An Update on Mihai's Progress

As of September 24th, 2013, Mihai is still on the road and slowly making his way up North. I've been checking out his position every few days on his SPOT page, and he's now approaching Venezuela. In a recent brief email exchange, he let me know that so far his plan was to ship his bike from Bogota (Colombia) to Miami, and then to ride north all the way to Montreal. Total distance covered so far? 53 000 km!! And he's not even done.

Since we parted ways in Buenos Aires in May, Mihai has partnered up with Kevin, an American on a KLR 650, and it seems they've been riding together for most of the time. We had briefly met Kevin in Guatemala, and then bumped again into each other in Buenos Aires, where we hung out for a few days.

For an overview of what the guys have been up to, see Kevin's blog. 

On another note... While in Ushuaia, I had sent a few post cards to family and friends. About 8 weeks later, none of them had made it to destination, and I had pretty much concluded that they got lost somewhere along the way. Well, just recently I received an email from my brother saying that he got his post card. With a few days, I received messages that all the other ones arrived as well. It only took 4 months!! Talk about slow..haha. 

Days 196 to 205: Buenos Aires, ARG. The end of the road.

Day 196: Punta Arenas, CHL to Rio Gallegos, ARG

So on day 196, a Thursday, I hopped on my bus at around 1 pm and eagerly left the boring city of Punta Arenas. Some people were looking at me with obvious curiosity, probably wondering why is this dude riding on the bus in full motorcycle gear (minus the helmet ;). I had two bags stuffed with my belongings, so I had no other choice than to wear my riding jacket, pants and boots. 

Two hours later, we were at the Argentina-Chile border. I was still a little anxious about leaving the country without the bike. Fortunately, that part went smoothly. I just gave the temporary vehicle importation paper to the aduana agent, explained to him that I sold my bike and showed him the customs stamps from the zona franca in Punta Arenas, with the name of the buyer and the equivalent of his social security number. He kept the paper and let me off the hook. We ended up spending an extra hour waiting in the bus, because some dumb passenger screwed up his paperwork and had to go through the process a second time. And he wasn't even tourist... lol.

The bus made it to Rio Gallegos around 7 pm. Mihai had been here a week ago, so he had already emailed me the address of the hotel he stayed at. I was flying to Buenos Aires the following morning. From what I saw, Rio Gallegos is of Punta Arenas caliber, if not worse. I wasn't going to miss out on much.

Day 197: Rio Gallegos, ARG to Buenos Aires, ARG

I woke up at 5:30 am. My flight was at 9 am, but I didn't want to have to rush. I had the so called ''continental'' breakfast (dry bread, a bit of jam and instant coffee), packed my stuff and cabbed it to the airport. 

Dumb move on my behalf: I had my 12 inch. tire irons in my carry on bag. Needless to say once security x-rayed the it, they made me check it in and go through the security check for a second time. 

Three hours later, I was landing in Buenos Aires.

While I was in Punta Arenas, Mihai has been making his way north, at a pretty intense pace. It's over 3000 km from Ushuaia to BA, so we knew it would take him a few days. Well, our timing had been spot on. Once at the airport, I checked my emails. Mihai had already written to me that he would be in town around 2 PM. I had previously exchanged a few messages on Facebook with a friend of mine in Montreal who has recently spent 2 months in BA, and he recommended to stay in the Palermo neighbourhood. So I picked random hostel in Palermo from the Lonely planet, replied to Mihai with the address, and hopped in a cab.

The cab driver was a crook, and tried to scam me for 3 times what I had paid for a similar taxi ride in Rio Gallegos on the previous day. I told him fuck it, I'm not paying more than what I paid last night. The guy didn't argue, and just took the money. I'm guessing that I still might have paid a little more than I should have, but whatever... I was off to a bad start in this town, but fortunately it wasn't a taste of things to come. Once at the hostel, I waited for about half hour, and then Mihai showed up. 

We checked out a few hostels in the area, and settled for the Hostel Suites Palermo, which turned out to be a very cool place and our accommodation for the upcoming week. As I was at checking in at the front desk, I was approached by two gringos. The first one introduced himself as Bear. He was travelling on a bike as well, and we did see his KLR in front of the building. The other guy looked familar... He introduced himself as Kevin. Travelling on a KLR as well, but he had crashed a month earlier elsewhere in Argentina. He left the bike there and flew to BA for a forced break, with a broken arm and foot. 

I stepped outside the building with the guys, and that's when Mihai screamed: ''Oh shit, Mi Moto Rojo! What are you doing here?'' Then it came back to me... We had already met Kevin for a short while in Isla del Flores, back in Honduras. Mihai had done most of the talking at the time, and the conversation had been only about 10 minutes long, so I guess that's why I didn't connect the dots at first... Actually, I had even checked out Kevin's blog previously, and he was subscribed to mine...lol. (mimotorojo.blogspot.com, for the record...).

Days 198 to 205: Buenos Aires, ARG

My week in BA passed by so quickly that it now almost seems like a blur (the drinking might have something to do with it...haha). Buenos Aires is a great city. I loved it, and I wish I had at least an extra week to spend there. Actually, I did look into pushing back my flight back home, but the change fees were quite high, so I decided against it.

As I mentioned it previously, BA is great value if you have cash US dollars or Euros. While the official rate is around 5 pesos to a dollar, we exchanged our greenbacks at 9:1. Suddenly, the city became a bargain, and we could afford expensive restaurants. A nice change from the bread/cold cuts/cheese supermarket meals we have been accustomed to for the past few weeks.

There is a lot to do and see in BA, and I highly recommend it as a travel destination, if you 2-3 weeks to spare. One week is just not enough. The thing is, the night life is really the NIGHT life. People have dinner around 10 am, and bars and clubs only start to fill up around 2 am. The partying ends in the early hours of the morning, so forget about sightseeing the following day. I think that you need a week to just experience the nightlife, and another week where you focus on sightseeing.Try to do both at the same time, and you will burn out by the third day.

So all in all, I had a good time and it was a proper ending to this epic trip. We hung out with Bear, Kevin and a few other people we met at the hostel. I somehow managed to see the must-sees, to experience the nighlife and even to do some last minute shopping. My only souvenirs from this entire journey are three football jerseys (Boca Juniors - BA club, Bolivia national team, Colombia national team), and a little flute-like instrument from Ecuador. I would have picked up a few more things along the way, if it wasn't for the space constraints.

I had one scary moment in BA, when for about an hour I really thought that I had lost over 3000 USD cash. So far, I had been carrying the money from the bike sale hidden in the back of my jacket, where the spine protector pad goes. On our second day, Mihai and I wanted to change some of the dollars into pesos. I reached in the back pocket... and nothing. For the next hour, I searched all of my stuff. My morale sunk completely. I was panicked, thinking that's it, my money is gone. Definetely amongst my top 5 worst moments of my life...hehe. I was puzzled. I couldn't understand how the cash could have been gone if I never took it out and never left the jacket unattended since Punta Arenas...

In the end, I had pretty much abandonned, when Mihai was still going through my jacket one last time. Then he said all of a sudden... ''Dude, what's this? Feel this.. '' With a ray of hope, I grabbed the jacket. There was definetely something between the liner and the outer shell...A short moment later, I pulled out the money belt!! I was so pumped, that I gave Mihai a big bear hug...haha. In my defense, who wouldn't have been hyped up in such a moment? What had happened is that the bottom of the back pocket ripped, and my cash belt just fell at the bottom of the jacket.

Last batch of pictures from BA:


From ashy to classy.... After a few weeks of bread, cheese and coldcuts, we get to eat WELL.

Nicest bookstore I've ever been too. The picture doesn't do it justice; it was impressive.

There just has to be a Chinatown in a city as big as BA.

Watching the NBA finals in a Mexican restaurant in Argentina..lol.
 

We've seen a few of these abandoned cars in Palermo, where we stayed (and it's not even a ghetto neighborhood). Some are wrecked, some look like they haven't moved in months. I don't know why not even the city bothers towing them away. In Montreal, you'd have a ticket on your dash in less than 5 mins...

Days 188 to 196: El Calafate, ARG - Ushuaia, ARG - Punta Arenas, CHL

Day 188: El Calafate, ARG to Puerto Natales, CHL (430 km)

From El Calafate, our original intent was to head straight for Tierra del Fuego. However, on the glacier tour, we met a Russian woman whose husband runs a motorcycle rental company out of Punta Arenas (Chile), and she convinced us that we should not miss the Torres del Payne national park. So the next day, we decided to cross into Chile and check it out.

The first half of the day went well, we did a mix of pavement and some fun high speed dirt roads. Once again, crossing the border was painless.

The scenery became increasingly spectacular as we were approaching the national park.

As I have mentioned before, I knew that my rear wheel bearings needed to be replaced, since we had noticed a few days earlier that the rear wheel had some unwanted loose in it. I procrastinated on doing the repair in El Calafate, as the weather was cold and rainy. I told Mihai: ''Eh, no worries, they'll hold up''. Little did I know that this issue would bite me in the ass so soon.

After paying the rather hefty entrance fee (around 30$ each), I drove about 100 m into the park, and then heard a CLUNK! coming from my rear wheel. I immediately stopped the bike, and noticed that the sprocket carrier had separated from the wheel hub. Shit! I felt pretty damn stupid at that moment.

I pushed the bike back to the entrance, and proceeded to begin the repairs. Luckily, I had the required spares and tools, as we have done this job on Mihai's bike a few days earlier in Villa la Angostura. The sprocket carrier and one wheel spacer were slightly damaged, but fortunately nothing critical.

We had no hammer, but this rock did the job alright.

The sprocket carrier bearing was the one that broke into pieces. The wheel bearings seemed functional, but I replaced them anyway.

We entered the park around 4 pm, and by the time we finished fixing my bike, it was already getting close to 6 pm and the sun was low. This didn't leave us much time to check the place out before it would get dark. 

This is probably my best picture of the day.

We ran into another motorcyclist in the park. Ali, from New York, rented a BMW G650GS in Chile and was on a 3 week trip. Nice guy, Mihai and I were supposed to meet up with him again in Puerto Natales in the evening, but in the end it didn't work out.

In the end, we didn't see enough of the park before it got dark. I could have spent another day there, for sure. It would be a great place to camp if it was warmer, but instead we prefered to ride to the closest city, Puerto Natales, and to sleep somewhere warm. We made it to our destination around 10 pm, found a cheap hostel, had decent pizza for dinner, bought some beers and headed back to our accommodation. Everything irie.

Day 189: Puerto Natales, CHL to Rio Grande, ARG (530 km)

We were hoping to make it all the way to Ushuaia on that day, but didn't manage to leave early enough to get there before sunset. It was an uneventful day, chilly but sunny weather, but still no wind. We were lucky so far, as these regions are typically very windy.

Seen at a gas station along the way. This looks like it belongs in my friend Razvan's backyard..haha.

Abandonned buildings and ship wreck.

Mid-day, we made it to the ferry that would take us across the strait of Magellan all the way to Tierra del Fuego.

Arriving to Tierra del Fuego! It felt good at the time that we had made it this far. I was a happy camper.

By the way, the name Tierra del Fuego or ''Land of Fire'' was given to these lands by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520. When his expedition arrived there, him and his crew saw many fires of the Yaghan indians, and thus the name.

Watch out for llamas!

Once on Tierra del Fuego, we got pavement for a short while, and then it was back to gravel roads again. We had to be careful, as the surface was loose and there was a lot of truck traffic. You do not want to crash so close to your destination!! Otherwise, the scenery was nothing special. Very flat and not much vegetation.

Yet again we crossed the border and were back into Argentina. We've been cris-crossing lately between both countries, accumulating entry/exit stamps in our passeports at an accelerated pace, and we're not done yet! A few more to come on the way back.

We made it to Rio Grande once again way passed sunset. We checked out a few hotels, but everything was expensive and beyond our budget. We ended up finding Ruta 40 Bed & Breakfast, a nice hostel geared toward motorcycle and bicycle travelers. The place is ran by Guillermo, a very friendly Argentinian who also occasionally travels on 2 wheels. He once rode 10 000 km around Argentina on a 110 cc Beta scooter.

Day 190: Rio Grande, ARG to Ushuaia, ARG (212 km)

More flatness, but at least we were back on pavement. The scenery became interesting again about 80 km before Ushuaia.

Finally, after 6 months and 1 week on the road, we rolled into Ushuaia on April 25th. This is as far South as we could go on our bikes. Mission accomplished. To me, this was the goal to reach on this trip. From there, I still had a little more than 2 busy weeks left before flying back to Montreal, but Ushuaia still felt like the real end of the adventure.

First impressions were that the town was larger than I expected. I don't know why I thought it would be more of a village. It's population is 60 000 and it has a decent size port. We found a hostel, and then wandered around town for the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner on a park bench in Ushuaia. We've been relying a lot on supermarket meals in Chile and Argentina, since restaurants are fairly expensive (especially in Chile!). Baguette, cheese and cold cuts were our typical meal.

Spectacular skyline right after sunset.

We still had on more task in Ushuaia, and it was to drive into the Tierra del Fuego national park and take a picture with the famous sign that marks the end of the Ruta 3. Only problem is that we really wanted to do an in and out, and didn't feel like paying the full entrance fee just for that. Fortunately, I had previously read in another traveller's blog (thanks for the tip, Guillaume) that if you show up before 8 am, you could actually just go inside the park for free, as there was no one at the gate at that time.

Day 191: Ushuaia, ARG to Punta Arenas, CHL (600 km)

So the next morning, we got up at 6 am, packed our stuff and left for the national park, which is about 20 km from the city. It was still dark when we got there, and indeed there was no one at the gate yet. I think it was also the coldest day of the trip so far; it was freezing!! It was definetely time to get out of south Argentina ASAP before it starts snowing on us. We got to Ushuaia very late in the season, and were so far fortunate to have fairly mild weather and next to no wind.

While we were waiting so it gets clear enough to take a decent photo, this guy showed up. He had no fear of us whatsoever. He wandered around for a short while and disapeared in the woods. 

The money shot!

The national park is very nice, and I wish we had time to stick around and camp there for a night. But... It was just so cold that it wouldn't have been fun, so we snapped the money pic and got going. My goal that day was to make it to Punta Arenas (CHL), where I was hoping to sell my bike. Mihai, on the other hand, would head towards Rio Gallegos (ARG), the first stop on his way up to Buenos Aires.

Once back on Tierra del Fuego's steppes, our luck ended and we finally got hit by strong winds. The riding became very tricky. We constantly had to compensate for the wind and the loose gravel at the same time. In these conditions, it is easy to make a mistake, so it required a lot of concentration to keep the bikes upright. It was also pretty cold too, so we were having a rather miserable afternoon the bikes that day.

When we finally made it to the ferry, there was a long line up of trucks, but we cut in line and went all the way to the front. This is where we met the owner of the stickered up Harley Davidson that we had seen a few days ago in the Perito Moreno glacier park. Pavel is from the Czech Republic. He's been travelling on and off for some a few years now, and his goal is to take his bike to every country on the planet. So far he's been to over 70 countries, and he even managed to push his bike into Vatican City! The cool thing about this guy is that at 40 years old, he is practically retired (read rich..hehe). He started his first business at age 21, and since then developped a couple of very successful ventures. Now he's able to travel a few months a year, with minimum input on his behalf while on the road. Making money while travelling.. what a dream setup!

We got off the ferry, said our goodbyes, and I took off for Punta Arenas (CHL), whereas Mihai and Pavel drove off in the opposite direction towards Rio Gallegos (ARG). If everything went as planned, Mihai and I would reconnect a week later in Buenos Aires.

I made it to Punta Arenas around 10 pm, but then had trouble finding the hostel that had been recommended to me. After almost an hour of driving around, I finally found the place and settled in. Ironically, the hostel is called ''Backpacker's Paradise'', but it was a dump. I'm not picky on accommodations, but this was one of the dirtiest places I've stayed at throught the entire trip. Only good thing about it is that it was cheap. That night, there was a few Chileans staying there too, I believe some construction crew. The guys were drinking and were pretty damn loud, but I was so tired that it didn't bother me at all. I passed out as soon as I laid down in my bunk. It had been a long day on the motorcycle, and technically my last one of riding on the trip too.

Days 192 to 196: Punta Arenas, CHL

Why did I go to Punta Arenas, again?

Initially, I didn't plan at all to sell my motorcycle; my intention was to ship it back home from Buenos Aires. However... I've been keeping in touch by email with Ken, one of the Toronto guys we travelled with for a few days in Mexico. Ken was also still on the road at the time, but heading North back home from Panama. His progress was slow due to mechanical problems with his KLR. Anyway, he mentioned to me that another friend of his just finished a ride to Tierra del Fuego not long ago, and that he sold his bike in Chile for a fair price. This got me thinking... With over 50 000 km on the odometer, my DR would not be worth much back home. If I decided to get a different bike (and I was strongly thinking about a KTM 690 Enduro), then mind as well sell the DR down South. I would not only get more for it than in Canada, but I would also save myself close to 2000$ in shipping fees.

I emailed Ken's friend, Mike (not the same Mike Ken travelled with in Mexico when we met..lol), and he explained me the deal.  Punta Arenas is one of the two free trade zones in Chile, the other being Iquique. This means that, in the so called ''zonas francas'', Chileans can purchase imported used vehicles and pay less duty than anywhere else in the country.

Mike explained to me that when he arrived to Punta Arenas, he started looking for accommodation in the town center. He eventually spotted 3 bikes (including 2 KLR's) parked in front of a hostel (same spot where I ended up staying) with a ''for sale'' sign on them, so he stopped to investigate. In the end, he decided to stay there. The next day, all 3 bikes were sold, and someone made him an offer on his BMW650GS that he could not refuse. Basically, he sold his bike for more than he bought it for in Toronto, but with much more milage on it. Paper work was a breeze, he got paid in US dollars,and then took a 30+ hour (ouch!) bus to Buenos Aires. Seemed easy enough to give it a try myself.

So on my first day in Punta Arenas , I got busy early in the morning. First, I needed a ''for sale'' sign for my bike. Two hours later, that was taken care of. I found a small office supplies shop that printed and plastified one for me. 

Then, I asked around and went to check out two local bike shops, in case they'd know someone looking for a dual sport motorcycle. 

Finally, I drove around town until I found a pressure washer at a gas station, in order to give the DR a good cleaning. The gas station guys were cool, and they let me use it for free. I gave them some money for a six pack of beer to thank them.

Last pic of the DR before I sold it. Once cleaned up, it still looked almost as good when I left Montreal.

The next day was a Sunday. It's typically a very quiet day in Latin America. Very little traffic, so I knew it was not the best day to find a buyer. Still, around 3 PM or so, I parked the bike in front of the hostel with the ''for sale'' sign on it (it is a busy intersection during the week), and I went to the supermarket to get a few things to eat. When I came back not even  an hour later, I noticed the sign on the bike was gone. WTF? At first, I thought that the wind ripped it off, or some little bastard stole it. When I went inside the hostel, the admin told me that some guy passed by and was super motivated to buy my DR, so he took down the sign.

The guy in question came back an hour later, and after short negociations, I agreed to sell it to him for what I initially was hoping to get, which is 2500 USD. I could have maybe got a few hundred more, but I wanted a quick sale. I got a 300$ deposit, and the next morning, we finalized the transaction and I got paid.

So everything went very smoothly, just like Mike had described it. We signed a sale contract at a notary, and then I gave the buyer the registration document in exchange of the balance on the selling price. Then we went to the customs in the ''zona franca'', they stamped my temporary vehicle importation form, and marked that the motorcycle has been sold to such and such individual. Done.

Funny coincidence. The brother of the guy that purchased my DR bought one of the two KLR's Mike saw in front of the hostel, when he was there back in February.

With the bike sold, I needed to find a way to get to Buenos Aires, but I wasn't up for 30+ hours on a bus. I went online and found a reasonably priced flight from Rio Gallegos (Argentina).The city is 4 hours by bus from Punta Arenas. This option made the most sense to me, so I bought the ticket.

The next morning, I went to the office of one of the bus companies to purchase my ticket. Although I did check the bus schedules online, I wasn't aware there was a strike going on!! I had a 'Oh shit!' moment when I was told this. There was only one company making the run to Rio Gallegos, but on Thursday. I had booked my flight for Wednesday, so I knew I'd have no other choice but to push it back. I got lucky though, and was able to change my flight free of charge on Expedia. 

So with that settled, I had two days of idling time left in Punta Arenas. I have no pics whatsoever from that town, as there is absolutely nothing special about it. Not much to see, and not much to do. At the hostel, there was only two other guests, 2 japanese guys. One of them was travelling on a BMW GS 1150, which broke down on him. He was stuck waiting for spare parts. The dude has travelled across Russia, Europe and now the Americas, and all of that without speaking any language other than Japanese. I can't imagine how much communication must have been a struggle for him.  

The other guy travelled from on a foldable bike from Santiago in Chile, all the way to Ushuaia. He had just finished his trip and was heading home, with his ride in his suit case..lol.  

I'm sure both guys had interesting stories to tell, but unfortunately we didn't get to chat much because of the language barrier.

 

Back in Montreal

Well, it's a wrap, I'm back in Montreal. I will write up a post about the last 2 weeks of the trip over the upcoming days. Eventually I will also write a post-mortem, which will summarize what we did right, and what I would have done differently if I was to do such a trip again.

As for Mihai, he is still in Argentina. He will be travelling for another 2-3 months, making his way north through Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela and finishing in Colombia. His tentative plan is to sell his bike there, and fly back home.

Days 182 to 187: Villa la Angostura, ARG to El Calafate, ARG

Day 182: Villa la Angostura, ARG to Esquel, ARG (370 km)

An uneventful day of very fun riding, all on pavement. For most of the day, we drove on beautiful winding roads, with great scenery.

Late in the afternoon, things got much flatter and straighter. We were back into the steppes. This region of Patagonia is dreaded by motorcyclists because of very strong winds (we have seen a few warning signs), but we got lucky and experienced barely any wind at all.

We arrived to our destination, Esquel, at around 5 PM. It is a rather small town, but there are many lodging options, as it is a base camp to many excursions in the area. We found a nice hostel with secure parking for the bikes, although I haven't been really concerned at all about theft in Argentina or Chile. To me, these countries feel as safe as Canada, and definitely more than the USA.

A few words about lodging... Hotels are out of our budget in Argentina, but hostels run for about 10-12 USD per person for a bed in a dorm. The good thing for us is it is now the low season, and the hostels are mostly empty. Most of the time, we have the whole dorm to ourselves.

Day 183: Esquel, ARG to La Junta, CHL (390 km)


A short  45 km of pavement, and we were back on dirt roads for the remaining of the day. More great scenery on the way to the Chilean border.

That day, we were crossing back into Chile, in order to ride a section of the famous Carretera Austral (route CH-7). The construction of this road was commenced in 1976 under the de facto presidency of Augusto Pinochet, in order to connect a number of remote communities. It was opened to traffic in 1988, and officially completed in 1996 (Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins - 1240 km total).

More eye candy on the Chilean side.

We rode about 80 km, and then finally connected to the Carretera Austral. It is in pretty good shape, and we were able to cruise at 90 km/h, no problem. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad, and we rode under the rain for the remaining 2 hours of the day.

The last 20 km before La Junta, our destination for the day, we ran into construction work. They were blasting some rock, so we lost a good 40 minutes waiting until the workers cleared the road. It was raining, so it sucked.

We arrived in La Junta, and found a super shitty hotel room for 40 USD a night. It was a shit hole and really not worth what we paid for it, but we had no choice. Most of the hospedajes (small hotels) were full, as all the road construction crews were staying in town. Obviously, prices were over-inflated, but what can you do... We had absolutely no desire camping under the rain. Actually, it kept raining all night long, so we made the right decision. Nothing to do in this town, so it was movie night on the note book.

Day 184: La Junta, CHL to Perito Moreno, ARG (580 km)


Long day in the saddle. We left crappy La Junta, and continued South on the Carretera Austral. 

We rode along some fjords. On this one, you can see a fish farm.

About 100 km later, we were back on pavement. I'm guessing that 2-3 years from now, this road will be entirely paved, which will take some of the adventure flavor out of it.

Wet pavement, a diesel spill and sharp a sharp descending curve make a baaad combination. Mihai took that curve first, and I wasn't far behind. I saw him loose control of his bike, and a fraction of a second later I lost control of mine. As soon as I touched the brakes, both wheels locked up and I just kept going in a straight line. I went right through the opposite lane, and ran into the guard rail. Fortunately, the side case took most of the hit, or otherwise I would have a broken leg for sure. 

I looked down, and Mihai's bike was laying down right next to mine. For a second I was worried that I might have ran him over, but he got up right away and seemed fine. I did take a hit in the ribs (because of the guard rail), but was ok too.

First reaction: take pictures.

Then we did the damage assessment. Mihai and I were fine. Mihai's bike was ok too, other than a few more scrapes.

On my DR, the case that took the hit had cracked. The lid had broken off a few days ago, and now this. Fortunately  the other case is still intact, so I still have a dry and secure place for my note book and a few other delicate items.

Otherwise, a bent front blinker bracket and that's it.

Either the guard rails are kind of soft in Chile, or I need to take it easy on the ice cream...

All in all, we got lucky. I could have easily broken a leg, or worse if there was a vehicle in the opposite lane. Fortunately, not much traffic on that road.

It is now a tie between Mihai and I: we each have crashed once on and off road. 

Another thing worth mentioning... I always carry my camera in the left pocket of my riding jacket. It was the side that hit against the guard rail in the accident. I was also wearing my rain jacket on that day, to cut out the cold wind. On impact, I must have touched something sharp, as I ripped a hole in both the rain and riding jackets. I had a small calculator in the left pocket too, and it broke on impact. Luckily, and I don't know why, I had exceptionally put my camera in my right pocket at the last photo stop before the crash. Again... luck.

We continued on, enjoying more of the beautiful views on the Carretera Austral.

In the evening, we crossed back into Argentina. Only once we were done with the paperwork, we realized that we went to the wrong border crossing (bad GPS routing), which would cost us an additional 70 km on that day.

We found gasoline in a small village about 20 km from the border, and then decided to drive further and look for a spot to camp. We couldn't find anything suitable before it got dark, so we decided to push all the way to Perito Moreno, which was a 140 km from there. The next 60 km were tough, as we rode on very loose gravel in the dark. A few butt clenching situations later, we hit brand new pavement. The last 80 km were smooth sailing at 130 km/h. We got to Perito Moreno passed 10 PM, and had trouble finding lodging. Everything was either full or too expensive. We ended up finding a very shitty hostel. It cost us 12 USD each for a bed in a dorm. The place had ''no smoking'' signs, but the front desk chick was chain smoking and the whole place stank...lol.


Day 185: Perito Moreno, ARG to El Calafate, ARG (690 km)


Another very long day in the saddle. We took off from Perito Moreno, and started the day with a 120 km of smooth pavement. At 130 km/h, we made good progress in the morning.

Eventually, we hit some sections where the road was closed to traffic.

However, the pavement seemed all done and it was Saturday, so we decided to skip the deviation and to force our way through.

Here, Mihai lacked a bit of momentum... Again, first thing to do when one of us screws up is to take a picture, haha.

More of flatness and straightness for a good part of the afternoon.

At times, I was a little bored, so I started messing with the camera on the fly.

Not much traffic on that section of the Ruta 40.

 

We ran into some wildlife. Lots of lamas, and we have also seen ostriches. However, these birds are very nervous and run all over the place, so they are difficult to photograph. Actually, I didn't even know that there were ostriches in this part of the World!

Saw this on the side of the road... It was used as an advertisement item for some hostel or restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Pretty cool, nevertheless.

Right before sunset, we ran into a nice view of the glaciers, which we will be checking out from closer in a day or two.

We arrived to our destination, El Calafate, around 9 PM. It had been a long day... close to 700 km of 70% asphalt and 30% dirt. From El Calafate, we will do a day trip to the Perito Moreno glacier. Then, it's only about 700 km to Ushuaia... The end is near.


Day 186: El Calafate, ARG (0 km)

Lazy day. We got into town too late on the previous night to book a tour to the Perito Moreno glacier, so we took the day to relax and to catch up on emails, blog and Skype calls to family.

Day 187: El Calafate - Excursion to the Perito Moreno glacier ( 0 km)

We took a day tour to the Perito Moreno glacier, which is located about 80 km from El Calafate. This and the salar de Uyuni are the most impressive places I've seen so far in South America.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that is growing. The reason remains debated by glaciologists. The terminus of the Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 kilometers (3 mi) wide, with an average height of 74 m (240 ft) above the surface of the water of Lake Argentino, in Argentina. It has a total ice depth of 170 meters (558 ft).

Once we arrived by bus into the national park, we took a 15 minute boat ride to the glacier. 

Once there, we were supplied with a pair of crampons, and then climbed the glacier for about 1.5 hours.

Towards the end of the walk on the glacier, the tour guides served us a shot of scotch on the glacier's ice. Pretty cool.

Picture of an iceberg, taken on the boat on the way back from the glacier.

The best photo of the day, I think, from the view point closest to the glacier's front.

What was very impressive too, is that huge chunks of ice would brake off the glacier every once in a while, and fall into the water. The noise that resulted from this reminded me of rock blasting on mining and road construction sites.

In the parking lot, we saw this Harley with a Czech plate. It was covered in stickers from all over Europe and the Americas.

The next update will be in a few days from Punta Arenas in Chile, where I will looking to sell my bike. Stay tuned.