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Argentina/Chile 2006:
Four Friends, Six Weeks, Many Sheep.
The Cast: From Alaska to Patagonia
Josh: Self-Professed Arborist turned Motorcycle Adventurer
Jeff: Had to turn down a ski job to do this.
Alex: "Trip of a lifetime? Sure, I'll go."
Phil: Trip Instigator, Napper.
We arrived in Buenos Aires to rent 4 Honda Transalps from Mariano at Motocare. We had six weeks, and a rough plan to make it to Ushuaia and back. We brought our tents, fly-rods and an open itinerary. By the time it was over, we logged over 7,000 miles through southern Argentina and Chile, met terrific people, and saw some extraordinary country!
I highly recommend you explore this country by motorcycle!
Now, the Pics....
We started off in Buenos Aires at the office of Motocare. Mariano, the owner, rents a fleet of Honda Transalps, both 650s and 600s, out of his offices in B.A. and in Nuquen (South West of B.A.). His service was great: the bikes had all new tires, chains and sprockets, he went over all the bikes and the route with us, he bought us lunch, and even guided us out of town on his own motorcycle! When we needed anything on the road, he was happy to accommodate us.
Only the first 2,300 Kilometers where like this. Not much to say accept the wind down Route 3 was staggering, sometimes pushing us into the other lane. At some stretches, our fuel ran short, and we had to bring along an extra fuel container. As we neared the southern portion of Patagonia, we saw our first of many Guanacos - those wild cousins of the Llama. Flamingos, the big flightless birds called Nandus, sheep and the occasional dead cow broke the monotony...
Our first camp: Patagonia. Big sky took on another meaning as we set up our tents against a ceaseless wind. The map claimed there was a town here. But, the gas station and some farm buildings were all that represented the downtown area. There was a dog and a horse somewhere in the distance.
We all pitched our own tents in due course. Part of Jeff's tent-up ritual was trying to get his Wal-Mart kite to fly.
Post Camp Setup Celebration to a Patagonia sunset.
Dramatic clouds roll menacingly in the distance.
We hit our first of many kilometers of dirt....get used to it!!
Three days out, and still a long way to go to Tierra Del Fuego. This nice stretch of highway was on the Atlantic Ocean, just south of Rividavia.
We met up with long distance bikers almost everywhere we went. This group of Argentinians were headed south too.
Stickers adorn the outside of most gas stations: Many of them are motorcycle clubs or tour organizations or private trips with crazy goals. The closer you got to the "end of the world" the more you met up with these pilgrim legacies.
The moon rises in Puerto San Julian, the first wintering place of Magellan and Drake on their way to circumnavigating the world. This is a replica of Magellan's ship. Both he and Drake had their fair share of employee problems during their long winter in this desolate place: Magellan had a mutiny (he ended up executing one, torturing one and stranding others) and Drake had to "fire" one rabble rouser. Alcohol was sold only until 10PM at night ("no wonder Magellan had a mutiny!" exclaimed Jeff one night); broken windows in abandoned buildings and spray paint everywhere presented testament to this depressed, lonely outpost.
As we approached Tierra Del Fuego, we crossed for the first of many times into Chile. Crossing the border was no problem, but it always seemed to take around 2 hours to do it, and every border had its own system. Not much changed when we went into Chile. All I could tell was that the beer was more expensive and the people were easier to understand .
Josh proudly sports his new cap, in front of the Straights of Magellan. It was growing colder and more home-like to these Alaska boys. The current was ripping through the straights, and I wondered how Magellan made it through here, against the current, with the ship he had, so many hundreds of years ago.
Still a little sore...
Nap in the land of fire.
Alex rides through mid-afternoon traffic, Tierra Del Fuego style.
More waiting-in-line practice as we pass back into Argentina, for our final ride to Ushuaia.
Just outside Ushuaia, the mountains were incredible!
View from above Ushuaia, facing south.
At the end of Route 3, Ushuaia. The last 50 kilometers into Ushuaia were spectacular. Jagged granite spires engulfed by glaciers made us feel close to home! Though, the map indicated different. They talk about this being the end of the world, the other end being on the sign was...of course...Alaska!
With no more road south, we trained our sights north, to the Andes.
To be continued...
Link to Part 2: Argentina/Chile 2006
Link to Part 3: Argentina/Chile 2006
Touring Rallye Racing Technology
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