Argentina to Chile

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Here we are in Frutillar, we have had two days here for a bit of bike and body maintenance.
Below are blogs from Mike V , Bones and Gerardo.
Cheers, Rosco

Hola aquí estoy otra vez
Puerto Guadal to Coyhaique
Leaving Puerto Guadal we were immediately into a bumpy dirt road which turned out to be a short cut onto Ruta 7 (Carretera Austral*)- which was actually not that much less bumpy.
This was the route we needed to stay on to Coyhaique our next destination.
Our plan was to stop at the Cueva de Marmol (caves of marble) sounds ho - hum but was actually very fascinating.
However before we left Puerto Guadal we had a bit of typical adventure riders confusion where a couple of riders and both utes realised David had headed into town rather than take the shortcut - so we waited for his return.
David in his typical “go-get em” style was through the town and onto Ruta 7 before most people had got through the shortcut.
We waited and waited, eventually deciding he had GPS so he would find his own way.
Meantime David obviously could see his imaginary friend “Roger” in his rear vision mirror (family joke) so pressed on arriving at the turn off to La Cueva before anyone else!
Winding down the steepest and most technical down hill on the trip so far (the drive in to the Cuevas) we all arrived at lake level, boarded an open boat for the 10 minute trip to the series of marble outcrops protruding from the lake.
The water action has eroded the base of these outcrops and created shapes and passages one of which we motored through in the boat. The colours, patterns and shapes of the marble was a sight to behold -definitely worth the diversion. (see photos)
Back up the drive to Ruta 7 we pressed on towards Coyhaique over a winding mountaineous gravel road past spectacular waterfalls, snow and rugged landscape. Perfect adventure riding territory. Arriving at Villa Cerro Castilla after around 250kms we stopped for lunch at a roadside diner comprising of two buses joined together - quite novel.
Zane arrived to report that he had a slide off in thick gravel due to inattention, wind gusts - who knows? Main thing was - his bike was still rideable and he was suffering a bruised shoulder and pride otherwise he was still on the riding team. (unlike some) Onwards towards Coyhaique for the last 92 kms which was new pavemiento interspersed with roadworks. (mega roadworks) - Chile and Argentina are spending mega millions on infrastructure especially roads.
They are not interested in Luddite theories about global warming and world meltdown and they are going for it. Countries like ours need to take note as these are our competitors and they have big plans. (end of political rant)

Checking into our flea-pit (sorry Hotel) in this bustling town we sent a KTM to the local shop for an electrical repair, a BMW for a chain replacement and Zane made some fine tuning adjustments to the ergonomics on his Transalp (straightened his handlebars).

Coyhaique to La Junta
Leaving Coyhaique the next morning everyone headed in the right direction except Mauricio and myself who had a navigational malfunction for 10 kms (a.ka. got lost due to a crippled gringo mis-reading the map) Soon corrected and back on the Carretera Austral* heading for La Junta (the junction).
Another couple of hundred kms of the same type of roads - winding, gravel, potholed mountainous road into Poyuguapi (pron. Pooyuwapi) for lunch in a small cafeteria overlooking the lake.
Onwards to La Junta . a small town/village with one of the nicest accommodations we have had so far. A timber and stone Hosteria with a large lounge a couple of fireplaces, good music and a beautiful meal. The place has been built by the owner (a refugee from the financial markets) and his wife Connie a Columbian with perfecto Engleesa. A very pleasant evening.

La Junta to Trevelin
More of the same on Ruta 7 - perfect riding roads the only difference today was intermittently pouring rain and very cold - the odd snow flurry. Stopping after around 80kms at Villa Santa Lucia we discussed the option of a 75km diversion to Chaiten.
This town was half buried last May in a volcanic eruption of Mt Minchinmahuida. There was rumbling for five days prior to the eruption and the Government mobilized the army and Police before the top blew and evacuated 5000 people with no loss of lives. Unfortunately the ash blocked the river which flooded the town destroying the houses that the ash hadn’t got to. The saddest story is that during all the rescue operations a small plane crashed in the mountains coming into La Junta. (VFR no control tower or radar) During the two days the 9 passengers, pilot and a dog (Buster) were waiting for rescue the pilot died from his injuries, the passengers hugged the dog and each other for warmth and were eventually rescued - the dog still lives in La Junta we didn’t meet him to get his autograph.

Anyway this story is interesting but due to mechanical malfunction on David’s BMW we decided to abort this trip to Chaiten. The tappet cover of his BMW exploded and the valve gear bent - not built strongly enough - this was only after clipping an oncoming ute and subsequently adopting a horizontal position on the road.
Fortunately major damage was to his wallet and pride.
A moment’s inattention and David’s ride ended.
Move over in the ute: I have a travelling companion.
The ute he clipped stopped, then drove off and around the corner, saw more motos coming and in panic drove off the road (poor guy -see Raewyn’s blog)
After a quick readjustment of gear on the back of the utes the Bavarian Tractor was loaded on and the trip continued.
A stop for lunch at a country hosteria kept us going via a border crossing out of Chile and 1km later an entry into Argentina (where Gerardo had a small altercation with the Policeman who didn’t realize he spoke Spanish and described him to his friend as a “Gringo xxxx” ) Destination reached at Trevelin shortly after Gerardo had suddenly spoken Spanish and sorted the policeman in no uncertain terms.

Arriving in Trevelin to find a comfortable hosteria we spent a pleasant couple of hours of maintenance, changing a rear tyre on Tom’s (my) bike, some general maintenance on the other bikes and over a couple of Argentinian cervezas discussed the only ifs, what ifs etc. David and Mauricio went up the road 6kms to the local MotoX track to watch a local race meeting.

Interesting Facts:
The Carrera Austral was built by Pinochet’s government around 1980 at a cost of around $US200 to $US300 million (depending on who is telling the story) after decades of discussion but no action.
This road, from Chaiten (after a ferry from Puerto Montt) southwards, connects the Southern part of Chile to the central and Northern and does away with the need to reach the South by Ship. Opened up the Sur and Austral regions to the rest of Chile.

Trevelin was originally founded by Welsh explorers and means Flour Mill in Welsh. They travelled this far from Puerto Madryn and Trelew on the Atlantic coast over some very inhospitable territory before running out of supplies, people and probably perserverance and deciding to create a settlement here rather than press on to Chile their original destination.

At the border there was a large sign reading “ La tierra no la heredamos de nuestros padres solo la tomamos prestada de nuestros hijos”
2 Chocolate bars for anyone who can provide an accurate translation in the blog comments.

Trevelin to San Carlos de Bariloche
Raewyn has covered most of today’s trip in her blog however a few extras ….once again the scenery was impressive and ever changing. We were on winding gravel roads, through a beautiful National Park with large trees either side of the road and even in one place a fallen tree right across the road.
The local wardens had chain sawed through gap of one cars width.
We saw pink flamingos in a lake where the local cattle were also grazing (up to their stomachs in the water eating whatever the weed was growing in the water -they must have had wet suits on).
Arriving in Bariloche a busy ski resort town (even though the ski season has finished - although judging by the temperature it felt like it may start again at any moment ) we wandered he town (wheeled in my case) doing some shopping for tee shirts, stickers etc, a drink in a local bar and a chat with an Australian and a Pom who were with a group of E Type and XK150 Jags parked in the square on display.
There was a total of 17 Jags which they had shipped from England and had just completed a tour of Patagonia (plenty of spares, a mechanic and a back up vehicle of course) we returned to our hotel for our daily briefing (Gerardo tells us that he has just spoken to his wife in Punta Arenas and it is snowing there - ice age coming we need another tax!).

Tonight is our last night in Argentina so we chose a typical Argentinian restaurant and enjoyed great service wine etc for $23 each. The life of an adventure Motorcyclist/Wheelchairist is indeed tough.

Today back into Chile and then two nights in Fruitillar.

San Carlos de Bariloche to Fruitillar
Late start today as not a huge distance. However just before the flag dropped Barry discovered a puncture so our gun puncture repairer Ian was on the job and 15 minutes later we were on the road.
A bit of a false start for my ute, complete with 2 navigators, 2 GPS units, 2 maps and a Spanish speaking driver we headed out of town the wrong way!!!! A quick rejig of our route and we were heading in the right direction.
After winding around lakes and waterfalls for 100 or so kms we regrouped at Villa La Angostura for lunch.
Quite a constant drizzle by now so for the riders it was full wet gear. Another 40kms on Ruta 237 we arrived at the Frontera d’ Argentina exit. It only takes one over enthusiastic official to cause a delay - and we got him.
This rule bound immigration wallah decided that Mauricio was a professional driver and therefore should have a license to carry passengers.
This is after 3 problem free border crossings in the last week. After some detailed discussions for 10 or so minutes, he decided that maybe it was ok after all.
Onwards over the Paseo Cardinal Antonio Samore amongst the snow at around 1300m. The riders were glad of their heated grips and vests. Descending towards our destination we reached the Frontera de Chile entry where the officials, especially SAG were keen to ensure we were not smuggling any fruit into Chile so actually ventured outside in the drizzle to have a cursory poke through every-ones bags and get their dogs to sniff in the back of the utes.

Once into Chile and after 50kms we followed Gerardo left onto a gravel road which was a “short cut” to Frutilla our destination today. Unfortunately Gerardo’s shortcut turned into a futile but enjoyable 25km down and back on a dead end road.
Apart from Richard falling off whilst his bike was completely stopped -the bike was on top of him and he had to wait for the others to lift it off him. This was quite humourous for all concerned (except Richard)
Checking into Hotel San Francisco (a.k.a Fawlty Towers) overlooking Lagos Llanquihue we settled in for 2 nights stay.

Añada más espacio para más tarde
Hasta mañana
Mike V

From Bones
Day 29 - Trevelin - Bariloche

This day would be our last major stretch of metal road, from Trevelin on Ruta 71 through the Parque Nacional Los Alerces. Mainly fine, but cold, with no dust - replaced by muddy water in the hundreds of potholes instead - a biker’s dream (or nightmare?)
A leisurely lunch at El Bolson, mainly due to the fact that everything was prepared from scratch, but well worth waiting for……………while I was waiting for my empanadas (usually procured from a pie warmer on a counter) I found a selection of beer (brewed locally) that I just had to sample (those who know me, will understand that I don’t usually consider beer a beverage) - Confirming with Gerardo that I was indeed holding a grape beer, I purchased a cold one. Rosco helped me consume it - can’t say I was that impressed, but took away a chocolate beer that I have yet to try. It even has mint leaves pictured on the label, so it will be interesting! Waiting until we have a room with a fridge so I can chill it.

This rambling would have you believe there wasn’t much more exciting happening for the remainder of the day, but we did have a pretty scenic route along Ruta 40 into the hub city of San Carlos de Bariloche. Quite a culture shock after staying in so many little villages - we all found our hotel close to the city centre by various means - I cheated by consulting my Rough Guide to Argentina! Most larger towns have a one way system like the big cities, with arrows on the street signs denoting which way you can travel (usually the opposite direction in which you want to go….). Anyway, we all arrived within a few minutes of each other, and found our secure carpark at the rear of the hotel (one of the main requisites for moto adventures!) Space to work on motos is also a bonus!

Up to the rooms overlooking Lago Nahuel Huapi, which was looking more like an angry sea, and across to the ever present snow capped mountains (we knew they were there, but low cloud obscured the view).
At the briefing at 7pm, several of the lads had tracked down more stickers for their motos (is there any space left?) with Barry collecting the Medal for his Sticker Sniffing Abilities (that doesn’t sound quite right somehow……………..)
We all headed in various directions to explore the city environs, well muffled up against the biting cold and wild wind, which was accentuated by tunneling down the streets. Every second shop seemed to be selling chocolate, but I didn’t get past looking - our mission was to locate Dakar stickers! Mission accomplished (I think we purchased the last ones),
we turned our attention to dinner, and an early night.

Day 30 - Bariloche - Frutillar

The morning looked promising, but as Barry mended puncture (!) prior to departure, I thought I saw a few snowflakes falling. However, we left with the sun shining and headed north-east towards the border on Ruta 231, stopping for lunch at Angostura, a picturesque town that utilised wood to the max! Some talented woodcarvers must reside in the vicinity - the Germanic influence is very apparent in this area.

Replenished, we headed for our final border crossing at Paso cardinal Antonio Samore.
Exiting Argentina for the last time was a breeze, and clutching our various pieces of official paperwork complete with the all important stamps, we headed into no man’s land for the entry into Chile.

While our last border crossing had 500 metres between the immigration and customs offices, this one had a very impressive 40 kilometres, over the summit with freshly fallen snow - straight back into the depths of winter! Scenes from “Narnia” prevailed - it was indeed a wonderland, and we had no doubt the boys had their heated grips, vests and whatever else, turned on - again!

On the Chilean side, we entered Parque Nacional Puyhue, and the manpower employed here was quite intense. As these papers would be used for our container loading in Valparaiso, everyone double checked that the information had been transposed by the Aduana personnel correctly - one digit out of place could cause lots of hassle in the final day, when time would be precious…………….

As I only had to clear immigration, I had plenty of time to people-watch, and was observing the SAG ( MAF) dog sniffing his way along the line of motos. Whose bike did he stop at, and pay particular attention to?? Keith’s of course! (Probably could smell all the other dogs who had followed Keith around Argentina and Chile over the past four weeks! When Keith finally finished his paperwork inside, the SAG man asked him to open his bags and after the obligatory nosey through the contents (it was probably his dirty washing the dog found interesting) all was declared well, and a smiling Keith was left to secure his luggage. A couple of greatcoated bigwigs with Russian type furry hats were standing nearby, taking a cursory interest in the motos (probably counting the number of stickers) and Keith must have found one of his furry Kiwi giveaways in his bags, and he offered it to one of them. After the bigwig politely declining, and Keith politely insisting, I saw the little kiwi (not Keith - the furry one) being tucked carefully inside the greatcoat, obviously to be taken home with pride. Great PR Keith! Wish I had my video camera with me……………….

Finally, we were all on our way, the Vinsen truck bringing up the rear, after Mauricio was questioned about a ‘permit’ to carry passengers! That was a new one………………..
As we had David’s moto on the back of our truck, we did wonder if they were being held at the border with a piece of paper to import a moto, and no moto! We duly waited on the side of the road until they appeared, and we all continued onto Entre Lagos for a coffee before we tackled the last 100 kilometres to Frutillar.

Gerardo wanted the boys to have one last section of gravel road, cutting along the shores of Lago Rupanco, across farmland to Puerto Octay on Lago Llanquihue, but his attempt at a short cut saw us throttling down lanes that had barely room for a tractor to pass!
When we had finished at the gates of two farms, we decided to backtrack to the main road, and finally we were on our way! As we have been recording the whole route on GPS, the day’s readings must have looked like a demented ant going round in circles!
Our lodging for the next two nights was at Frutillar, a bit of a Fawlty Towers, complete with a Manuel - “Que???” Although we were booked in, the heating hadn’t been turned on, therefore no hot water for showers, and the request for a meal was met with more credulous looks - “Que?” Anyway, we took over the bar, and settled in for the evening.
The view from all the rooms is directly across the lake to Volcan Osorno (2,652metres)
- we have to take their word for it, as cloud has obscured the top half!

Day 31 - Day off. Volcan Osorno still shy and hiding in the clouds, lots of moto maintenance for the final run north, and exploring the shoreline. Rosco, Gerardo and I ventured down to Puerto Montt, where we discovered another good thing to order when you don't really know what you want - "Pichanga caliente" a platter of different cooked meats and sausages, along with a sizeable serving of fries, and tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, gherkins, grilled cheese on bread (inevitable!) and olives. Great for two people!
Meant we went looking for a small dinner later on the lakeside and watched the sunset over the volcano, where all the clouds had cleared.

Hasta Luego, Bones

From Gertardo...

Hola, hoy fue el gran día casi 590 kilómetros sobre la Ruta 40 y 340 kilómetros de ripio, salimos a las 7.30 de Chalten, habíamos quedado en hacerlo a las 8, pero era mas el nerviosismo y salimos antes, no hizo frío , temperatura sobre los 18 grados, los primeros 30 de ripio de 3 Lagos muy duros, viento fuerte y ripio suelto y denso, me costo, creía que si seguía así no lo iba a lograr, el brazo derecho me dolía por el esfuerzo, ya que íbamos subiendo la Ruta 40 con viento lateral, que te sacaba de la huella y a los lados harto ripio suelto, afortunadamente bajo el viento y mejoro el ripio, ahí uno se da cuenta que debía haberme preparado, pero nunca lo hago, pero todos sintieron lo mismo, cansancio.

Llegamos como a las 13.30 horas a Bajo Caracoles, donde debíamos cargar combustible, pero debimos esperar ya que el camión estaba descargando combustible, nos encontramos con dos grupos de motociclistas, unos italianos y un grupo de 6 motos de Perú, que hace un programa de televison que yo había visto en el canal Perú Mágico, yo vi algunos capítulos de la Ruta de Almagro, el director Carlos Conan viajaba y me señalo que me enviara una copia de este programa y otro que hicieron, este era un viaje hacia Ushuaia, viajaban con Hondas Transalp y uno con una Honda Varadero, todo un reto, va a terminar muerto en el ripio, quien puede aguantar ese peso.
La camioneta arrendada de Mike se le salio la rueda trasera andando, afortunadamente sin problemas, que arrendatarios de vehículos tenemos en Chile, y queda la lección que uno debe chequear todos los pernos de las ruedas, una actitud criminal del arrendador
Llegamos a las 18 a Perito Moreno al Hotel Austral, buen nombre no, imaginaba mas grande este lugar, es menos que Porvenir, pero con un viento que deja claro que seguimos en Patagonia, mañana cruzamos a Chile, durmiendo en Puerto Guadal y a un merecido pisco souer.
Jueves, partimos a las 9.30, en forma separada, pero nos juntamos en Chile Chico a tomar un café y un sándwich, el camino espectacular, frente al lago Carrera, lo que si con viento fuerte que provoco la caída de uno de nuestros motociclistas, pero afortunadamente sin problemas, un día con sol, un día tranquilo que ansío sea permanente, es increíble este viaje por primera vez siento dolores en varias partes del cuerpo por la moto, especialmente en la pelvis, parece que la fuerza que hago por tener cerradas las piernas por el viento, no piensen mal, parezco mujer a punto de parir.

Viernes, hoyde Puerto Guadal a Coyhaique, salimos con un día nublado con chubascos, donde mi casco demostró que no vale un peso, deje el otro en Punta para traer este compacto marca , ya que se empaña y debo permanentemente sacarle el agua ya que no veo nada, lo cual me hace candidato a besar el suelo. Hoy tuvo un accidente Zane el de transalp, fue con mucha suerte, la moto quedo bien averiada, pero el solo con un dolor en el hombro, si hubiera caído yo me quebró entero, pero el tiene un estado de físico envidiable, los músculos protegen los huesos.
Fuimos a ver la Catedral de Marmol en el Lago General Carrera con un gallo super simpatico en Bahia Mansa don Pedro Contreras, por un costo de $ 5000 por persona, vale la pena, viajamos todos incluso Mike, el cual me asombra su espiritu, una persona normal esta lamentandose en su casa, el no siempre ahí.
Despues de este viaje comenzo a llover, por eso es tan verde esta Región, lo que si la cantidad de ríos existentes es impresionante y tremendos ríos, uno ve caidas de agua de cuanto cerro hay, esta se debería llamar región de los ríos, llegamos a Villa Cerro Castillo como a las 13.30 donde comimos un sándwich muy bueno en dos buses que sirven de restaurant, Donde Sole, muy bueno el sándwich y economico, o sea las tres B, espectacular el paisaje de todo este camino, ya aca comienza el pavimento.
Alojamos en los Hotel Los Ñires, hotel muy antiguo, por el cual no ha pasado un arreglo hace décadas, tuvimos que llevar mi moto y la KTM de Richard donde un mecánico, yo tuve que cambiar la cadena, ya no podía estirarse mas y coloco el trabador de la rueda delantera ya que no estaba, la cadena no es la ideal, a ver cuanto dura, ojala que harto
Sábado 28, salimos como a las 10 de Coyhaique, ya que fuimos a buscar las motos a las 9, de ahí yan con chubascos que fueron aumentando y se prolongo la lluvia por todo el día, fuimos a Puerto Aysén y Chacabuco, mi casco ya me dan ganas de tirarlo.
Hoy no hubieron accidentes, que bueno, el camino espectacular, pero no pudimos ver los cerros ni el glaciar colgado ya que estaba muy nublado, pero la ruta espectacular, almorzamos un sándwich en Puyuhuapi tipo 14 horas en un lugar bien tipico, previamente a este lugar se me salio la cadena, me parece un chiste me acorde cuando era chico y se me salia la cadena porque la catalina no tenia dientes, pero todo nuevo y pasa esto, en definitiva las cadenas que he comprado no son las adecuadas, pero no he podido elegir, he comprado lo que hay. A a las 17 a nuestro Hotel en Las Juntas, el Espacio y Tiempo, espectacular el Hotel, muy bien atendido por Connie, altamente recomendable. Cenamos un muy rico salmon. Fui hablar con los Carabineros para solicitar permiso para ir mañana a Chaitén, a ver lo que queda de ella, dijeron que el camino esta habilitado, pero lamentablemente se esperan lluvias mañana otra vez, el clima no nos acompaña para nada, mañana deberíamos alojar en Travelín, Argentina, decidimos partir a las 9, ya que todos queremos disfrutar este Hotel y descansar, el viaje ha sido muy duro y hoy es justo una semana antes de finalizar este viaje en Viña, paso súper rápido como siempre, chaooooooooooooo

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Photos

Puncture repair
Barry picked up a nail somewhere

KTM new rear tyre
Richard making use of the support system.

Frutillar
Faulty Towers...

Mystic Mountain
On our way to Chile

Up the Garden Path
Gerardo leading us up the Garden Path.

Gerardo and Keith
Gerardo explaining why we are here 'Sight seeing'

Back down the Garden Path
As we all return to the way we need to go

Monica & Bektina (3)
From Germany to Alaska down to Ushuia

Monica & Bektina (2)
These two have been on the road for 18 months

The Lunch Bus
The bus that Keith took us for a ride in

Keith
Anti fog warranty claim..ph 0900..........

Comments

[Sharing the Journey]

What an interesting trip
I cant wait to see what happens next. Ride safe! Alec

[Pamela Cornejo Romero]

Que suertudo!!!
Denle gracias a Dios que no les sucedió nada a nadie con la salida de la rueda de la camioneta. Como siempre las fotos están muuuuy lindas...

[Bevin]

Carrera Austral = Joyce
The story of the building of Carrera Austral sounds just like new Minister for Transport, Joyce - after years of paying consulting fees to all and sundry (? Labour mates ?) finally Joyce et al are saying "Just Do It". Great reading and wonderful photos. I see a new business venture starting soon = Adventure Wheelchairing. Cheers Bevin

[Rosie Bidart]

buen viajeBueno
Bueno, ya queda el final , que bueno que todo este bien , Gerardo cuidadate ( con permiso de Marisol) que sigan bien y todos vuelan con buenos recuerdos de nuestra trierra y de los vecinos , saludos y suerte ( mierda, mierda ,mierda) como dicen los actores cariños Rosie

[Seton Pennell]

Great Fun
Sounds like an absolute blast of a time is being had by all, great to keep being updated. enjoy the adventure Seton

[Nick Matyas]

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