UPDATE 6 - BUENOS AIRES 18 MAY 06

12 – 18 May 06
EL CALAFATE – BUENOS AIRES

12 May 06(Fri). Riding without all our kit was a pleasant change as rode the 50 miles to the Pargue Nacional Los Glaciares to see the Glaciar Perito Moreno which is 14 kms in length with a frontage of 5 kms and the height of the front wall was 50 – 55 metres! Truly spectacular visually as well an audio sensation as the glaciar slowly creeps forward at about 2 metres per day, you cannot see the creep, but you can hear it. Grinding and groaning as the ice pushes into the Lago. Then there is a roll of thunder, a big groan and splash as chucks of ice breakaway from the wall and fall into the water. It took us awhile to workout what was happening because all the noise seemed to be coming from the far left and far right which was out of sight to us. But patience and luck paid off as a piece about 20 metres across and 10 metres high broke off right in front of us. You never have a camera setup at the right time! But we did get some shots of the ripple it caused. There was a warning notice at the viewing point stating that falling ice travel some distance and 32 people had been killed by getting too close.

Glaciers done, timefor a bit of bike servicing, check all nuts and bolts, tighten loose spokes and find that the “Big Foot” plate on my side stand had gone. It’s a bolt-on plate that gives about twice the footprint size of the original side stand plate. Not a show stopper, just an irritation that this was the second plate that had fallen off. It’s a very useful piece of kit but an arse design and not worth the money. Plate and welder would do the job. Other than that the bikes are in good condition and ready for a few days of high mileage to achieve out objectives of this week. Staying with duff kit, we’re not convince that the BMW Motorrad Rallye 2 Pro riding suit is value for money; so far both seams have split on the cuffs of Mick Ss’ inner gortex jacket and the plastic tie ends on the zips around the jacket are falling off with unnecessary regularity!

13 may 06 (Sat). 500 miles today. We had given ourselves two days to ride to the area of Peninsula Valdes, which is 900 miles from El Calafate; this would mean two long days in the saddle. Leaving El Calafate as the sun was rising; still late this far south at 0900, the mountains behind us were starting to get some early morning colour and with a full moon over them it would have made a superb photograph. But we did not stop; its one of those things about having started on a cold morning, finally zipped the last zip you just want to get going – a missed opportunity and the mountains were gone.

This morning we were to travel almost the whole width of Argentina due east without deviation. The first 50 Kms was on a good paved road but once this dipped south, our route was on a graded track of dubious quality. The start was like riding on marbles, just like that section of road in the Falklands; but this track was going to be 200 kms long! Not only marbles to contend with, there were rock the size of cricket balls that would be thrown up to smash into your toes; opportunity for a few choice words! Trying to stay in a straight line or negotiate a corner was interesting to say the least. Where other vehicles had travelled, they had produced furrows which were good if you could stay in them. To change lane, meant manoeuvring the bikes over small ridges of stones that would make the bike twitch, it go anywhere except where you wanted to go. The front end would try to washout and the back end insists on coming round to be the front end. The trick, apparently is to power over the obstacle, lightening the front end so it does not get too much traction and you can skip the bump! Oh, then there were the deep holes that would spring up just in front to the front wheel, dropping the bikes hard on the suspension till the stops hit home.

To maintain the “running the gauntlet” feel the obligatory sheep played chicken with us on a number of occasions. One particular incident, about 20 sheep ran from the safety of one side of the track across our path to the other. The first bike cleared them without problems, loads of room! However, one sheep decided that it would be safe on the side she’d come from so turn and ran at the second bike missing it by a gnats obvious! The bonus today was that there were no geese who wanted to play with us.

Although it was a demanding ride and as we climbed to 550 metres the temperature dropped, the scenery was not very interesting and that would be the scenery for the next two days, a flat barren land that with views to the horizon. We made it to route 3 the main north – south highway running down the eastern side of Argentina in three hours, to then head north for another 550 kms to reach Caleta Olivia. Caleta Olivia had the feeling of a frontier town. We sensed that this was lawless at its best, rowdy, old bangers, small bikes scooting about and sense of threatening. Our first stop was to refuel at a very busy noisy and bustling place, but very friendly and as always people interested to find out what we were doing. And to be told that Mick S had a puncture – not again, but at least this time we were in civilisation.

Hotel found and tyre repair shop identified we set about removing the rear wheel for repair. This is an easy job with the right kit and the know-how. It took the shop 10 minutes to find the puncture remove the tyre, fix it, refit the tyre and charge us the exorbitant fee of 5 pesos (£1).


14 May 06 (Sun). What a sunrise over the Golfo San Jorge, spectacular colours that changed rapidly; we were lucky to catch these ones.

It was going to be a 400 mile dash today which started with a police check at the provincial border crossing between the provinces of Chubut to Rio Negro, just passports and vehicle documents. Then it was point north to the horizon where the straight road disappears and keeps going. Apart from a few short sections of bends and a couple of hills we just rode in a straight line. Well except for the dog the size of an Afghan hound that made a dash out of cover from the far curb destined to meet us about mid carriageway! A yell over the bike radios DOG, DOG ,DOG was the alert. To compound the event were two fast and heavy trucks coming towards us and the dog with no time to stop without hitting something, I was hoping it would be the dog! Sixth sense told the dog that he was in a survival situation with an immediate exit required before he was hit by a truck or he hit one of us. Speed and agility was on his side, he did a 180 and made it back to his start point before any of us made contact with him. What a relief. Other than the dog, we had a sheep, geese free day, what joy excep.

The target town for the night stop was Rawson sitting at the mouth of Rio Chubut just east of Trelew. Trelew is part of the Welsh settlements dating back the landings of Welsh settlers at Puerto Madryn in 1865. We decided not to stay in Rawson as it looked as though it was closed! A coastal resort that caters for the holiday makers and did not appear to have much to offer us and we could do with getting a little closer to Peninsula Valdes. We left Rawson via Trelew and as we were on the ring road skirting the town itself we passed by the local tip, rubbish strewn and plastic bags on the wind as crowds of scavengers raked trough the deposited waste. For the next few miles the landscape was littered with thousands of polythene bags snagged on the stunted plants.

Arriving in Puerto Madryn at 1600 the hotel Bahia Nueva offered a good deal with secure parking and would be our base for the next two nights. This is a busy town with lots of Argentinean tourists and a bustling night life; not that we seem to be doing much night life, it’s about all we can do to get out to eat and sleep!

15 May 06 (Mon). When we arrived at Trelew’s yesterday we were astonished at the rise in the temperature. We’d come off the high ground at a high of 650 meters to sea level in a very short period of time where the temp had risen to about 20 degrees C. So today having check the temp assumed that we had arrived at summer and could ditch the thermals. Well as we got to Peninsula Valdes we were certain that we’d made the wrong decision, a damp overcast day with wind!

The Peninsula Valdes is a nature sanctuary where whales, orcas, seals, sea lions, penguins etc congregate at different times throughout the year. Unfortunately we were at the wrong time to everything except some seals and sea lions. Oh to have seen a whale, or even better attend an Orcas seal feast, it’d be like a beach barbeque, bring your own seal!

The riding was interesting as the peninsula has a perimeter track of 210 kms of gravelled track. Marbles again with a couple of exits into the side when it all got too much and my speedo cable broke!

16 May 06 (Tue). Now the push to Buenos Aires with a ride of 560 miles, with most of it leaning on the wind until we crossed the Rio Colorado at Rio Colorado and headed east with a strong tail wind, shear luxury. Rio Colorado also marked a significant change in terrain and agriculture. Arable and beef farming, with fields the size of counties and as we rode further east the extent of the agriculture increased, becoming more industrialised and on a grander scale.

17 May 06 (Wed). The final 350 mile ride to Buenos Aires was without incident or real note worthy comment. Or have I lost the will to type? The approach to the city was as you’d expect from any capital city, high speed motorway feeding into it and then traffic confusion as everyone tries to get their lane for the exit. We lost count of the number of tolls we had to pay and each time we cleared a barrier it was wacky races all over again!

From our week in the Falklands we had met John Fowler who wrote an article about us, but more important he gave us a contact in Bs Aires, Nick Tozer who could help if needed. John also gave us a contact in Uruguay who we have been talking to about the next leg. We had spoken to Nick last night and he was trying to find us a hotel and the details of the BMW dealership. The arrangement was to get into the city centre and phone him for an update. Finding a place to stop without incurring the wrath of traffic wardens was fun, not helped in the fact that there was a protest rally marching through the city centre as we were trying to get through. We also had our first offer of drugs, well it looked like plastic bags of herbs so we assumed it was and told him to sod off!

We contacted Nick who asked where we were; gave him the street name and in a flash he explained where we were and how to get to a hotel that he thought would be suitable with secure parking. His directions were spot on, not a false turn or deviation, straight to the front door. He came to meet us and give us some useful advice about South America, travelling around it and some do’s & don’t. But most importantly he had located BMW and liaised with them for tyres, speedo cable and an oil change.

18 May 06 (Thu). A ride through downtown Buenos Aires to BM W Corasco Motohaus is much like any other city in the world; taxis and those who know where they are going being intolerant of the unsure tourist who is not exactly sure which turning he wants. Adopting the usual defensive posture with two Beamers riding in close formation, one blocking for the other, as well as the threat that we might clipping their car wing with our panniers seems to give us just about enough room to manoeuvre. We were off to get a pair of rear tyres and an oil change. We arrived at Corasco Motohaus to be met by Nick who was standing in the road making sure that we did not overshoot the shop front and Marclo Sole and Large Finnen who would sort out our requirements. Nick opened the batting in Spanish, explaining to Large what we needed; that was fine; ah, but Large explained in very clear English that the tyres come in sets of a front and rear, you cannot separate them. That’s about double the rubber we need and do not really want to carry the extra front as we both still have an unused one each. This does mean that we will be carrying two fronts and a rear as spares each. A bit excessive but we must have the rear tyres as mine is now a slick having covered over 4000 miles of quite demanding riding. Mick Ss’ rear tyre still has a few millimetres of tread, but it would be a case of “penny wise pound foolish” if we did not take the opportunity to get new rubber now and fully prepare ourselves for the next few thousand miles.
The oil change would not be a problem nor fitting the speedo cable, but what they suggested was that the bikes have covered a good distance already and are going to continue to work hard until the next service opportunity; whenever that might be? They offered to clear bikes of their service schedule to provide a full BMW service today in order that we can still make our ferry to Uruguay tomorrow. Now that’s service.

We left BMW and walked back to the hotel in the pouring rain via a tool shop to get a replacement spanner that broke the other day. It is amazing, everywhere we go with the bikes or in riding cloths people are curious about what we are doing, when we explain the aspiration there is disbelief, amusement, amazement and encouragement. This shop was no exception.

Just collected the bikes, full service plus two tyres and a speedo cable 1800 pesos (£369) and all done with no appointment. A hearty thanks to Marclo and Large.

During our research for this trip we read numerous reports on various websites of the friendly encounters from all quarters that is initiated by the presence of these sorts of bikes. It’s the equivalent of taking a puppy for a walk; the difference is that if you’re a bloke with a puppy, it’s likely to be a lady who engages you in conversation. With bikes, its more blokes (must get a puppy too)!

Charities. Thank you to all of you who have made donations to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity your donations are very gratefully received and will help to make a difference to all those who are suffering.

The Pirate Trust “just for kids” has received a donation from British Airways in the form of a number of tickets for the London Eye and have been auctioned during PirateFM Radiothon charity auction. We would like to thank British Airways for their support. Unfortunately we do not know how much they made yet?

Although we are trying to raise money for The Pirate Trust we are being frustrated by the in ability to donate. The Pirate Trust has applied for registration with http://www.justgiving.com/ and when they have completed the formalities with “justgiving” and the Inland Revenue it will provide a secure site to make donations. Please be patient.

Contacting us. On the website Comments box we added a permission to print box for anyone who would be happy for their emails to be published. We would like to post your emails on the website as there are some funny, rude and informative ones that we would like to share. We will not publish your email unless you’ve ticked the affirmative or if we think the content is unsuitable. By unsuitable I mean a personal email to us or the sender or it could be compromising!! Please let us know if we can publish.

Statistics:
We have been out of the UK for 28 days and we have:
Travelled by air nearly 8000 miles
Ridden:
Days in the saddle 20 days
Days out of the saddle 8
Miles ridden 4000
Hours of ridding 61
Average speed 51 mph
Fuel used 430 lts

Our intention for the next week.

Did we reach our goals of last week; yes just about, but only with some long days in the saddle. The intention for the next week is to:

20 May 06 (Sat). Ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.

21 May 06 (Sun). Ride to Montevideo

23 - 24 May. Ride to Iguazu Falls on the tri borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

25 May 06 (Thu). Iguazu Falls

26 May 06 (Fri). Cross Paraguay from Puerto Pres Stressnor to Asuncion. Intending to then head off west across Argentina to the Valle de la Luna “The valley of the Moon”