit! I wasn’t in the best space and spent the remainder of the day and night in my bed counting down the 12 hours until we were in the calm sound again.

The sea was angry this day

Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt Ferry, Day 1

2007-01-26T05:34:00.000-08:00

We rolled the bike on last night, up an elevator, and then finally as far forward as possible, which was quite convenient as it ended up very near our cabin. There are two other motorcycles on this ferry with us, a KTM 640 Adventure and a BMW F650. They belong to a German couple Rhinherd and Betty who are spending time touring Argentina and Chile. We strapped our bikes down with the ties provided, I used 4, the “German precision” required 16. We will be in the open ocean however… so I hope my bike is still standing!

The boat itself is more ferry than cruise ship for sure--don’t let the flyer fool you. That said, it’s much nicer than the ferry we took from Baja to Mazatlan in mexico. There are about 250 people and tons of cargo on board, including horses, goats, sheep, and cows. The cafeteria and communal area is clean but sparse. The windows are small and dirty. The ferry moves at a good clip, 8 knots I think I heard, and the outside air is cold and rainy most of the time. The food is surprisingly good, the scenery is beautiful, albeit unvaried.

Amie has higher anxiety on boats than I realized. She was panicking a bit last night while we boarded; the straight calm like glass, and the boat stationary. Should we really be doing this I thought, wouldn’t we be better just fighting the wind on route 3? She is taking Bonine, which is her motion sickness drug of choice. Problem being, it makes her very drowsy (hence I am typing this blog, and probably will be alone most of the next couple days).

The most annoying thing for me about this cruise is the announcements. They are incessant. They start at about 7am, and announce breakfast every 15 minutes it seems until 9am, and then remind you ever 15 minutes until 10 to return your trays. These announcements are heard loud and clear at every corner of the ship, they cannot be escaped! After 10 they mellow out a bit, announcing points of interest, but at 11:30 until 2pm it’s the same sequence of bothersome announcements and reminders regarding lunch… and they go on and on… the points of interest most the time are not that interesting either… I heard one of my fellow passengers mockingly say over dinner last night “Dear passengers, we would like to invite you to the top deck where it is now very dark. Please, all passengers, we invite you to the top deck to enjoy the darkness. We will have a short talk about how dark it is. We wait for you there!”

The horses weren't happy

Amie fixes PB and honey sandwiches

Mike shivers outside
The views were great from the top deck
Amie sports fashionable head gear (Road Rider $10)

Much time was spent like this

Wait?! Mike Pepper?? How did you get here?

1-25-07 Puerto Natales

2007-01-25T05:23:00.000-08:00

We had to kill time today before boarding the ferry. We had heard all sorts of different information regarding when to board and when to board the motorcycle, so we thought it best to be in town today to make sure everything went smooth. Probably five hours passed at a coffee shop with wifi while we caught up on the blog, emailed friends and family, and had some very intense IM sessions.

Our bike was all loaded up outside and attracting a lot of attention. We instill admiration and envy in everyone around here with our big motorcycle, and the freedom it provides us to explore the continent. Two people that noticed the bike were not the average looky lews. Em and Hame, two Scottish world travelers had introduced themselves to us as the couple that had been traveling off and on with our friends Adam and Valerie. We soon learned that Valerie was in a very serious motorcycle accident. Luckily she is OK. Banged up and bruised, but ok. The story goes she was keeping pace with adam, 45-50mph on a gravel road and just lost control, tumbling head over feet twice before sliding to a halt unconscious. This is Valerie’s second crash and it has left her markedly shaken. We are so glad she is OK!

Later in the day, Valerie herself pulled up just as surprised to see us as we were to see her. Her and her bike were on the road again after a few days off, but both were looking badly beaten. She had a black eye, some road rash, and her helmet was damaged to the point we could be sure it saved her life. We both gave her a big hug, told her to take it easy for Christ’s sake, and then ran off to catch our ferry as the best info we had was we had to board by 6pm.

At the dock we were told we could not board before 9pm. Argh. We had to rush off from our friends only to be told come back in 3 hours. However, as soon as we pulled back into downtown, there they were! They were on a mission to get the bike back in order but weren’t having much luck. Amazingly a few days before the owner of the coffee shop Amie loved was mouthing off about how Puerto Natales has the best mechanic in Argentina… We called his bluff, and later found out it to be true as in a couple of hours Val had her fairing fixed, a new fan installed, and whatever else repaired she needed.

We had the best sandwich in Chile at a placed called Masay. It was a “Churrasco Completo” and was piled high with steak, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Feeling full, we boarded the boat at 9pm as instructed. I’ll have 3 days of entries to describe the boat, and I will begin tomorrow.

An old man that crashed a motorcycle in his youth thought it prudent to give us these

Adam threatens Valerie with more violence if she dumps her bike again

All aboard the cargo elevator

The view from the top deck

A room without a view

El Calafate to Puerto Natales, 230 miles

2007-01-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

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...

El Calafate & Perito Moreno Glacier, 110 miles

2007-01-23T13:55:00.000-08:00

Rain in the morning is a good excuse to sleep in. Everything was great until about noon, when it was still raining and didn’t show signs of stopping. We tried to wait it out, but decided we had to push on to the glacier today if we wanted to see it. We have our ferry tickets booked for the 25th, so its now or never.

On the way to the glacier we passed a couple more lakes that were so blue you would think they were the Caribbean. The blue is a milky blue, not a clear blue however. I wonder what makes them that color…

To get into the park it cost us $10 a person. Once in, it was 10 more miles of paved, and then 6 of mud. The mud was a bit dicey, but we made it ok. Once we got close we were amazed at what lay before us. Like a wall of ice, the glacier flowed down out of the mountains and into the lake. A bit closer and we could see the detail, tons of vertical icebergs, like enormous forest of inverted stalagmites of ice. Closer still and we realized just how large this thing is. Its insanely big. 13,000km or so.

Once we were parked we followed the wooden catwalk down to a series of look out points, each ever closer. Boats looked like ants at first from the road, but as we descended we realized they were tour boats with at least 50 people on them. The wall of ice must stand hundreds of feet tall. As we were walking towards the second viewing platform we thought we heard thunder, it was the cracking of an iceberg—seconds later a huge splash. Soon I would learn that what I heard was only a tiny piece. I was so excited I practically skipped to the next balcony.

Unfortunately for Amie, she had to turn around and use the bathroom at the end of the trail. Moments after she left, a whole sheet of ice came down with a tremendous crash creating a tidal wave that would have capsized any boat in the vicinity. It was truly incredible. This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen bar none.

The sun was shinning on us as we watched more and more ice break loose and bob around in the water. I could have stayed for hours, days maybe. It was enchanting. Corny I know, but like nothing I’ve ever seen, or heard. This is somewhere everyone should see before they die.

Approaching the glacier

Hi friends!

To give you some perspective

closer
Truly incredible
wow
detail

Another view
Crash!
Crash Chain is shot, o-rings are coming out

Puerto Natales to El Calafate, 300 miles and one boarder crossing

2007-01-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

Some more delicious Nescafe and we were on the road towards El Cafate and the Glacier Moreno. The skies were sunny and warm, a great start to the day.

Just about 15 miles in we came to the border crossing. We are sure getting the Argentina and Chile shuffle down! Every time you approach a crossing, you cringe, and pray that it won’t be a 3 hour ordeal. Much to our surprise it was a piece of cake! In no time at all we got through both the exit and entry points and were back in Argentina, land of delicious steaks, ice cream and cheap gasoline!

We weren’t sure how much of the road would be paved for us today, but to our pleasant surprise we were on pavement the entire journey. Not too much to talk about as far as scenery today, we were back in dusty desolate flat lands. The nice thing is we get where we are going quick, the down side is it gets a little boring.

Just about 70 miles away, we stopped to get gas and a bite to eat at our very favorite and oh so missed YPF gas station. They treat us right, gas is back to 1.25/gallon and their food is cheap and delicious! We ran into a couple from Mendoza (Argentina) on a motorbike. Francisco, the man and his friend were touring all around Argentina and have been on the road for 10 days now. That was the first Argentinean we have run into on the road, several bikers from Brazil, but not yet Argentina. They were both extremely friendly and we enjoy chatting with them over our lunch. After lunch we followed each other the last 70 miles into El Cafate.

El Cafate is the hub for the Glacier Moreno which is a huge tourist attraction not only for Argentineans but globally. It is a giant glacier along side of a lake in which you can stand on a nearby platform and watch huge chunks of ice break off the glacier and hit the water…it is supposed to be quite a site. The town definitely reflected the great attraction as it was full of tourists and tourists shops. The nice thing is you know you will be able to find delicious food, but then again you’re paying triple.

The town as packed as it gets caused us to do the Hostel shuffle for quite some time. It gets old after a while, but our diligence and persistence paid off as we found a clean hostel, shared bath for $30. Usually that would be a lot, but we quickly discovered it was a bargain in this town. We opted out of camping as the campgrounds were packed full and we didn’t want to risk leaving our valuables out while we’re at the glacier tomorrow.

We strolled the streets, enjoyed some delicious empanadas (I would say the second best I’ve had on this trip – a bold statement) and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather.

Our Argentinean biker friends wanted to meet us for dinner, and given that they are from Argentina, of course it was late, 9:30PM. Francisco got us a reservation at a pasta house, delicious homemade pastas. We enjoyed a nice visit, great pasta and outstanding wine which kept us there well past midnight. Francisco insisted on paying, what a treat! Mike being my occasional translator I was able to be a part of the conversation as well…fun night. We told him he must come to California sometime so we can repay his generosity.

Our new friends from Mendoza, Argentina

Amie loves the clean shave
and, of course, the icecream

Torres del Paine to Puerto Natales, 125 miles (100 dirt)

2007-01-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

The box of wine wasn’t very good so we left it behind. It was cold in the tent last night, but nothing like Ushuaia. It was cold as in uncomfortable, not cold as in life-threatening. As Amie said yesterday, the park is amazing. It is the most beautiful natural place I’ve ever seen. I wish I had a fishing pole as you can see salmon jumping, and the rivers are beautifully clear and probably full of trout. It is lucky we got great photos yesterday as this morning was completely foggy and we had no view of the mountains whatsoever.

As beautiful as TDP was, we had to get out. We had planned on spending two nights, and when we got there I wished we could stay longer, but it was way too expensive to be there without cooking gear and a stocked cooler. It was $30/each to enter (how much is Yosemite? This seems really high!), $16 to camp (very reasonable for what you get), but unless you come prepared, and we didn’t, TDP will break you. Water was $4 a bottle, our mediocre meal last night ran us $45, gasoline $8/gallon, coffee and toast in the morning, which we passed on, would run you $7.50ea. OUCH!

I had a blast zipping through the park on the winding roads past emerald green lagoons, and murky pastel blue lakes. We stopped at a mirador (look out point) in front of “Glacier Grey” to split a sandwich and coffee. It was the first time I’ve ever seen a lake with chunks of ice floating in it. There definitely is more of that in store for us in the coming days….

The 100 miles of dirt out of the park were uneventful, we were riding away from the view which was cloaked in fog anyway. We did have to pull over and get into emergency roadside dump formation. I tried to fart, I tried to tuck it in. I had no options. It was chunky enough someone might confuse it for a guanaco’s pile. And our TP is biodegradable so I was at least environmentally conscious.

It was a toss up on whether or not we stop at the Cave of the Milodon. The milodon was a prehistoric beast, and there is a huge cave near Puerto Natales where many of them had once lived. We decided against it as we wanted to get back to town so we could secure our lodging from the previous night. Afterall, it was fairly priced, had kitchen access, and we could glean free wireless from our second story window. Even still, our room was reserved by someone else and I immediately regretted not going to the cave.

I would bet dollars to doughnuts that George Lucas has been to South America. I would wager that most of the landscapes from the second and third starwars were inspired by locations we have visited in south America. For example, in Empire strikes back, the creature han solo is riding looks a lot like a guanaco. When Skywalker comes to save him, he finds himself in an icecave inhabited by a creature that looks like a vicious Milodon. Chan Chan looked just like Mos Isley (spelling) the land of sand people. Also, wasn’t the intro from Indian Jones (also George Lucas) filmed in South America?? Just an observation…

Everything is good with us. We are still having fun. We now have exactly 1 month left in South America, and though its been difficult at times, I will miss this portion of the trip. It has been very exciting, challenging, and unique. I also feel like completing this part of the trip is an accomplishment, the rest just vacation. I have a hard time justifying 4 months of vacation at this point in our life… but we will get to see the places we’ve always wanted to see and have two great family trips we might not otherwise have.

As far as money goes, we are hemorrhaging. Our daily budget for South America was $50 initially, but after entering Peru we had to up it to $60 to be realistic. Now, in Chile, we are running about $120 a day. Things here cost about the same as they do at home (yet the folks here don’t earn nearly as much). Today went something like this:

Gasoline: $20
Lodging: $20
Lunch: $20
Coffee and cake: $15
Dinner: $30
Incidentals: $10

Drinking box-wine from a glass like this you'd think we were hobos, not 100% over budget!

Crystal clear streams...

The "calafate" berry
The view from our campsite

Glacier Grey

Icey
Beautiful land

Glad we got photos yesterday, today was cloudy
Boat building in Puerto Natales

Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine, 115 miles of nice dirt road and beautiful scenery

2007-01-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are not familiar with Torres del Paine park, please take a moment to search Google images; it is absolutely beautiful! This is one of the destinations of our trip that I’ve been really looking forward to.

Even though I was anxious to get into the park, we got up late as it was overcast outside and really warm in our bed. After some Nescafe (yes, we’re back in the land of Nescafe! Darn it Chile!) We packed up and headed out for the park. We knew the roads were dirt all the way in, 100 miles, so I had a little anxiety, but as soon as the pavement turned to terra I felt much better as it was heavily packed and completely manageable! Huge plus for me, my nerves were at ease!

As we approached the park, the snowy mountain peaks that we could see from Puerto Natales we become bigger and more impressive and the amount of wildlife increased exponentially.

I had seen pictures of this park, and they amazed me, but all I have to say is it is much more amazing in person. This is by far the most beautiful place I have ever laid my eyes on. There are several lake all throughout, giant steep and dramatic mountains covered in snow and ice. The lakes are a turquoise blue that it so brilliant, it seems surreal. While looking up at the mountains you feel like you are gazing at a painting… amazing.

The park, although it costs a bit to enter it ($60 bucks, Mike asked if that includes breakfast), is a vast land of beauty around every corner. Even if you take your eyes off the gigantic mountains, or blue lakes, the scenery which I’m sure is often forgotten is full of colors and magnificent rock formations. If ever anyone needed to spend a few days in natural paradise, I highly recommend it here.

Not a lot of tourists here which surprised Mike and I. It seems that only the Argentineans vacation as you do not see the swarm of local vacationers around these parts. It’s great for us! I’m guessing maybe not as many people can afford to take a vacation in Chile as everything is so much more expensive.

We took someone’s recommendation that we spoke to in Puerto Nataltes and headed out to the further location to camp as he said it wouldn’t be as busy. Great choice! This campground is amazing. The views, the facilities, A+ and by far the nicest camping experience I’ve ever enjoyed. Each site has its own little open faced cabin with a light, electric plug and giant clean picnic bench and chairs. The bathrooms are spotless and actually have toilet paper in them. The attendant here even brought us a big pile of firewood (included in the $8/person price). Life is good! We will be eating dinner at their café tonight as we don’t have cooking gear; we’re all set!

Approaching Torres del Paine!

Life is good on the road
Hey lovely lady!
Still together :-)
Hey lovely lady!
Guanacos around every corner
Incredible beauty out here
We couldn't get enough of these friendly creatures
Wow! This place is AWESOME!

Do you believe us now??
How about now??
Wish you were here (and you brought a fishing pole)

Lots of breaks to enjoy the views

Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, 200 miles

2007-01-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

We haven’t been in Chile long, but usually once I cross a border into a new country, I get a ‘feel’ for what it is like. Yet, I still haven’t grasped what Chile represents or is.

We slept great in our hospatage which had the furnace going all night. I finally felt defrosted and was hoping I had more time in bed before having to get up. One nice benefit of Chile so far is that the checkout times in the hostals are now at 11, versus most in Argentina that were either at 10 or 9AM. Gives us a little more time to enjoy the warm bed in the morning!

We didn’t see much for us in Punta Arenas. Supposedly you can take a boat out to see a penguin colony, but since we already got to see some penguins back in Pen. Valdez, we pressed on in the morning towards Puerto Natales. The ride started off pretty flat and boring, but ended up being absolutely beautiful. All along the side of the road were these huge lupin looking flowers in full blossom. Colors of pinks, purples and whites. I think there is something different about the lightning here too as everything seems to have a richer color, as if a filter has been placed on the sun.

The sun was out and as we headed north west it got much warmer, felt so good to feel the warm rays of the sun again. There was a ton of wildlife on the side of the road as we approached Puerto Natales and we could see giant dramatic mountain peaks topped with snow, what I guess is the beginning of Torres del Paine. With all the beautiful scenery and warmer weather, the miles went by in a flash. Before I knew it we had made it to our destination.

The town itself is located right on the channel of water, on one side is the town which looks like a cleaned up fishing town, with a ton of little hotels, restaurants, cafes and adventure expeditions shops. On the other side is beautiful snowy capped mountains with a nice little malacon to walk and enjoy the wonderful views. Such a nice little town!

We walked around for a bit taking it all in. Considering it is the hub for Chiles biggest attraction, Torres del Paine Park, it wasn’t too noisy or busy with tourists. We found a hospatage to stay in for the night for $26 bucks, not bad for Chilean standards and sometimes we were the only people walking around the streets.

After a nice lunch we decided to make our own dinner for the night as we had kitchen access as food is quite expensive! Even buying everything at the grocery store, 6 eggs, sausage, wheat bread and a bag of frozen spinach was $12….well, we also got a bottle of wine, but still compared to the close and bordering country of Argentina, everything was at least triple the price! I guess we better start getting used to it…

Making dinner was great, we had a nice evening together over fried eggs and wine….what a combo!

Even cats are scared of me with my "headgear"

Our biggest fan yet

A river of sheep Fields full of colorful wildflowers Our second biggest fan... cows always gawk at Yosh
Welcome to Puerto Natales

Hi Ron

We like breakfast for dinner

Rio Grande to Punta Arenas, 260 miles

2007-01-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

Today was a repeat of the 13th, only in reverse: 2 boarder crossings, 80 miles of dirt, and a ferry ride over frigid, windy terrain. Long and monotonous. Even more so, when you’ve already done it less than a week ago. The border crossings are the worst, so much paperwork, so much BS just to cover less than 100 miles. When entering Chile the customs guy was a real dandy. He was giving me a rash because the Argentina customs didn’t take the Chilean customs paperwork from me when I entered. On a super power trip he was getting really snooty and acting like he wasn’t going to let me import the bike. I hate these situations because I get so fired up I want to take the guys pen and stick it in his throat, but what good would that do me.

As we came out I saw a group of guys heading in all bundled up in moto gear, fellow moto riders! Not just any either. Americans. Practically unheard of. There are almost no Americans doing this trip, in fact I think we know all 4 of the others. We run into a ton of Germans and Brazilians, but Americans almost never. Here was a group of about 8, riding from Alaska to Ushuaia… all between 40-60 years old from all different states. Turns out it was a tour group with guide and support vehicle.

Our hotel last night was pricy by our standards at $40, but it had an ocean view and hot showers, so it was worth it. It was so important to warm up after camping. Even having slept most of yesterday evening and night very sound, I still woke up feeling like I’d been hit by a truck, and then dragged by it for a few miles. My body must be fighting a serious cold, or the YPF (gas station) dinner was doing me wrong—one or the other, or both.

Coming back across the straight of Magellan on the ferry it felt much colder than before, almost unbearable. Back on the bike everywhere that wasn’t covered by multiple layers was painfully cold. My lips are badly chapped, nipples chaffed, feet frost bitten… I’m looking forward to getting further north, quick!

We are in Chile now and rolling right along. Our plan was to stop somewhere when we got tired in route to Puerto Natales. I was tired when we came up with that plan so was scouring the roadside for a hotel Amie would agree on. There wasn’t anything. There wasn’t any gas either… I asked TWO different people in two different places how far for gas, as I knew we were low, and we were on a stretch with really no towns to speak of according to our map. Both people assured there was gas in less than 30 miles, a distance I could make. Well, we were back in the crouch, freezing, running on fumes at about 27 miles, then 30, then 35… I shook my fist in the air realizing we were going to run out of gas, despite having made double sure from “friendly locals” we could make it. We past the last town on the map and there was no gas. We had gone 37 miles. I was going to run out at any second. I need a miracle. I need a miracle. That’s what was going through my head. Then, like a ray of sunshine we saw a sign for gas. One of those block-figure type signs, there was no station in sight, and there was no distance associated with the sign, but sure enough, right around the corner was a single gas pump with two spigots, one diesel, and one 93 octane gasoline! Hallelujah! Or so I thought. A salty nut comes out of an out house, and after the pleasantries says, “Pesos Chileanos, solo” or “I only take Chilean pesos. I had none. We literally “just got off the boat” and there was no where to change money, or an ATM from which to get the local currency. I told him I had Argentine Pesos or USD, but he wasn’t having it. “There is another gas station in 50 miles that accepts credit card.” You have got to be kidding me!!!

He took the US$20 offering me a shitty exchange rate. Actually, the exchange rate wasn’t the problem; it was the legitimate price of gas. I got 5.5 gallons for $20! We paid less than $8 to fill up yesterday. Argh. Chile is expensive, but I had no idea…

We pulled into Punta Arenas, unimpressed. Tired and cold I didn’t have a ton of patience for the hotel shuffle, but this is how it went, first one a dump, second one $30, decent, but full, third one $75, fourth one full, fifth one full, sixth one somebody’s house with toddlers running around and a shared bath, $36, even tired and cold, I’ll pass, 7th one lesbian run old house with rooms running $24, we’ll take it.

For those wondering where Adam (aka El Guapo, aka Chepe Grande) is, he is alive and well in Northern Chile. After quite an ordeal in the salt flats of Bolivia his bike is running again and he is back on the road traveling with a Mexican biker gang. We wish he would update his blog, as I’m sure he has great stories. We hope to meet up with him in the coming weeks.

A view from our hotel window in Rio Grande

Straight of Magellan

Enormous sky country

Ushuaia to Rio Grande, 130 miles

2007-01-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was cold, but this morning broke the record. You couldn’t even get to a ‘comfortable’ temperature even all tied up close to each other in the sleeping bag, it was 38 degrees in the tent and we were freezing. Our ‘bank robber’ ski mask/hats didn’t even do the trick for us.

It was still raining, raining all night, all I could do was hope that the tent wouldn’t get the icy cold water inside of it. The surrounding mountains were all thickly powdered with fresh white snow, beautiful and very telling of the nights cold. We couldn’t sleep in, as soon as the light was more than just dim, we ran out of the tent and into the hot showers to try and defrost. After being in such cold all night, it takes a while to defrost, in which the campground didn’t have enough hot water for, but at least it took the chill off us. We followed the shower up with some hot tea and oatmeal in the communal area.

Our mission was to pack up, we couldn’t take another night in this cold and needed somewhere warm to get some good rest; either a hotel in Ushuaia or we make it further to Rio Grande. Packing up in the rain and ice cold mud is never fun. We did a team work effort and got everything in its place. Well, except for discovering that one of the pannier locks was frozen/broken in which we discovered it is VERY easy to break the locks on our panniers. Along with the frozen lock, our riding pant knee pads had somehow frozen overnight. They were rock solid; you couldn’t even zip your pants up before defrosting them in front of the fire. What kind of material are those things anyway?

We hit the road, muddy gear, rain and all. Brr! Before we even left Ushuaia I had already lost feeling in my toes and finger tips, but the worse hadn’t even hit us yet. Just outside of Ushuaia is the mountainous pass you climb through. Well, that pass must be higher than Ushuaia itself because as we drove, we noticed the snow level decreasing and soon was at our level. Thick white snow everywhere and falling heavily down on us. Brr, that’s all I can say. Freakin’ freezing our tootsies off, we slowly, slowly made our way through the snow filled mountains. Mike occasionally had to stop to do some jumping jacks just to keep blood flowing. Just as the snow was falling down on top of Mike’s jacket I thought to myself how this very gear we are wearing now in the icy cold snow is the same that we wore through the extremely hot and humid jungles of Central America…how can that be good for anybody!

I started thinking we might not make it over the pass, but before I knew it we started to descend back down to a lower elevation and the snow stopped, turned back into rain and eventually turned into a beautiful sunny sky. Still icy cold but a great break from earlier. Just some more hectic strong winds and miles and we made it to Rio Grande. Icy cold and desperate for a warm and comfortable place for the night, we decided to not stay at the hostel and spend the extra money to get our own private bathroom tonight.

We are now in our room, in bed, resting and trying to catch up on the warmth and sleep we lost the night before!

The 6AM defrost

El Refugio (the refuge)

A view of Ushuaia

More snow than yesterday

These mountains didn't have any snow on our way in!

We had to cross those mountains...no photos as my fingers were frozen!

Ushuaia, 0 miles

2007-01-16T12:50:00.000-08:00

We woke up with our legs and arms entangled in each other so close and tight, trying to keep and share whatever heat we had in our sleeping bag. It was cold, but not cold enough to get us out of bed early, we slept in until about 10AM, which for around here, where the sun never quite goes away at all through the night, it was rather late.

It is so nice that our campground has a huge and warm communal area to sit in as well as cook. We had our showers and headed to the kitchen. We bought a bunch of groceries the day before, so enjoyed some hot oatmeal (thanks mom!), cereal and tea. After a long drawn out breakfast we sat around the table and watched the rain come down…looked like we weren’t going to get much time outside today, I didn’t mind too much because relaxing and reading a book sounded perfect.

Mike took Yosh down into town to try and purchase the ferry tickets and I enjoyed some more tea and reading. Success! We have tickets for the ferry which will take us and Yosh from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt! It’s not only going to be amazing to see such an isolated and beautiful region of Chile, but skipping some repeat roads we already did is another bonus for our journey up!

It was pretty much, hang around and eat day, soon after we finished up our breakfast we made lunch. Toasted tomato cheese and salami sandwiches. It was so nice having the kitchen facility to make our own food. Mike and I get so sick of eating out all the time. Just making something simple is very missed.

Since we made it to the bottom of the road, we thought a celebration dinner was in order while we were in Ushuaia. Although we were hoping to enjoy some of the often sited King Crab, after realizing the price was about 3 times as much as a steak or anything else on the menu, we stuck with fish and steak, and left the King Crab option for the many tourists just off the cruise ship.

We had a great dinner overlooking the bay and saying our thanks to each other and Yosh for taking us safely this far. I remember looking at the atlas before we left on our trip and being amazing at the fact that we would even attempted riding our bike such a distance. Here we are, in Ushuaia after riding every single mile on Yosh from our house just about 3.5 months ago. It’s a long way home!

Our ride back to the campsite was cold and only seemed to be getting colder as the night went on. Lots of rain and the mountains were slowly being dusted with more snow. It’s going to be a cold one tonight! What a way to break us back into camping! Freezing our butts off!

Brrr!!! A fresh coating of snow on the mountains

Here is to making it to the end of the road!

Celebration dinner view

The snowline is getting lower...

It was a party back at the campsite "refugio"

Rio Grande to Ushuaia, 130 miles

2007-01-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

Mission accomplished. We’ve ridden our motorbike from San Jose California to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Its half as far to Antartica as it is to Buenos Aires from here. It’s been 3 months and 2 weeks since we left, and we’ve covered 13,000 miles. It hasn’t always been comfortable, but it has been an adventure.

Well rested, we tackled our last day of riding south. Valerie was very gracious making sure we had our coffee and breakfast. The hostel gave us a warm send-off and we rolled out of the backyard into the frigid morning. The drive itself was easy and beautiful. It was totally paved (our map had us anticipating partial dirt) and there was no real wind to complain about. The scrub gave way to steep mountains covered in snow and trees. We wound around lakes and past the ocean before descending down to Ushuaia. When we arrived at the welcome sign a gratifying sense of accomplishment came over both of us and we fooled around taking more than a few fotos.

Ushuaia is a nice town. Cruise ships bound for Antartica stop here and loads of tourists come in and out like the tide. The city itself is pleasant and unique. There are loads of hotels and campgrounds, great restaurants (we had a king crab omlette and the compulsory bife de chorizo for lunch, expensive but delicious). Did I mention its cold?

We will be camping tonight. Don’t ask me how I got Amie to agree to camp in the artic circle, but I did, and we are in the tent right now as I type and it is frickin cold, but I’m loving it. We were at the grocery store yesterday and they had camping gear, including a twin bed sized inflatable mattress for $29 (including pump). I got the dimensions from our tent and they are made for eachother. With this find we are camping in comfort! Except for the temperature that is.

There are other bikers here, lots of them as a matter of fact. There are a couple in the campground with us as well. We got to know them while using the industrial kitchen that is available to us. Amie whipped up what was intended to be a vegtebale soup or stew of some sort, but because I put in too much rice, it turned into a risotto dish. It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t bad either. It was nice enjoying a home cooked meal.

We’ve got about a month left to get to Santiago. If we can get on the ferry we will have more time to see cool things in central chile rather than the painful route we’ve already done all over again. Stay tuned for our adventures at Torres del Paine, Moreno Glacier, and the lake districts of Argentina and Chile… one more month of moto adventuring in South America.

Brr!

Yosh and Amie enjoy the view

We made it! End of the world!!!

...that makes Mike KICK!

...he just can't stop!

WE MADE IT!!!!

2007-01-15T12:58:00.000-08:00

HAHHAHAHHAHHAH!!!! End of the world!!! Details to come...

Rio Grande, 0 Miles

2007-01-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

Last nights reveling came with a hefty price tag. I felt very “tired” the next morning. The drinks I was being served were indescribable. Amie’s attempt was “Lysol and Coke.” Anyway, I crossed the line and was not doing well. Our room also happened to have the main duct to the furnace running right across the ceiling so it may have been in the 40s outside, it was about 80 in our room--more than warm.

Never the less, we had a very relaxing day catching up with Adam and Valerie and enjoying the hostel experience. We haven’t stayed in a hostel this trip so it was interesting being in one. There is a lot of forced socialization required and I wasn’t really in the mood so I laid low most of the day, having more than one nap I think.

Adam brought up the Navimag ferry that runs from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. I had heard of this but for some reason never really considered it until he mentioned it. If there is availability it would be ideal for us. You see, we’ve come down the atlantic coast on route 3, a very windy, boring, straight road. The other alternative route is Route 40, which is unpaved. This was to be our route north, but Amie’s gravelroadaphobia has nixed it. If we can get on the ferry, we would cruise for 3 days through the southern Chilean islands (where there are no roads) see some amazing nature, save 4 days riding, and miss having to back track the most monotonous days on our whole trip. I really hope we can get on that boat.

The resident hippy of the hostel offered to make pizza for everyone in the evening if they pitched in ingredients. We got some goodies from the store, as well as the two ingredients in “Choripan” or Sausage sandwiches (sausage and bread). The pizza dough was made by hand which was impressive, and it was pretty good, but the rate of production and the amount of people grabbing for slices had me sneaking out the back door towards the gas station for a funny burger. That’s the name of it. It’s a hamburger with all the normal stuff plus a fried egg. Not bad for a gas station. I will also note it was about 11pm on a Sunday night and there were quite a few families “dining” there with me.

Mike is not shaving until we leave Patagonia

The pizza hippie

Val, always in the kitchen making us something nice

Rio Gallegos to Rio Grande, 230 (80 dirt, 2 border crossings and one ferry ride)

2007-01-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

The entire journey through two border crossings, a ferry ride and over 80 miles of gravel road took us about 11 hours, one of our longest days. We made it, Tierra del Fuego, not yet to Ushuia, but the town just before it.

We knew it would be a long day, so we set the alarm and got ourselves up early. It’s easy to wake up early around here as it doesn’t stay dark for too long through the night. After just a few miles on pavement we hit the first border crossing, Argentina to Chile. First we had to exit Argentina which consisted of along line of mostly Argentinean tourists standing outside in the absolutely freezing wind. It was fairly straightforward, but took us 1.5 hrs. Anxious to keep going with our long day, we were bummed to hit the entrance to Chile which was a much worse and chaotic line. This time everyone was packed into the building, at least out of the cold, but due to the large number of tourists waiting to get their passports stamped and vehicle importation documents, it was a spiral line which wrapped around itself in a very confusing pattern in which you finally got helped by the very few grumpy Chilean aduana officials. That whole process took us 3.5 hours, the actual paperwork only 10 minutes or less, the rest of it in line waiting. We realized that we probably should have hit these borders even earlier as it is tourist season for this area…we’ll do that on our way back up.

The road stayed paved on the other end of the border, and all the way to the straight of Magellen ferry crossing. It started to get colder and windier the further south we went, although nothing more than what we’ve been through in the past. The ferries were supposed to come every half an hour, so we went into the little restaurant to have a quick bite to eat and some hot tea before it arrived. One of the most efficient ferries I have seen, they got the cars off and on in no time and we were off sailing across the sound of extremely choppy waters. Not far was the other side. Still pavement, we were happy. Mike wanted to make sure to beat the following ferry to the next border crossing, and fortunately the gravel road treated us right. There were a few patches of thicker loose gravel, but for the most part it was well packed and allowed us to cruise through it at a steady and decent pace. The scenery became honey yellow grasses against brilliant blue skies. The terrain fairly bleak but spotted with several bushy sheep.

It was already about 5pm when we hit the next Chilean border exit point. To our pleasant surprise it was a very quick and painless process, after a few minutes we were on the road again, racing the tour bus directly behind us to the Argentinean border entry point. We got lucky and within 15 minutes were done! As soon as we entered back into Argentina, the road became paved yet again, thank you Argentina! It is absolutely crazy to me that this little chunk of land which needs to be crossed to get to the portion of Tierra del Fuego that Argentina owns is only passable by entering and exiting Chile. Every year a ton of tourists have to go through this routine just to ride down to Ushuia. It is as if the Chilean border officials at this location do not care too much about the folks trying to get through as they know most of them will only be leaving Chile within hours.

The next 50 miles was on pavement, we were excited to be close to the end of our long day. The road was straight, but the further we headed towards Rio Grande, the more the wind picked up. It was as windy as our rough windy day a couple days back…Mike had to struggle to keep the bike in a straight line and my neck got a really great workout keeping itself upright. I guess it’s good that we have to head back up through the wind in the other direction, so that the other side of my neck gets the same exercises!

We arrived at the hostel where Adam and Valerie were staying. It was so great to see them, last time was on the road from our house to Big Sur. Meeting them as well as making it to Tierra del Fuego, I felt great. I feel like we had accomplished and successfully made our journey today, even though it is not over, we have safely made it to end of the world from our house in San Jose. Meeting up with friends from home brought even more excitement. The very nice owner of the hostel and Valerie put together a great feast of broccoli (haven’t had that since I left home!), potatoes and a roasted lamb. I did my best to not look at it being cooked on the bbq before being able to enjoy it with everyone. Delicious. We couldn’t have had a warmer welcome.

First border of the day - Exiting Argentina (where is Mike? Hint: he looks like a bank robber)

Second border of the day - Entering Chile

YES! 3.5 hrs later we have entered Chile ready for our day

Thank god it was a short ferry ride...look at those choppy waters!

Horses

Some nice scenery

Best dirt road of the trip

Reunited with our friends

Vegetarians: do not look at this photo

Rio Gallegos

2007-01-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

We woke up to rain and decided we would rather just sleep in the cozy blankets then freeze our buns off fighting rain, dirt roads, and a stomach churning ferry ride to Tierra del Fuego today. We got out of bed at 9:59am so we could take advantage of the free breakfast (served until 10).

We spent the rest of the morning reviewing the rest of our south America trip. We’ve got about 5 weeks before we fly to New Zealand and we have a lot of places we want to still see in Argentina and Chile. It sounds like a lot of time, but when we went over the map, we won’t be able to see it all, and will be riding quite a few more miles. Just because we are two days away from the end of the road doesn’t mean the adventure is over!

We got a lunch recommendation and we went for it, big time. Amie had a giant steak, I had sea bass, wine too for $20. Lets see… not much else to report. We spent some time online, Amie burned cds to back up the last months fotos. I went out to find a place I could change Yoshita’s oil and get the bashplate fixed (broke again, this time in two places).

The place that sold us the oil let me change it out right in front of the store as long as I didn’t make a mess. For those who know me, I usually can’t help but make a mess, so this time I was extra careful. Changing your oil outside when the wind is howling is not very easy to do precisely or neatly. BUT, I thought ahead, found a large cardboard box that I jammed under the bike running pretty much 2 feet in every direction of the drain plug and filter. Once I pulled the filter off the wind kicked up and oil shot out horizontal instead of vertical spraying the side of the box. Boy am I glad I had the box.

Next I drove around looking for someone who could weld aluminium. I found a place, a motorcycle shop with an amazing service center; I would have photographed the place if I had the camera with me. It was a dream shop. Anyway, they charged me $50 and weren’t very friendly, but I got the bashplate fixed and reinstalled. Lets see how long it lasts.

There is a bakery around the corner that is fantastic. There are 6-7 bakers in the back baking all day long and the storefront is always packed. We took our number and then ordered up all kinds of goodies. Chicken, beef and ham & cheese empenadas, croissant sandwiches, apple fritters, chocolate cakes, macaroons, all kinds of stuff. The hotel heated up our empenadas for us and we had a baked goods picnic in our hotel room.

We got to get serious about hitting the road tomorrow so its early to bed for us. Say a prayer its not raining in the morning…

Oil change!

One of each please...

Lots of little cakes

Puerto San Julian to Rio Gallegos, 235 miles

2007-01-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Strong howling wind, wicked churning skies and icy cold air. That is exactly what we woke up to outside this morning. My neck and back were aching for more time in the bed, especially after being in such a comfortable hotel, but I knew that the longer I procrastinated, the more gusto the wind would have. Today was the day we were to ride through the so called ‘windiest’ portion of our entire trip, and that it was.

The skies looked as if they were going to drop a bunch of rain, or possibly shower us with lightening, although with the speed of the wind, you never knew what was going to happen as it was changing so quickly. We geared up with all our layers, including our newly purchased ‘penguin’ gloves. We call them our penguin gloves because they are some sort of mitten with a giant elongated thumb holder used I’m guessing for skiing, but for us, they solved our problem of having no weather-proof gloves. I have my electric vest, fleece and jacket; I was ready to go. I felt like a marshmallow, literally, all bundled up, being pushed with such force with wind, but not feeling the slightest bit of chill coming through any cracks; I love my gear.

The morning wind felt like it was strong, until we hit the last 60 miles of the day, that is when we re-defined the meaning of strong wind. Wholy moly, it was gusting through so strong, you could literally almost lean your entire body weight backwards while standing and have the wind support you. The one saving grace while on the bike was that the wind was fairly consistent, so you could just keep in a ‘fairly’ straight line at a 30 degree angle (felt more like 45 from the back of the bike, but I’m trying to be realistic).

Mike must have felt much better from his cold and wrist today as he began to do cartwheels, ‘worms’ and attempted a couple handstands on one of our breaks; great news. Soon after he also lost balance of the bike in a huge gust, fortunetly for us while we were sitting still, and has yet again strained his wrist…I guess that will mean only more delay on his beast skills.

The ride although windy, was beautiful. A lot of wildlife today, pink flamencos, alpacas, and these funny little ostrich looking birds.

We made it to Rio Gallegos and fortunately found a ‘decent’ hotel fairly quick which had an available room. We’ve found the sooner we roll into town during this tourist season, the better chances of finding a hotel for the night; everywhere books up quick. The wind is howling through this town like nobody’s business, yet all the locals seem so oblivious to it. There might as well be cats and dogs flying through the air. I guess for them, it’s just a nice summer day…

Probably my favorite road sign ever

A herd of blood thirsty alpacas
There actually really cute and harmless of course
Or are they! Look out!!
We had to really struggle to stand
Amie just leaned into it and relaxed

I got a kick out of fighting it

Until it kicked my @$$

I'm ok! Lucky I was wearing my helmet!
Wassup playa'

Never fear fans... my wrist is healing (slowly)

1-10-07, Rada Tilly to Puerto San Julian, 260 miles

2007-01-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

We made it through the night. The nights are short, so that may have helped. The sun set last night at 10pm and was up before 6am this morning. Most homes, and our hotel room, have fantastic wood shudders which block out all light, so in your room its as dark as you want, whenever you want. They have them all over Argentina, including Buenos Aires, where they aren’t really needed, they’re just great for siestas and sleeping in!

We rode like the wind was at our backs today, fast and smooth. The 50mph cross wind that has been tossing us from lane to lane was non-existent which made us ecstatic. The scenery today was good too, for the first 20 miles at least. We wound through rolling hills along the coast past the bright blue Atlantic before getting back on the straight boring highway across the plain. We’ve also been passing more and more adventure riders. Yesterday it was three. Today we passed four. All looked like BMWs—probably Germans.

Out here you can ride 100 miles, 200 even, before seeing anything. Really, there is nothing out here. No farms, no animals, no power lines, no gas stations. Nada. I’m guessing it’s a lot like the outback in Australia, only colder. After 200 miles of open space we stopped at the first gas station we saw to fill up on food and fuel. Naturally, being the only place in 200miles, it was a zoo. The tame alpacas cruising around made it feel even more so.

We got into Puerto S. Julian with plenty of time to secure a hotel and find a place to do laundry (you can only turn undies inside out so many times). The laundry was easier than expected, the hotel was more difficult. First one was too much, second one had nothing available, third only had two twins, at the 4th some crazy old bird told me she had a room, the price was agreeable, but as soon as inquired about motorcycle parking she opened the front door and through me out. So we went back to the first but they no longer had the room available, so we went back to the third, same story! They just gave up there last room. In a panic we scrambled around, stopped at Hospedaje Drake and were thrilled to find a bonifide sanctuary at a fair price.

People this far south are a bit strange. I already mentioned the crazy lady who through me out for asking about bike parking. There was also the lady at the hardware store who when I asked for WD40 she asked if I’d been to El Calafate. It wasn’t a miss communication, she just was curious where I had been. The lady at the laundry place was very strange indeed, and the lady at this hotel is zany (eccentric not because she wants to be, but because she is mentally insane) with a wicked twitch.

Radda Tada Tui's beach

If I took my helmet off my eyes would fill with sand
Amazing coastline further south
Looks like a cross between bambi and a llama
A replica of Megellan's Victoria, the first ship to go round the world
We didn't plan on matching, I swear

Gaiman to Rada Tilly, 265 miles

2007-01-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

Our welsh B&B served a mean breakfast, one of the best we’ve had. Tea and crumpts, plus ham, cheese, cereal, etc. A good start to the long day ahead. We’ve been warned about the wind in southern Patagonia and hopefully today we got through the worst of it. We spent hours leaning the bike at nearly a 30 degree angle into the westerly winds. It was very uncomfortable and sometimes scary. When a truck would pass or the road was uneven the wind would actually push the front tire perpendicular to our direction of travel. Very scary indeed.

We ended up making it to our target destination, Comodoro Rivadavia. I like to call it Riva Diva. The first hotel was full of drunks and midgets shooting the breeze. I was intrigued, but Amie would never go for it. The next one was $50. The next was $60, and the guy had the nerve to tell me I wouldn’t find anything for less than $30 unless I was in Buenos Aires. Why was this town so darn expensive? These hotels were nothing special and we were in the middle of BFE.

We decided we’d go a few more miles down the road to Rada Tilly. I like to call it Rada Tada Tui. We were shocked to find abandoned high rise hotels and deserted streets. It was like a ghost town beach resort. Both of us started to wonder what happened here. Was there something devastating that happened here that killed tourism? The beach was very nice, albeit windy, and the town was nestled in a cove with picturesque cliffs on either side. “What happened here?” we wondered to eachother. We needed answers. But first we needed a place to stay. We went back to Riva Diva but had no luck. There was a hotel in between Rada Tui and Riva Diva but that turned out to be $70!!! Back to Rada Tui we went.

We stopped at the only hotel in town that was open and it fit the scenario we were brewing up in our minds. It used to be nice you can tell, but its now very run down and shabby. From the outside we doubted it was even still in operation, but some folks we found on the street assured us it was. The sign was dilapidated and missing letters. The “Campground” next door was nothing more than a half acre of dirt completely overgrown with weeds and shrubs. I went into the lobby and it looked like a room in the house of the texas chain saw massacre. Don’t let Amie see this I thought or we’ll have to keep riding for sure. A bitter old woman eventually turned up and gave us quite a scowl. For $30 we could have a room. Without many other options, we decided to take it.

The room itself was actually pretty clean. I’m sure it was swingin digs back in the 70s when it was built. The blinds were bright orange, there was wood paneling on all the walls, and the tile and toilets in the bathroom where bright primary colors. It seems like the further south we go, the more eccentric the people and the places become. I guess you have to be a bit crazy to live this far south, and out in the middle of nowhere no less.

Wake up lazy bones!

Mike wasn't feeling so hot today
The road was long, boring and straight
But the coast was nice

Puerto Madryn to Gaiman, 40 miles

2007-01-08T15:50:00.000-08:00

Mike woke up with a worse head cold than the day before. Regardless, he still felt good enough to pack up and hit the next town, which happened to be only 40 miles away. The reason for such a short day is we’ve wanted to visit the Welsh town of Gaiman for some time as we read they have great afternoon tea and pastries. Well, I guess it was more me that was looking forward to such things!

The road from Puerto Madryn to Gaiman was more of the same, straight as an arrow with not much other than shrub for scenery. It makes it easy to get where you want to go quickly, but also is a bit boring. Another benefit that I’ve noticed about the straight and flat roads is the amount of time you have to think. That is the one thing that I’ve been able to spend a lot of time doing on this trip, which I realized I don’t get to do much at home during my normal working routine, thinking. Not just quick thoughts, but the amount of time you have while driving down a straight and flat road for hours and hours on end is quite amazing. Not only do you come up with thoughts, but you have hours to ponder them in your head. I guess that fact alone has kept Mike and I entertained and not bored with each other, the fact that at the end of the day, we can share with each other our own individual thoughts which happen to be the only thing that we haven’t experienced together during the day.

We made it into Gaiman and were surprised at just how small this little Welsh town is. We drove the entire strip in a blink of an eye. After getting a recommendation from a Welsh tourist, we found a nice little B&B. The first place that actually has the touch and feel of a real house; a nice treat to be in such comforts.

We came here for the afternoon tea, so at 3:00 we headed to the recommended tea house. It was like a travel time warp, we felt like we had ridden into Wales. Delicious tea, great pastries and relaxing surroundings; a great afternoon. Even just the plain bread with butter was outstanding as it was the best bread we’ve had in a while. There was brownies, apple pie, pear pound cake, something that looked like a dulce de leche cake and a strawberry cheesecake. We didn’t come near to finishing everything, but stuffed ourselves until we could barely walk back to our B&B.

During the day, it was quite hot, and it almost seemed like a ghost town on the streets. I think most everywhere in Argentina, including the Welsh towns take naps during the middle of the day as a lot of stores shut down during these hours.

After resting our stomachs in our room and enjoying some good reading time we wandered back on the streets to find more people out and discovered a little pub where we could get some food. Delicious chicken sandwich, this town is treating us right. The old Welsh lady that runs the pub was so pleased with Mike’s $1.30 tip that she gave us a big smile and brought out a big bowl of sweet, plump cherries!

We’re taking a bunch of vitamins tonight in hopes to feel much better in the morning. Tomorrow we start our long days of riding again as we approach the end of the road.

Amie has been CAUGHT! Like a deer in the headlights... with pastries

Bread and butter never tasted so goodTea with Milk
Beware of the black hand
Very quaint town... full of Welsh people

Puerto Madryn and Peninsula Valdez, 235 miles

2007-01-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

Chances are you have seen video of a kamikaze killer whale surfing the tide, beaching itself, and then enjoying a meal on a sandbar full of seals. That place is Peninsula Valdez in Patagonia and that is where went today. No, not because we want to see seals get munched, but because it’s a wildlife wonderland of penguins, foxes, alpacas, elephant seals, dolphins, and orca. The entire peninsula is protected national park, and a fair distance from Puerto Madryn.

My excitement was building in previous days as I enjoy viewing animals in there natural habitat. Its cool to see a penguin at the zoo, but its awesome to stand next to one in the wild. Amie was pumped too, that is until she found out that the roads on the peninsula are gravel, and not paved. Amie has a gravelroadaphobia she hasn’t been able to get over. I guess whipping out a few times hasn’t helped, but I digress.

We left early, rolled through icy fog, paid our entrance fees and were on the peninsula within the hour. Then the road turned to gravel. On the pavement we made 70miles in less than an hour. On the gravel we were doing 30mph at best, Amie squeezing me with her thighs and giving me the “slow down” sign the entire time. My plan was to ride the circumference of the island, but Amie had other ideas: we would ride to the closest destination with penguins and then come back the same road limiting our time on gravel to a minimum. Even with this plan we had nearly 100miles of dirt road ahead of us. The 50 miles in we rode was rather boring. No real wildlife to speak of, that is unless you count horses and cows. Once we hit the coast however, that all changed. Practically in the parking area along the cliff were dozens of penguins. Cute little guys waddling around, some very curious. The beach had monstrous sea lions sunbathing all over the place. In the water you could see penguins swimming, seals frolicking, sea birds of many variety… I wasn’t disappointed. We didn’t see any killer whales or dolphins, but we didn’t stay to long. Both of us have nagging colds and it had already been a long day.

On the ride back we got pretty frustrated with each other. Amie was mad because she was fearing for her life the whole time. I was annoyed because I felt like the situation was under control and didn’t need the constant nagging. After all, we fish tailed frequently but never crashed J. We made it back to the hotel by 4pm, shared our frustrations with each other, mutually apologized, and agreed to avoid dirt roads at all costs from here on out. I forget sometimes that I am in control always and Amie is subjected to my every whim as a passenger. She is a super trooper.

Amie not happy with the situation

These two did a great job cheering her up

See? All smiles again!

They are funny creatures

The seals and sea lions rested while they could

Hey Everybody, its me again!

Amie needed some space. So I went across the street

Stillllllllllllll together!

1-6-07, Puerto Madryn

2007-01-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

It’s frustrating traveling in the high season. I don’t feel like Argentina is the bargain I originally thought it was. Things are way more expensive than our Lonely Planet suggests, and it was published only 2 years ago. Will and his wife confirmed that every time they come back (several times a year) things are noticeably more. As we head down the coast and spring turns to summer we are finding hotels full, and prices exorbitant. I say exorbitant, but that’s coming after 3 months of traveling in Central and South America. We are still getting steak dinners for $10each and hotel rooms for $30, dirt cheap by North American standards, but our daily budget is $50. We’ve been able to make it nearly everywhere except Mexico, Costa Rica, and Peru (Peru gas was $4/gallon). We’ve spent plenty of time driving around looking for a decent hotel only to be turned away “no vacancy.”

That’s my gripe. I’ve got to just except this portion of the trip is going to be over budget… that is unless we can go back to camping?? Amie??? ;-)

The good points of Argentina are still good. I’m still not tired of steak. Amie still loves the ice cream. Gas is like $1.50/gallon. We get props here big time, or in other words much love for moto-travellers, or saying it yet another way, we get tons of respect our way… Almost at every stop some old man wants to shake my hand and inquire about our trip. Its great.

We both feel ill so we’re taking it easy today. We slept in. We had a nap. We got enough energy to ride across town to check out an EcoCenter, kinda like the Long Marine Lab in santa cruz. There was some neat exhibits on dolphins, Penguins, Patagonia, and Peninsula Valedz.

Gas is cheap, its about $1.60/gallon

The beach scene in Puerto Madryn

Amie sweetens it up

Cars like this make me feel right at home

Hello everyone!

Look out Amie! Its about to eat your head!

What? Amie's the only one who gets to eat ice cream?

Viedma to Puerto Madryn, 305 miles

2007-01-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

Mike and I both woke up feeling like we had a little cold. Bummer, but we still managed to get ourselves up, showered and packed to hit the road. We didn’t feel like spending a whole extra day in this town and hoped we’d feel better as the day progressed.

At about every place we stop, whether for a short break, lunch or a gas station, we get plenty of admirers. Mostly they are men, but completely fascinated with the bike, our trip and all of our stickers we’ve collected from the various countries along the way. Every other place we’ve passed through would spark some interest in the occasional person, but nothing like here in Argentina. It seems all the men want to do a Che Guevara trip and love the fact that we are doing one. It’s nice to be in a country where you feel so welcomed by the locals.

More straight roads today that could have even been straighter than the days before, if that’s at all possible. There were two stretches of about 150 miles of straight, with the town Los Grutas in between where we enjoyed a nice lunch along the beach. Los Grutas is a beautiful little beach town. The Atlantic has turned from mud brown to beautiful turquoise and brilliant blue. The bright blue water and white washed walls of Los Grutas were stunning. We enjoyed a little lunch overlooking the beach where all the Argentinean families are out enjoying their vacation. Yes, about all of Argentina vacations during January and February, which means towns don’t have as many stores open AND it’s high season wherever we go. Bummer for us as it’s harder to find a hotel that isn’t full, and everything is at least double what it should be.

Wind didn’t seem as strong in the morning, but then picked right up again in the afternoon. Today we didn’t get into our destination of Puerto Madryn until about 5 in which we spent the next 1-2 hrs just finding a hotel that wasn’t full or under 100 pesos. We finally found one for 85 pesos ($29), but it only had two doubles. At that point we were just happy to have a place for us and Yoshita. Mike wants to start camping, but I insisted we get some sort of foam pad before attempting that route! Sleeping on rocks in the freezing cold doesn’t sound appealing to me.

Today we ride as the crow flies

A light post in El Condor

Caution, wide load

200 miles later, still straight
We're stillll together!

Bahia Blanca to Viedma, 225 miles

2007-01-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

I woke up feeling like a survivor. A survivor for making it through the night in the creepy man hotel. The hotel clerk was that strange, literally either he wore woman’s clothing and had plenty of secrets, or was some type of fester-full serial killer… Either way we both survived the night untouched!

Our biker friends had already left as we woke up late. It’s hard to wake up at a decent hour in the morning in Argentina as you usually start dinner at 10 and never seem to get to bed before midnight.

The roads were much more of the same, straight, flat and scenery not much to keep you interested. Soon after we hit the road, there were some cops and inspection point. This was our very first search we encountered on our entire trip. Amazing, as before we left I anticipated several searches whether legal or not. The refreshing thing was that I didn’t feel threatened or worried. Here in Argentina things are so much more legit than any of the other countries we’ve passed, for the first time I didn’t tighten up and hold up my guard when being asked to pull over. It made me realize how much more relaxed I feel during this part of the trip.

The further south we drove, the stronger the wind became. Yet, we haven’t even reached the so called ‘windy’ region. That fact alone is enough to make me afraid! It was blowing pretty good, I could just feel the bottom portion of the bike being swept with strong gusts of wind on and off.

We drove down to the coast to a beach town called Balmaeario El Condor and had some lunch. We were hoping to stay there for the night, but the wind was blowing through town so strong, if we made that decision to stay, we’d most likely be locked in our room all night. There is an old lighthouse in that town which we got to briefly see. It looked like a nice place if the wind wasn’t blowing sand everywhere including our eyes.

Because we didn’t stay in the beach town, we took the next option which was Viedma. The lonely planet book doesn’t say much about the town that sounded appealing, but it was a pleasant surprise! It was a very quiet and relaxing town set along a beautiful river with plenty of parks, nice restaurants and cafes. Along the river were also some of the nicest houses I’ve seen on our entire trip. We found a little café which had Wifi and enjoyed some free wireless over tea and beers.

The moon looks like it is almost full and walking back from dinner at night, a delicious steak and calamari, the moon was reflecting off the river and was absolutely gorgeous.

A taste of Bahia Blanca

Mike fighting the wind
Pep talk
Fighting the wind again

Turned out Viedma was a NICE town

Necochea to Bahia Blanca, 210 miles

2007-01-03T16:11:00.000-08:00

We started the day by cleaning and lubing the chain and then quickly shot down the arrow-straight highway racing through the six gears before hitting my 80mph wife-imposed maximum about 8 seconds later. We passed by blurred bright yellow fields of sun flowers, blue ponds, brown pasture, and prairie. It got hot and we couldn’t get to Bahia Blanca fast enough.

We did the hotel shuffle for a while before finding Hotel Victoria, the best deal in town, but run by a guy from another planet. You get the feeling he is wearing women’s clothing under his hotel outfit, or is a serial killer—one or the other Amie and I decided.

After checking in we headed out to see what Bahia Blanca was all about, but then noticed gear in the lobby not unlike our own. More adventure bikers! No one was around so we walked across the street to the parking lot to see what type of bikes these folks were riding. That is when we met Rick and Salvador, two travels from Southern California who met along the way in Honduras and were now on there way back up the continent from Tierra del Fuego. Funny, because Amie and I were talking about how we haven’t seen any other moto-travelers since the Gassmen, the friendly Canadian couple, in Costa Rica and Gunther, the bitter German, in Ecuador.

Rick was an older Harley guy on a KLR650 making the ride from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Salvador was chemistry major from Nicaragua by way of Italy, who sold all of his worldly possession in OC to do a 10 month South America trip with plans of moving to China for work when the money runs out. We spent our evening drinking Quilmes and swapping stories with these two. My favorite was Rick’s, it went something like this, as best as I can remember:

Somewhere in Ecuador he asked a police officer for directions. The police officer and partner, sharing a motorbike, offered to lead Rick to his destination, but first offered an escorted tour of the city. Rick agreed with enthusiasm. He followed behind the officers to the police station, where he parked his bike and climbed aboard another bike piloted by yet another police officer. The three cops and Rick went out on the town on the two bikes with lights flashing and all. The story goes, the cops traversed the city and suddenly drove through a narrow doorway that opened to a courtyard that was a square city block full of hookers. In the center were men drinking, playing cards, enjoying a meal etc. Along the perimeter were rooms, each with a women sitting in front of the door. The officers pulled up to a room that had the door closed. They barged in with no warning where Rick witnessed a man pulling up his pants and shuffling in as the police stormed the place. Rick said inside was a 6’ tall blond prostitute, the climax of the city tour…

He wasn't interested in a trade

Sunflowers at 80mph

Our new friends, Rick and Salvador

Watch out for that one...let's hope we make it through the night!

Villa Gesell to Necochea, 145 miles

2007-01-02T15:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was 95+. Today we awoke to rain and an icy breeze. When its really hot, and we are sweating while we do nothing but hurl down the highway I wish it was cooler. This morning as my visor is open, the rain hitting me in the face soaking my helmet liner and I’m squinting to see the road, my heated grips on high, my fingers iced I wished the sun would come out. What a difference a day makes.

We blew through Mar del Plata opening up the throttle to 8-9000rpms, letting Yoshita relish the 98 octane. I’m not really thrilled with this part of Argentina and am anxious to get on to Patagonia. The beaches are not very pleasing to look at, the ocean is a muddy green, and everywhere is packed with vacationing families driving up even the cheapest hotels prices.

Since we didn’t have far to go today we got into Necochea with plenty of time to find a place to stay and relax a bit. Hotel Lyon is a two star and at $30 is one of the cheapest in town. We dumped our gear and went out for a steak at 2pm. The weather improved and we both agreed this town is the most pleasant we’ve seen on the coast.

Mar del Plata had nothing for us

Short riding days are nice...lots of time to relax

...and enjoy Empenadas

Nicest beach town we saw, Necochea

Empenada on the beach

First ever caption contest: leave your best caption in comments
(be nice to me!)

Buenos Aires to Villa Gesell, 300 miles

2007-01-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

I woke up with a bit of a heavy head, probably something to do with the all you can drink wine, and good wine at that. I didn’t mind though, it was New Years day, the first day of a whole new year. Thinking back to where I was and what I was doing last year made me realize how happy I was with 2006 and all we have accomplished. Last New Years we had only had dreams of doing such a trip that we are on now, and were no where close to the reality of it happening. What a difference a year can make, there I was, in a restaurant in Buenos Aires with a bunch of wild old Argentinean woman and men dancing and singing their hearts out in celebration for the New Year; we’ve come a long way and it felt good. 2006 was a wonderful year, Gina having the twin boys and our long dreamed journey becoming a reality. I look forward to all that 2007 will bring us.

As much as I greatly enjoyed all my time in Buenos Aires and put it in the top of my list for favorite cities, after 6 days in one place, I had the itch to hit the road towards new places and looked forward to what today would bring. The very exciting part of this whole trip, at least for me, is the anticipation of where we are going will be like? Every country is so different, but even within the country each region also holds its own individuality. You never know what type of people you will be surrounded by, what the scenery has in store, weather, etc. You set off each morning with everything about the day to be discovered. Sure, that part does have it’s downfalls as in, what type of hotel will we get for the night? What will we eat for dinner? Those you always hope for the very best, but many times are stuck with your only option.

As it’s been extremely hot and humid in Buenos Aires during our time there, we anticipated the heat on the road up until nearing the Atlantic. Well, that sure held true, and even when we reached the coast, it got a bit cooler, but still hot enough to be completely soaked underneath our very heavy and thick protective gear. I curse at the gear from time to time when I feel I may melt away from the extreme heat that it captures, but usually just as those thoughts cross my mind, a gigantic bug will smack the side of my leg or jacket to remind me how much more that would hurt if I didn’t have the protective gear!

The ride today was mostly on a very straight and well paved highway. Flat lands and not too much to look at other than the many billboards placed along side of the road for all the BA tourists to view as they make their way to the beach on their Summer vacation. Roads like this made me sleepy. It’s not fun to feel sleepy on the back of the bike, as there isn’t much you can do to snap yourself out of it. You know that if you do fall asleep, you risk falling off…but somehow I convince myself from time to time that I can just close my eyes for a few seconds. Dangerous business, but some coffee at the next gas station did the trick and I survived the rest of the day.

The first beach resort town we attempted to stay at was called Pinamar. We rolled into a town that reminded us much of Carmel Valley, even the price tag. Seems we picked the location where the wealthiest of Argentina like to spend their summer vacations. After a few inquires, we headed out for the next beach town called Villa Gisele in hopes for something more affordable. Success, even though we still had to pay $27 for a very small room in need of much TLC with a very slow moving fan, it was a steal compared to the $65 dollar quotes from the nearby Pinamar. In fact, it seems that Argentina has become quite a bit more expensive than in recent times. The Lonely Planet book we refer to seems to be quoting three times less, and only 2 years old. Still a very reasonably priced country, but unfortunately we aren’t getting the deals you used to at one point.

After unpacking we set out for some snacks and drinks, and then the rain came pouring down. What timing and what a nice treat to cool us down for the night! The town is bustling with Argentinean tourists out on their summer vacation. Mike and I enjoyed some empanadas, beer and delicious ice cream. Yes, Argentina, land of delicious steaks and ice cream!

Not blanket-sweater things, or stomachs, they are actually selling hot dogs

Argentine families on the way to the beach

Just cruisin

Mike looking for a hotel we could afford

Amie contemplating her next ice cream flavor selection

New Years Eve, Buenos Aires

2006-12-31T13:45:00.000-08:00

Today we had the pleasure of meeting our friends Will and Claudia Pizzolato for lunch at Siga La Vaca, or “follow the cow,” an all-you-can-eat steak house. We spent the next 4 or 5 hours eating steak, drinking wine and enjoying good conversation. Will left with us on October 1st from our house in San Jose, California, but turned back the same day at Big Sur. We’ve been riding south ever since—3 months to be exact. I marvel at how on a trip like this 3 months can seem so long, so much can be experienced and learned. Contrasting that with 3 months at home in a routine and it is hard to believe it’s the same life.

After lunch we said goodbye to our friends and headed back to the hotel to get ready for our nights festivities. Amie has been really excited about the dinner and tango show we booked online for new years eve. I was looking forward to it as well. We were warned that after 10pm taxis quit working to be home with there families (strange to think a big city like BA would not offer public trans after 10pm on new years eve!?) so we had our hotel call “Michelangelo Tango” to find out for us if we could arrange transportation back afterwards. They could. Great. However the price for the show tonight was not the $100 that we expected, was advertised on line, and we reserved for, it was now $220 per person. !?!??! How could this be? We had a reservation? The website says $100. Sorry, its $220, take it or leave it. For me $100 a head was a splurge. $220 each is insanity. Amie was disappointed but in complete agreement. We looked at each other for the next few moments wondering if either had a plan B.

A word on Argentina and holidays. From what we have seen, they are very different. At home, everything is closed, sure, but not like here. EVERYTHING is closed here. The street midday here looks like Sunday night at 4am at home. Take NYE for example. We expected a wild street scene, something akin to Time Square in New York, but what we got was a deserted city like you’d seen in a zombie movie (before all the zombies attack). We were even more amazed to learn that everything would open up, restaurants, bars, cafes etc, at 2am. ??? So what does that leave us?

We got online to let our fingers do the walking. Turns out some fancy restaurants are open serving fixed price menus, but they are usually astronomical. We put on our best duds and went out in the quiet streets in search of somewhere to celebrate. Luckily, one of the restaurants we ate at earlier in the week near our hotel was open and was filling up. Everyone was dressed in their best, well most. There was a lot of prom-type dresses, and guys in all white. Amie looked great, but I didn’t think they’d let me in with flip-flops and jeans. They didn’t mind, but the price tag was $100/each dinner and show. I cringed, basically because we had the best steak this place serves a few days ago and it cost us $6, but oh well, its new years eve.

Once we were seated we noticed rather phallic balloons everywhere and wondered what type of show we were in for. It turned out to be a fun night. The food was good, the wine was all you can drink, and our fellow revelers were having a great time. We kept wondering when the show would start, but there never was one… unless you count the MC who was rocking the mic with some classics like Gloria, Super Freak, and others. At midnight Amie and raised our glasses, reviewed the highlights and our accomplishments, and toasted the end of a great year.

All you can eat meat

Enjoying lunch with friends the Pizzolatos

Puerto Madero

We clean up nice

What exactly is the "show"?

Amie at about 10:30pm

All you can drink = crazy party

Happy New Year!!

Buenos Aires, Day 4

2006-12-30T12:29:00.000-08:00

For some reason, all of the McDonald signs we’ve spotted on our walks through Buenos Aires the last couple of days had us craving a breakfast sandwich. We woke up at our usual late time, as we never can seem to wrap up dinner before 11pm around here, and headed to McDonalds. It’s amazing how McDonalds is represented in other countries besides the US, let’s just say it’s a bit more classy…same stuff, different marketing angle. Well, they didn’t have breakfast sandwiches, they had their usual Argentinean croissant and coffee. The only thing close to a breakfast sandwich was a roll/sourdough bun with egg and cheese. Not so good, I can easily say that’ll be my last McDonalds in quite some time as we are now in the land of great food.

Our next stop was a little coffee shop as we had slept through our breakfast hour at the hotel. A late morning led us out into the streets on a search for ski gloves (yes, we desperately need them when it rains and cold outside!), a pair of shoes for Mike and a festive Argentinian necklace. On a side note, the woman here love their big and chunky necklaces, you rarely see a woman walking down the street without a giant and bold accessory hanging from her neck. So while in BA, I figured I’d be BA and buy myself one for our New Year outing.

It is Saturday, so we didn’t anticipate having any troubles with the stores, but to our surprise, most of everything was shut down! It didn’t make sense to us. Only a few cafes or restaurants were open amongst the several shops with closed doors. After inquiring we learned that most stores are not open on Saturday, and if so, usually only half day. I guess everyone does there shopping around here on weekdays! Thus, we had no success with gloves or shoes for Mike. I guess he’ll be trying to get away with flip flops at tomorrow nights show! As far as my quest, success, I got a great green long necklace with giant puffy green balls on it; perfect for the occasion! To spice myself up a bit more I bought a lipstick. That is my best attempt at making myself look as much feminine as possible, something I think I crave a bit after dressing up in a gigantic masculine moto outfit on an almost daily basis. I sure miss looking feminine!

I also would like to mention some more fashion trends of BA and Argentina in general that I’ve noticed and are quite amazing to me. Duck Tails. Need I say more? Well, more like a mullet/duck tail/Mohawk. Yes, most young men are sporting a combination of that around these parts. I think it’s the latest Soccer look possibly? I’ve been meaning to capture some photos, hopefully I can get a few for our readers! Mike’s new haircut sure makes him look like a tourist in these parts! I love it…

Mike and I are expecting quite a festivity for New Years as I believe they have already started the celebrations as we’ve seen a ton of paper pieces laid about the streets and flying through the air. I believe it is the Argentineans old work calendars, being ripped and tossed from the window in a ritual which let’s them let go of last year before entering the New Year. This is only my guess…but it’s quite a site. I just feel sorry for the street cleaners!

We wandered and walked all over the city again today. Bought a couple books, ate some more steak and enjoyed having yet another day for rest, relaxation and taking in this lovely city. We’re enjoying our time in BA!

Buenos Aires

2006-12-29T05:25:00.000-08:00

We started our day at Café Tortoni, one of the famous cafés in town. I thought the place was closed as the doors were shut tight, but we soon found out that was just part of the mystique. You see, there is a door man who only lets in a certain number of people at a time, like a bouncer at a night club… only I don’t think you have to have the “look” to get in, just patience. It wasn’t long before we were seated and enjoyed espresso and scones.

Next it was down to the San Telmo neighborhood which is famous for antiques, art and tango, but must also be the gay neighborhood as there were more guys holding hands than I’ve seen in SF in a while. We tried to keep in the shade as it was HOT, stopping for ice cream and to look at antique chandeliers.

Next we caught a taxi over to La Boca neighborhood and El Caminito. La Boca is the blue-collar little Italy waterfront area. El Caminito is the famous street which probably used to be really cool, but now is full of hawkers, beggars, and vendors aggressively looking to get tourists in there restaurants. They were successful and we stopped for a beer. There was a guy singing his heart out while two people danced the tango in the street. It was all for the tourists of course, and they passed the hat afterwards, but it was still a lot of fun.

No pizza today, Amie just couldn’t do it again. We settled for salad and beef empenadas, a good compromise. They were delicious. The food is my favorite part of this town. We returned back to the AC and spent some time researching aspects of future parts of the trip.

No crystals here!

Members only

Found a good pair...too bad we didn't have the money!

Nice hot day in BA

Exploring the south end of the city

Here Gina, is this what you're looking for???

San Telmo

Enjoying the show

Street show

This guy loved singing his heart out

El Caminito

Some Boca art

Hi Moms!

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 0 miles

2006-12-28T07:29:00.000-08:00

Buenos Aires is big, 13 million people big if you count the suburbs. The buildings are beautiful and European. The food is the best on the trip. We are eating better than we do at home for a fraction of the cost. The people are friendly, the weather is nice, the tango-culture is interesting, and the nightlife (so we hear) is insane. We are encouraged to have a nap after dinner, then hit the bars around 2am. We are yet to pull that one off.

On the agenda today was to find outfits for New Years Eve and to do the tourist thing at the northern neighborhood of Recoleta. Against my will, I got my haircut at a barbershop near our hotel--so much for growing my hair out ($3). We stopped at the same pizzeria as yesterday, which was packed again, so I could get my pizza/empanada fix. Argentina runs on pizza, pasta, empenadas, and steak. Literally, those are the staples. From there we walked until we were tired, then jumped on the subway for a few stops to take a break.

Recoleta is the ritzy neighborhood and you can tell right away. Everyone looks flash, the ice cream parlors look like modern art galleries, and the price tags are significantly higher. We found our way to the famous cemetery, one of the major tourist attractions in BA. It’s like a city for the dead with miniature mausoleum-buildings on both sides of tiny streets in a grid pattern. This is where the rich and influential families of BA are buried. The headstones are incredible; giant marble tombs, many with hand carved statues of angels or other figures. We stopped at Evita Peron’s grave, the only one we recognized.

Aside from eating more (lots more) and having another delicious steak, there wasn’t much more to the day.

Mike's favorite little pizza joint

Subway couldn't be more crowded!

Gelato! Yes! It is the best in South America...

Cerveza break

The entrace to the cemetary (new hair cut)

All lined up

Mike was being attacked by mosquitos (thus the look)

The Peron tomb

Beautiful statues

El Gato del Muerto

Rosario to Buenos Aires, 170 miles

2006-12-27T07:12:00.000-08:00

It was another easy drive in Argentina today, but nothing too scenic. The speed limit is posted by lane, fast lane is 130km (about 80mph), slow lane is 80km (about 45mph) and there are lots of lanes in between, just like home. As we approached BA, it was 5 lanes wide. We haven’t been on a road like that since we left southern California.

There is a giant thoroughfare that runs right through the center of BA, this made it easy to navigate on the fly as we slowly worked our way through traffic. There is also no shortage of hotels. We quickly went through the 3 we highlighted from the good book: the first was asking 3x what the book listed it as 2 years ago, not a good sign. The next two were full—another bad sign. We did the hotel shuffle for about 2 hours before getting recommended hotel A&B by a police officer. It was a bit more than we wanted to spend but very clean, central, with a newer AC unit (a must with the heat and mosquitoes) and on site bike parking.

Late afternoon and we were off to check things out. We ducked into a working class pizza joint selling by the slice with standing room only. A slice of cheese was 0.50 and delicious. You can also get empendas in multiple flavors, also 0.50. I was in heaven. We stayed pretty close to our neighborhood in the “microcenter” or down town, hitting Lavalle and Florida pedestrian shopping streets. Amie enjoyed (mostly) window shopping, but did find a few items she didn’t want to do without.

We had bife de chorizo (no not sausage but a THICK sirloin steak) at another working class type place that was again packed with families at 10:30pm. The steaks were great, and cheap. This place is really starting to grow on me… or is it me that is growing?

All packed up and ready for the next destination

Rosario

Fruit?

A good look

Even though we are surrounded by new cars...the horse and buggy are still prevalent

Sweet ride

Welcome to Buenos Aires!

Cordoba to Rosario, 280 miles

2006-12-26T07:24:00.000-08:00

It was hard to leave our really comfy hotel room in Cordoba. The A/C kept us at a really nice temperature and also kept the mosquitoes away. The sheets were, for the first time in a while, real thick cotton. I woke up in the morning not even knowing if I was at home or still on the trip…it gave us some much needed rest and relaxation.

As soon as we pulled out of the hotel, we could finally see what Cordoba is like on a normal day, people everywhere filling the streets. It is a really nice city.

The road from Cordoba to Rosario was pretty much big freeways, nothing too interesting to look at other than the often spotted tractor or suave men on a tiny scooters. I started to take pictures of the people on the little scoters as it is quite a site from home. Miles and miles of fields, farms and farming equipment. For the first time that I can remember, Mike actually started to feel like he was going to fall asleep…I blame it on the straight and uninteresting roads as well as the giant lunch we got to enjoy. Yes, we finally stopped and had a real lunch at lunchtime. Another thank you to Argentina for providing an abundance of good restaurants. We stopped and enjoyed some Milanese de Beef. Beef, of course, what else in Argentina!

The miles went by fast as the roads are straight and well paved. Before we knew it, we entered Rosario. A big city, which always makes for finding a decent place to stay and park the bike difficult. After continuing to look in Cordoba until we found a good place, it encouraged us to keep looking beyond the first hotel that would allow the bike. Our perseverance paid off, we found a decent place for less than $30 (yeah, hotels are more expensive than we expected in Argentina). Clean and with A/C which became much appreciated later in the night when we realized we were being swarmed with mosquitoes! Yes, literally swarmed to a point when they are bouncing off our bodies. Either that is Rosario for you, or in particular our hotel. The tent came in handy!

It was still early in the afternoon so we set out to see the town! We walked around the blocks with all the shops. They were full of the after Christmas shoppers, tons of people and a lot of fun. I found a little shirt, but in general the styles here aren’t really my type or I don’t think would fly at home as well…but window shopping was fun. Indoor and outdoor stores for blocks and blocks, all interlaced with bars, sidewalk cafes and heladeria (ice cream stores) all surrounded by beautiful old buildings. Argentina supposedly has the best ice cream in South America, and I look forward to finding out myself. We had a great time being tourists around town and people watching. For all our single friends out there, take a trip to Rosario as there are a lot of great looking men and woman there!

Our evening ended in a steak house, late for us, early for the Argentineans. We were the first people there at 8:30. Great steak as usual, but the massive amount of mosquitoes got us eating and out of there before long. No matter how hard you try to go to bed at a decent hour in Argentina, you can never seem to do so before 11pm.

Packin' up

Sweet ride

I especially like this one because of the basket (which matches nicely with the rims)

I need to get one of these to take my girlfriends out for a ride when I get home!

This dog couldn't get enough attention

Shopping maddness!

Enjoying being tourists over a cold cerveza

Amie at her finest (ice cream and shopping)

This restaurant is not for vegetarians!

Cordoba, 0 miles

2006-12-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! We are spending Christmas day in Cordoba. At least we have each other, but we miss our family, friends and Candy terribly. Christmas is never quite right when we are away from home, but we are making the best of it. Tonight we will enjoy a great Argentinean steak dinner and share a bottle of good wine.

We can only be anxious to make up for this years holiday next year with everyone at home. We miss you all and hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas!

Thinking of you Candy!!!

Frias to Cordoba, 220 miles

2006-12-24T06:50:00.000-08:00

We got a late start today because we didn’t realize we crossed a time zone when we crossed into Argentina. Oh well. We got a few mesquito bites in the night, but we are finally done with Malaria territory, so we weren’t that concerned. We expected it to be scorching hot again, but as we pulled out of the hotel and went from 0-80mph in like 5 seconds we realized that it wasn’t so warm. In fact, it started raining and hailing and we scrambled to make ourselves waterproof on the side of the road. The wind picked up and we were flung all over the place for the next few hours.

More bolts that I neglected to tighten have been coming off and we had to periodically stop to see “what that noise” was. Don’t worry moms, I tightened the brakes, wheels, handlebars, etc--all the important stuff.

As we were checking our map of Cordoba for potential hotels from the cities edge, an elderly man with one normal leg, and another miniature leg about half the size as the normal one dangling from a scooter stopped to ask about our trip. He was impressed and mentioned he is a bit of a moto-adventurer as well. He asked if we had any stickers we could give him. I was confused, but he was just happy to have met us. He offered to lead us into Cordoba to wherever we wanted to go, so we followed him to the city center. From there, we spent the next few hours going from Hotel to hotel checking out rooms and haggling over prices.

One was too musky, others too expensive. One was nice, but smelled like dead people. The most interesting one had the receptionist tell us we could check in, but we couldn’t be in the hotel from 10pm to 2pm on Christmas eve/Christmas day because “In argentina we celebrate Christmas, and the hotel is closed.” Hmmm? Why would I pay to stay in the hotel then?

Finally, just before we were about to settle for the musky one, we found a lovely 3-star for $32 which is nice, smells good, and is, as Amie says, tastefully decorated. We checked in, enjoyed the amenities (including internet) and went out for lunch at a recommendation from the hotel. I had empenadas, a t-bone and mashed potatoes. Amie had ravioli. The food was fantastic and cost us less than $10.

Through a window we could see in the kitchen where the chefs were putting together some amazing looking party platters. Amie and I wished we could crash a holiday party by figuring out the address those platters were destined for. No such luck.

The city is sparsely decorated but bustling in the early afternoon. By early evening it was dead. Everyone was where they intended to be, except us. We were left in an empty city feeling melancholy. Boy its hard not being with family this time of year!

We took another recommendation for dinner at the nicest restaurant in town. There were no cabs so we had a long walk, about 20 blocks, ahead of us. From the looks of the place, I didn’t think they would let us in with jeans and flipflops, but we were welcomed in very graciously, but then quickly turned away as we didn’t have a reservation. DOH! Amie was pretty upset, as was I, because it was about 9:30pm and the place didn’t look that busy. Come to find out, people don’t start showing up until about 11pm. !!!

Luckily we found a second choice not far away at all that would seat us and had a nice special menu for the occasion: $25 a head got us appetizer, main, dessert, wine, champagne, etc. It ended up being very nice. We left at 12:30am, and it was just getting busy. We’ll make a reservation for the other place tomorrow night.

On the long walk back the streets were dead--except for so many families setting off fireworks you would think it was 4th of July. It sounded like a war zone, or a Bolivian mine! Explosions were everywhere. Kids were running around blowing stuff up right in front of our hotel at 1am. Amie and I laughed as we contrasted the Christmas culture between the US and Argentina.

The usual morning packup...all smiles after that comfy night

Miles and miles of straight

The plaza in daylight

Mike couldn't be happier...steak and mashed potatos!

We caught that guy sneaking some turkey!

Plaza at night

Salta to Frias, 335 miles

2006-12-23T06:39:00.000-08:00

Traversing South America is like going back in time. Ecuador felt like 1980, about 25 years behind the US. Peru felt more like 50 years behind… and Bolivia is still in the 1800s. Many of the roads are dirt, horse and buggy are common transportation, not many places have running water, and most of the population is illiterate and incapable of simple arithmetic. When you cross the border into Argentina, its not just another border crossing and time zone change, its like time-warp 100 years right back into the twenty first century. Things work. People own cars. Bathrooms are like you imagine, with toilet paper, soap, running water, etc (we’ve had our fair share of “squatters”, eg two footprints and a hole, and “scoop your own water’s”, where there is a toilet, but no plumbing so you have to scoop water with a bucket from a barrel and manually flush the toilet.)

I really am getting a good feeling about the place just from the vehicles. There are tons of modern cars, sure, but for me the joy is in the old American cars still on the road, Italian Fiat 500s, 60’s Peugots, mopeds, home made two-stroke café racers… great vehicle-watching.

The Saturday before Christmas in Salta is just like at home—Chaos. People are everywhere shopping and scurrying about, traffic, madness, etc. It took us about 30minutes to find our way out of town on the road we wanted heading south. Once on the road, it was fantastic. I could have gone 120mph, the roads were perfect and engineered for speed (the posted speed limit is 75mph). Amie limits me to 80mph however, so I had my wrist locked there for about the next 6 hours. We flew by the scenery and down out of the mountains. As we went down, the temperature went up. By 3pm it was over 100.

The heat was getting to Amie so we stopped at a gas station not for gas, but for AC. Gas stations in Argentina are just like home, mini grocery stores with café’s, snacks, and AC. This one in particular also had the owner’s family lounging about (there house probably wasn’t as cool) kids screaming, mom’s scolding, adults debating, a mentally handicapped sibling trying to help us with the door, a guy bearing a reseblence to che guevera with no shirt asking me how fast the bike goes and if I have change for $2 bill… a real circus.

The route we were on was indeed great road, but bland scenery. Lots and lots of grass. Not many towns either. Amie didn’t want to make it a record mileage day so Cordoba was out. I liked the idea of three nights in one place—we could use the break—but another 200miles was unrealistic. The only town with a dot one notch larger than the smallest on the map was 35 miles away, we were betting on it having a hotel. We pulled in and it looked pretty bleak. Dusty, a gas station, a argentina flag, and the road on the otherside leading further south. I was worried as its literally 200 more miles until the next town any larger than a spec.

We pulled into the gas station and asked the attendant if this town has a hotel. Even if it does I was thinking, we would probably have to pitch the tent because it will more than likely be filthy, and Amie wouldn’t think of sleeping outside of her “Safe zone.” He responed with “what are you looking for, cheap, medium, or nice?” A good sign! Believe it or not, just down the road, we turned onto a dirt stretch and stumbled into a 4 star hotel. Hot water, AC, bike parking, breakfast included, $22. YES PLEASE. Its one of the nicest hotels we’ve stayed at on the whole trip. Thanks Santa!

Little shop

Crazy Christmas shoppers

Mad Christmas dash

Cafe?

Beautiful buildings

Salta Plaza

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SISTERS!!!

2006-12-22T16:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Sarah, Natalie, Heather and Kristin!!! We are sorry we can´t be with you to celebrate your birthday...but we hope you have a wonderful day!

Lots of love!

Humahuaca to Salta, 140 miles

2006-12-22T06:23:00.000-08:00

We slept in our tent on a very small and slightly slopped bed. The reason for this is we are back in Malaria territory, but the type of malaria that even our Cloroquine drugs are resistant to...so we were extra cautious! A success, no bites all night, even though it was quite cramped and warm during the night; safety first!

I think the altitude has kept us from sleeping well for the past few weeks, and as we’ve climbed down the mountains, each night we sleep better and better. The more air, the happier our bodies are. We woke up a little later than usual. The hotel we were staying at included breakfast, so after inquiring, the owner of the hotel made quite a bit stink as she thought she had finished serving breakfast and then presented us with some oddly shaped and random slices of overly toasted bread and coffee… Hmm we thought, how could that have been a hassle? We were expecting at least some fried eggs for all the griping!

Getting out of the hotel, after having to do some tricky maneuvering to get the bike in the night before which consisted of jumping the bike up a huge step, maneuvering around the crippled guy that literally kept on wanting to help, but only go in the way in which the bike would nearly knock his poor little feet over, a macho Argentinean dude that thought his strength is all he needed to help Mike, not his brains, etc. You get the picture. Anyway, in the morning before Mr. Macho or crippled dude could see us, Mike and I got Yoshita out of the courtyard no problem. Packed her up and we were ready to head further into Argentina!

Just as we were leaving the bumpy cobblestone streets, Mike pulled over as Yoshitas entire front dash was jostling up and down as if it was about to come off. Good call, as it literally was coming off. Both bolts that hold it on were on their last thread; close call. Darn those washboard roads!

The scenery went from desert and cactus to lush and thick green mountains very quickly. As we entered the green mountains the air also began to get much warmer The road turned small and narrow as we weaved through the lush green mountains, squeaking by the giant trucks ripping around the corners. Other than the trucks the road was quite peaceful and enjoyable.

Before we knew it, we were in Salta; a beautiful town with a great big plaza surrounded by shops, sidewalk cafes and restaurants. A lot of great shopping and conveniences that we haven’t seen since we left the US. We were in awe. We found a decent hotel with parking and just about crashed in our room. I’m not sure if all the energy that the last few days took had just caught up with us or if we weren’t used to the heat, but we was exhausted. We wandered to laundry and found a giant grocery store. Yes, a grocery store, something we haven’t been into in some time... It was amazing. We wandered around big eyed grabbing everything and anything that sounded delicious. Salami, cheese, bread, yogurt, pudding, chocolate, chips, you name it, we got it. That adventure led us to our room where we gorged on delicious treats until we could barely move. It was a shame to be in such a lovely town without seeing much of it, but I have to admit I didn’t mind lying in bed surrounded by good food and doing nothing at all. We caught up on some American TV shows and enjoyed every lethargic moment of it.

That was about the extent of our night besides a little adventure around town once the food settled. You don’t realize how much you miss vegging out when you’re always on the go to the next adventure.

Eek! Those bolts are barely hanging on!

Dario loves Sonia

All fixed and ready to roll

Nice little road...until the trucks turn the corner

We love cheese

A feast! We're in heaven...

Tupiza, Bolivia to Humahuaca, Argentina, 160 miles (60 dirt)

2006-12-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

Thank you Argentina for bringing us signs and paved roads! I never thought I would be so happy to see pavement, but just as we crossed the border from Bolivia into Argentina, the site of tarmac lit up Yoshita and my sprits.

We both woke up feeling like a truck had ridden over us; we were exhausted. Even after a nights rest, the thought of another day on the road seemed to be too much. Regardless, when the alarm went off, Mike crawled himself out of bed to get Yoshita to the car wash early morning. The last two days Yoshita was not only covered in mud, but all the washboard dirt roads had loosened most of her bolts and everything needed a good tightening. Mike got her washed and tightened up everything all by 10AM while I packed up our stuff. We hit the road, anxious to finish the last portion of dirt road until we reached the Argentina border.

It was 60 miles of dirt, mostly washboard in which some of the freshly tightened bolts already came loose. Yoshitas front dash has also become quite wobbly, and while jolting up and down over the badly riveted roads it was as if their dash was going to become detached from the bike.

After about a couple hours, which went by surprisingly quick, we were surrounded by a bunch of men and woman carrying heavy sacks on their back from Argentina to Bolivia, like fish swimming up river; quite a site. The border was surprisingly busy and packed with people waiting to get the correct paperwork and stamps to enter one side or the other. After much nonsense and inquiries, Mike had to wait in a very long line, which he also managed to cut short a bit, to get the necessary documents. It took about an hour and a half, the longest for us in a while. The Argentinean officials were definitely not as friendly as the Bolivians, except if you were a woman in which they would flirt and favor. Regardless we made it though and hit the very nicely paved road into Argentina.

The road was flat and straight. Yoshita finally got to pick up some speed and I started to feel like we were truly on the road again. Not before long the scenery turned into beautiful mountains with colorful streaks lining their sides. Great scenery, great roads, plentiful road signs (haven’t seen those in a while) and good weather, a nice welcome into Argentina.
Mike didn’t want to push himself and make it to Salta today, so after taking out the map we discovered a town about 100 miles in which would have a decent hotel. Done. We made it to this nice quaint little town. A decent and clean hotel, restaurant and we were able to find internet. It’s bed early for us!

Yoshita needed her bolts tightened

The first roads we've had to pay for in a while...the ugly dirt ones

Fun little tunnel

These people are nuts...like fish swimming up river at the border crossing

Pavement! Yes!

Beautiful mountains!

We found a nice little town

This guy likes the vino

Tupiza to Atocha to Tupiza, 148 miles, all dirt

2006-12-20T15:06:00.000-08:00

Which describes our second attempt at reaching Salar de Unuyi, the largest salt flat in the world, and Amie’s mental breakdown.

We woke up to Blue Skies, aching bodies, and a renewed desire to make another go at the salt flats. At least I did anyway. You see, the salt flats for me are one of the highlights of the whole trip: a surreal landscape of flat stark white with perfect puddles that reflect the blue sky and clouds…trees made of rocks, and lagoons of bright green, blue and red. The “highway” we were on yesterday led us past the flats close to the Argentina border, to reach them today we would have to backtrack northwest about 120miles. 120miles of more dirt. Amie agreed to make the trek because she knew this was something I really wanted to do, but her aching body and better judgement would have kept her at the hotel.

After a light breakfast we struck out around 9:30am. The weather was great and the scenary some of the best we had scene to date—really incredible rocks and mountains of red and green. I’m so glad we’re doing this I thought to myself. What a shame if we missed this. Curse those words!

120miles of dirt is a LONG way. We hit some incredible washboard patches that I thought would shake the fillings out of my teeth and the handlebars out of my hands. Yet we pressed on. The rock and gravel road turned to sand at about 50 miles in. I flailed all limbs in an effort to keep the bike up right, but we eventually crashed. Then came the tears. Amie was at the end of her rope, feeling trapped and forced on this misadventure.

We heaved the machine back upright after getting our composure and moved forward slowly and carefully. The sand dumped us into a river and I flailed with my legs and lugged first gear through the mud across. We tried to follow in wheel tracks of jeeps and things, but there was really no road to follow, just ride down the river of mud, water and sand. We got stuck in the mud. Half of the rear sprocket was below the surface. With alot of effort on both our parts we were able to get it out and rolling again, but not for long. More of this went on for about 30 minutes before we saw a town on the mountainside, the river running around it.

The river dried up a bit, and soon became a dump of garbage and pig shit. Where the water ran, Amie chose to walk. She lost it again as she started to sink in the mud, sourounded by wallowing pigs and garbage.

The bike got stuck again and we asked ourselves if we were on the “road.” Some folks from the town said we were, but we doubted it. We pressed on with the hopes that we would soon ride off the riverbed back onto gravel. Up on the side of the mountain there appeared to be a road, and shortly there after a bus passed on it. SHOOT! That’s where we should be! We turned around, and just as we did, a bus came bumbling down the river bed towards us with a Uyni sign across the front. I tried to flag him down to confirm this was the only road, but he didn’t stop.

Defeated, we gave up. Amie had been crying for the last 2 hours pretty much continuously and I physically could not continue wrestling the bike through the mud. We began the long way back. First passed the pigs and garbage, through the rivers, and through the sand, careful as can be not to crash again.

Anxious to get back, I road faster, but the cursed-washboard patches just about tossed me off the road. Then the rain came. I wanted to cry too, but boys don’t get to.

To sum it up, we are back at the same hotel as last night, in the same room. We could have just hung out by the pool as Amie so aptly pointed out. The bike is worked and filthy for nothing. I need to go over it and tighten every bolt as things are starting to fall off. Its 8pm and time for our second meal of the day. Some days are easier than others.

With scenery like this, we felt good about our decision

Ooooo....

Ahhhhh....

Oh. Sand. Shoot.

Sand? Now mud? What next?

We weren't even stuck here. This was just a break! Mud got thicker!

The worst moments were not photographed. Here is us racing back before the storm.

Potosi to Tupiza, 195 miles (150 dirt)

2006-12-19T14:55:00.000-08:00

Which describes our first attempt at reaching Salar de Unuyi, the largest salt flat in the world.

Oh boy… hope you’re comfortable…

Last night was my worst night on the trip (Amie’s second, second only to the night she spent on the bathroom floor in Costa Rica, see the archive for all the gory details). We checked back into the same hotel we stayed in a couple days ago, only this time we couldn’t get a room with a private bathroom. No problem, at least there is safe bike parking I thought. WRONG! Big problem. As we were getting into bed for the night, Amie got “the fury” (diareah) and had to run across the courtyard in her pjs to the bathroom. She was there for about a half hour before she came back. My problem with tonight was breathing again. Every time I would start to drift off to sleep, I would wake up gasping like I was being strangled. Meanwhile, Amie would come back to bed for a few minutes, before having to put her flipflops on in a rush to get across the courtyard to the bathroom… only now its raining. I solved my problem by taking Niqul at 2:30am. Amie solved hers by emptying her guts.

We woke up to rain. At this altitude rain is bad, because its usually very close to freezing, and that means we’re freezing. We had a very hard time finding our way out of town and the road we needed for Uynui. A truck backed out in front of us and I locked the rear wheel and skid about 30’ just missing its bumper… It wasn’t even 9am.

We eventually found the road we were looking for after asking countless locals. To our surprise, its not paved. And since its raining, its mud. We thought we’d give it a try because who knows, maybe over the mountain its not raining. Well, after about 20miles, we realized that we probably weren’t going to make it the 150 we needed to by dark. To make matters worse, we weren’t carrying any water and there was no town to speak of between us and the salt flats.

Feeling defeated, we found ourselves back in Potosi at noon looking for the highway south. Again, we had to ask countless locals as there are no signs and we zigzagged across Potosi for about 30minutes before finding the highway to the Argentina border. Luckily it was paved. Unluckily, only for 35miles of the 185 more we had to do! We stopped at the last town and I had lunch at a roadside restaurant. The place was swarming with flies. Amie was having a power bar and almonds, but I needed something more substantial. Places like these don’t have menus. You go in and say “almuerzo?” (lunch?) and they say yes or no, and then bring you out whatever they feel like. I had a soup with vegetables, animal fat, and flies. The vegetables were good, I fished out the flies, and skipped the fat.

We road on hard packed dirt and gravel for hours. I wondered if we were going to make it, we were only traveling at about 20-30mph and 150miles is along way to go when its afternoon. Plus, even though the rain had stopped, who knew for how long? Like a miracle, in the distance was a paved road. ?!??! Could this be possible? Our stretch of dirt over? Just as the front wheel touched cement it started to rain. We couldn’t believe our luck. The road we were on in the rain would have been an impassible muddy mess. Our luck had changed!

Or had it? “300m Detour.” Huh? “100m Detour.” Just then we were directed off the brand new cement back onto the mud road. Turns out the road is still being built, and for some reason, only in incontinuous sections. We spent the next few hours doing about 5mph on dirt road along side the paved road, crossing onto it for a few minutes every hour, our hopes raised each time, but only shot down shortly there after by the cursed detour signs.

The dirt road was a river. I don’t know how I managed to keep the bike upright. Amie chose to walk many of the river-crossings as she would rather not risk swimming. We saw a town in the distance as it was nearly 4pm and the rain clouds ahead looked black. With any luck there would be lodging for us. And there was: a truckers dormitory. Camping would be better.

We pressed on to the amazement of the locals. At the gas station, the attendant told us we had only 80km to go. Could we make it? Maybe. We were going for broke. The ground dried up a bit and we picked up our speed. Then my arms just about shook out of their sockets as we crossed what I can only describe as miles of washboard dirt road. Short steep grading was shaking us and our bike to pieces. Literally. Bolts were coming loose, and I could barely hold on, even at low speed.

More rain, more mud, more washboard, but we made it to Tapiza at 6:55pm (dark at 7pm). We rolled through the town to the nicest hotel listed in Lonely Planet. I told Amie we would find a sanctuary tonight, and I was able to keep that promise. I asked for the best room in the hotel, and we got something very nice. What a day. Amie was very frazzled as it didn’t seem we would ever make it. Camping in the middle of know where was a good possibility.

Dirt roads aren't bad... when they're dry

Uh-oh, doesn't look like they'll be dry for long

Miles and miles, with nothing in sight

The road became a river

Amie would rather walk than chance a swim

Wet washboard is the worst

Our only friends today

Yuck