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Published: October 31st 2016
San Juan to Santiago.
Leaving San Juan around 11.00am as it was only 175 kms to Mendoza, we made our way onto Ruta 40 for our leisurely ride south.
Arriving in Mendoza, Gerardo took the lead with his GPS programmed to take us to Parque General San Martin to view Cerro de Gloria monument on top of the hill.
We had a snack here and entertained the tourists with photos on and around our bikes before heading down town to our hotel.
Mendoza is not only the wine capital of Argentina, but also a great shopping Mecca, as our hotel has location, location right down town.
The following day we met at reception at mid day and had a walking bus up to the railway station to catch our train out to Lopez Winery, which is at the end of the line.
Reaching the last station, we had another walking bus to cover the 300 meters to the Winery where we enjoyed a fabulous lunch together.
We had planned on three nights in Mendoza, but due to a new long weekend holiday in Chile we had to get back to Vina del Mar by Friday afternoon as we had a
deal to pack the bikes up at Sitrans on Saturday morning or we would not be able to do that until Wednesday and by then we will be in the USA.
We therefore planned to have a few days in Santiago instead, so the next day we rode to Uspallata for our last night in Argentina.
We had a great dinner of meat, meat and meat!!
We were on the road soon after 8.00am, as we knew that the ADUANA (Customs) were planning a go slow strike at all border crossings and transactions a few days prior to, and over the long weekend (shades of Cook Strait Ferry actions in the past).
We had a good run up the mountain on a beautiful clear morning and had our first stop at Posada del Inca, the site of the old thermal pool hotel.
As we exited the Paso Redentor tunnel, we could see the line of trucks, busses and cars queued waiting to exit Argentina.
So, two and a half hours later we were riding down the mountain into Chile and making a run for our lunch stop.
It seems that all of Chile were on the roads heading somewhere for
the long weekend, even the Copec was struggling to cater for fuel and food requirements.
We finally arrived back at the O'Higgins Hotel to unload our gear and head off to the car wash to clean the bikes ready for packing the next day.
After a hearty breakfast, we headed off to Sitrans to pack up our bikes ready for shipment later in the week.
We had left all our luggage at the hotel with Raewyn and had organised that Jose would pick her and our luggage up, then come to Sitrans, pick us up and take us all to our hotel in Santiago, and I just love it when a plan comes together..... 5542 km and no problems with any bikes.
We had our farewell dinner on Saturday night, as Gerardo had to leave early on Sunday to make nearly a 1,000 km run to Puerto Montt to ship his bike back to Punta Arenas, as he had work commitments the following day.
We all had a relaxing time and enjoyed the empty city of Santiago, as almost all inhabitants had left for the beaches or mountains, that is except for my friend Cristian and his family, and they
invited Raewyn and I to their place for a sumptuous lunch.
I had met Cristian and his family in Tongoy during my first adventure over here in 2005 and he has joined us on two occasions during our adventures here.
It was lovely to spend time at their place with the family.
We just got back to the hotel in time to farewell the others as they left to catch their flight home.
This has been such a wonderful Tarmac Tour, with great riders and good friends, sorta makes me sad for all those that are missing out on such good fun....
Raewyn and I will be flying outa here tomorrow to Dallas and then onto Orlando and down to Lake Wales, so stay tuned for more adventure. Cheers. Rosco.
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