Patagonia
- where the neighbor lives beyond the horizon -
From Buenos Aires to Santiago via Ushuaia and Antarctica by motorcycle and Cruiseship
For many years, I had a dream, I wanted to travel in Patagonia by motorcycle. Like many dreams, I did not know if it would ever become true. Somehow I was waiting for an opportunity, or a good reason to realize my dream. At the Tesch Motorcycletravelers meeting in March 99 I heard about a millenium motorcycle travelers meeting in Ushuaia. Ralf, Klaus and Ralf had the same idea and eventually we were 6 motorcyclists who went together to Ushuaia. I prepared my Transalp with some heavy duty parts. Technoflex shock, Continental TKC80 Tires and a good motorprotection shield. All three parts proved to be absolutely necessary and durable. Our KTMs, XT, Africa Twin and Transalp were flown to Buenos Aires, where we picked them up easily with the help of our motorcycle friends Gabriel, Claudia and Diego, who helped us all the way through Buenos Aires. Although we had to wait for one day, the Lufthansa cargo plane was delayed, we had a smooth process with very helpful staff at the customs office.
Buenos Aires is a giant city with some 12 million inhabitants. Huge freeways with up to 20 lanes crisscross the city and fan out into the suburbs. Even city streets have up to 12 lanes one way. Gabriel invited us to a typical Argentinian asado at his fathers house. The BBQ lasted almost all night with many different kind of meat and sausages.
With our bikes ready to go, we could not wait to head south. We said goodbye to Gabriel, Claudia and their friend Diego and left for Routa 3, the main highway to Patagonia. The Province of Buenos Aires is mostly flat, with big farms and green pastures. After 500km we crossed the Sierra de la Ventana, where we encountered the first curves since Buenos Aires. It would be the last ones for more than 2000km. On our way south, we met a guy on a motocross motorcycle. We asked him for a good spot to camp. Before taking us to a beautiful lagoon with a wide beach, grass and trees, he invited us to his ice cream shop, where we had delicious Dulce de leche granizado and Banana Split icecream. Argentina must have more ice cream shops than Italy. And the ice cream is delicious. That night, a big thunderstorm moved in and before the pourdown started, the low hanging, almost black clouds produced one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. The light was just magic.
South of Viedma, we took the first of many gravel roads along the coast with great views of high cliffs and the South Atlantic ocean. A large sealion colony at La Loberia added some more attraction to the already beautiful scenery.
For most of our way south, we took the only fully paved road in Patagonia, Routa 3. It parallels the Atlantic ocean, usually in a great distance. At the Valdez Peninsula, we wanted to do some whale watching. But the season was already over, the whales had left for the cooler waters of Antarctica. The peninsula offers some of the most stunning wildlife areas in Argentina. Several Sealion and Penguin colonies skirt the coast, and the dry inland of this waterless place is full of Guanacos, a close relative to the lama, Nandus that resemble an ostrich and other animals. The gravelroads are in a good condition, fun riding.
Twohundred kilometer further south, at Punta Tombo, we had to drive right through the penguin colony. Half a million Magellan Penguins live on the rocky shores. Some of them are very curious, they even came sniffing at the motorcycles and at our boots.
South of Punta Tombo I had my first crash. On an otherwise very smooth gravel road I hit several deep holes with about 80km/h, came into the loose gravel and lost control. After that, my right foot hurt and one Aluminum box was dented. Luckily, neither the motorcycle nor me was severely damaged. The following days, I drove more careful than before. On these backroads along the coast, we did not see a car or a person for hours. The long, deserted beaches were great for beach-motorcycling.
Via the uninspiring cities of Comodoro Rivadavia and Caleta Olivia we entered the plains of the Patagonian desert. We had not seen a tree outside of towns and estancias for 1000km and it would go on like this for another 1500km. No trees, no houses, just dry grass for hundreds of kilometers. The westerly winds increased as we went south, becoming an incessant storm in southern Patagonia and on Fireland. There seems to be only the road, an occasional truck, the wind that wants to push you into the oncoming traffic and yourself, for hours and days.
We spent christmas in Puerto San Julian, where Ralf and Klaus prepared a 7 course dinner, cooked on 5 campingstoves and the BBQ-pit. Three windy and dry days later, we crossed the Magellan strait on the Punta Delgada ferry at Primera Angostura. Only 500km more to Ushuaia. The storm was even stronger on Fireland, we had a hard time to find a sheltered spot to set up our tents. To our surprise we saw trees, green meadows and blue lakes 150km north of Ushuaia. We had ridden 3000 km through the patagonian desert searching for a tree. Further south we had to cross the snowcapped Darwin range at Garibaldi pass. For the last 100km Routa 3, the desert road, resembled more the Alaska Hwy, passing glaciers, lakes and forests.
Ushuaia, the southernmost city on earth, surprised me with traffic jams, thousands of tourists and several cruiseships. Its a pleasant base to explore the end of the world and beyond. Routa 3 continuos further for 30km into the beautiful Tierra del Fuego Nationalpar, passing lakes, forests and glaciers. At Bahia Ensenada I took the obligatory photo with my motorcycle and the end of the road sign. It is 3063km to Buenos Aires, and 17848km to the other end of the Panamerican Highway in Alaska. At the campground at Laguna Verde more than 40 motorcyclists from all over the world had set up the southernmost Millenium Motorycle Meeting . Every newcomer was enthusiastically greeted. Some had already spent Christmas on the site, others had come in the past days. Every night we had a campfire with gluehwine (hot spicy wine) and many stories told. During the day most of us explored the various lakes and bays of the Nationalpark or went for a dose of city civilization to Ushuaia. A local Transalp rider visited us and he organized a football match. But that night it rained nonstop. This did not deter the Argentines who showed up with 20 players. But only 5 of us wanted to play under these circumstances.
On new years eve, there was a big party in Ushuaia. The fireworks were very impressive and the following open air raveparty downtown was loud and hot.
On new years day, we heard about a last minute offer of 1500$ for a 11 day Antarctica cruise instead of the normal price which started at 7000$. Several of us took up the opportunity and went down to the frozen continent. First, we visited the barren Falkland Islands, very british, but had to return to Ushuaia to pick up some special oil. We crossed the stormy Drake passage between South America and Antarctica. These were the only days when I could not take part in all of the 5 course lunches, the 7 course dinners, the impressive breakfast buffet and the delicious cake buffet in the afternoon. The MS Bremen was fully booked, with 123 passengers from 16 nations and 4 continents. Among them were about 30 backpackers and motorcyclists. We pushed the average age from a normal cruiseship 60+ down to 40 years. 100 crewmembers, among them 8 cooks cared for the passengers.
5 naturalists gave very interesting lectures on flora, fauna, history and geology of the Antarctic continent.
We passed icebergs, unbelievable white mountains of ice, drifting in the sea. We visited several research stations, traveled through the spectacular, glacier rimmed Lemaire and Neumayer straits, often covered with ice and dotted with icebergs. The weather was sunny and clear, the sea was like a mirror, where you sometimes could not tell the difference between the mirror image and the original iceberg or mountain. Each time when we left the ship on the heavy duty inflatable boats, called zodiacs, to visit a penguin or sealion colony, we had to walk through deep snow and ice. At the Argentinian Almirante Brown station at Paradise bay, we climbed a steep hill and sled back down through the deep snow. At volcanic Deception island, where the caldera is filled up by the sea, we went to warm springs on the beach. Although the airtemperature was only 3 degrees and a cold wind made it feel even colder, many passengers went into the warm (24 degrees) waters at the beach. Getting out of the water was even harder than getting into it. In the wide Gerlache Strait we encountered several whales before we went back towards Ushuaia. Cape Hoorn was stormy as ever, and Ushuaia greeted us with clouds but mild weather.
CONTINUE TO PAGE TWO OF WERNER'S STORY