South America, Blowing The Kids’ Inheritence

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Sorry if you’ve already answered this but is it a pit stop before you go off again or are you having to unpack that whole garage of stuff

[gbags]

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There were quite a few references to the Argentine ownership of the Falklands and this one is typical. People were really friendly though, even when I told them my brother had been there with the British during the conflict.

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A guanaco that came up short. We saw quite a lot of roadkill along the roadsides, including cows in Texas.

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I was quite careful when I ordered this beer.

[gbags]

Sorry if you’ve already answered this but is it a pit stop before you go off again or are you having to unpack that whole garage of stuff

We both have ageing parents and we have two young adult kids so we’re going to stay a year or two before the next long trip.

‘That whole garage of kit’? We carry less than most other overlanders we met. Ours included a full camping gear and a six piece fly rod. It only became a problem when we hit sand. We’d drop the bike but could pick it up again even though I had my sixtieth on the trip and my wife Yenni weighs about three kilos, soaking wet.

[gbags]

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Argentine military base

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Don’t think that you’re the first to come this way!

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This part of Argentina is so hugely arid, the water hardly makes an impression.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I’m loving these photos. Itchy feet now.
I didn’t phrase that very well, looking back at the first photo it is a shipping container with “all your worldly goods” that what I meant you had to unpack?

Your bike looked very compactly done. I guarantee mine won’t be that well edited when my turn comes! Hmm maybe I need a sticker for that wall!

[daveuprite]

Great pics, thanks.

[PatC]

Really enjoyed seeing these latest images form your trip, spotting a few familiar places in Patagonia from our own trip in January. Completely agree with your comments about riding the Careterra Austral as well as Ruta 40. The contrast between the two is amazing and each is challenging. If anything the ripeo in Chile has improved since I was out there twenty years ago but it still shouldn't be underestimated. Although the concrete has spread out from Coyhaique there still hundreds of kms of ripeo and it will be many years before it all gets upgraded, despite what you might read in some places. Riding through the forests and mountains of southern Chile is an amazing experience and its well worth taking the ferry from Pto Yungay to Puerto Natales to bridge the gap in the road, see more scenery and chill out for a day or so.

[gbags]

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In every town and village there’s always a plaza and they’re shady and good for sipping a beer and watching the world go by. I liked this melting tree.

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Bikes tied down on one of the southern ferries. Top left is a Yamaha belonging to Bubi, a Brazilian we rode with for a while, my beemer, something Chinese and an Enfield. The last two were Chiliean lads.

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The obligatory Hand In The Desert shot. This is now well up into the Atacama desert. I’d thought it might be boring but it was endlessly fascinating and ever changing. There’s an amazing variation in colours and rock formation, seemingly round every corner. It’s a place where I wished that I had some Geology in me.

[gbags]

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This looks like a joke and some will say Bollocks but this is an actual golf club. Life there is so bleak and dry that they have dozed a course out on the rocky, rubbly coast as there’s nothing else if they’re working on the coast, away from the towns.

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[gbags]

We met these two Peruvians at this point where hundreds of cars, buses, trucks and us three bikes got held up by a series of riots further up the road. Fishermen were burning cars on the road to block it, demanding better conditions and more money. It has to be said that their lives were really bleak here in northern Chile.

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We waited a couple of hours and then got the word to go forward. The riot cops had cleared the first road block and we charged up the road like idiots about 10 k’s, then the riot cops would stop us again until they’d cleared the next stretch.

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Every time they cleared another bit they’d scream Go! Rapido! A wild afternoon.

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Very barren and with very far flung villages, so as well as the big tank on the bike, we carried spare fuel and water.