B.Aires to Chile -part 3

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peter stuyvesant

Race Dog
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
1,146
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126
Location
Somerset West
Bike
AJS (all models)
Sorry,still no pics.Waiting for Scribble's assistance.
On with the trip............
Argentina was quite cheap for us.Petrol R2.20 in Patagonia, a good steak meal R25.Chile is about the same as S.A. Internet is available at every single petrol station thru-out both countries and costs about R1 per hour.
Border crossings where an absolute nightmare.Our 1st in the Andes took the best part of 3 hrs. The Arg's don't speak any english and the fact that the names on our passports did'nt match the bikes papers led to total confusion. Them telling us in Spannish what they needed, and us swearing and comlaining in English. Total confusion.Fireblade speaks fluent Italian[though i think he's actually Portugese] and assured me before leaving that we'd manage.....I may as well have spoken Afrikaans to them!.Language on this trip is a major problem.From ordering food to getting directions.
Crossing the Andes was awesome.Topping out at 3000m above sea level, the scenery was ace.Roads twisting through the canyons for plenty km's.
Comming down one of the hills, I hit a bump and off came the side box for the 1st time. Moered down a cliff and landed about 1m from the river.Retreived undamaged.
The corners in the passes have to be taken with care as the trucks seem to drag pebbles onto the road and marbles and heavy trans-alps don't go together.
After crossing the Andes we arrived inthe Chilean town of Vina Del Mar. This place was 1st world bling.Sea Point in Chile. An hour earlier we'd been in the Andes with goats and donkeys. Here we meet Dak Dakson from Wisconsinberginville.[sorry,you had to be there to understand this one}
Fireblade and I decided not to camp at all on the entire trip but carried a tent,sleeping bags and food in case of an emergency.ie breakdowns etc.Fat chance when u ride a Honda!!!!
I personally did not enjoy Chile.We road Ruta 5 or the Panamerica Highway which runs from Bolivia[I think} to Ushuaia in the South. This journey seemed to take forever.We had the Pacific ocean on 1 side & the snow capped Andes on the other.Our hottest day was 38c, but we could see the snow on the high mountains.A few days later the temp plumeted to around 0c.Pretty boring stuff till we cross back over the Andes into Arg and into the Lake district.F**k,what scenery.For those of u that know the Grabouw area, imagine that with realy high snow capped mountains, and great big black lakes all around.Truly awesome.We spent a few days exploring the lake region before heading off to the famous El Calafate Glaciers.
Accomodation here got a little pricey due to the hordes of tourists. The nearby Moreno Glacier is mind blowing .About 60m high and very,very wide,the glacier is situated between 2 mountains. The glacier continually cracks like a rifle shot and pieces of ice the size of houses fall into the lake below.Fireblade a I decided to ride from nearby El Calafate in jeans and jacket so we'd be more comfy on the boat trip. Bad mistake.At about 0c, on a wet and muddy road riding pants would have been the right option.Needless to say,I came down with major flu but the trip had to go on.Plenty of green stuff running down the inside of my visor for the next week.
We leave for Patagonia the next day.........
Start Ruta 40.Known to be a bikers worst nightmare.Wind so strong that a guy we met had his Suzuki 4x4 blown over. Nervous? us, no way.
We hit Ruta 40.F**k.Rocks the size of cricket balls everywhere.We had about 350km's to go that day with 4 hrs daylight.We RETREAT to the previous town for the night.The hotel owner assures us that we are asking for trouble.Wind howls across "Patti" with no mercy. The sand then prevents u from following your chosen line and you end up in the loose stuff on your arse.
Time to re-route.
If 1 of us wipe-out and injure ourselves or break a bike, we're in shit street. Both of us would have to bail and go home.Not worth the risks.We had no cellphones or comms. Sanity prevails and we head off on a 700km detour.Day after next we are brave again and hit the last 400km of Ruta 40.In that 400km we saw 2 Gaucho's [cowboys] in their clapped out 1950 something Chevy trucks and many wild guanacos[cross between a camel,llama and sheep,i think]and rheas[small wild ostrich thing]and not much else.If something happened here, we would have been in deep trouble. We survive with only my luggage falling off another 100 or so times.The road was so bad that we rode next to it in the sandy tracks to save ourselves and the poor trans-alps suspension.The Guanacos are huge and when they start running, beware. they jump like sringbokkies and have no regard for other road/track users. Messy to get hit by one of these things.Patagonia goes on forever.Long straight roads as far as the eye can see.Beleive me, our karoo is scenic by comparison.And the wind blows constantly.Do you now how frustrating it is when every time u try to light-up it takes half an hour. I might add that Fireblade and I tend to light-up pretty often.
Enough for now.
Ciao
 
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