South to Rio Gallegos

Landon and I have been moving south from Comodoro Rivadavia along the Atlantic coast. These shots were taken on a little side road along the ocean going into Puerto de Julian, where we spent last night. We had an easy drive to Rio Gallegos today. With the exception of a 7-10 miles of gravel, the road these past two days has been generally good. The weather has been mostly cloudy, windy and cool. When we get a few miles from the coast, the scenery resembles the northern high plains of North America. We are hoping to get to Ushuaia on New Year´s Eve.

I found myself staring at a map of South America last night. Two thoughts occupied my mind. The first was the realization of how far away from home we are. The second was how much at home I have felt. I followed our route, knowing that we were out in the open the whole way. When you drive the whole way, the road here still really feels like the same road that runs in front of your own house.

Christmas in Bariloche

While working on that last blog in Villa la Angostura, I heard Landon pull his GS up in front of the Internet cafe. It was a sweet sound and great a great reunion. After exchanging a few stories we made our way out to the campsite, which was located on a rise with this great view of the eastern slope of the Andes.


It was in Villa la Angostura that I heard the sad news that Tiny Walters, my neighbor across the street and dad of my ¨little sister¨ Emily, had died in his sleep at home that morning. The news has soften the celebration of Christmas for me, and I feel helpless and sorry to be so far away. I´m also grateful for his many good friends and family. The funeral was yesterday.


The next day, Christmas Eve, we made the short trip down to San Carlos de Bariloche in the Lake District of Argentina, found a hotel and changed the oil in the bikes. Inasmuch as there are so many Germans in the area, I had hoped to go to a Lutheran church for Christmas Eve services. But no one was ever to found at the church down the street, and there were no indications of time(s) for the services. At 7:30 we abandoned hope and took the short walk down the hill to the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Bariloche for the 8:oo mass.



It was a good celebration of the birth of ¨Dios Niño¨. After the distribution, a small choir offered a lovely Spanish song rejoicing in the mystery of the night. There were at least 8 stanzas, and I still wanted more. That little carol alone would have been enough for me to make the drive south to Argentina.


Christmas Day was fresh and brilliant in the glorious morning light. We took off on Ruta 40 for Tierra del Fuego, leaving the lakes, streams and mountains and entering the wide plains of Argentina. Sean´s bike made a couple suspicious noises from the gearbox, but they stopped. We camped that evening beside a stream at Gobernador Costa and made spaghetti for supper.

Worried about the transmission, we waited along the highway the next morning and looked for a truck willing to take Sean´s GS the 200 miles down to the Atlantic coast. We even made a cardboard sign, but the Christmas holiday worked against us. There wasn´t much traffic at all, let alone truck traffic. The bike wasn´t making the noises anymore, so we gingerly made our way to Comodoro Rivadavia. The bike held out without complaint until the outskirts of town. We barely made it to a hotel. Unpleasant sounds from the gearbox and broken metal parts in the gear oil confirmed a bad bearing. With the holiday, we could find no one in this oil town able to work on the bike, and the parts and tools we carry simply wouldn´t be up to tearing apart a transmission.

Sean decided to ship his bike to Buenos Aires to get it repaired. This morning we found a truck leaving on Saturday and pushed the bike the 10-12 blocks to meet it. Sean will take a bus to be there when his bike arrives in Buenos Aires. We´re thankful he has friends in Buenos Aires to help him welcome in the new year.

Our reunion, the three of us moving down the road together, didn´t last long, but we look forward to all being in Buenos Aires in February. It will be hard to say goodbye tomorrow.

We will continue to move south and hope to be in Ushuaia on New Year´s Eve and meet my friend David Lange who arrives there from New Braunfels, Texas on New Year´s Day.

Merry Christmas

Blessings for Christmas from Villa la Angostura, Argentina. I know the picture doesn´t look much like Christmas. It´s spring here, and there is not a Poinsettia to be found. It was a choice between these Retamas and the Lupines (top). Sean and I motored on over from Osorno, Chile to Villa la Angostura, Argentina this morning. After catching up on things internet, we will run out to the campground and find Landon. The plan is to celebrate Christmas down the road a bit in Bariloche, and then to take off for a New Year in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego.

Happy Holidays

I must admit it's tough getting in the Christmas spirit when the thermometer reads 95 degrees and there aren't the usual Christmas songs on the radio, but here's a try.
I walked up to the Cross above Junin today and found some interesting sculptures

I must have slept through the sermon about the conquistadors at the Crucifiction

This one about the washing of the feet really interested me for some reason

Maybe it was the facial expressions

I just thought it was pretty good stuff.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, Have a Merry Christmas!

Onto Junin

I made my way to Alumine´, where the tourist offie said there was good fishing here. Lake RuciChoroi, or something like that, 25 km's off the beaten path in the Lanin National Forest. The stream that feeds the lake

I did say it was off the beaten path

The only problem here was that the Mapuche Gauchos kept riding up and trying to sell homemade bread and wool gloves and hats. Kind of like spam on a computer, but you can't turn it off.

So I moved down to Junin de los Andes, closer to the Lake district The town of Junin de Los Andes, from the Cross above town

You can still see the holdouts

This beast was loaded with 14 Germans AND the kitchen sink, www.kondor
-tours.de, if you want to go along

A Short Trip to Chile

While Landon went fishing in Argentina, Sean and I went over to the Andes into Chile. We spent the first night in San Felipe Los Andes. A mild earthquake woke us up. The locals seemed used to them. Then we headed for Viña del Mar. Here is a shot of Sean headed for the water.

We missed our turn when we were leaving Viña del Mar. A car pulled up alongside of us at the stop light, and the driver (Roberto) asked us where we wanted to go. I said Santiago. He said ¨Follow me¨. We did, and he took us through the maze of streets and highways to the capital city. He and is family brought us to a wonderful grill, where they bought us supper. They directed us to a great hotel downtown and invited us for lunch the next day at their home near Melipilla. We ended up having supper with them and spending the night in their guest house. It was a terrific experience, certainly a highlight of the trip for me. The above picture is of me relaxing with the afternoon sun in their garden.

Our hosts Roberto and Evelyn, and their two children Macarena and Fernando. They were wonderful.

Salto de Laja, east of Conception.

Vulcan Osorno at its best in the afternoon light.

We look forward to crossing back over the Andes into Argentina tomorrow and celebrating Christmas with Landon in San Carlos de Bariloche.

Some More Old Pictures from Northern Argentina

This is a close up of the sundial at the Tropic. The sun is almost straight up.

The Salinas Grandes (salt flats) on route 40 south and west of Abra Pampa, Argentina.

Landon and Sean headed south to Cache on route 40

Two more shots headed south to San Juan on route 40

Some Old Pictures

Here are some old pictures I found on the camera. This one is Landon getting on the ferry on the way to Conception, Bolivia.

This is a storm brewing over the mission in Conception.

The Feast of San Javier at the San Javier mission in Bolivia. The skies opened up just before the scheduled procession around the square.

But soon the rain stopped, and San Javier got his annual constitutional through the streets.

Here´s a picture of Landon at the Tropic. Note the sundial in the background says that the sun is about as far south as it will get this year.

Majestic Views and Fishing School

Going from Chilicito to San Juan, Ruta 40 provides some excellent scenery

Saw this in Mendoza, had to take a picture for evidence

The Inca Bridge, on the way to Chile

Sometimes the views are just too much to describe

"From a phone booth in Cheyenne,......." (name that tune, and click to enlarge)

The lake south of Paredites, on Ruta 40

Because the road was detoured for construction at the 3000 km marker, which, by the way, is the distance left to Tierra del Fuego.

When I stopped for gas in El Sosneado, I met a group on their way home to Mendoza, after a 4 day ride to Neuquen. All on BMW's

While I was taking a break at the El Sosneado station, Facundo came up and asked if I liked to fish. After a small discussion, he produced his fishing pole and some day old bread. In about 10 minutes, my trout fishing lesson was over, and I had an eight inch trout on the end of the line, from the stream behind the store. I packed $250 worth of fly fishing gear 10,000 miles to do what it took a kid with $5 worth of stuff 10 minutes to do. Kind of humbling....., hell, it was very humbling.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the fish, I was too excited.

On Down Ruta 40

We stopped in a small town called Cachi, kind of a small tourist town up in the mountains. Sean helped contribute to the local delinquency rate.

Hey, they're just fireworks. It could be worse, they could be cigarettes.

¨To hell with the brake pedal, I just need to reach the throttle.¨

Yes, that actually is a stretch of Ruta 40, north of Cafayate.

There are lots of wineries, irrigated from the mountians, in a dry valley.


I get the feeling some enjoy the local product quite a bit.

Andean Argentina

Isn't WIFI great, it's given me a chance to catch up in the hotel lobby. Here are a few pics from Northern Argentina. Or Ruta 9, north of JuJuy


The Skypilot taking on Ruta 40


Look close, it really is one road.

Salta

We took the cable car ride up the overlook in Salta The waterfalls(man made) at the overlook

"Top o' the World"

Cathederal at night

San Martin, the great liberator of Argentina

Buenos Dias, Argentina

Quick, somebody cue up Marty Robbins singing "Buenos dias , Argentina", yes, it really is a song. We crosssed the border at Yacuiba on the eastern side of the Andes. The border was busy with cart traffic, because it is easier and cheaper than trying to get a truck through here. It was like an giant ant farm display. The workers from Argentina would just dump their load in the street and the Bolivian side would load in on their carts and disappear into a side street.
A while after crossing the border, the farm fields streched out to the horizon. Large equipment was everywhere. Quite a change from the tiny hillside fields of the Andes. The MasseyFerguson dealer at Embarcacion.

We stopped at a service station/cafeteria and talked to a guy who worked on a local farm. They had 17,000 hectares, but only 5,000 were being farmed. That's give or take 15,000 acres, all no-till.

A Regional Custom

When we started to leave Concepcion, we asked if there really was a route back that was all asphalt. Everyone said "Yes, but there is this bridge......" . It turns out, to cross the river the only avaiable bridge was the railroad bridge. We were advised to wait and go at the end of the line, and if it was dry, everything would be fine. When we got to Pailon, where the bridge was, at least we were blessed with dry weather. Waiting patiently, we thought we were last, but cars kept coming. Now picture crossing a railroad bridge with random length 3x12's running lengthwise, for 1400 meters, add in slow traffic in front of you, while you ride the clutch, trying to maintain momentum. You can't go fast enough to maintain your balance, but every time you start to put your foot down, it clips a nail or bolt holding the boards down. Add in a car or truck in your rearview, it's quite the stress generator.
Lou coming off the bridge in one piece.

A second bridge in Villa Monte, near the Argentine border

The Missiones

We surived the ferry and the driving rain and the pavement ended about 40k past Concepcion, so we found the Hotel Etayo, and called it a day. The owners took us in as family and we truly felt at home. They even gave us a guided tour of the city in their four-wheel drive truck and took us to church services on Sunday evening. The restored Jesuit Mission in Concepcion

A closer look at the guy on the ladder

Evidence that the rainy season has started

Hotel Etayo

How to relax at Hotel Etayo
The bell tower at the Concepcion Mission, made entirely of wood.

The restored Jesuit Mission in San Xavier. We arrived in the rain, on Tuesday morning while they were celebrating their Feast day. It was the day after the celebration of the city's anniversary party. We got there just in time to watch the ushers throw a drunk parishoner out of the sanctuary.

Inside the sanctuary of the San Xavier Mission

All they had to say was "No,....."

But when we would ask if this was the way to Los Troncos or Concepcion they would all point in the direction we were headed and say "yes, just go straight" Soon , the road got to be just a dirt trail, but it also got to be that we didn´t even have to ask. Whenever we made a wrong turn, someone would always give us a sign to turn around or point in the general direction we needed to be headed.

Then, we came to a ferry crossing on the Rio Grande that wasn´t the most modern thing.

After a little bargaining on the price, we settled on the environmentally friendly company. Read- no motor, human power.

A little later, no worse for wear.

Safe and sound,.....and dry.

We headed off in search of Concepcion. Later we figured out that if we had gone south about 50k and then back north 50k, we could have been on asphalt the whole way. But then we would have missed all the fun

Welcome to the Jungle

Cochabamba from the hotel window

Entering the Amazon side of the Andes

So, we visited Machu Pichu, the ruins at Ollantytambo and Pisaq, and visited with Shawn´s parents in Aguas Calientes and Cusco. It was really fun, and Machu Pichu is truly a destination for people from all over the world. We met people from France and Brazil and a whole bunch of other countries, sort of an international cross roads. We left Cusco and ended up on Lake Titicaca in the town of Puno, Peru. Kind of a disappointment after the beauty of Cusco, but I guess every dog has it´s day. From there we crossed the border into Bolivia and went to another town on the lake, (ok, Ill write it again, Titicaca) Copacabana. This place was the Bohemian hideout for a bunch young folks livin´on the cheap, rooms for 3 bucks a head and dinner for arond 2 or 3 bucks. The next day we took a somewhat interesting ferry across the lake to the road to La Paz and found another hippie hideout in downtown, it kinda looked like a commune, but it was a cheap place to stay where we could get Shawn to the airport easily the next day. After some starting issues the next morning (even the motorcycle has trouble waking up at 10,000 ft) we traveled to Cochabamba over the Bolivian altiplano through sleet and 38 degree temperatures. More engine trouble occupied the evening , so we ended up working on my carburator instead of seeing the town. Today we intended on going to Santa Cruz, but no one told the map company that Bolivia has moved the major route east out of the mountains into the Amazon basin and the road ends up in Montero, 35 miles north of Santa Cruz. We got to spend the afternoon here taking apart Lou´s starter and finding out why it wasn´t working. It was just a loose piece and it worked fine after we put it back together. We´re planning on visiting some Jesuit missions, but the rains may change our plans, so stay tuned. Oh yeah, the day before Shawn left, my camera said card full, so I sent it home with him, and we´ll have to get the pic´s from Lou, sorry.