Finally the famous route 40 in Argentina

   Day 19 (278 km) 

     Left Natales for the Argentinian border going north towards NP Torres deL Paine about 65 km away on a beautiful new paved road. The park is the main attraction in the area and considered the eighth wonder of the world and is a mekka for hikers in the high Andes! We decided not to go and entered Argentina instead on a desolated dirt road by a border post called “Cerro Castilla” and 15 minutes later, we were 2 stamps in our passport richer again. The weather was very nice today with lots of sun, dry and warm walking and cool on the moto and not too much breeze.

    To get to Route 40, we had to do another 10 km on ripio and then the (in)famous Route 4o ( more as 5000 km long from the Bolivian border to Cabo Virginas , just south of Rio Gallegos on the Atlantic ocean) showed up and went north on a brand new paved road towards Calafata 200 km away. About halfway, we had another 60 km ripio and on the junction was a very lonely gas station

 and around 4  pm we entered Calafata, a very touristic small town and this place was the base for all the Glaciar parks 80 km more to the west and the most well-known was called “Perito Moreno” we are going there tomorrow! Calafata was also situated on the south shore of one of the famous lakes Argentina has, “Lago Argentino”

     Found a motel like hotel with a nice courtyard and were able to park the bikes in front of the room and decided to stay 2 nights. Walked the busy mean street later that evening and this village was full of tourists and this was still considered low season!

Flat tire syndrome in Punta Arenas!

Day 18 ( 293 km)

    Had to get up around 4:30 in the morning and it was all ready daylight to catch the ferry from Porvenir to Punta Arenas and precisely 6 am, we reached the dock, which was about 5 km away from the overpriced hotel. Went inside to pay for the 2 bikes $ 21.00 each and the riders are free!

     Putting the bikes on the boat, Scotty noticed, I had a flat rear tire and I was almost sure there was a conspiracy against me if it comes to flat tires. There is no where in this world, I can get more as 10 flat tires since the bike left Honduras and Scotty had never had a flat tire yet. Start to think what happened this time, because I just put a brand new tire on the bike in Ushuaia 500 km ago and drove the last 150 km on ripio and nothing happened! Anyway they secured the bikes on the ferry with straps and we went upstairs to get some coffee. Met a Dutch couple with a jeep and asked them to help me on the other side after we leave the ferry with my bike, using their cigarette socket in their car to use our 12 volt pump. Had a nice conversation with them and they had almost similar plans as we did to get to the north of Argentina and Chile, so probably will bump again 
into them!

     During the 2 hour trip, I was hoping that the flat was caused by a nail or so instead of guessing again why I have these problems and was the happiest man in the world, when I found a very small broke off nail in the tire and this time finally I new the reason and was relieved. As well the flat happened on a convenient spot, right by the ferry, instead of in the middle of nowhere, so after all I was "lucky"

     Changed the inner tube quick in Punta Arenas and took off in drizzling weather for Puerto Natales about 250 km north. 

     The nice paved road had almost no traffic and nowhere to stop from not getting wet, but on the end it wasn't too bad and it start to clear up just before Puerto Natales, which is surrounded by snow capped mountains and on first site entering the small town, they were depending completely on tourists and had tens of Hostels in town  and found one quick in the centre and a lot of tourist were walking the streets and there were plenty of restaurants, one next to the other.

Chile and on our way towards Punta Arenas

Day 17 (237 km)

     The breeze made so much noise last night, that it kept us wake all night. Around 7 tried to take a shower, but only boiled hot water came out the faucet, no cold water was working. 

The day started bad already and the wind was hauling outside, but clear skies.

      we started to prepare to do the 90 km on paved road to the Chilean border, but it took almost 2 hours and sometimes could not go more as 40 km due to the intense  side wind we encountered, god only knows how strong it was. If a truck passed us either way, the breeze almost picked us up and throw you of your bike and our hands were starting getting cold and cramped up again, from desperately holding on to the handlebar and trying the moto up straight. Most of the time it felt we were riding in a 45 degree angle!

      The 2 border post 14 km apart, went fast. Drank some coffee and a pastel and prepared for the next 150 km on dirt road (ripio) to get to Porvenir, which is the capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego of the Chilean side.

   The first 50 km went reasonable, but then the gravel started to thicken up and 4 hours later we sailed in Porvenir. Made reservation on the ferry for Punta Arenas and is leaving tomorrow 7 am sharp and the voyage is 2 hours!

      Looked for an hotel and all were located in one street, but none came up so far we could compare it to, but all charged $ 50.00 US and more. 

We knew Chile was expensive, but now we knew for sure!

Back to Honduras, give or take 15000 km as the crow flies

Day 16 (212 km)

     Packed the motorcycles again this morning and were heading north now to ........ Honduras, but that will take a while to get there. Back tracked the same road to Rio Grande, where we decided to stay again to watch the soccergame "Holland - Colombia" . 

     You could see that that all roads lead to Ushuaia and it was unbelievable that of every 3 vehicles coming from the opposite direction had German license plates on their small Mercedes camper buses and some of them where Swiss.  All left for Ushuaia now, was to have German written menus in the restaurants, if it wasn't done already!

Trying Scotty's new toy, Go Pro video camera on the only pass between Ushuaia and Rio Grande

     The first 100 km today was cold and we found even ice on the moto's this morning! The last 100 km after we left the protected hills and reached the flats, the wind started to haul and I know we had 90 to 100km steady wind out of the north west bucking us and we had an hard time staying on the road and 2 pm we reached exhausted and with a stiff neck and cramped arms, Rio Grande.

Playing in the snow, on our rest day in Ushuaia!

Day 15 (0 km)

   Decided to visit the Glaciar Martial, just a few km up the road. Took a cable car and a few minutes later were on the top and had a pretty view of Ushuaia and of the seaway called Beagle Channel. On the top snow was still present and it actually started to snow!

     Went back into town and had lunch in a fish restaurant and had big Mussels, took my siesta and waiting on dinner tonight!