Argentina, Rio Gallegos, 16-18 Feb 2012

Posted on Saturday, 18-February-2012 by Chris Desmond

16 Feb 2012, Bariloche to Esquel, Argentina

Bariloche must have a micro-climate of its own because I opened a window and it was still warm last night, walked to the car park carrying all my stuff pouring with sweat, packed away heated gear left at 0930 out of town by 1000 started to get cold then drizzle through the mountains winding roads steady flow of traffic so lots of overtaking, freezing now thinking of stopping and putting on my heated gear, arrived in the La Bolson area hundreds of camp grounds and tourist attractions, took a wrong turn somewhere and got lost, stopped at a Tourist Info place and got a map and directions back to R40 put on heated gear while there, continuous drizzle.

Arrived in Esquel stopped for gas filled up and bought a gas container as well have been looking for one since Santiago, Nokia and Google cached maps showed me to the hotel, checked in at 1410, 307km in 4:40hrs, so far all hotels in Argentina have bidets, wandered around the town in a drizzle, completely deserted as it is a ski resort and this is summer.

17 Feb 2012, Esquel to Caleta Olivia, Argentina

Very narrow bed, turned hit my head against the bedside table corner, small cut but lots of blood on the sheet hahahaha. Left at 0720 in a drizzle, freezing and my gloves were not connected properly so hands cold, overcast and wet, wet, wet got to Tecka and filled up, rain eased except for a few spits now and then making good time sitting on 105-110kph very little traffic now long straight stretches with some rough bits, arrived at Sariemento long queue waiting to fill up, so far there has been a queue to fill up at every gas station in Argentina, crazy in a small country town.

Oil wells around here, about 50k’s out of Comodoro Rivadavia it started to rain again and it became hilly, altitude now at sea level before it was a plateau at 800m most of the way, there was a road block, some locals with a grievance had blocked off a major roundabout with burning tyres long queue of cars and trucks at all entrances rode to the front but they would not let me through chatted to some truck drivers, they suggested I drive around on another road to bypass the road block, so went back and had a look but it was a very steep hill with a sandy track leading up not a hope of making it to the top without falling off hahahaha, they also said go on to Caleta Olivia it has good hotels, as it was still early decided to ride on instead of stopping at CR, block opened up at 1400 road now follows the coast and is bumpy arrived at 1445, filled up and checked in at 1500, 635k’s in 7:40hrs. This is an oil town big statue of an oil man in the centre. Bought a steak and cheese roll at a deli and after I had eaten it noticed the expiry date on the packet was 15 Feb and today is 17 Feb, so far so good hahahaha.

18 Feb 2012, Caleta Olivia to Rio Gallegos, Argentina

Left by 0720 in a drizzle, cold and miserable, road works with wet dirt leading out of town not nice then drizzle until about 1000 saw a petrol station at Fitz Roy but too wet and cold did not stop, then Tres Cerro stopped and joined the queue but looked like I would be there for an hour so left after 7min, bike chewing up gas must be a headwind even though I am sitting on 105kph, slowed to 90 then 80kph and got to San Julian and there was an even bigger queue extending onto the highway, hahahaha enquired and rode into the town but the gas station there was out of gas stopped at the side of the road and emptied the 5lt container into my tank, should make the 120k’s to Piedra Buena if I sit on 80kph slow and steady and got to PB at 1300.
Just as I rolled into the gas station huge queue 4 lanes wide they ran out of gas, asked one of the cops at the road block and he said get a room in town, another guy said ask when the gas is coming, so went and joined the queue and asked around one guy said gas would be here at 1700 in 4 hours hahahaha no choice but to wait, got a roll and a coke, Buenos Aires guy and his wife turned up on a Harley coming from Ushuaia chatted in Spanish some YPF tankers rolled in and filled the tanks one moron had left his locked car in the queue right at the front and disappeared and we had to go around him filled up and 6lt in the container got going again at 1430, not bad.
Sat on 120-30kph cars were passing me, saw small herds of llama like animals and a couple that looked like miniature emu’s weather cleared after PB and blue skies all the way hope it stays that way, forecast looks good.
Got to Rio Gallegos at 1440 went past a YPF gas station with a small queue found the hotel and then thought I would fill up, saw an Esso and stopped and was shown the queue it went around the block hahahaha, decided to try again tomorrow early morning, this gas shortage is totally primitive and like one guy in the queue said “Only in Argentina” checked in at 1715, 714km in 9:55, two hours wasted with this gas problem. Went for a walk, another town nothing to see.

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Argentina, Bariloche, 15 Feb 2012

Posted on Wednesday, 15-February-2012 by Chris Desmond

Up at 0600 freezing, got heated jacket and gloves put them on and left at 0720 straight onto the highway no traffic doing 110kph most of the time, warm in the heated gear got to the Chile Border at 0830 stopped at a booth in the middle of the road with two guys inside one immigration and one aduana, they took my passport and TVIP stamped them entered details in their system and said go took 5min and I did not even take my helmet off.

A volcano nearby went off a few months ago and this road was closed so the next 30min was a nightmare ride to the Argentine Immigration through clouds of ash being thrown up by the trucks and cars on the road, could not see a thing, covered in the stuff hair, beard, clothes, bike, filthy now and probably air-filter as well, first I had to stop and get a slip from a booth at the entry point with my Plate No. on it then to immigration the guy filled in a form for me a few people in the queue and he stamped the slip of paper, then Aduana for the TVIP showed him the title and he entered it into his system and gave me the TVIP valid for 8 months and stamped the slip of paper as well, back on the bike and out handed in the paper with the stamps at the exit at 0935 easy.
Road on the Argentine side has been washed so no ash thank you, good ride to Villa La Angostura where I asked for directions to an ATM and withdrew ARS1000 or $200 max with a $3.50 fee like Peru so I had to do it twice to get ARS2000, filled up petrol, cheaper here at $1.20/litre compared to Chile at $1.60/litre and bought a map $8 only an hours ride to Bariloche around the Lake thought it would be longer got there at 1120 and filled up first only 4 litres turned on the Nokia, then rode to the hotel street and it was a one way sloping steeply, the whole town is on a hill sloping up from the Lake rode around a few blocks and down the street very steep parked with the front wheel against the curb checked in at 1145, 245km in 4:25hrs, went for a walk this is a tourist town looks like an Alpine ski resort.

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Chile, Santiago and Osorno, 11-14 Feb 2012

Posted on Wednesday, 15-February-2012 by Chris Desmond

Day 1 – Took it easy went for a walk around the local area Bellavista full of tourists updated blog did some research.

Day 2 – Caught a taxi to the Plaza Armas $3, checked out the Museum, the Cathedral, Centro shopping Mall and a Market back to the hotel more research.

Day 3 – Went to the Bike workshop at 1030 and they hadn’t even started on the bike hahaha that’s Latin America for you in fact the mechanic had not even come in so I went for a walk back at 1200 and the Supervisor who is also a mechanic was just starting on the bike, I sat around and showed them the easy way to do a couple of things and they used my spark plug tool to get one of the plugs out and my hex bit to get the front wheel off, the mechanic turned up at 1400, then they had to go out and get oil and the air filter finished at 1800. If I hadn’t sat there all day it would never have been finished today.

1. Oil & Filter change, 10w-40 Silkolene Super 4 Semi-synthetic Oil – CPL$39,200 – $78.40 – 4 litres = $19.60/litre. I supplied the filter.

2. Fitted 2 new tyres Michelin Anakee 2, Front and Rear.

110/80R-19 (59V) Michelin Anakee 2 Front – CPL$101,800 – $203
150/70R-17 (69V) Michelin Anakee 2 Rear – CPL$100,000 – $200

3. New Suzuki Air Filter – CPL$30,000 – $60 (It was filthy and full of bugs)

4. New Brake pads front and rear, EBC. I supplied the pads (rear were still good, one front was bad)

5. New NGK Spark plugs – I supplied the plugs (Gap was out to 1mm otherwise looked ok)

6. Labour Charges – CPL$25,000 – $50 for about 4hrs.

Total CLP$294,000 or $588.

Parts are expensive but Labour cheap

Back to the hotel, even in rush hour there is very little traffic in this city and got ready for tomorrows departure, booked hotels for the next three stops.

14 Feb 2012, Santiago to Osorno, Chile

Left Santiago at 0715, onto the freeway in about 10min, I had done my homework not much traffic upto 100kph and then about 30min later to 120kph countryside is now green with farms totally different to the north of Santiago steady stream of traffic but no problems overtaking 4 lanes all the way and maintaining 120kph stopped twice for petrol and 11 times for tolls $600 ($1.20) each except for the last at Osorno which was $100, cars pay around $2000 each checked in at 1700, 933km in 9:45hrs, best average so far.

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Chile, Santiago, 8-10, Feb 2012

Posted on Saturday, 11-February-2012 by Chris Desmond

8 Feb 2012, Arica to Antofagasta, Chile

Left Arica at 0700 pitch black due to the 2 hours time difference its really 0400 in the morning, the Chileans have 2 hours of daylight saving all year round, it only got light at 0800, straight into some low mountains upto 1200m cold as I had taken the liner out of my jacket and wasn’t wearing the pants, descended to Iquique and sea level warmed up this is a big city stopped on the outskirts at a Shell service station did not want to have to ride through a huge town, guy there knew English and gave me direction to the highway plus the Nokia has maps of Chile, they also had a Peru map, out of town and along the coast all the way to Antofagasta beautiful views winding roads not a blade of grass or tree in sight, desert all the way, hardly any traffic, 110kph most of the time cops with a radar at a small town where the speed was 60kph I could see them from a mile away, stopped again at Tocopilla for gas small dusty town, then about 50k’s out of Antofagasta road works and diversions slowed and took ages to get through, got the Nokia out and followed it to the hotel, arrived at 1600, 723km in 9hrs. I booked the hotel online and thought it was $48 but turned out to be $48,000 pesos or $101 plus parking was another $10 and it was nothing special, have to open my eyes next time.

9 Feb 2012, Antofagasta to La Serena, Chile

Left Antofagasta at 0615 the parking guy said the ticket was $20 but if I gave him $10 he would be happy hahahaha, dark again took about 30min to get onto R5 not much traffic through the hills got to over 2000m cold, sun rose at 0730 and it slowly warmed up, started to run low on gas and had to go 22km off the highway and back, to Taltal to fill up, 40min delay, crazy no gas station on the highway only in the towns, doing 110kph most of the time and sometimes 120kph, 4 lane toll road from Caldera got to Copiapo and same thing again had to leave the highway and go into town to fill up still 4 lanes upto Vallera, cheaper toll for bikes unlike Peru. Ecuador and Bogota where bikes are free, several long road works with a mile of traffic waiting I rode down the side and got to the front saving a lot of time, last 50k’s into La Serena was through some hills, lots of trucks and slow going finally got there and it was a madhouse, thousands of local tourists this must be a popular holiday spot, asked a taxi driver for a Hotel I found on the web got there at 1715, 958km in 11hrs, expensive dump, there must be a shortage of hotels in these coastal towns. Fuel is the most expensive so far as well at $1.64/litre or $6.23/US gal, so todays ride cost me $78.55 in fuel alone, a long day.

10 Feb 2012, La Serena to Santiago, Chile

Left La Serena at 0710, no traffic 5 min to the highway then 4 lanes all the way to Santiago with the speed limit now at 120kph most of the time, a bit of green now for a while along the coast, stopped for fuel at one of the few fuel stops along the highway bike chewing up the gas at the higher speeds plus freezing cold for the first 3 hours, stopped about 50k’s out of Santiago and put the Nokia around my neck, soon after traffic started building up and some crazy behaviour but nothing too bad, followed the freeway and when it merged with another freeway it took me on the wrong freeway, got off at the first exit and using the Nokia found my way across the downtown area to the other side, first looked for the Suzuki dealer on Bella Vista Ave but he did not exist, gave up and rode to the hotel which is just around the corner, one way as usual and the booking.com location was wrong again asked a few people and finally rode back the wrong way down the street and checked in at 1300hrs, 484km in 5:50hrs, really nice apartment, kitchen, sitting room, bedroom, walk-in cupboard and bathroom everything new and modern and the price is normal as well, contacted a workshop recommended on two other blogs, the owner Paul Celery speaks English and organised to have new tyres fitted, bike washed and new plugs, brake pads and air filter, work could only be done on Monday as everything is closed on the weekend, sent a guy on a bike to the hotel to guide me to the workshop where they started by cleaning over 3 months’ worth of dirt and oil off the bike, left the bike there and got dropped off at my hotel, that’s what you call service. http://www.motolatam.cl . Tyres still had some life in them but not enough to get me down to Ushuaia and then to Buenos Aires, better play it safe as down south there is nothing but bush, another long day.

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Chile, Arica, 6-7 Feb 2012

Posted on Saturday, 11-February-2012 by Chris Desmond

6 Feb 2012, La Paz, Bolivia to Puno, Peru

Bus picked me up from the hotel in La Paz at 0740, big with lots of legroom and only half full, all the tourist traffic is in the other direction, took about an hour to get out of the city, drizzled all the way to Taquina where we crossed over the lake on the ferry, then Copacabana where we had to change busses to a Peruvian bus about an hours wait for the bus to arrive from Puno, next stop the border with Peru, stamp, stamp, they don’t even look at your face, sun came out as we entered Peru and it warmed up, freezing before that, arrived in Puno at 1700.

7 Feb 2012, Puno, Peru to Arica, Chile

Altitude is still affecting me, headaches, breathlessness, weird. As I was checking out the guy at reception told me about a shortcut to Mosquegua, it shows as half dirt road on the map but he said he had driven it 2 months ago and it was a new paved road, this cuts the time and distance almost in half, thank you Sir, it means I can cross the border into Chile today, left at 0700 and got a taxi to show me through the town onto this road as it is not the main highway, one of the hotel staff came with the taxi to make sure I got out ok, the road is the Transoceania Sur 34B, on the way out of town there were drifts of ice on the road and surroundings looked like snow, brilliant road most of it around 4500m cold hands freezing but unbelievable views, no traffic, no villages and no speed bumps some potholes and landslides and one toll plaza which was fenced off and traffic had to go through a muddy diversion with water flowing across nasty, I rode around the fence and through the plaza instead hahaha, camera battery went flat due to the cold and came good as I descended to Mosquegua arrived there at 1100, a classic ride, arrived at the border at 1320.
Peru first handed in the TVIP and Immigration exit form, filled in a form for the bike in quadruplicate gave one copy to immigration and then rode to the Chile side filled in an Immigration form and a Customs form stood in the queue and one of the Peru bike copies went to the immigration girl and she stamped one and gave it back to me, then I had to put my knapsack through the x-ray, then a customs guy and Agriculture guy looked in my panniers and each stamped the bike form and told me to go at 1420, rode past a checkpoint no one visible, guy must have been asleep and about 5k’s down the road got stopped and turned back, the checkpoint guy awake now said I need 4 stamps not three so went back and asked and was directed to another booth where they looked at the bikes Title and gave me another form and stamped the other form so it now had 4 stamps back to the check point and the guy took the form with the stamps off me and I was free to go, BUREAUCRACY, still only 1440, 1.5 hours not bad.
The time is now 1640 Chilean time 2 hours difference, crazy got to Arica in 30min, amazing, traffic staying in their lanes and even giving way to pedestrians and letting other cars from side streets into the traffic, started looking for a hotel, a normal one which would cost around $50 anywhere else was $100+ here, I managed to find something a little cheaper then I went looking for an ATM most were being serviced but with the help of a bank person I found one and the ATM fee was $6.50 and I thought Peru was expensive at $4 but at least you can withdraw $400, next strange thing the electric plugs here are round like in Asia instead of flat like the other American countries and gas is now dispensed in litres instead of US gallons.

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Bolivia, La Paz, 3-5 Feb 2012

Posted on Sunday, 5-February-2012 by Chris Desmond

When you book a bus ticket it includes pickup from your hotel which was at 0715, the bus full of foreign tourists left Puno at 0730, got to the Kasani border crossing at 0930, took about an hour to exit Peru walk to the Bolivia side and enter Bolivia. Next stop Copacabana a resort town on the Lake shore at 1100 and the time changed to 1200 Bolivian time, total confusion at this point, there were about 10 busses hanging around and no-one knew who was getting on what bus and they were all going to La Paz hahahaha, that’s Latin America for you, I was taken to 4 different busses before I got on one, we left at 1330.

After about half an hour we came to a ferry at Tiquina and had to get off the bus which went across the water on its own ferry and the passengers went across on smaller boats, took about an hour and we were off again at 1505, got to the outskirts of La Paz, traffic as usual was a total mess and I thought, on my bike this would not be fun, until we got to a short stretch of toll road and it was empty hahahaha, no one wants to pay the toll, a bit like Mexico, then back into the traffic and arrived at my hotel at 1730, it drizzled on and off most of the way, this is the rainy season here in the mountains.

Nearly all the buildings in this city are made of large red clay bricks with no plaster or paint so the whole place looks red, all was revealed the next day by the tour guide, apparently these buildings are considered unfinished and pay less tax but that law was changed 2 years ago and they now have to pay the full tax regardless, the Government is hoping that people will start to plaster and paint their houses, so far no such luck.
The southern lower part of the city is the upmarket area and the higher (alto) part of the city with the views is where all the poor people live, apparently the lower part has better weather more sun and less rain. Also about 180 houses slide down the cliffs they are built on every year.
Guns have also disappeared from view, petty theft is common but not major crime, there are no security guards at every shop with AK47’s or shotguns, lots of police without guns around the tourist area, we were warned not to go out of these areas as there are no police.


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Peru, Puno, 1-2 Feb 2012

Posted on Saturday, 4-February-2012 by Chris Desmond

Left Cuzco at 0700 found my way onto the highway took about 30min this is a big city climbed to 3800-4000m and stayed there the whole way to Puno. Not much traffic but lots of villages and some trucks long straight stretches doing 100-120kph most of the time, made good time until Juliaca took half an hour getting through, a local biker showed me the way through the town after that short ride to Puno. Stopped and got the Nokia out started Google Maps using the maps I had cached earlier it got a lock on the GPS satellites and showed me the way to the hotel my first time using this method because Nokia does not have a map of Puno, arrived at 1300, 388km in 6 hours. Very narrow one way streets, booked an all day tour of the lake islands tomorrow SOL50 they also accept credit cards here with no fee, the altitude is now 3850m and it makes me hungry and dizzy.

The Islands tour was a disaster, the rickety old boats top speed was 12kph and it was doing about half that most of the time, it took 3 hours to get to an island to look at a village with some native crafts then 3 hours back a total waste of time, then we went to what I really wanted to see which were the floating islands, villages built on clumps of plants, very interesting. I could have done this on a separate 2 hour tour from Puno instead of being crammed into a boat for 8 hours, you have been warned.

After I got back I arranged to go to La Paz, Bolivia by bus and avoid having to export/import my bike to Bolivia and back again into Peru 3 days later. Bus fare $30 return, and the hotel agreed to keep my bike in their car park and they had a secure storage room for my stuff. I did all of this while there was a thunderstorm and the lights went out and I nearly fell on my head when I stepped out of the travel agent and there was ice on the road hahahaha.


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Peru, Cuzco 29-31 Jan 2012

Posted on Tuesday, 31-January-2012 by Chris Desmond

Day 1 was a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas which I think is code for visit the Markets, we did visit 3 different sites and one had a whole heap of Inca graves dug into the mountain, we also got to see a demonstration of the local weaving and jewellery making.

Day 2 depart the hotel at 0615, due to it being the rainy season the train does not run from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo so Peru Rail takes you there by bus, very organised, a 2 hour trip then transfer to the train to Aguas Calientes a slow journey, then you meet the guide and transfer to another bus for a 20 min trip to Machu Picchu, this is the off season so there were thousands of tourists not millions. We were also lucky that the place was not covered in clouds which apparently at this time of the year is 50:50, it drizzled a little but not much.

A spectacular location, the pictures tell the story, if you want to know why they chose this location, my theory is they were funded by the Association of Knee Replacement Surgeons.

Back to Cuzco at 2100, long day.

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Peru, Cuzco, 27-28 Jan 2012

Posted on Saturday, 28-January-2012 by Chris Desmond

Peru, Nazca to Abancay 27 Jan 2012

Left at 0710 onto the highway in 5 min and straight into the hills, round and brown climbing steadily road twisting into every nook and cranny of the mountains until I reached over 4000m then descended to about 3500m on the other side of the range and everything turned green after that, reached Puquio at 0950, 156k’s filled up drank some water no coke available and out of town, started feeling dizzy so stopped and ate 5 Granola bars and drank more water felt better rode on climbed again reaching 4500m freezing especially my hands temp must be below zero, I did not put the liners in my riding jacket and pants hahahaha, long straight stretches on this high plateau doing 110-120kph,  lots of animals around Alpaca/Llamas, cows, sheep, just before I turned into a block of ice the road descended rapidly to a river gorge first to 3500 warmer now and then to 2500m, camera battery went flat with the cold and recovered after it warmed up arrived at Abancay at 1420, 470km in 7:10hrs.

This is my acclimatisation stop at 2500m, I did not want to go from 500m in Nazca to 3500m in Cuzco in one day, not recommended.

Peru, Abancay to Cuzco 28 Jan 2012

Poured all night, left at 0915 liners in both jacket and pants, stopped for fuel then straight into the twistys went over 4000m then down to a river running red at 2000m warm, usual slow trucks, a couple of showers a few towns along the way, some sections of dirt along the river and pot holes, worst road in Peru so far, last 30k’s was through a huge flat valley with crops and a new road got upto 100kph but quite built up, arrived in Cuzco at 1220, the highway is above the town and there was no connecting road, got a taxi SOL5 to show me the way very steep, narrow, pot holed, cobblestones in parts, winding streets no way I would found it on my own easily, checked in at 1235, 190k’s 3:20hrs.

Coca tea is served while checking in to help with the altitude 3500m, no taste added sugar, booked a bus tour of the surrounding area and Pisca Market on Sunday 0830 – 1800, USD$25 plus SOL70 for entry fees and the Machu Picchu Tour for Monday 0615 – 2030, USD$220 includes all fees and pickup dropoff but no meals, hotel will have breakfast ready at 0530 so they are geared for this tour.

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Peru, Nazca, 25-26 Jan 2012

Posted on Thursday, 26-January-2012 by Chris Desmond

Left Lima at 0555 practically no traffic a few busses and cars onto the highway in 20min and upto 100kph, thick fog for the first hour and cold same sort of landscapes desert and towns with crops, the first 2 hours was 4 lanes so made good time then 2 lanes and trucks but long straight roads meant easy overtaking, stopped at the small steel tower near Nazca SOL2 to go up and have a look at a couple of the nearby geoglyphs, checked in at 1155, 448km in 6hrs. Booked a 30min flight for tomorrow USD$110 plus SOL$25 airport tax to see the Nazca Lines, they prefer payment in US dollars here.

Next day taxi arrived at 0830, first a visit to the only ATM in town that accepts foreign cards to withdraw the maximum allowed USD$200, Peru needs to bring its banking into this century, 5 min drive to the airport some confusion as usual so I sat and waited finally got sorted paid the USD$110 for the flight and SOL25 airport tax, got on 5 seater with 4 Argentinian girls and 2 pilots, 2nd pilot did the talking, Spanish and English, flew over each geoglyph circling both left and right so both sides of the plane could get a good look, back in 30min good flight, waited another hour for a taxi to come disorganised back at the hotel at 1100.

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