Ride To The End Of The World – Fin del Mundo (Part 3)
Filled to the brim with Aurelia’s tasty empanadas, we wobbled over to the bikes for another few hours riding. We were quickly on the gravel and entered a national forest which winded its way alongside some beautiful mountains. We were at times completely covered by canopies of trees that made it appear that it was early evening as we traversed patches of mud from rain that hadn’t dried from who knows how long ago. Still it was great riding and the air smelled clean and fresh if not a bit humid even in the chill of the shadows.
We bumped along happily until we hit our first stretch of construction. The road was completely closed and what little traffic there was sat and waited while the graders, backhoes, loaders and dump trucks did their work. Some of the delays were quite short, just a minute or two, others were half an hour long or so. The work being done was quite impressive with large stone walls being created by sorting, fitting and piling rocks into “cages” of gigantic chicken wire like boxes. The rocks were well placed and there were few gaps between them. It looked as though they had been cemented together when in fact they had only been sorted and piled into the wire.
By the way, if you don’t know, click on any one of the pictures in the gallery below and it will open that picture into a full size picture and then you can click your way through the remainder of the pictures in either direction in full size.
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- Waiting at the construction site
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- Waiting at the construction site
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- Waiting at the construction site
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- The stone walls, neatly stacked and enclosed in wire boxes.
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- Finally past all the construction.
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- Old wooden bridge
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- Old wooden bridge
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- One of the wild roaming animals.
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- Kim, dusty but none the worse for wear.
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- A combination of old and new bridge
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- Getting late and wicking it up for Bariloche
What is really nice about being on a long adventure ride is that you really don’t “have” to be anywhere other than to get to the place where you are going to lay your head for the night. So it was no big deal for us to wait for the construction to finish. We had the opportunity to chat with other folks waiting in line and walk around a bit, take in the sights and enjoy the fresh air. So these little “impositions” in actuality increased the adventure of the trip somewhat. We met new people and saw sights that we might have bypassed if we had not been held up by the delays.
When we had cleared the last construction delay of the day, we were almost at the end of the forest and had the opportunity to turn the speed up a bit. The problem was that it was extremely dusty. Plumes of solid grey arose from the bikes tires and when a car or a truck (think construction vehicle) came from the opposite direction, it was a complete grey out for a significant length of time.
The dust rose in giant plumes with cauliflower heads that rose quickly and seemed to hang in front of you refusing to return to the earth from which they had sprung. Entering them was like diving into a vat of grey water. At first it yielded to your presence as your body left its impression on the face of the cloud. However, almost immediately, the cloud would recover its form and envelope you in a murky and misty grey nothingness where forward vision was all but lost. Our best bet for forward navigation was to look slightly forward and down for the road surface was about the only clear sight to be seen with everything else appearing only as ghostly shadows. Not a pleasant thought when you know that construction vehicles may be coming from the other direction.
Luckily for us, the heavy dust continued for only 10 miles or so, and the road turned more to the hard gravel surface it had been earlier in the day. That was a good thing since it was already getting later in the afternoon , the sun was starting to obscure vision and we’d rather not end up riding in the dark. We had come across too many wild and roaming cattle, horses, goats, sheep and dogs to feel comfortable riding with such reduced visibility.
We were determined to get to our stop for the night before dark but not so determined as to dismiss the beauty of the surrounding area. We were crossing a modern concrete and steel bridge when we noticed the old wooden bridge that it had replaced. It had been a multiple span bridge and the center span had long since fallen into the river. But the remaining spans framed by the mountains in the background and the still water, created a picture opportunity that could not be missed. So we stopped and got off the bikes to take some pictures of the awesome sight before us. While we stood on the modern technology of the concrete and steel bridge, the beauty and grace of the old bridge still reflected its brilliance upon the land.
After some oohing and ahhhing, we were back on the bikes only to come across a bridge that combined the two mediums of the new and old bridge we had recently passed. This one was composed of concrete and steel, yet had wooden decking and so combined the two eras together. Once again it made for a nice picture and of course we had to get one of us crossing the bridge over the River Mayo.
This day was becoming rather memorable for its sights and lack thereof in the dust. But sunlight was indeed running out and we needed to get to our room for the night in San Carlos de Bariloche. We did not know what our little room was going to look like, and when we finally arrived it was nearly dark so we weren’t able to see what our digs for the night looked like from the outside. Let’s just say we were not disappointed. We’ll tell you all about it in Part 4.
Ride To The End Of The World – Fin del Mundo (Part 2)
Villarica’s peak still puffed white smoke into the chilly early morning air as we prepared our bikes for the first real riding of the journey to the Fin del Mundo; the end of the earth. Both Kim and I were quite excited to get under way and I was quite impatient to get started. Gear sorted on our rented BMW F650GS twins we rolled out of the parking lot, puffs of steam from our mouths in the cold Chilean air replicating the puffs of smoke from Villarica. Today we would have a short hop on pavement but would soon be on the gravel and headed towards our first border crossing into Argentina. Our trip would take us across the Argentine and Chilean borders several times, but that was part of the fun for this trip.
By the way, if you don’t know, click on any one of the pictures in the gallery below and it will open that picture into a full size picture and then you can click your way through the remainder of the pictures in either direction in full size.
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- Villarica smoking in the chilly Chile morning air.
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- Villarica smoking in the chilly Chile morning air.
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- A small monkey puzzle tree
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- A large monkey puzzle tree splits the road
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- Dusty traveling
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- Dusty traveling
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- Lanin lying in wait
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- The town of San Martin de Los Andes
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- Lanin awaits
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- Lanin in scale
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- Lanin shows off its omnipotence.
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- Made it into Argentina
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- Aurelia, 3rd generation empanada chef
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- Aurelia’s daughter cooking our empanadas.
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- Ready to eat empanadas. Mmmm…. goood.
As we made our way on smooth pavement, we were greeted by green scenery and farms of various sizes. Flowers and plants were in full bloom even though it was November. Getting used to all the rich colors of flowers took some getting used to. Where we had come from, the bright color palette of many different flowers and plants had long since dwindled to browns and greys in anticipation of the upcoming cold New Hampshire winter. But here, the flowers and plants were just reaching their stride, full blooms with bright colors reached towards the sun as if summer would never end. Already, our surrounding environment had us wishing this journey would never end.
The day took on a bit more overcast look as we approached the Argentine border. To match the darkening skies, the road conditions changed from smooth pavement to rough and loose gravel. It became quite apparent that we were approaching some mountains and we’d be riding through the mountains on gravel roads. The surface was fairly good but quite dusty. Clouds of dust rose quickly and obscured vision if we rode too closely together. We decided to give each other a fair amount of spacing since we wanted to be able to see the sights as we trundled along the gravel.
After about an hour of riding, we found our first new experience in the form of the Monkey Puzzle Tree. A cross between what appeared to be a cactus and a Douglas Fir tree, the Monkey Puzzle tree was indeed a bit of a puzzle. Thick spiny needles protruded from branches and trunk of the young trees. Mature trees were over 75 feet tall with very large green spines. They were indeed puzzling, were they cacti or trees? Well they were trees and they were quite cool. Apparently the locals thought so as well since the roads were sometimes split by them with each lane going on either side of the tree.
Riding sometimes steep climbs and descents, we winded our way over and around these gravel mountain roads. Beautiful scenery passed us by on both sides of the road. Mountains surrounded us as we wended our way through forests in uninhabited areas for many miles.
Having ridden three hours on gravel, suddenly, as if someone had just turned on a pavement machine, we were off the gravel and on pavement. It was not long before we began to see small farms with livestock and signs of people. It was not long before we arrived in the town of San Martin de Los Andes. San Martin de Los Andes sat near the base of the Andes and the rim of a large beautiful lake. It had a bit of a tourist feel to it and as a result, had all the amenities of a small city. Stores, restaurants, banks, cars, busses etc. were all present. It had a true hustle and bustle feel. A tiny city connected only by gravel roads on both ends. We made use of the ATM to pick up some Argentine currency and were quickly on our way.
Before we knew it, we were off the paved roads and back on the gravel and in the isolation of the Andes. Once again climbing and descending, we rounded a corner and entered a flat area and there it was in front of us, Lanin, another active volcano. Capped in snow it appeared as a stone giant dominating the skyline. As Kim rode by, I could see just how big and powerful Lanin was. Although Kim projects a strong and powerful presence, her form was overwhelmed and overcome by the sheer size of Lanin. As she got closer to the monolith, Kim appeared to quickly vanish into the background of Lanin’s might; it was a quick lesson in humility of humankind versus nature.
Shortly after passing Lanin we arrived at the Argentine border where we met with a somewhat of a delay. We spent over 3 hours at the border straightening out paperwork, but ultimately were able to clear the Aduana (Customs) and get underway. This was to be our only delay at Customs for the entire trip, so we considered ourselves very lucky to cross as many borders as we did with only one significant delay.
With the border crossed and three hours lost, we had made it into Argentina with a wide open eyes and empty stomachs. Happy faces searched the roadsides for signs of civilization and a place to eat, because by this time we were pretty hungry. As we rode along, we noticed a string of roadside stands. Hmm… could this be a place to eat?
We pulled off the road and did a little investigating. Yes indeed, some of the stalls had food and we were in for a treat. One of the stands sold empanadas. If you have not had an Argentine empanadas, you are really missing something. They are pastries filled with meats such as pork, beef and chicken as well as cheese. They are amazing!
In addition to this delicious food, we were treated to even more. It turns out that our cooks consisted of three generations of women who had been cooking empanadas at the roadside in this very stall. The matriarch of the family was Aurelia and although my Spanish is poor, we chatted a bit about her empanadas stand and how long she’d been there. She even brought out a magazine article in which she and her family were showcased for their longevity and the deliciousness of their empanadas. Well we’re here to tell you that they deserved every bit of print they received and we’ve yet to find empanadas anywhere near as good as the ones we had at Aurelia’s little roadside stand in Argentina.
We still had a fair amount of riding to do for the day, but we’ll tell you about that in Part 3.
Ride To The End Of The World – Fin del Mundo (Part 1)
New Hampshire’s winter snows make for fine skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, but not exceptionally good motorcycling. With autumn over and the real winter rapidly settling in, our motorcycling would be relegated to our anxious dreams awaiting the spring. It is always a funny feeling knowing that our thoughts would be similar in nature to those of the hibernating wild animals tucked away in their dens awaiting the new growth fresh berries with the coming thaw of spring. Each year, to both of us spring couldn’t come too soon.
But this year would be different. We were traveling to a place where at this time of year it would be warm and there would be no snow except very high in the mountains. It was time for me to bone up on my Spanish because this winter we were going to ride to the Fin del Mundo, or translated into English, to the “end of the earth”.
We were flying from Boston, Massachusetts into Santiago, Chile where the following day we’d hop a short flight to Pucon, Chile to start our riding adventure. Our route would ultimately take us from Pucon, Chile a ski resort with its own volcano to Ushuaia, Argentina at the very tip of South America. In fact, it’s the furthest south you can get on any land mass on the planet. Antarctica is composed entirely of ice, so it does not count.
So as the days of November increased, instead of padding around in small circles worrying that the NH snow would soon blanket the roads and trails ending riding for another season, we were actually quite spry, gathering all our riding gear and stashing it in our luggage for the flight to Chile. No sitting about for us this year, we were ready to ride!
So when the appointed day came in mid November, we boarded our flight in Boston and after a quick stop in Dallas for a bowl of some rather spicy chile and nachos, we once again boarded another plane, our destination once again Chile, this time the country, not the kind you eat. The flight was crowded, loud and the lavatory on the aircraft overflowed, but other than that, the flight was uneventful. Upon landing, we cleared customs and grabbed a cab to our hotel which was quite nice.
It was warm and sunny outside so we decided that since we only had an overnight in Santiago, we’d better make the best of it and we went for a walk to take in the sights and grab a quick lunch. It immediately became clear that Santiago was an alive and bustling city. Traffic moved chaotically, people walked on the sidewalks and went about their business, while others sat at the sidewalk cafe’s enjoying lunch, espresso or just good conversation.
But as we walked around, we found that we weren’t apparently all that far from home. As we rounded a corner, we came to none other than a Dunkin’ Donuts shop. Complete with a sign in Spanish that read “Energiza tu vida!” or Energize your life! Jeez, I didn’t know that Dunkin’ Donuts did that. I wonder what different stuff they put in the donuts in South America? We continued walking around for a couple of hours, bought dinner and returned to our hotel to get ready for tomorrow’s flight to Pucon where our journey to the end of the earth would start in earnest.
When we awoke the following morning the weather was excellent and after breakfast we headed to the airport for our hour long flight to Pucon. That flight was indeed uneventful and we arrived rested and ready to go. We were picked up by a van for the brief ride from the airport to our hotel. Immediately we began to see signs for the ski resort there as well as Pucon’s own volcano. Ultimately, we were dropped at another hotel at the edge of town with an excellent view of Pucon’s own volcano, Villarica. It is indeed a majestic peak, with smoke slowly but consistently puffing from its crest. Villarica is in fact an active volcano and a fairly active one at that. With all that molten roiling fury below, you can just imagine the strength and power that an eruption would unleash. It would be a disaster as the town of Pucon sits almost directly below the towering dragon that is Pucon.
Wiped out would the quaint town in which we now ate gigantic steaks and drank local beverages like Pisco Sours. Gone would be the vendors that sold their hand made wares and the restaurants that serviced all the visitors. There’d only be empty streets to show for all that man had accomplished in that area for years to come. But for now, we were content to watch the sun go down on Villarica and enjoy the increasingly bright and magnificent glow that was now emanating from its face and sides. So as the sun went down, it was time for some Chilean beef. We ordered steak and a platter arrived which could feed an army. One thing that Chilean and Argentine people do not do is skimp on the beef and when our beef arrived for inspection prior to being cooked, it looked as though 3/4th of a cow had been brought to the table for early dinner. In any event, we ended up scarfing down a gigantic meal for dinner and we were ultimately chauffeured back to the hotel for a bright and early start of the journey on the following morning.
We’ll tell you about the beginning of the real journey in the next part.
Ride2ADV 