Well, I actually found something to write here. Actually, just a link to a nice moto video from a friend on Vimeo.

Andes Moto from Romain de l'Ecotais on Vimeo.

I had to get out of Buenos Aires even if it meant traveling without the motorcycle. A little rubber seal created a lot of grief and I was stuck in Buenos Aires for one month already. I shouldn’t complain but I had to get out of the city. A weekend trip to Iguazu Falls was the remedy. The falls are dramatic. My photos here do not do it justice because most of my photos were ruined by water on the lens.






The falls are very unique. Rather than one grand cascade of water such as Niagara, Iguazu is more like a cascade of water pouring out of the rain forest.





On the Argentine side there are boat rides that take you under the falls and then down river. The ride is a lot of fun although you get soaked and it is expensive for the short ride.



It is worth going to see the falls from the Brazilian side because the views are spectacular. On the Argentine side you are up close, but on the Brazilian side you see them across the valley and can really appreciate their beauty.

The presentation at South American Explorers´ Club was a success. Despite, rambling on for three hours most everyone stayed till the end. I think that after all the solitude on the road when I get a chance to talk I can´t stop.

I had the good fortune to have previously visited Buenos Aires. BA is a great city. One of the few cities that comes close to New York, imho. People say the ‘portenos’ of Buenos Aires tend to be snobbish, but hey, they say the same thing about New Yorkers.
The following are photos from my previous visit.

I stopped at Azul to visit ‘El Pollo’ at La Posta del Viajero a refuge for travelers, particularly motorcyclists. I didn’t know too much about this place except everyone told me I had to visit it. Jorge is the a unique person. He is by far the nicest person I have met.

The place has a lot of history. Just about every overland motorcyclist in South America has passed through here and every motorcyclist in South America seems to know the place.




Unfortunately, I could not stay too long because I needed to fix my oil leak. It was a short ride to Buenos Aires, but finding Dakar Motos was a challenge. I got within 5 miles and then drove around in circles for two hours trying to find the exact location.

Dakar Motos is another place everyone seems to pass through. I arrived in time to see these two off. Sometimes you gotta wonder what people are thinking.

Trelew is a town with a rich history although today it is a quiet city. I ended up at Hotel Touring which was so nice I decided to stay a couple of days just to hang out in the hotel. Trelew is also a good option from which to visit Peninsula Valdes.



Hotel Touring was one of the hangouts of Butch Cassidy and Sundance while they were trying to live a normal live raising cattle in Patagonia. However, they eventually returned to robbery and eventually fled to Bolivia. The province of Chubut is contains some of the most significant fossil beds in the world and there is a well-respected national history museum in Trelew.



A cross section of those balls that were at Valley de la Luna.


Trelew was also the center of the Welsh community that settled here to avoid persecution by England. There is a small museum and some orginal Welsh buildings in the city, but not much remains of the Welsh community.

For the first time in almost two years my destination was northbound. I left Ushuaia early and head north on Ruta 3.

The pink flamingoes were still there.



As were the Guanaco.

One more time on the long ‘ripio’ roads of Tierra del Fuego before hitting the pavement towards Buenos Aires.


On Ruta 3 I started meeting more travelers because the Horizons Unlimited meeting in Viedma had just ended. Unfortunately, I missed the meeting by a week or so. These guys, however, were riding north two up on a little Chinese made 200cc. A long story behind it.





Patagonia used up my tires faster than I estimated and by the time I was driving on Ruta 3 I really needed tires. Luckily I found a good set of Metzlers in the coastal town Caleta Olivia. A very friendly town with an active rider group. The people at Coyote Motos were great. There is also a good restaurant near the main intersection that is owned by a Africa Twin rider.


And some welding for the luggage racks again.

Then it was back on the road, the long straight road that is Ruta 3.

It was time to play tourist. I was feeling much better now that I had the bike fixed and had made it to the end of Ruta 3.





Two short videos.

The next morning I made the biggest 30 minute ride of the trip. I rode from the city of Ushuaia to Tierra National Park and Bahia Lapataia where Ruta 3 ends.




I managed to get a few shots before a crowd of tourist piled off a couple of buses.

So I went for a walk to see the bay. One group of tourists were from Medellin, Colombia and one of them was a motorcyclist who knew my friends at Moto Angel. He also took this photo of me which turned out very nice. Soon enought, the crowds went away and I managed to get some more shots before being told to move the motorcycle.

Seeing the sign did give me a feeling of accomplishment. I would no longer tell people I was riding to the end of South America. The explanation would be a little less dramatic and marked the impending end of the trip.

The road south from Rio Grande is uninspiring, however when the road starts to head west at Tolhuin the ride becomes beautiful as it takes you around Lake Escondido.



Lago Escondido



It was had to find lodging with space for the motorcycle but eventually I found Hostel Freestyle (Gobernador Paz 866, www.ushuaiafreestyle.com).

I had been watching the side stand carefully since the welding done on Ruta 40 and noticed it was leading over more than usual, however, the side stand itself appeared fine..

A closer inspection revealed that the bolts holding the undercarriage frame had broken off. The only thing holding up the frame, to which the side stand assembly is attached, was the engine splash guard. Good thing I had a heavy duty engine guard.
So, there I was, less than 30 minutes away from the end of Ruta 3, and I had to do some repairs. It turned out to be a difficult problem. The subframe was held by very long bolt that had broken off leaving the threaded end in the frame. Even when we got the bolts out I could not find bolts long enough. Someone made new bolts out of threaded steel rods and welded on nuts to form a bolt.


The guys at RectiMotor parts on Tekenika 482 really went out of their way to help me and put it all back together for me and only charged me a small amount for the parts. There is also a Canadian there who can help you if you don’t speak Spanish.

It was a short ride south from El Calafate to Puerto Natales. I wanted to see Torres del Paine national park. Unfortunately, my indecision and bad weather prevented me from going camping for a few days as I intended. I really liked the town, however. A small town without the tackiness of El Calafate or Bariloche. A real place that just happens to sit at the foot of some of the most spectacular mountains in the world. This is a place to which I will return. For now, I left Natales without setting foot in the park. A big disappointment, but a decision I needed to make.



A short climb out of the lowlands and it was a long straight ride east towards Usuhaia. This ride had the strongest winds of the entire ride. Fortunately, it was paved.






The is even a monument to the wind.




The ride was one of the most boring rides as well. The only interesting spot was at San Gregorio on the shores of the Straights of Magallas.






I finally reached the ferry at Punta Delgada after mistakenly going all the way to Punta Arenas. The ferry from Punta Arenas only departs once a day in the morning but the one at Punta Delgada leaves every 30 minutes.


I am not sure if these were dolphins, but it was really cool to watch them swim alongside the ferry.


The ride from the ferry to San Sebastian and the Argentine border look like this the whole way.





Just over the border, on the Argentine side, were more Andian Pink Flamingoes off in the distance. And lots of Guanacos, a type of lama.

I took a day to play tourist in El Calafate and book a tour of the glaciers. The town is most famous for the Perito Moreno glacier which can be view from a public viewing platform accessible by vehicle. I wanted to see a little more, however, and booked a boat tour to see Glacier National Park.





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At the town of Perito Moreno, I filled the tank and took 7 liters of extra gas. I had been warned by several riders that gas was sparse on Ruta 40. A flyer published by the Perito Moreno Tourism Board lists the gas stations and lodging along Ruta 40 to El Calafate.


There is a gas station in Bajo Caracoles, 127k south of Perito Moreno, and then at Tres Lagos another 334k before reaching El Calafate 159k further. This was possible on a full tank but if either station was out of gas I would be stuck. Besides, the extra weight would help me fight the wind.


I mean real, blow you over wind.



As long as the road was straight and wide without too many deep gravel ruts it wasn’t so bad. Sometimes, though, the wind was so strong I thought it would just pick me up and throw me off the road. Other times, the ruts and wind turned the road into a narrow trail that would hurt badly if you veered off course.


I arrived at Bajo Caracoles early. The first 50k or so of Ruta 40 were actually paved and I made excellent time. However, south of Bajo there is nothing until Tres Lagos over 300k of gravel roads. I also got gas along with an early lunch. Once again all my worrying was for nothing and Ruta 40 was looking like another great ride. I loaded up the bike as a bus load of tourist looked out watched in horror as the bike suddenly fell over. The side stand broke off.


I eventually found a welder but it took the whole afternoon and I was forced to spend the night in Bajo. It was one of the most expensive lodgings of the trip even after they gave me a special discount.


The next morning I prayed the welder did a good job and was back on Ruta 40. The sky reminded of Montana– desolate beauty.


A 360 view of the landscape
The future of Ruta 40.
A friend had told me that Ruta 40 might be paved by the time I got here. Well, not yet, but this is the future of Ruta 40. Fortunately, at this pace it will be many years before it is paved.


For now, Ruta 40 is still a wonderful gravel road. Not really that difficult except for the wind.

You can see some nice wildlife out here also. Mostly birds in all kinds of colors. However, birds are hard to photograph without a good zoom lens. I did come across these wild horses. They acted like they were four best friends or a family. The closer I got the closer they came together and always kept a careful eye on me. At one point they got excited and charged at me for a second, but stopped when I backed away.






Yes, I took a lot of photos of these horse. I have a thing for horses. Wild horse are very rare and as far as I could tell these were completely wild.


I spent over one hour trying to photograph those horses and had to get going. I was making good time, but the rain clouds in the distance had me worried. Driving out here in heavy rain would not be fun. Instead of rain I drove in and out of a hail storm.
Click photo for video of hail storm.



I considered spending the night at Tres Lagos but it is not much of a town. I had to ask around to find a hospedaje and it wasn’t very appealing. So, I filled u with gas, bought a sandwich and continued on to El Calafate through some very interesting scenery.





Before reaching the turnoff for El Calafate a car came at me the other way weaving across the road at high speed. He missed me but I think he hit this poor bird. It had a least one badly broken leg with bones protruding from the skin. It struggled off the road but there was no why he would survive long. It would be a long struggle to his death.




Before reaching Calafate, the wind really picked up and several times I had to stop and move the bike over before being pushed into the deep gravel.

It was a short but beautiful ride to the Argentine border and then south to Bariloche

On the way I met these two German riders and although we didn’t understand much of what we were saying to each other we had a lot of laughs.




It was a nice ride to Bariloche, and we were arrived in time for lunch.

Bariloche is surrounded by beautiful scenery but the town itself is another fashionable tacky tourist town. I continued south for El Bolson which I hope would be more comfortable because my guide book described it as a former haven for hippies in the 60s and 70s. The ride from Bariloche to El Bolson was extremely windy, but beautiful.


Indeed, El Bolson was a more relaxed place surrounded my mountains. I stayed at the well-run and reasonable hotel Luz de Luna (Dorrego 150) and rested a couple of days.


From El Bolson, I headed south down Route 40 through Esquel and then west for Chile where I would head for the famous Carreteral Austral. Continuing on south of Trevelin the pavement ends.

It was difficult not stop every 10 meters and take a photo.


The officers in this small border office now know not to pronounce lawyers as liers

I continued south through the hot lowlands towards Mendoza. It was a very hot boring ride and when I got to San Juan I desperately searched for a place to rest. I drove around the city in the heat feeling worse by the minute.


Then suddenly this placed beckoned. It was really just a small coffee shop and candy store. I just about knocked over several people trying to get to a table wearing all my gear. However, the people were very friendly and helpful.


I thought I would spend a few days resting in Mendoza, but it was a boring city. Very beautiful, absolutely clean but not my kind of place. I need a little grit in my city. I rested for one day and then headed west for Santiage, Chile. It was a beautiful ride out of Mendoza towards the Chilean border.


Another rider sped by as I stopped for a photo and I later caught up to him only because he had slowed down for me.


As luck would have it he was an Argentine now living in Santiago and was returning from a family visit in Buenos Aires. On top of that, friends from his motorcycle club were meeting him near the border for lunch. A better escort into Santiago couldn’t have been imagined.



We stopped at what is called the Inca Bridge. Basically some interesting geological formation. I do not believe the Inca empire ever made it down this far, but I am no expert. Apparently, there was a hotel underneath and people used to be able to walk across.


Then we stopped to see Mt. Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas.



And then we reached perhaps the most beautiful border crossing in the world. My friend told me the border was actually closed the previous day because the border workers were on strike!


On the Chilean side you immediately start descending to the coast, rapidly, through this set of switchbacks. I forget how many but the turn to distance to elevation change ration was incredible. It was made worse by all the large trucks coming up.




I stayed in Santiago for several days, but didn’t do any site seeing. It is immaculate and organized city. Again, not my kind of place, especially being extremely expensive. I located the only reasonable hostel with parking through the help of my riding partner (sorry I forget his name). (Hostel International Santiago _address_, GPS). However, I had to stay a few days to pick up a new windshield from a fellow Horizons Unlimited member. I left Santiago as soon as possible. Before leaving the city I passed the BMW dealer to mark a waypoint and say hello. However, I didn’t get a friendly greeting. Ironically, an hour south of Santiago my chain fell off. It seems the master clip came off and the chain just went flying off. Fortunately it didn’t wrap around the swing arm or jam the rear tire, because that would have caused a lot of pain at 120 kph. I was able to recover the chain from the middle of the highway about a mile back but the master clip was gone. However, believe it or not, I happened to have an extra master clip. I had been carrying it from day one. I think I read on F650.com to take an extra.




Before I realized what I needed to do this man had stopped and offered help. He and his girl were covered in KTM clothes. He was an avid KTM rider and actually offered me his truck to go get what I needed while he watched my bike! I couldn’t do that but asked if he could see if he could get a new master clip which he did. Many thanks.
Fortunately, I was headed to a friends house in Chillian, just another 300 kilometers south. From there I could go to the nearby BMW dealer in Concepcion.


A rough day and it wasn’t even noon. This drink is sold all over Chile. I think it is called Mote or something. It tasted like prune juice with barley. If anyone knows what it is I would like to know.


The BMW dealer had nothing in stock but managed to have a new sprocket arrive from Santiago the next day. I passed on the BMW chain and bought a chain at a Honda dealer.


A couple of days later, I left my friends in Chillian and continue south, passing the 50,000 mile mark.