#30 Move over Star Trek, here comes the W Trek - Puerto Natales

After El Calafate I was treated to one of the hardest day's riding yet.

Where were we heading, Puerto Natales, why you wonder, the 'W Trek' (notice the excellent use of W in the last sentence, feel free to praise me in the comments section).

#29 Walking on thin ice - Perito Moreno Glacier, El Calafate

While friends we had met along the Careterra Austral were able to cross the border from Villa O'Higgins to El Chalten, the path not being suitable for vehicles meant we had a long ride all the way back round. That meant a few long days on the road to make up some of time we had lost. We crossed from the mountains, lakes and forests of the Careterra Austral to the the vast expansiveness of the pampas in Argentina surrounding us on either side and the occasional sighting of wildlife.

#28 Boardwalk Empire - Caleta Tortel

I won't keep you in suspense for any longer - what makes Tortel so special is that the entire town is constructed of boardwalks; you cannot drive into it or around it - all cars are parked at the entrance to the town. Very cool. Someone described it later like this; it's not exactly pretty but it's uniqueness makes it interesting.

#27 One night in Cochrane....

The idea behind our return to Cochrane was to take up the offer from Aldofo of a horse riding expedition in Villa O'Higgins, the last stop on the Careterra Austral, with a stop in Caleta Tortel on the way. The narrow and windy road was also something we weren't prepared to tackle so soon post-accident so to Tortel by bus it was with the hope of taking another bus to Villa O'Higgins the following day (a possibility we had mixed reports on). With the sun shining in Cochrane it seemed fitting to celebrate our return with a beer but finding a pub open late afternoon proved difficult but in the end well worth our efforts.

#26 Stories from the Careterra Austral

While Reece was getting our bike back on the road I was befriended by a one-eyed, gaucho visiting Cochrane from Villa O'Higgins, the last stop on the Carretera Austral, with the sole purpose of using the bank (as there is only an ATM machine where he is from). Aldofo was his name and he took quite the shining to me, offering me mate (tea), which I new Reece would be very jealous of, showing me photos of his horses, chickens, and children. To be fair he wasn't really one-eyed, its just that one of his eyes was bloodshot and ruined from an accident. By the end of our day together he had invited us both to dinner and a stay in Villa O'Higgins with the offer of a horse riding expedition.

#25 A Tale of Two Cities – Repairing the Bike in Coyhaique (Reece's first blog)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. On our epic adventure, but marooned in Cochrane. We awoke the next day gloomy and apprenhensive, Charlotte was bedridden, well actually sitting in the lounge by the fire, so it was up to me to solve our woes. Problem numero uno (that's Spanish for number one) was that Charlotte is the linguist in our team, and I'm not. I get us from A to B, but she does the talking. So sorting out the mess in Spanish was not going to be easy.

#24 The Incident

I woke up not in the mood travel, a feeling heightened from being woken up in a tent by rain falling. We had planned on a boat trip at 8 that morning to visit the Marble Caves Rio Tranquillo boasts. This was to be followed by a trip on a newly constructed road out of Rio Tranquillo providing access to more glaciers, including possibly a trip to the large San Rafael glacier depending on price and time constraints. But with the weather packing in all that was dismissed in favour of simply riding on to the next town. If only we had braved the conditions...

#23 Villa Cerro Castillo to Puerto Tranquillo

Our guide - this is indicative of the height
difference between Reece and Chilean men.

The warmth we felt towards Cerro Castillo was only heightened by our trip first thing in the morning to 'The Cave of the Painted Hands', an historical site a few kilometres down the road. It wasn't a recommended spot, in fact people had told us there were better sites across the Argentinian border. But for NZ$4 we had a guided tour of a site indigenous Teuhulche people had marked their terrirtory with painted handprints on the rockfaces. The highlight of the excursion had to be our sweet guide, name forgotten, who also took the opportunity to help us with our Spanish, providing slow and simple explanations and offering encouragement while we set about crucifying his language.

#22 A little snow storm from Coihaique to Villa Cerra Castillo

In the background, the spires of Villa Cerra Castilla

Waking up we looked out the window and the skies were not looking kind. Given our weather delays we had hoped to do some decent kms today but it seemed we were resound to progressing only another 100kms or so to Villa Cerra Castilla. Dona Hermaina clearly thought we were mad pointing to the snow tops on the mountain with the only words I could make out being 'never'. It was only later we found out her meaning...

#21 Detour on the way to Coyhaique

Today our plan was to visit Ventisquero Colgante (hanging glacier) on our route South, another recommendation from our rafting guide and American teacher in Futu. Being a Saturday and off season no boats were running meaning our long-anticipated first decent sized walk. We could have been walking in the Waitakeres but for our destination and is often the case back home avoiding mud became one of two main challenges on this expedition; the other tackling a steep ascent in our restrictive motorcycle pants. Ditching our pants a third of the way up in a hide-out to be collected on the way down we continued in our longjohns.

#20 More rain on the road from Santa Lucia to Puyuhuapi

The purpose of cutting back into Chile at this point was to ride the Caraterra Austral (full name: Caraterra Austral Pinochet); a road put in by the army led by General Augusto Pinochet to connect Patagonia with the remainder of Chile. Much of it is unpaved and under constant repair due to the presence of lakes, fjords, the Andean mountains and the occasional glacier; the same reasons we have chosen to ride it! I'm not sure how many buses take this route, and at least at this time of year we're very much off the tourist trail.

#19 Futu to Villa Santa Lucia

With a storm coming the last thing we felt like
doing was to stop and take photos or pictures sorry!

Because of the morning's delays checking out the river rafting took longer than expected so we were only able to make it as far as Villa Santa Lucia, 60 or so kilometres up to the road. At 6pm, with a storm coming and fading light, it didn't seem sensible to push on so we stopped in Santa Lucia where we were fortunate to find open a small shop optimistically labelled supermercardo, the only sign of commerce in operation. We pulled up at the same time as two travelling cyclists who had the sensible idea of asking inside for accommodation.

#18 Rafting on Rio Futu - Esquel to Futuleufu

Can you spot Reece in this picture? (Hint: he's not the old man).

We left the campsite in record time today; up at seven we had travelled the 40km's return to Esquel to arrive by quarter past nine to pick up our Oxford 'Lifetime Luggage' bag from the repair shop. Also just in time to see the arrival of the iconic Old Patagonian Express train preparing for its ride to Nahuel Pan. Said to be the only long-distance narrow-gauge steam engine train in operation today (not sure what that means but it sounds impressive!), it was described by Paul Theroux in his travel account of the same name as the "railway almost at the end of the world". I mention that because we are about to enter the middle of nowhere!

#17 Camping in Esquel

In spite of the majestic outlook I had from the back of the bike, more so because it was so unexpected, I was having some serious difficulties keeping my eyes open, obviously still feeling the effects of the bike ride the previous day. I'm starting to appreciate the expansiveness of Argentina; I believe we have now ridden the length of New Zealand - from Kaitaia to Invercargill and back again and the picturesque scenery continues. Today we were treated to waterfalls, lakes, rivers, snowy mountain tops. And the smells, from the freshness of pine trees to the fumes coming out of the exhaust of a truck, all senses are on alert on the back of a bike.

#16 A Bike Ride in Bariloche

Although the main purpose of our trip to Bariloche was to complete some errands, somewhat unintelligently (but perhaps not surprisingly) we arrived on a Friday evening leaving only Saturday morning for chores before everything shut up for the weekend. So that left us with all day Sunday to spare. While the two of us keep talking about doing some treks, or at least half-day walks, we always seem to convince ourselves out of it ('who needs to walk when you can simply ride there' sort of logic) and today was no exception, a mountain bike ride preferred over the myriad of (free) hiking in the area.

#15 Seven Lakes Route - San Martin to Bariloche

Well it may well have been a beautiful day but you wouldn't know it given the amount of ash in the air. But we couldn't put off the trip any longer so on we went. A portion of the road, approximately 60 kms, was marked on the map as 'under construction'; why the Argentinian government chooses to improve such a large section of a major highway at one time eludes me. You can see why it can be marked as such on a map when its likely to be years before completion. Particularly when we saw less than 10 workers on the entire site, a number of whom were taking siesta on the side of the road. Construction workers must have the same reputation the world over.

#14 San Martin de los Andes and the perfect spot

Due to the bad weather we had made the decision to simply ride into the next town of San Martin de Los Andes, 40 kilometres away, and stay over night in the hope that we would get a clear day in which to enjoy rather than suffer through the next part of our journey: the seven lakes route on Ruta 234 into Bariloche.

#13 JC and me - Chos Malal to Junin de los Andes

Taken with our camera's timer at Via Christi in Junin de Los Andes

At the beginning of the day we weren't sure what our plans were such is the beauty of having no fixed place to be. One option was to stop in Zapala and visit the tourist information centre to find out about nearby museums containing some of the largest dinosaur fossils ever found. It was a tough choice but in the end a combination of wind and the town's numerous dirt roads meant we hadn't warmed to Zapala; the best museums were a bit too far east of the direction we are heading but ultimately the decision came down to having seen the real thing in Vector Arena last year (Walking with the Dinosaurs). Fossils and bones were just not going to live up to the experience of a life-sized, mechanical T-Rex equipped with sound.

#12 Wild Horses in the Wild West - Malargue to Chos Mala

A bit noisy at the beginning sorry!

After a day of rest we felt prepared to take on another long day of riding. It was another day of firsts: our first day riding on some serious gravel - 100 km; our first day stopping to allow horses to cross the road; and the first day leaving our bike while visiting an attraction in our bike gear; oh and our first petrol scare. There were definitely a few hairy moments on the gravel but we stayed upright for the entire ride.

#11 Castles in the sky - Marlague

A leafy town with a population of 25,000, we weren't sure Marlague would offer much to the traveller but a trip to the information centre, and a couple of tourist shops around town, convinced us to stay an extra night than originally planned. After a night camping at the Municipal campground we headed 27km out of Malargue to Pincheria de Castillas, for what we hoped may be a more scenic camping experience. No signs were needed as we approached the cliff-faces overhanging the river and oasis beneath. Being a Sunday the place was fill of family's asadoing but it looked as if we may be the only overnighters.

#10 On the road again....Mendoza to Marlague

Somewhat remarkably, Reece and I drove the 420 kilometres from Mendoza to Marlague without getting lost, without innumerable u-turns, well aside from missing one motorway exit for which I blame the confusing signs and not my navigational skills, and in little over 5 hours. Pretty impressive given the photo opps along the way, pulling over to celebrate our 1000km milestone, and another memorable stop I will describe below. I put it down principally to locating some excellent maps from the Argentinian AA equivalent, and roads on which a small incline or turn in the road garners attention.

#9 Snippets of Mendozan life

Well, we have been in Mendoza a for almost two weeks now, probably the longest we will stay in a place for anyone one time. Mexican novelist, Carlos Fuentes described the city as 'protected by a roof of leaves woven togehter like the fingers of inseparable lovers'!

#8 Chow Chow Mendoza

They say that travellers either come to Mendoza to visit the many nearby vineyards or to do some serious hiking around (or even up) Mt Acongagua. In reality I think that it is simply the next stop on the tourist trail from Salta in the North to Bariloche where we will head next. We figured one of our photos must be Mt Acongagua and as hiking such a large mountain is really only the activity of serious climbers, there was no need to take a bus out there just to see it, so to the wineries we went instead.

#7 Crossing the Andes - Valparaiso to Mendoza

The ride to Mendoza was to be broken up by a night in the La Campana National Park, a few hours inland from Valpariaso. After enjoying some summer weather for a few days after a temperate week in Santiago it was about time to put our camping gear (a large portion of what we're lugging around on the bike) to the test.

#6 Valpariaso & Viña del Mar – Cities by the Sea

The city of Valpariaso is often described as a natural ampitheatre. It is located on a bay, which was once the major port of Chile, surrounded by a backdrop of hills on which thousands of colourful buildings rest so precariously that UNESCO has given Valpariaso world heritage status. The city´s beauty was lost on us as we struggled to locate its centre, unintentionally heading up to the coast to the next town of Viña del Mar (our master plan of following a tour bus into the city failing when we noticed school children get off).

#5 First day on the road - Santiago to Valpariaso

All packed and ready to head to Mendoza, Argentina, our thermal gear ready to be tested by its first crossing of the Andes, we thought it might be a good idea to ask in the hostel what to expect from customs officials. Twenty minutes later we were instead heading west after learning that the Santiago-Mendoza border crossing had been closed all week due to a freak snow-storm in the Andes. While it sounded as if the crossing had re-opened we thought that ice and snow may not be the ideal conditions in which to begin our motorcycle journey.

#4 Retrieving the bike

All week long, Friday, being the day we were to pick up the bike, had been on both our minds. The first difficulty we faced was locating LAN cargo.

#3 Impressions of Santiago

Our first day in Santiago was impacted by the Colombus Day public holiday in another way. With the city lacking any life minus the moving crowds it also lacked vibrancy. While the graffiti and general run down nature remained the following day, people improved my perspective.

#2 The Novice Travellers

Getting out of Auckland proved more difficult than entering Santiago. 

#1 Goodbye Eleanor - packing the bike

If we were Ewen McGreggor or Charley Boorman, of Long Way Round fame, this part of the trip would involve all our friends and family gathering around, preferably with a bike-themed cake, to bid us farewell on our journey. We would then wave goodbye while wheel-spinning into the distance, and the speedometer would click over the first kilometre of our adventure.