Blogs from Catamarca, Argentina, South America

Wie verließen Villarica, fuhren am Villarica See entlang und am Villarica Vulkan (denen ist wirklichnicht viel eingefallen), durch Täler und einen Pass hinauf zur Grenze nach Argentinien. An Grrenzen immer die gleiche Prozedur: Warten, Auswanderung ich, Warten, Auswanderung Motorrad, Warten, Kontrolle, Weiterfahrt zum nächsten Häusl; Warten, Einwanderung ich, Warten, Einwanderung Motorrad, Warten, Kontrolle, Weiterfahrt. Kann problemlos mehrere Stunden dauern. Heute war's nicht ganz so schlimm, aber es zog sich schon. Dann Schotterstraße, vorbei an Chad's Corner, wo vor 1 1/2 Jahren Chad nach 2 Reisetagen seinen Trip beendete - dem MR fehlte nicht viel, aber er hatte einen Bänderriß und musste heimfliegen. Waschbrett Straße - da kann man entweder meditativ in jede Rille hineinfahren, langsam wieder heraus, in die nächste Rille hinein - endlos so weiter. Da braucht man dann vi... read more

Tongoy to Copiapo was basically just a run up the Pan Pacific Highway and dicing with the many trucks that ply this route. A couple of the riders missed the gas stop at Vallenar, but as I had extra fuel on board for them, we all made it. Radar made the distance on his trusty KLR. Howard picks up the story from here...... We were sort of on time away this morning, after pumping up the tyres and paying for extras for the rooms, it was overcast and a bit cold, but didn't have the liners in the jacket and pants. First off went to a Cathedral on top of a hill at Coquimbo, which was built as the 2000th year since Christ. Quite impressive. I did a bit of a faux pas in taking picutres ... read more

Hi There! Our last full stop was Iguazu falls on the Argentinian side. We had such a great time there! Our hotel was the only one right next to the falls, but on the day which we arrived we just relaxed by the pool and enjoyed the views. The next day though, we got up and straight from breakfast embarked on the adventure! The amazing thing about the Argentinian side is that you are so close to the waterfalls- we could actually stand underneath and get wet! We followed the trail and marveled at the fabulous water features, including Devils Throat. We also made friends with the curious animals there, Coatis, as well as the colourful and inquisitive birds who would land next to us. We stood in a place where you were sprayed by the ... read more

Sunday 27 December: Tucuman We arrived in Tucuman feeling pretty good considering that we had been on the bus for 13 hours overnight from Mendoza. I had spent the last couple of hours looking out of the window, initially at the rain and thankfully at blue skies by the time we arrived. We had a breakfast of coffee and medialunas at the bus station before going in search of our hotel, thankfully it had air conditioning. We thought it had been hot before but Tucuman really was hot. Being the Sunday after Christmas the city centre was fairly empty with nearly everything closed. We wandered around for a while looking at the outside of some closed museums, tracked down the town centre cinemas which had either closed down - or now showed programming suitable for over ... read more