Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine National Park

Friday, I made a 6.30 start leaving Ushuaia for the nearly 400 mile trek to Punta Arenas. Nice day and not too chilly given the early start. Things were going well, made Rio Grande about 1/3 of the way just after 9 and slipped in the YPF station outside of town to refuel. 

I hadn't noticed the wind until I got off the bike. The gas station is on a rise and it was blowing some and as I went to pay my credit card was no longer in my hand. Nooooooo…... 'Mi tarjeta, donde esta mi tarjeta!'

With silk glove liners on I hadn't noticed the card being taken by the wind. Nowhere in sight....(expletive removed). People got out of their cars and looked, nowhere, checked in the slatted drain...nope. With a line waiting behind me I handed what Argentinian pesos I had left, which turned out to be 5 pesos more than needed. 

I pushed the moto out of the way to look for the card. Fortunately, the hologram glinted in the sun, it had been under a truck that moved up to fuel. Felt like a real Charlie. Still, it meant I left Argentina with less than 2 cents worth of pesos...better to be lucky than good.....plus card in pocket.

Border crossings were slick, and if all goes well it will be the last land border crossing of the trip. More on that later.

Refueled at Cerro Sombrero (Sombrero Mountain), Chile, with a ferry crossing and 130 miles left to go. What a great name for a rather shabby looking town. Held onto the credit card like you wouldn't believe......😅.

I arrived at the ferry, Bahai Azul, at about 1pm just as this bad boy was docking. Which was just as well as it started to rain, a cold wind-blown rain, which was better than the frozen mix that had been promised.

I was lucky to catch the larger ferry as it had a small café on board. Coffee and a slice of pizza the size of a postage stamp; still food is food and I needed a little fuel myself. 

I decided to wait until we docked before trying to proceed; never entirely trust a GPS. Then onward to Punta Arenas in the cold rain with a plucky wind as I ran along the coast.

Lodged at the Hostal de Casa del Profesor, walkable to town, the room was a tad small but otherwise all good. Wandered around and found a few nice pieces of wall art and the sculpture down by the front.

The house below had an interesting mix of real and painted architectural features. So well done it was hard from a distance in the dusk light to determine which was which. 

Punta Arenas has been around for quiet sometime.

Onward to Puerto Natales, Saturday. A modest 150 mile trot. The day was correctly forecasted to be windy. There were a few times the gust pushed me close to the shoulder, a quick correction on the bars was necessary. The road did not carry a lot of traffic, but with the crosswind any oncoming trucks or buses prompted me to drop 10-15 mph to manage the buffeting as they passed by. Turning due west to head into the wind was a blessing. If I've had a strong tailwind in my entire time in Patagonia I don't remember it.

All was quiet in Punta Arenas when I left on Saturday morning, by Sunday morning the town was on the curfew list along with Santiago and a few other towns. Punta Arenas didn't seem like a town that would have the kind of demonstrations and riots seen in Santiago on Friday and Saturday night. Shame for the town folk, it seemed a quiet backwater, anyway I was happy to be out of the way. That said there was a demonstration in Puerto Natales last night, probably 100 or so people, mostly teenagers, banging tins and carrying signs; peacefully. 

My plan to use Santiago as the point of departure in two weeks may need to be revisited. The news reported some disruption at the airport as personnel were unable to get too work. As of writing I have not heard back from the shipping agent. 

Buenos Aires is the other option but will add another 800-900 miles to the journey. Plus Argentina holds their presidential election on October 27th, who knows if the outcome will trigger demonstrations, the political situation in the country is a little tense.

For now I'm in Xalpen hostel, a great little place that looks rubbish from the outside but is fantastic inside. The bike is behind gates, guarded by the owners dog, Juli, who would roll over for a cookie.

I like Puerto Natales. Some of the buildings put me in mind of Dawson City, Yukon. A worn look that might be considered 'chic' on the northeast coast of the USA. Here it is just worn.

The town spent some money on the deserved and rather spectacular Monument to the Wind, down on the shoreline.

Spending three nights here before boarding the NaviMag ferry Tuesday night, which seems to be on schedule so far. The Evangelista is now heading south from Puerto Montt on the first trip of the new season.

Yesterday was spent in Torres del Paine National Park, one of the destinations on my original list when the trip planning started 5 years ago. It did not disappoint, albeit on an 11 hour bus tour. As an added bonus the park entrance fees were waived as Chile was celebrating some anniversary for the park system, a nice $50 saving.

The Three Towers are the iconic symbol of the park, the cloud cleared to get a reasonable shot of them, from the Rio Paine.

  

The deep blue color of the water in Lake Pehoe was a stunning.

As were the icebergs in Lago Grey, shed by the Grey glacier a few miles from where the icebergs came to ground. The people walking on the beach provides a sense of scale.

There were a few remnants of iceberg that had washed up on the stony beach. The small pieces of ice, slowly melting, releasing water that had been locked up for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years. Quite humbling. 

Before returning to Puerto Natales for the evening a final stop was scheduled at the Milodon cave. The cave is named after a prehistoric large sloth like animal, the remains of which were first found in the cave. The statue of the animal at the entrance to the cave was rather comical and reminded me of an elementary school homework project assignment on a grand scale, not particularly well done by Chilean standards. But the cave was worth visiting, a huge cavern carved out of the rock by waves  when the level of the lake was significantly higher than today. The people captured in the photo give a sense of the size of the cavern.

Tomorrow I board the ferry at around 9pm, anchor is weighed at 6am on Wednesday. The ferry is due to arrive in Puerto Montt on Saturday morning around 7am. It stops in a couple of towns along the way that are only accessible by sea. It must be a lonely existence especially in the winter; living off the grid in spades.

No cell phones, no internet while on the ferry. Radio silence on the blog, see you after arrival 800 miles further north.

Cheers. T2

Ushuaia and The End Of The World

Rio Gallegos to Rio Grande is quite a dull ride, broken up by two border crossings with a 120 mile leg in Chile, including a ferry crossing of the Straits of Magellan. The usual 20 minute water journey took longer than expected as we had to stand off the landing ramp on Tierra del Fuego (TdF) for the other ferry to load and depart. It gave me a chance to chat to a couple from Plymouth, on the second week of a two week tour of the area. Their 5-day unguided trek into the back country of Torres del Paine sounded incredible, though not my cup of tea.

It is 133 miles from Rio Grande to Ushuaia, the last 50 miles providing a dramatic departure from the mostly flat landscape of TdF. leaden skies and chilly temperatures came sharply into focus as the road climbed the Paso Garibaldi for the run into Ushuaia. Obscured by cloud I was disappointed as the forecast had been for a sunny day. As has been the case previously after cresting the pass the weather changed dramatically, within a half mile the cloud and mist lifted to reveal a crystal blue sky. My luck was in. Ushuaia is often covered in cloud, today the sun was out and the temperatures rose into the 60'sF.

Shortly after leaving Rio Grande I came upon a police check point, now a well practiced routine. Slow down, let them check you are not local and get waved through. Not this time. The lady from the National Guard indicated for me to stop.

She asked where I was going, which is a little odd as the choices aren't many. Ushuaia I declared. 'Oh, Ushuaia, well take care as there are guanacos by the side of the road in the next 50km, go slowly as they can cross in front of you', sweet, but obviously unaware I have been dodging them for the last 1,500km.

Anyway, the video captures some highlights, minus the guanacos.

As the day was a blessing I decided to continue to the Fin del Mundo, or the End Of The World, another 12 miles further along on an unmade road. The picture of me on the bike was taken by a young couple from London (he was Colombian),  about to head north with the destination of his birth town in Colombia, his first time back in 13 years. I guess he was going to introduce his girlfriend to his extended family.

The end of the world is not such a bad place.

                                         

14,348 miles on the odometer from Virginia to reach the southernmost point in the Americas that can be accessed by road. The Corbin seat on the bike is well broken in and quite comfortable.

A few more shots of the harbor in Ushuaia looking out to the Beagle Channel.

Taking a rest day off the bike before the wheels turn north, backtracking to the mainland. One final border crossing planned for this trip, back into Chile, where I will spend the next couple of weeks. More on that in the next post from Puerto Natales at the weekend.

Cheers. T2

Penguins and Broken Bolts

Rio Gallegos was my base for a 160 mile in and out trip to see Magellan Penguins, on my to do list while in Patagonia. Cape Virgenes is host to a very large colony, over 100,000 of them apparently. The cape is also the southern most tip of mainland Argentina, Tierra del Fuego being an island. It was an enjoyable visit but it came at a price. 

The 140 miles of very rough unmade road on the return journey to get to the cape was enough to shear both pivot bolts, 2 of the 4 points that secure the rear subframe to the rest of the motorcycle. The subframe now had half the support and had dropped about 2 cm, opening up a gap between the seat and the fuel tank, the clue that disclosed an issue.  It was not a condition that could not go unrepaired. 

Once I found the problem there were three issues to solve, getting the nub ends of the bolts that remained in the subframe extracted, sourcing and fitting new bolts of the proper dimensions and finding a mechanic that was willing and capable to do the job. It was 4.30pm; I needed to find a mechanical angel. I did. By 8pm, I was back up and running. $30 to El jefe who made a couple of trips out of the shop to get a hardened drill bit and then source the bolts plus a decent tip to Siguel, the fixer.

Thank you. Thank you.

So what of the penguins? Amazing, they were everywhere. Staying quiet and moving slowly they could be approached within a foot or two. The video shows them heading into the ocean to fish, returning up the beach and then on the wide path they created over eons to return to feed their youngster.

A few stills to add to the mix. As you can see the young are nearing the point they will leave the nest, they barely fit in it; the parents had done a good job feeding them.

The cape is also home to a lighthouse. The sign claims it is the origin of Ruta 40; it may have been at one time, but now that distinction is a few miles due east of Rio Gallegos at Punta Loyola, but it made for a nice picture. It is certainly a long haul to Buenos Aires.

It had been an interesting day that had the makings of a trip halting incident.

This report is coming from Tierra del Fuego, thanks to a couple of willing and capable Argentinians who kept the wheels rolling.

Cheers T2.

Rio Gallegos - A Day For The Birds

Figuratively and literally today was one for the birds. Hostal Shilling was a comfortable place to stay my two nights in El Calafate. Very amiable and knowledgeable staff made 'just another hostel stay' memorable. A sunny start at 9.30am for the 190 mile trip over the Patagonian steppe, was to become a long cool ride on a southerly heading, leaning sideways into a very keen westerly wind. I arrived in Rio Gallegos with muscles aching on the right side of my neck, shoulder and arm. Topical menthol gel is warranted before heading to bed, an effort to keep them loose. Still, I was way better off than the cyclist.

Less than an hour into the ride I was passed by the two Brazilian guys on their Suzuki 650's whom I spoke with in Rio Tranquilo, Chile a week ago. A VW camper van, loaded up headed in the other direction, reminiscent of the '70s hippie generation.

Rhea had been few and far between, a couple of brief sightings, I had hoped to see more. It never rains when it pours they say; heading uphill I spotted a group of 20 individuals scattered on the hillside. Clutch-in and idling to a stop in an effort to avoid spooking them, I was able to observe from 40 yards away,  capturing a photo or two.

A couple of very colorful flamingoes feeding near the road; a photo opportunity not to be missed.

Upland geese, indigenous to Southern Patagonia, are currently nesting. Like other ground nesting birds, proximity sends them into the skies to avoid giving away the location of the nest. The male bird in the picture below seemed to be unattached, so was more co-operative. The pair feeding in the river a few miles outside of Rio Gallegos had no reason to take flight.

A day for the birds, but not exclusively so. Flashes of red on the hillsides had caught my attention over the last few days, today the plant was accessible from the road. Very pretty intense red blooms in an otherwise beigey green landscape.

The breakfast host at Hostal Shilling described Rio Gallegos, the capital of the Santa Cruz region, as 'not very nice'. It is not a tourist town like El Calafate and it could not be described as pretty. However, taking a walk round it had a nice promenade along the river estuary that empties into the South Atlantic. A sunny spring day, with temperatures in the 60's F brought the locals out in numbers, especially in their cars cruising slowly along the river front or in the local park near the memorial to the Islas de Malvinas conflict.

I wondered if this particular IAI Dagger (Israeli version of the Dassault Mirage 5) had launched any ordnance that claimed British lives in the war. The whole of Patagonia has a deep connection to the Malvinas/Falklands and the lives lost as a result of the British response to the ill conceived invasion.

Armada Argentina also has an office on the river front. The naval office had a large model of the submarine San Juan in the foyer. The vessel suffered a catastrophic failure in 2017, imploding in the South Atlantic, sadly with the loss of all on board.

T2.