Going east

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Andy

Villa La Angostura – Azul

The following day was offering a great surprise as we expected a little bit boring riding. Instead we followed the Rio Limay north in an amazing valley. Rocky needles and walls on both sides of the valley accompany a green winding river. The road is in good condition and so riding is a blast. When we stopped for gas the whole valley was covered in dust. The fine dust was everywhere in the air. A small and dusty dry riverbed crosses the valley of Rio Limay and the strong wind blows up the particles in the air and into the valley. We followed the cloud of dust for many kilometers until the valley opened up and formed a huge lake. The landscape became less and less hilly until it became what we expected: vast, flat, boring.

We stopped in little roadside hotels in little towns with nothing to offer. Except one thing: it is Argentina here! So we enjoyed the great steaks for dinner.

We past an area where they produce a lot of fruits. On both sides of the road endless fields of apple trees. Heavy trucks transport the fruits on the road. The heavy load is often secured very poorly on the trucks, so we keep our distance when we pass them. On one of the stops we meet Karl from Türkenfeld, not 30km from Munich. He is a great guy travelling the world without speaking anything else than Bavarian. We shared a coffee and had a great chat with him. He had quite some stories to tell.

The more east we got the dryer and vast the countryside became.

We stopped 2 more times before we reached Azul a little boring town with nothing to see, except La Posta and Jorge. But that is something for the next blog entry….

Following the RN237 north.

The Rio Limay has cut a fantastic valley into the mountains here.

Christy is still using here crutches to get around.

It was very hot that day.

Great rock needles on both sides of the road.

We didn’t expect this at all and we were happy that we turned around the day before. We would have bypassed this road.

Fantastic contrasts.

Strong wind blew the fine dust into the air.

We followed the dust for many kilometres.

The landscape changed slowly.

Strong winds and the heat created many of these little wind funnels.

Great riding.

Little traffic and a joyful day on the bikes.

We rode till dark…

Break in a field of fruits.

Apples everywhere…

This road went straight for 130km!

No change all day long. Vast and flat.

Karl, a great guy with loads of stories. We already look forward to meet him in Munich.

More straight roads.

We see these windmills everywhere…

Back on the bikes

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Andy

Puerto Montt (Chile) – Villa La Angostura (Region 7 lagos – Argentina)

We are back on the bikes! Finally! It is fantastic! On a sunny day we leave Puerto Montt and ride the road back to the region of the seven lakes north of Bariloche in Argentina.

Christy is doing fine, but every time we stop we get funny looks from people. It is quite an unusual sight when Christy is taking her crutches off the bike and wobbling around on them in her biker dress.

We take it easy and stop for the night in a small roadside hotel. I will remember that place very well for the low door on which I bumped my head almost every time I passed it. Even though I got reminded of the low door with a quite painful event every time I just didn’t seem to learn it. It was great fun to put on the helmet the next day.

The boarder crossing to Argentina was quite busy but at least here Christy’s misfortune was good for something: we could pass the long line to get upfront so the crossing was done in no time.

We have seen it a couple of times on border crossings, that in between the Chilean and Argentinian customs there is quite some distance. But nothing like here. It is more than 30km from leaving Chile to entering Argentina.

Till here it was a pretty cold and cloudy day. But the Argentinian side welcomed us with nice and warm weather. We went 40km into the area of 7 lagos on the road to San Martin. The area reminded me a lot of the Black Forest, my home in Germany. There are many huge lakes and the road winds through them beautifully and making it a great day on the motorbike. A short gravel part stopped us (we didn’t want to risk too much gravel since for Christy’s foot it was still painful to get vibrations on the bike). So we turned back to Villa la Angostura. We found a nice campsite and had a relaxing evening with other local bikers.

Christy is checking the bike. We lowered it a bit so she would be able to reach the ground better with her foot.

One of the nice birds in the area…

It was quite a sight: Christy with her crutches and the orthopaedic boot on the bike…

Long lines at the border. We put up our camping chairs to make a little break.

The national park of Puyehue is very nice with a great road.

The clouds were low that day and it was cold.

Fantastic contrasts with the green forest.

Going down on the Argentinian side it got noticeable warmer.

The region of the seven lakes indeed has lakes.

Riding was fantastic: good roads, little traffic, nice surroundings.

Great views. This area is very famous for local tourism as well. There is even a ski area in winter.

Making a little break. The chairs we bought are really great for Christy. So she can rest her foot.

Christy wobbling back to the bike.

Since Christy is getting better we can even go camping.

More lakes and views.

It is a great area here…

Chiloe

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Andy

Island of Chiloe – Chile

After we gave back our truck we stayed in a hostel for a week. It was very nice with a great view on the harbor of Puerto Montt where huge cruise ships anchored and big birds flew by our window every day.

Christy was getting better every day, but the doctor we visited here said she should rest another week before we can get back on the bikes.

After a few days I got bored and I decided to take the bike for a little spin on the Island of Chiloe.

So I packed some things together and rode on south to the short ferry crossing that would take me to Chiloe.

It was great to be back on the bike again. After the short ferry crossing I took the road to Ancud and further to a penguin colony. The ride was fantastic. A curvy road, the sun shining, little traffic and finally the rocky coast of the island. The road ended in a beach from where little boats take the tourists very close to the penguins. I decided not to join them and instead enjoyed the fantastic beach that ended on both sides in huge rock formations.

In kept going south and rode great gravel roads through forests and farming areas. All very nice and enjoyable. When I finally ended up in the little town of Castro I had a day full of great riding and I enjoyed a beer with some life music that was played in front of the colorful church of the town.

The next day I headed southwest to Culcao and Quilan. The road got a bit sandy and I enjoyed playing with the bike in the sandy bits. It was never difficult there though. The road ends at a parking spot from where you could hike 45 minutes to an outlook. The guard at the parking told me I may go there by bike that I intended to do immediately. The track was wide in the beginning and easy, but soon it turned into a very steep narrow track with big steps. It was great fun to ride it, but it would be unnerving if I met hikers on this track. There was no way to bypass hikers. So after a while I turned around and rode the steep track down again.

The landscape was incredible. The steaming and roaring sea covered the coast in a mist of salty water. Steep cliffs and flat sand beaches formed the coast. Riding was a blast and so I returned back to the north with a big smile on my face.

Short stops at some of the beautiful wooden churches contributed to these great days I had on that island. It is really great motorbike country here.

Sunset in Puerto Montt

We relaxed in a note with a great view on the harbour of Puerto Montt.

Big birds flying by the window real close…

Large cruise ships anchored in the harbour…

We were really lazy. We had to kill a week before Christy could go back on the road.

The ferry crossing to Chiloe is short, but lots of birds, sea lions and even penguins follow the ferry.

On the northern coast of Chiloe

The cost is pretty rocky at times…

A nice beach. Nearby are little islands with a penguin colony.

In little boats tourists are getting transported to the penguin islands. I passed this…

Rocky coast.

The inland of the islands has many kilometres of nice gravel roads.

Many old wooden churches are the main attractions of the island.

Very nice inside…

Castro has some nice houses and is a little clam town.

On the road to Cucao.

A gravel road led to Quilao, a nice lookout.

The landscape is stunning.

Partly sandy roads allowed me to play around with the bike… Yipiiieeehhh. It was great to be back on the bike.

Walls of ice and rock

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Andy

Perito Moreno – Torres del Paine – Puerto Natales

Perito Moreno is one of the main attractions in Patagonia and so there are loads of people visiting it. We had Christys foot re-checked with a doctor in the morning and so we arrived at the glacier in the late afternoon. That turned out to be great because most visitors and all the organized bus tours had already left. So it was a very nice afternoon.

You get very close to the glacier on solid ground here, since it does calve into a lake, but its tip hits a little peninsula where a walkway brings you as close as 100m to the glacier.

We continued to follow the Ruta 40 down to the National Park Torres del Paine. The road is nice but very repetitive and we has lots of wind. We were truly happy not to be on a motorbike. You really have to say, that even though we see more motorbikes than ever on this trip, this area is not a great place for motor biking. Too boring, too windy and therefore too dangerous.

It got dark and so we started looking for accommodation for the night, still outside the national park Torres del Paine. We saw a sign of a hotel and followed a gravel road to get to it.

The road looked real nice and the hotel was nicely integrated into the natural contours of the area. It looked pricy. But we didn’t care. We were tired, we knew the Torres del Paine is expensive so we didn’t care for the costs, it is only one night!

Well, I changed my mind when they actually told me the price: 487US$. That really is out of our budget. They were very friendly though and called different other places and finally found something just a little bit outside our budget: 175$, but that would be in a dorm with shared bathroom. WHAT???? That is CRAZY!

We thanked, continued and finally found a simple room for 50$ just before the entrance to the park.

That’s where we met John. He is a retired UK soldier and travels already since 6 years on his motorbike. He is a great guy. We had a beer in the evening, had a great and fun talk and went off to bed quite late.

The next day we drove through the national park. There are tons of people at every bus stop and you just need to have a look at the amount of backpacks here to know the trails are packed. No need to do this….

Instead we stayed on the road that offers great views on the mountains.

Again I am experiencing the feeling that “supersights” like the Torres del Paine almost always disappoint me a little bit.

Too many people and high expectations just lower the effect that the impression could have if it was a little bit less known and visited.

That means for me simply that the most beautiful places usually are not the most known ones.

Still, Perito Moreno and Torres del Paine are quite neat places and we did enjoy the views on these wonders of Mother Nature.

Again and again there are lakes and rivers of stunning colours creating a strong contrast to the brown and dry surrounding.

The landscape is pretty repetitive, but nice.

As we approach El Calafate the snowy mountain peaks become visible.

The sky offers great cloud and light arrangements.

The Perito Moreno glacier.

This glacier is formed in the huge southern patagonian ice field, calving into a lake.

You can get very close to the glacier since its front hits a peninsula.

There are ramps to approach the glacier. e were here late afternoon, when most people have left. The hundreds of oncoming cars and busses gave us an idea how crowded it must be earlier in the day.

The ramps were pretty uncomfortable to walk with crutches, so we organised a wheelchair for Christy.

Great contrasts: green bushes and blue ice right next to each other.

Chaotic ice fields.

Huge towers are moved constantly up to 3cm per day.

On the way south to Torres del Paine again we had great clouds.

Colorful grass and flowers.

We met John on our hostel. Great guy and on an ultimate motorbike trip (so far 6 years and no end in sight).

What a wall…

It is beautiful…

Christy enjoying the sight.

It is not the smartest animal on this planet. But solo cute: one of the many Guanacos

Los hornos…

Just enjoy….

There are great walks here, but it is very busy, so we decided to enjoy the view from the truck

Amazing color contrasts..

We say farewell…

Close to Perto Natales

Mountains towering over the sea….

Puerto Natales

Towers

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Andy

El Chalten, Argentina

These mountains are truly majestic. Huge granite towers.

And we are so incredible lucky to see them in all their beauty.The sky is blue, only very few clouds and we see the whole range standing right in front of us.

When we arrived here in El Chalten it was cloudy. We didn’t see any of the mountains. But we saw a lot of other travellers. The amounts of huge backpacks that are carried through the streets of the little town almost shocked us.

We haven’t seen that many foreign travellers anywhere on our 5 months of South America.

We checked into a nice hotel where Christy could at least enjoy a great view while I would go hiking for a day.

The next day I started my little hiking tour up to a nice lake. There where many people on the trail and even though the views were fantastic there were just too many people for me to fully enjoy the walk.

So I decided to take a less frequented walk that connects two valleys and turned off the main track.

It turned out to be a great decision: a great path and a lot less people. In fact I didn’t meet anybody for almost an hour. The narrow path led through thick bushes and grotesque trees. Some parts of the forest could be part of a Harry Potter movie plot.

It was quite, just some birds sang their song and the wind stirred up the leaves in the trees and bushes.

Just when I was taking some nice pictures of a beautiful red headed wood pecker two hikers came around the corner. I could tell by their accent they were from Nuremberg where I studied for a long time.

As it turned out we have friends in common and so they updated me on the news of an old friends of mine. What a coincidence and pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately there were still clouds so that I did not have a full view on the main attractions here: the Fitz Roy and the Cerro Torre. But the walk was still very beautiful.

The next day the sky was clear. We had a great view on the mountains surrounding us. The two massive granite towers said farewell to us presenting themselves in a picture book panorama.

The landscape is nice, but very repetitive on the way south.

We met these two guys: dutch travellers on Honda 250s.

At a gas station Christy had another motorbike traveller having a look at here x rays: the guy was a doctor.

The wind on the Ruta 40 was a killer. We were really glad not to be on a motorbike.

Closer to El Chalten the landscape became more beautiful.

Great mountains with a little bit of fresh snow.

We checked in a nice hotel. Thats the view we had… not bad, eh?

We followed a valley into the National Park

The clouds were lifting a little bit.

These mountains look cold. And they are.

A little bit of the Fitz Roy is visible…

… and his lovely wife.

More nice views.

The next day: dark blue sky.

Still some clouds in some corners..

Now THATS a mountain! The Fitz Roy!

The incredible granite tower of Cerro Torre.

A condor using the heavy winds to cruise around…

Our farewell present from the National Park: what a panorama.

A last view on these incredible mountain range.

Back on the Ruta 40 direction south to El Calafate

Hands

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Andy

We left the gas station where we stayed for the nicht in Bajo Caracoles north on a gravel road

After one hour we reached a canyon with a green river bed.

This french couple had a adorable dog, desperately waiting for his friends…

It was a short but difficult hike to the cave of the hands. The wind was incredible strong.

The valley is beautiful. The trees on the bottom where shook by the wind

Hands!

Nobody knows the real reason for this art. maybe it is just a “hello world, I was here”

There are other figures painted as well

The hands are in different colours, and most of them are left hands.

From the cave there are great views into the canyon.

Massive walls on both sides of the canyon.

A hunting scene. The structure of the rock might be the structure of the canyon. Maybe a instruction of the hunting technique?

Different figures. Painted some 10.000 years ago. Really impressive.

The walkway is nice, but the wind is very strong and makes walking difficult, especially with a broken leg.

That little friend was sitting on a rock and enjoyed the sun. It is a Viscacha.

More great views…

Back on the Ruta 40 we go south again, direction El Chalten to the next highlight….

Cueva de los manos; Bajo Caracoles; Argentina

I was here!

Maybe that is what the basic message of these hands is. And if so, the message has been delivered. Some 10.000 years later.

Nobody really knows the real reason for these paintings, but it is quite impressing to see those old drawings, knowing their age.

Getting here was quite a hazzle. The wind is incredibly strong and so Christy is fighting here way down some steep stairs and along a narrow path to get to the caves. I stayed behind her, holding her on her jacket in case the wind would blew her over. The drawings are not really in a cave it is more underneath huge overhangs. They are at the side of a canyon with a river, which enables trees and bushes to grow at the bottom of the canyon. The place is located in the middle of the desert.

Most drawings here are hands, but there are also Guanocos, abstract geometrical figures and other animals.

At one point there is a hunting scene, using the 3 dimensions of the rock to create a description of how they were hunting animals.

Knowing that somebody drew these things so long ago is stunning and magic.

The beauty of the canyon is making it even more enjoyable. We were glad we fought our way through the wind to this place…

Falling ice

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Andy

San Rafael Bay

I watch the glacier through my camera lenses, fascinated by the different shapes and shades of blue of the ice. It is quite, water is calmly splashing against our small boat. Nobody speaks. Everybody is fascinated by the view.

We heard of the Laguna San Rafael a couple of times. A huge protected lagoon in which a glacier calves into.

The glacier is one of the few exits where the ice of the northern patagonian icefield escapes. The northern and southern patagonian icefields are gigantic icefields, the largest outside the polar areas. And so they feed a couple of glaciers of impressive size.

We organized a boat trip and found a tour organizer who would bring us and James, the motorbiker we met the day before, to the glacier.

It is a long trip. We had to drive down a valley for 1,5 hours ourselves before we had a transfer over a river on a small boat. Then another 30minutes in a small bus and finally 2,5 hours on a boat to the glacier.

We were lucky: we were the only ones on the trip, together with a guide, the skipper and his pilot.

We made a little break for lunch before we approached the glacier. It was beautiful but I had expected to see a large wall of ice, so I was a little bit disappointed, since the glacier seemed to end pretty flat in the water. But this place is playing tricks on you. As we approached the glacier more and more the dimensions became visible. The snout of glacier is between 50m and 80 meters high. It is impressive. You can feel the cold air from the glacier, even though we stay more than 500m away from it.

“The reason is not the waves from falling ice parts” Russel, the guide explains “more dangerous are ice parts from underneath the water. The Glacier continues under water and when parts of that break off, they come with no warning from underneath, creating massive waves”.

It was a very active day for the glacier, a lot of parts fall off from him. They seem to fall in slow motion which gives you a feeling for the size and dimensions. Even though they only create small splashes they are as big as a car.

As I keep looking through my lenses suddenly everything in there seems to move. I zoom out and understand whats happening: a huge part of the front wall, as big as a small skyscraper clashes down into the water. In slow motion the massive ice block is seperating fro the main wall and slowly moving downward. A massive wall of splashing water appears, huge waves are formed.

What an impressive sight.

We see more ice falls. Actually it rumbles all the time, but this one fall was bigger and mightier than I would have ever imagined. We are deeply impressed.

An early start brought us to the dead end road of Los exploradores. A fairly new road and a great drive… James was joining us, so he didn’t have to ride his bike.

A fantastic valley…

Christy is sitting in the back, enjoying the view and the extra room for her leg…

glaciered mountains

Our guide and the pilot preparing coffee…

Our little boat and the ranger station at Los Exploradores

Full speed through the Channel. After one hour the captain has to make a decision. If the waves are to high we have to turn around… we are lucky and we keep going.

The first ice bergs…

… Christy is on the watch…

The icebergs are beautiful.

Detail of an ice berg

The deep blue of the ice is stunning

Detail of an ice berg

A little lunch break on-shore

First sight of the glacier

the flank of the massive glacier…

I thought this is a big fall that I just missed, but then I saw the background move….

A huge tower slowly falls…

… in slow motion…

… with a roaring thunder…

The ice is as high as 70m here.

Water splashing….

….

…..

…. and a huge waves is forming….

The atmosphere is relaxed and quite. Everybody is enjoying.

It is peaceful and threatening at the same time…

There are constantly parts falling fro the glacier, sometimes really small (that would translate as still as big as a car) sometimes big creating massive waves…

Russel, our guide fishes a piece of glacier ice out of the water. It is crystal clear and thousands of years old. He carves a whole in it …

… and pours some Whiskey … Whiskey on the rocks.. the real rocks!

James having a sip…

“Mhhhh, lecker” …. “more please”

I really liked our “glas”… mother nature is still the best designer

Our guide Russel

We all enjoyed this. It was great to be out there with people you like….

Another little sequence… grumble

Platsch!

wusssshhh….

…ssssshhhhhh…..

…ssssshhh…

We could have stayed there for ever…

The wall is massive

… more falling ice…

Leaving the glacier behind… what a great experience…

On the way back our captain spotted this guy…

… a super friendly guy as it seemed. Actually not, it is a sea leopard and he has some fangs under this smily face there…

The captain flew in the little boat through the ice bergs… what a great day…

Turquoise

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Andy

Cerro Castillo – Rio Tranquillo

The road to Rio Tranquillo is one of the best ones on the carretera Austral. It is a pretty good gravel road, going up and down all the time and it offers a incredible landscape.

We saw a couple of cyclists and I felt real sorry for them though: they had the wind in their face and it was strong, very strong, unforgiven… We tried to encourage them and for a solo rider we stopped and gave him some power bars. From my own bicycling days I remembered how helpful a short encouraging talk to a total stranger can be. It can get your spirits up again and keep you going. There are lots of bikers on the Austral, from all countries and all ages. It is pretty tough though, but as always, it is only a way of looking at things: we met an elderly Kiwi couple who thought is was an ok road and wind is just the way nature works, “you have to deal with it….. “. Others told us about their difficulties, especially with the deep gravel and the heavy winds and how hard it was for them… In any case: the Carretera Austral seems to be a real adventure on the bicycle. And a great road for any other traveller as well..

For us it was pure pleasure. We followed the winding road up and down and around sharp corners. Each corner offered a new surprising view. The rivers here are all fed by glaciers. Their water has an almost unnatural milky turquoise color and creates a strong contrast to the fresh green of the surrounding bushes. On the road we met James, a experianced rider from the US who is travelling on his DR650. We kept on meeting the following weeks again and again. He is a great fellow.

After a while on the road we finally hit the Lago General Carrera. So far we had to adjust our boundaries of what to call a “natural color” already a couple of times. This lake though is truly amazing. It shines in the brightest turquoise and is so big, that this strong color is taking place a large area in your field of view. It’s surface is scattered by waves which are surprisingly big. Not so surprisingly after you leave the car though, the wind is pretty strong up here and the lake very long, so the waves can pick up some momentum.

We happily arrive in Rio Tranquillo where we organize a boat trip for the next day and catch something to eat in a small place with a great view on the lake.

The landscape doesn’t get bad… not today!

Having dinner with James with a great view on the lake.

The lake has pretty high waves on it… no wonder, the wind is blowing real hard..

… is that color not amazing?

… and stopping for a photo. He had to straggly with the wind that day…

James flying by…

First sight of the Lago General Carrera

Blue sky, green rivers…

We find these flowers here everywhere along the road…

Area of dead trees… other than we know this in Germany, this has natural causes.

The rivers here get their water from glaciers, creating this great color…

Great river…

The missing link

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Andy

Coyhaique – Puyhuapi – Puerto Aysen

We decided to take the truck north to Puyhuapi, since this part of the Carretera Austral is supposed to be very beautiful and we bypassed it on the Argentinian side. It would also allow us to test whether the bikes are stable on the bike. Since we would go back to Coyhaique we could contact Traeger, the car rental company in case something wouldn’t work.

The road was just incredible beautiful. A broad valley with high mountains left and right. Lots of cows stand on large meadows chewing on wild flowers and the rich green grass. The clouds are pretty low but we can still get fantastic views on the mountains and the glaciers that cover their tops. And the low clowds contribute to a nice atmosphere.

The closer we came to Puyhuapi the steeper mountains became and eventually we hit the fjord that cuts deep into the mountains. We crawl its way along the coast with a steep slope on one side and the sea to the other, with just enough space for a one laned gravel road.

The last bit to Puyhuapi is under construction and it is pretty bad. Rockfall happens here all the time. We are happy to have this massive truck and the good wheels. We take it very easy, make a lot of stops and enjoy the incredible scenery this road has to offer. It winds along a deep fjord with very steep walls to our right and the ocean to our right.

After a night in Puyhuapi we went the same road back. The construction site was closed though for a couple of hours, so we stood there and waited for the road to be re-opened. It poured down and it was quite cold as well. The first time since Christys accident we were really happy not to be on a bike. That would have been really terrible. Instead we chewed some potato chips and watched a TV show on the I-Pad. Overlanding on a 4×4 really has its good sides…

Going north in Coyhaique we hit a broad valley with lots of farming.

Our new vehicle… we still have to get used to it…. BUT we can travel!

dark clouds contribute to a special atmosphere

The first settlers here a hundred years ago just cut the trees to make some rooms for cattle. So the trees are just rotting there…

Great sceneries all around us.

Bikers we met on the road.

… I love the names here… one of the roads here was pretty corrugated. Its name: Uebel (german for pretty bad).

Farn in all variations…

The fjord is beautiful

Christy enjoyed her new chairs and the view…

There are many glaciers on the top of these mountains. Colgante in Quelat National Park

It was a rainy day, but for some minutes the clouds opened up for us…

New travel style, new habits..

It started to rain real hard and the mountains around us were full of little waterfalls..

Into the rain

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Andy

Chaiten – Futaleufu- La Junta – Palena

We started out of Chaiten in sunny weather. The paved road followed a valley with spectacular mountains. After 30km the road turned into a very well maintained gravel road and we enjoyed riding quite a lot.

We heared of the town of Futaleufu which was supposed to be real nice. So we turned off the Carretera Austral to ride the 100km up the mountains. A fantastic scenery was the reward for this little detour. The town is known mainly for its class 5 whitewater rafting and so you see a lot of wild rivers along the way.

The town itself was not as enjoyable as we thought, but we were compensated with an incredible sky that was illuminated in the wildest and most intense colors at sunset.

The following day was cloudy and soon after we started on the motorbikes it started raining. And it wouldn’t end that day. We rode down the road we already knew back to the Carretera Austral in pouring rain, it got cold and so we were happy to find a cafe where we could warm up a little bit.

Soon after our break we where stopped by a motorbiker who came the other direction. He told us that the road was blocked and that the only options would be to wait until the landslide was removed or to go around it via Argentina. We stood there in the pouring rain, checking the options and finally decided that waiting wouldn’t be what we wanted to do. So we turned around and rode the road back again.

We found a nice little Bed&Breakfast where we stopped for the night. With a warm oven and a great meal in our stomachs we slowly warmed up.

The following day we would cross the border to Argentina, and again we started in the rain and it would rain until we hit the border. It was miserably cold…