Chile and Argentina

After leaving the insane mountain roads of the Andes in Peru, things finally started to flatten out the closer we got to the Chile. When we arrived at the border, we expected the same lengthy process dealing with the bikes which we had gone through at most other crossings. The Peruvian side was no shock... In order to bring a vehicle across, you had to fill out a certain set of forms. However, you cannot obtain these forms at the border. You had to have picked them up in the last town. Seriously. Knowing this, the taxi drivers who shuttle people to and from the last town to the border, carry them with them. So instead of picking up the forms we needed to cross the border, at the border, we needed to flag down a cab and get the forms from the driver. Killer system Peru. Nice work.
So after a few more un-secure security checks, we were signed out of Peru and now attempting to enter Chile. This was a breath of fresh air. It was like we were transported back into North America(only with happy border guards). It was so efficient we couldn't believe it. It still took half an hour for both of us, but there were people guiding us through the whole way. There was order and all the documents we needed were right there. Super simple. Super sweet. Rock on Chile.
We finished up and this was the first sign we saw. And after hitting the road, we were back into good ol' flat, long, straight desert. Northern Chile is actually recognized as the driest place on earth. There was literally nothing as far as vegetation. It really felt like we were on the moon.We only drove about 300km's that first day into Chile(because of the change of country and daylight savings, we lost 2 hours at the border). The next morning we got up uber early to try to cover some serious ground.
*Now you had to know from reading my other blogs that it had been a while since something had gone really badly for us. So, here ya go.*
You think breaking down in the middle of the Peruvian Andes due to not buying a map would have encouraged Hartt and I to buy a better map for Chile. But if you've ever looked at a map of Chile, you'd think there's really not that much that could go wrong. Well I beg to differ. This is where things get fun again.
This time we didn't make any wrong turns- pretty hard to do when you are just driving directly south for 2,000km's. But our fantastic mistake we made this time was, once again, we chose to use our super-awesome-guide-book map. What appeared to be towns on our map(where we expected to buy gas), were actually just police check points that possibly sold water or Coca-Cola if you're lucky. So the place we had planned to fill our tanks came and went with the blink of an eye.
On these bikes there is a reserve tank that will get you somewhere around 50km more once you run out. Hartt is fatter than me and always runs out of gas first. So when he hit reserve we pulled over and weighed our options. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. After thinking about and discussing what we should do for 10 minutes, we really hadn't come up with anything. We saw a semi truck traveling the same direction as us coming down the highway on the horizon and it appeared to be slowing down. The driver ended up pulling over about 300 meters back from us to check his load. So we decided to drive back to him and ask if the nearest gas station was behind or ahead of us. He told us definitely ahead, roughly 55km up the highway. We knew at best Hartt had 45km left on his reserve but we decided to give it a shot anyway. Sure enough, he ran out about 40km down the road. And here's where it gets even better. I was traveling on a new chain I bought in Peru(chain #2). Literally within 1 minute of Hartt running out of gas, my new chain snapped. So here we were in the middle of the driest desert in the world at just before 12 noon- Hartt had no gas and I had no chain. Super weak. But we didn't even freak out. We just kinda did as we always did when crap went wrong- looked at each other and laughed.
Then, just when we thought we were completely screwed, the man in the truck came down the highway and slowed to a stop again. He was carrying a flatbed full of scrap truck parts. He got out and asked if we needed help. Oh yeah we did. We showed him that my chain had snapped and told him Hartt was out of gas. Without hesitating, he backed the truck up to a little embankment and began to help us load the bikes onto the back of his truckload of scrapyard gold. We would have truly been screwed without him. He was the nicest guy ever. Our Spanish was quite limited and his English was non-existent so conversation was minimal. But he was right there doing whatever he could to get us through what could have been a disaster. He was traveling with his 12 year old daughter and just invited 2 stinky, dirty, foreign motorcycle idiots who can barely communicate with him to ride in his truck. He was one of the most genuinely-good, kind hearted people I have ever met.
Along with the truck scrap, he was also carrying 2 truck cabs. So that night we pulled over at a truck stop. After buying him and his daughter dinner, Hartt and I each had our own truck cabs to go to sleep in. It was like each having our own little hotel room.The next night we reached our destination of Santiago. He had driven us 1,500km's and didn't ask for a dime in return. He drove us to the right part of town where it would be easy for us to find a hotel and repair shop. He helped us unload the bikes and we gave him $100 and thanked him about 30 times. Thank you again Louis- we couldn't have done it without you.Santiago is amazing. We arrived in the 2nd half of February(which is the end of their summer) and it was gorgeous. Amazing weather, awesome city, cool buildings, great nightlife. It really is a good spot. And how could I forget the food. Hartt and I got our first taste of Argentinian beef and fell in love. It really is a 1st world country but you still see things like this to remind you that it's still just organized chaos compared to home.We took our bikes in to be fixed at a Kawasaki dealer and they quoted us an outrageous price for all the work we needed done. So, thinking we were smarter than them, we decided to go buy the parts and fix the bikes ourselves.
After leaving Santiago everything went well except for my good old friend the chain(chain #3). 100 miles down the road, there I was on the side of the highway... again. The 2nd crap chain I had purchased shot off on the highway and I had to jimmy-rig it back on. And because the chains we had bought were crap, both Hartt and I had to buy new ones only 1,200km further down the road. (chain #4)
After 2 more days of driving, we made it to the end of the road, kind of. Actually it was just the first of many ferries that took us through the scattered lands of southern Patagonia in Chile. It was awesome. On the second boat, the weather cleared right up. We drank some road pops and talked the captain into letting us drive the boat for a bit. When we arrived after the 5 hour ride, we were met with a cool gravel road through a beautiful old growth forest. We were beginning to understand what all the hype was about in Patagonia. Cheap, good wine, incredible scenery, and super friendly, laid back people were quickly making Chile start to contend as one of our favourite countries we had been to. When you have to drive behind someone on loose gravel roads, the dirt and dust can get pretty thick. Hartt had to help me get some stones outta my nose(actually just ripping a nose hair out that was tickling me).The next day we drove only a couple hours to a small little town originally settled by Germans, where we met the other couple from Victoria again. We stayed in a cool German lodge at the edge of a beautiful lake and that night we proceeded to get good and liquored. It was fun to meet up with them again.The next 2 days were filled with more amazing rides through the mountains of Patagonia. The last 1500 km's or so of southern Chile turns into collage of islands, mountains and glaciers which eliminate the possibility for roads. So we drove just about as far as the road would take us and ended up getting on a ferry which crossed a lake and took us to the Argentina border. Once again, we were met with a super efficient border system. Fast, organized and friendly. As soon as we entered into Argentina, we noticed that all the bathrooms had bidet's, or AKA the perfect goggle cleaner.We cut straight across from the Pacific side to the Atlantic and posted up in a small city to get, yet some more work done on the bikes. We bought new tires, new batteries and we found the right kind of chains that we needed- woo fricken hoo! (chain #5) All the repair shops were completely booked up for days though so we ended up having to do all the work ourselves.The next morning we started making our way south down the Atlantic coast. Once again we made it to the end of the road so to speak. We had to get on another ferry which took us to Tierra del Fuego- Land of Fire. The east half of the island of Tierra del Fuego is owned by Argentina, but is completely surrounded by Chile. So in order to get to the tip and back you end up having to cross the border 4 times, which equals 4 times worth of paperwork to import and export the bikes. Lame. For the most part the island is completely flat with dry, dusty loose gravel roads. At most of the border crossings on Tierra del Fuego we saw stickers of other people's similar trips. We were by no means the first people to do this kind of journey.This was the morning before we reached the final destination of Ushuaia. It was a sweet last ride to the end of the world. More awesome scenery with a little taste of home.On March 6, 2008, after 199 days on the road and a bajillion kilometers, we made it to Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world. We rented a sweet cabin which over looked the bay where the city sat. This was our view. That night we went out for a huge crab dinner and each bought a bottle of champaign which we all sabered with a tool of our choice- I used our wrench and I got it on the first try. I rule.Ushuaia is a cool town, despite being heavily over run with tourism. One day we went out on a boat to see some penguins and sea lions n stuff. I've seen plenty of sea lions at home, but it was really cool to see the penguins.After making it to the tip of South America, which was the goal of the trip, we turned around and started making our way back north again. We chose a different route which meant taking another, longer ferry. We were on our way see the world's fastest advancing glacier- Puerto Moreno Glacier. It stands approximately 200 feet high and advances at roughly 1 meter per day. Huge walls of ice fall off the glacier daily so chances are if you have patience, you'll see some action. We hung out all day and were lucky enough to see some massive chunks fall into the water below. It was seriously impressive. And even when there weren't giant pieces falling the whole thing was constantly creaking and rumbling. Super cool.Next stop, Buenos Aires- almost 3,000km's away. And of course on day 3, when I was doing 130kph and went to pass a truck, my 5th chain snapped and shot out from behind me. So Hartt had to drive back to the last town while I waited on the side of the road for him to buy a temporary crappy chain that would get us to the next town(chain #6). The next day I had to track down a store with proper expensive chains(chain #7). So in the end, my first chain ended up lasting 16,000 miles, and I went through 5 crappy ones in less than 5,000. Had I just not been so damn cheap and bought the expensive one right away, we would have had a lot less problems. Serves me right I suppose.
After dealing with all the chain crap and driving around 2,000km's northeast through mega long, straight roads, we were sick of battling the harsh winds and boredom of the unexciting terrain. So when we met another Argentinian couple at a gas station who were also traveling by bike, they told us about a train that would be leaving from the next town going straight to downtown Buenos Aires. We jumped at the opportunity. Not only did we not have to ride the last 1,000 windy km's, but also the train didn't leave for another 2 days so we had a day to chill.The train was an overnight trip so we had to buy supplies for the ride. The next morning, after a little bit of dusting at the old train station, we packed up the bikes and got ready for the 20 hour sketchy-ass journey. Not a word of a lie, we thought sometimes for sure the train was going to derail. That night Hartt and I each proceeded to each drink our delicious 3 dollar bottles of wine so we would fit in more with the dudes sitting across from us.We arrived the next morning and our new friends Frederico and Cintia lead us downtown to find a good hotel. I could go on and on about B.A. but this post has already gone on forever so I will try to wrap it up. I really fell in love with this city. It's huge-roughly 12 million people- but has the charm and sophistication of a small European town. This was definitely one of my favourite cities of the whole trip. We ended up staying for 2 weeks. We had some crazy party nights where we didn't get home until the next afternoon. We ate steak at least once a day. And we drank a ton of amazing cheap wine. There is so much history in this city and always so much going on. In between protests, partying, and eating steak we even found time to check out some sights like this uber old cemetery. There was so much to see and do and so much more I could talk about...blah blah blah... I know.
The original plan was to keep driving north for another few months and see a bunch more countries. But Hartt and I arrived in Buenos Aires and looked at each other and said, "I think that's it." We were done. We accomplished the goal for the trip- to make it from home to the end of the world. By the time we arrived in B.A., we were simply ready to pack it in. It had been 8 months and for the first time ever on a trip I was ready to come home early. We packed up the bikes and shipped em to Seattle. It had been a long ride (34,634km's) and we had done some super cool stuff but it was home time... after one last stop for a week of surfing in Nicaragua that is.
Anyway, thanks for reading all my long winded stories(this one especially). Hope you enjoyed them. Got lot's more stories I never even mentioned for when I sit down and see you all in person. Take it easy and be in touch....................kori

djkorik@gmail.com