South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

[herman]

Top of my list for the once in a lifetime trip after watching Dakar coverage a couple of years ago must admit. I know this happens everywhere but friends have just had their passports stolen from their hotel room in Argentina they were fairly high profile visitors mind. Keep those pics coming

[Simon_100]

Phenomenal report, truly inspiring and, er, I'm inspired. So one of these fine days ...

Regs

Simon

[mark vb]

Chile & Argentina, like the majority of countries in the world, are lands of the small motorbike. We've seen remarkably few locally-registered bikes of any size. Most of the bigger bikes have been foreign-registered, belonging to travellers mostly from Germany, Austria, the States and Brazil. We've also seen a couple of South Korean-registered bikes (690 KTM & F800GS), and one aged RD04 Africa Twin from Spain.
Almost all bikes here - and there are loads of them - are used as everyday transport rather than as weekend playthings, as I suspect most are at home in the U.K. They are mostly Chinese marques, many of 150cc which seems to be the most common capacity. Interestingly, there are a number of Gilera and Benelli, which appear to be re-branded Chinese machines. Some step-through scooters will have an entire family of four on-board - both parents and two small children, none of them with helmets! However, there are some interesting Japanese trail machines, including Honda XR150, XR300 Rally, Falcon 400, and Yamaha Tenere 250. I believe the small Japanese bikes are made (or assembled) in South America, and hence are of a reasonable cost, e.g. the Tenere is around £3,700. However, bigger imported bikes attract much tax, with an Africa Twin being around £25,000 in Argentina whilst in the UK they can be had for around £10,000!
XR300 Rally:

Honda XR150 & Falcon 400:

[mark vb]

I last reported when we were in Cafayate, in northwest Argentina, getting on for a couple of weeks ago. Since then, we’ve ridden south-east to Buenos Aires - first across the eastern Andean foothills and then hundreds of miles across a vast expanse of totally flat pampas where the road is edged with endless fields of sweetcorn and a sight we’ve not seen for ages – cows. We’re now in Montevideo, Uruguay.

We left Cafayate on Ruta 40 which had been flooded the previous night as a result of heavy rains running down from the Andes, to the west. The road is straddled by numerous wide, concrete gullies which are clearly there to channel the flood waters across the road and into the adjacent valley, Valles Calchaquies. We crossed a number of muddy fords and then headed across the valley and up into more hills on the most dilapidated paved road I’ve come across, the Ruta Provincial 357/307. If you think riding on Argentina’s unpaved roads can be bone-jarring, I think this was quite possibly worse. The asphalt is riven by numerous cracks which gave it the appearance of crazy paving, with the surface between the cracks also being highly eroded. This went on for 30 miles or so, and our speed dropped to between 15 and 30mph, depending on the state of the asphalt.

After ascending the hills to the east of Valles Calchaquies, where we were in the clouds for a couple of hours, we lunched on locro (a tasty meat stew) and descended by way of numerous, tight hairpins in torrential rain, towards San Miguel de Tucuman. The subsequent ride over the pampas to Buenos Aires, taking three days, was pretty mundane compared to the roads and landscapes we’ve encountered since riding up from Patagonia many weeks ago.

We stayed a couple of nights in an inexpensive but good hotel in central Buenos Aires, thereafter crossing the Rio Plata by ferry, into Uruguay. The capital, Montevideo, is gorgeous. A night at the tango bar 'Baar FunFun' was indeed fun fun! The plan is now to head north into Brazil!

Photos:
Valles de Calchaquies - 1. Heading towards the ascent into the clouds; 2. A section of the worst paved road so far (it got much worse than this).
About to cross one of the muddy fords on Ruta 40.

[mark vb]

Some more pics:
Our route so far. We're now in Montevideo.
Our home a couple of days ago in Colonia, Uruguay - a converted shipping container. Small but comfy.
There is at least one other RD07A Africa Twin in Argentina! This one is owned by a local we met at a garage near Buenos Aires.

[mark vb]

Sad days….our trip has all but ended. We’re now back in Buenos Aires waiting to ship the bike back to U.K. Since my last report we’ve ridden across Uruguay and into Brazil; then across southern Brazil to the N.E. tip of Argentina and the renowned Iguazu Falls; and most recently we’ve completed the last leg of 1200km from Iguazu back to B.A. In all, we’ve covered 15,000km at a leisurely pace over five months, staying here and there for a day or more in many places that we’ve particularly liked. We had a rough plan which was to travel to the 3 corners of the lower half of S. America, from the glaciers of the far south to the desert of the northwest to the beaches and forests of the northeast.

South America, at least those parts we’ve been lucky enough to visit, is a wonderful place. The landscapes have mostly been staggeringly beautiful, ranging from the vast emptiness of Patagonia to the extraordinary aridity of the Atacama Desert to the steamy sub-tropical forests and red soils of N.E. Argentina. Camping on some deserted beaches has also been cool. We’ve encountered all manner of roads from a few excellent pavements to many dilapidated ones, plus a smattering of unpaved (gravel/dirt) roads, the longest being a stretch of some 80km on Ruta 40 in southern Patagonia. Crossing the Andes at 15,000 ft in particular stands out for its beauty, remoteness, llamas, and getting the one puncture of the trip!

Without exception, the many people we’ve encountered have been extraordinarily friendly and helpful. I think having an outfit has also been a big ice-breaker…. when we stop, so many people want to chat and take photos, and being videoed by passing vehicles is the norm. The contrast between the well-off and the poor is huge…. by comparison, back in the U.K. I don’t believe anyone is truly poor (unless perhaps they choose to be).
We’ve come across precisely one English person in five months, a student out of a tour bus parked in a mirador (view point) we stopped at shortly after Xmas. The few other English-speaking folks we’ve bumped into have mostly been from the U.S.A., Canada and Australia, plus a few Germans and Austrians who generally spoke fluently. We’ve seen no U.K. registered vehicles at all, except for one 6-axle ‘adventure’ tour bus (driven by an Aussie). Most of the bigger bikes we’ve seen have been Brazilian-registered, along with a few German, Austrian & U.S., two Korean and one Spanish.

I think there was a thread on this forum about motorcycling dying in the U.K. Well, it certainly isn’t in S. America. There are hordes of young people on small bikes – 125’s, 150’s & 250’s – all racing around in the towns complete with loud pipes. Just like the U.K. back in the 70’s and 80’s.

Our bike, a 2002 Africa Twin owned from new, has performed reliably and has now covered over 100,000 km. It’s relative simplicity and robustness still appeals to me. We lost one of the captive bolts connecting the sidecar to the bike in Patagonia, and another sheared-off, but this was quickly remedied by drilling-out of the sheared remnant and fitting two new bolts complete with nyloc nuts. The bracket which the front fairing’s sub-frame is bolted to sheared-off in the Atacama Desert, but was easily welded back in place. The bracket recently failed again at Iguazu, so we rode the final 1200km to Buenos Aires with the sub-frame held securely in place with big cable ties – I’ll get it welded again when back in the U.K. Other work to the bike has been:
- 2 new rear tyres (Metzeler ‘Sahara’)
- 1 new sidecar tyre (Levorin ‘Duna’, of Brazilian manufacture)
- 1 oil & filter change

We'll start planning for the next trip in due course…. we’ve only explored the southern half of S. America so have much unfinished business up north!

A few photos:
1. At the Tres Fronteras where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet.
2. Some of these little guys were crossing the road in the Uruguay coastal wetlands - a Columbian chap on a GS800 we were riding with is 'rescuing' one here!
3. Part of the Iguazu Falls - 3km long with 275 separate falls, and at 100m high, taller than Niagra Falls.

[mark vb]

Here's our completed route map. And a pic of Recoleta cemetery in BA. Eva Peron is interred in one of the 4,500 mausoleums. Fascinating viewing - the coffins are set on shelves behind glass doors. Some go down 6 or 7 metres below ground where generations of families are stored on shelves in the vaults.

[crofty]

Sorry that your journey has come to an end. Interesting reading and fine pictures. Particularly like the fact you bought the Africa Twin new and have held on to it and used it like it's meant to be used. Full marks, look forward to the next trip.

[Spike941]

Great trip and thanks for the reports and photos. Looking forward to hearing about your next trip. Safe trip back.

[OnHellas]

It’s been great reading about your adventures. The best part of it.....? It’s been YOUR trip!

Keep on keeping on.....