Carretera Austral - Puerto Montt to Cochrane (20-23 Feb)

Arrrr me harties!

So another update...the amazing Carretera Austral (Chile Ruta 7). 

20th Feb 2011 (155 km) - Hornopiren (camp).  I left Puerto Montt this morning and hit the lovely dirt Carretera Austral.  It skirted the bays for 50 km or so before I headed for an alternate hilly route!  Sensational riding at the least!  Had to catch a ferry before reaching Hornopiren (cost 6650 Chile pesos with moto) and arrived right as it was about to leave...perfecto!  On the way to Hornopiren I met 3 poms/scotts on bicycles and had a yarn.  They were riding the Carretera Austral...as were hundreds of other cyclists!  I ended up catching them up in Hornopiren again.  From Hornopìren you have to catch a ferry to Caleta Gonzalo (costs 10000 pesos for you and 12000 for moto).  I hadn´t booked a ticket due to internet problems so was hoping there would be space for a measly little moto!  I grabed some chorizos and bread and headed off in search of a camp.  And then I realised I had dropped my wallet somewhere!  Shivers me timbers! I ended up finding it a block away from the supermarker...minus 10000 pesos (20 AUD) but with coins still!  Lucky it was just a secondary wallet!  After riding out of town for about 10km I found an absolutely beautiful stream under the mountains and set the moto and camp up on a small hill next to the creek (message me for GPS location).  I managed to bog the bike trying to get it onto the hill!  So I offloaded the luggage and after a few goes a local bloke helped me get her up top!  A few locals were fishing, so I had a dig...again to no avail!  A shower was needed badly so I decided to test the water...and my Australian balls.  It seemed great to the touch of me feet...so I dove in and instantly went numb...must have been fed by the snow on that beautiful mountain above eh!  I hopped out after about 10 secs of vigorous scrubbing.  Funny thing...about half an hour later when I was nice and warm...several local Chileans came down for a swim.  They knew it was cold but braved it for a few minutes!  NUTS I tell ya!  I slept out under the mountain and stars with the sound of the trickling creek running by me...tranquilo!

21st Feb 2011 (135 km) - Near Lake Yelcho (camp).  Today was one of those thrilling days where you either make it onto the ferry...or you wait around killing time for days til the next one.  I rocked up to the ferry in Hornopiren and after waiting for all the cars to load they started the waiting list.  I was about 5th down.  Turns out they couldnt take any more vehicles, even though there was a few cars space, its a law on vehicle number.  So after a bit of begging, asking nicely, throw in a few por favors and sprinkle it with a look of desparation...they let me on!  WOOOHOOO! 

(Note:  Bikers, book your ticket earlier (Hornopiren to Caleta Gonzalo) with Naviera Austral online)

So the trip was to take a few hours so some minor maintenance and chopping down my electrics dashboard was done, with a few yarns with the locals, a cup of mate here and there and some viewtaking!    One Chilean bloke actually helped me use my hacksaw blade (no handle) to saw the dashboard to size!  Amazing!  Made some k´s after departing C.  Gonzalo and made it to Chaiten.  I had to find a guy around town to drill a couple of holes in my dashboard for the GPS mount.  After plenty of asking I finally found a gentleman who kicked over his Jenny and booted up the drill!  Fantastic!  I pushed on a bit further and camped nearby a lake on an old logging track.  Fantastic spot with some good tucker to boot!

22nd Feb 2011 (353) - Coihaique - A locals woodshed (camp). 
Another amazing day of riding on the Carretera Austral with great views, roadside waterfalls, lakes, cyclists, creeks, cyclists, locals and some cyclists.  We had to catch another ferry near Puyuhuapi as the road was being dynamited (which affected the salmon farms below - apparently the compression waves from the TNT could burst the swim bladders of the salmon, causing a slight problem for the farms!).  This ferry was free though and met 4 cars worth of Germans headed towards Ushuaia!  Towards the end of the day I pulled up at a local ranch and asked to camp.  An old bloke asked an old lady and said I could crash in one of their sheds.  So I pulled over underneath it and a couple of minutes later the ol fella came lookin for me.  He didnt see me so I called out and he came over.  He was old and possibly a little demented in his old age and just stared and said "siiiiiiii" everytime I said anything.  And then 5 blokes rocked up in a truck as well...my gut feelings were pretty wrong here, so following my instincts I jumped on the bike and headed to town 10k away where I asked a lad in his front yard in town if I could camp.  He took me about the back and as it was raining let me camp in his woodshed...which he swept out and cleaned for me!  I´ve been giving Aussie 10c coins to people as a gift and occasionally a postcard of my bike and I with a thanks note...so I gave him these.  Great people are definitely out there!

23rd Feb 2011 (442 km) - Land Before Time Valley (Argentina Border) (camp). 
Today I took off and made it south to Cochrane and then back north a bit and East for my first border crossing.  Was an absolute breeze at the Roballos crossing.  10 mins each side.  By this stage it was about 2000h and I was ready to camp.  After taking some photos of a lad who´d just caught a stray armadillo I headed on into Argentina a few k´s and found some hills to hide behind near some cliffs which over looked a valley...which looked exactly like the valley out of land before time!!!  Absolutely amazing!!!!!!  Rock wallabies were a hoppin, llamas were a roamin and bunnies were a boundin...but not close enough to my tyre. These beautiful things made it a sensational first night in Argentina...despite just catching the sniffles!

Bikers Notes
- book the Hornopiren - Caleto Gonzalo ferry (Naviera Austral)
- this place is about 10-20k East of the Argentina border on the L Posadas road to Bajo Caracoles.  Message me for GPS location. 
- ALSO, there is no fuel between Coihaique and Cochrane...about 350k.
- I believe there is a crossing East of Villa O´Higgins but only doable by mountain bike or foot.  A guy did it on a DRZ-400 but said it was really difficult.

 

 

Lakes and Volcanoes - Santiago to Puerto Montt

Ahoy all!

So I´ve finally found a computer, time, and have my notepad and pictures to do a proper update.  Currently I´m in Ushuaia but I´m behind on posts so I´ll update on the first 2 weeks of riding since leaving Santiago - which is all riding in Chile.  

I left Santiago on the 16th February (2011) around 1500.  I had ridden 2 blocks and realised I left my sausages to make completos (hotdogs) in the freezer...and there they stayed.  The maze of one way streets was something I was not used to and usually was quicker to walk 2 blocks than try and navigate your way home!  My plan was to head to Lake Colbun, about 4 hrs south of Santiago and camp and fish for the first night.  There were 3 toll gates on the way which are an absolute painintheass for a rider...wearing gauntlet riding gloves makes it near impossible to get money out and then return the change and take off without frustrating other drivers!!  The day of riding was all highway bitumen except the last 50km or so.  Great to finally have some gravel roads...but still no trails!  I arrived at Lake Colbun around 2000 and asked a guy and a girl in a car where I could camp.  The bloke said he was looking for a camp too (turns out the girl was someone he had asked for camping places, and wanted to spend the night with him!).  I rode around the lake for a bit and the bloke ended up finding me and we camped under some massive trees, had a fire and some spectacular camp pasta and yarned in some terrible Spanglish!  The moon was out and the lake was lit up like a firefly!  No need for a mattress or tent as the sand was welcoming and the night was beautiful.  A fantastic first night out!  311 km today.

Pics - 1. When I left Santiago...blue bag CHOCKAS of food. 2. Camp at Pucon Lake.  3. Gettin clean!

17th Feb (655 km today) - Pucon (Camp).  The next day I packed up and we went for a swim and I tried a bit of fish...but to no avail!  After a refreshing naked swim (had no spare clothes out and riding wet is shite to say the least) I headed off back towards the highway and further south.  The highway driving was quite boring with cars everywhere and OK views...so "un espresso doble por favor" (noone understands me it seems even when I speak slow) livened me up.  I decided to head towards Pucon, a touristy lake getaway and wanted to get there by riding dirt roads around a volcano I found on the GPS.  The roads were absolutely stunning and turned into nice trails with flowers and tall pine trees lining the way.  The volcano towered above me as I rode around it eastwards and then south towards Pucon.  Did nearly get wiped out by a bloke in a ute goin way too fast on a corner!!!  This day was one of the best so far on the trip...absolutely tranquilo.  I eventually reached Pucon and after some hostel visiting, I eventually retired at a paid campsite and camped out.  The town lies on a lake, below a smouldering volcano...stunning!


Pics - 1. Pucon Lake  2 & 3. Volcanoes!

18th Feb (328 km) - Puerto Varas (Camp).  After leaving Pucon I checked out a couple of the lakes and took some pics with Nessie and the volcano.  From Pucon I headed to Puerto Varas and having nowhere to stay again I asked some people on the street where I could camp and got lead to a hill just on the edge of the town.  I asked a lady here if I could camp inside her yard and after some confusion she said yes, but I had to leave because papi was coming home!  Hilarious.  Some girls came out and giggled...I guess a gringo with a moto making completosand camping in their yard is quite unusual!  The night was absolutely beautiful and had great views over the town.

19th Feb (30 km) - Puerto Montt (Casa Perla).  I woke up quite early in P. Varas and headed for Puerto Montt a few clicks down the road.  I needed a prep day as the next day would be the start of the Carretera Austral and dirt roads.  A shower for myself, and some minor bike maintenance was essential!  I pulled up early at a hostebedajae, Casa Perla, 8000  Chile pesos per night (16 AUD) and had somewhere to park the bike.  I had heard a rattle on the bike and had a paranoid moment that the trip was over! I found it was just a bolt had come off on the muffler heatguard and it was rattling...to the ferreteria (mitre 10 equivalent)!!  I selected a few bolts and washers and the guy gave them to me for free!  Fantastic!  Problem solved!  I met an American bloke (Zeke) and he suggested I go with him to the fish markets for lunch...sounds great!  On the walk there, I noticed 2 young lads with punkass haircuts (general messes) and jumpers over their arms just behind us.  We popped into a chocolate shop for a look and when we came out they were only just ahead of us.  I pulled up Zeke and said to Zeke a mate from home told me to watch out for jumpers on arms and that these guys were sus as (thanks Woz for the tip!!!).  We made it to the fish markets and pulled into a tiny shop and sat down to order...and for some reason I looked over and busted the 2 guys walking by and one pointing in, as if to say...there they are!  Suckers I got you fkers!  Never saw them again. Zeke proceeded to tell me he was with an Aussie guy who was in Santiago, they went out one night, met some nice locals, and the next day the Aussie bloke was heading to the bus station when they came by (man and woman) in a taxi and asked him to come for a coffee.  They drugged his coffee and he woke up outside of Santiago on a road, with no bags, guitar, clothes...just his passport!  Holleefarkinshit!  Puerto Montt was quite a nice town all in all.  Picked up some fishing gear and a rainjacket for the Patagonian weather and all was swell.  The bike and I were prepped to go!

Pics - 1. The camp and completos at Puerto Varas.  2.  The sunrise at P. Varas  3.  Crazy triathlonners at P. Varas at 8am!  4.  Fish market in P Montt  5.  Zeke and some locals at a fish market dining booth  6.  Kids and the boat that didnt rock

Quick Update

Ahoy all!
I hope this finds you all well!!!  Unfortunately I forgot my notepad so I´ll give a quickie update!  I´m currently in Puerto Natales.  I left Santiago on the 16th Feb and travelled down Caretera Austral and Ruta 40.  Over the last three days I trekked the Torres del Paine ("the W") and was absolutely stunning!   Have just finished a major maintenance day on the bike as she´s done 4000km since Santiago (oil change, filter change, air filter clean, lubing, tightening, kissing etc).  I did the TdP trek in 3 days as I was constantly paranoid about where I left the bike chained up (between a tree and a hostel building).  The trek was still absolutely phenomenal!!!  Great camping, great views, great walking and all done with a duffle bag over one shoulder (no space for a backpack on a bike!!).  The trek seems to be getting more and more popular so many people are on the trail at all times it seems.

Before the trek I stayed in El Chalten for 2 night which was unreal also!  A chilled out little village under the cliffs and stars of the night sky!  A day trek here led me to tres lagos (3 lakes) high up in the hills which was also abolutely stunning...and as I left I lost my snow virginity...seeing snow for the first time (although wet snow and quite horizontal and unpleasant).  I also saw the Perito Moreno glacier which was farrrrrkin stunning!!!  Saw half a glacier fall into the abyss below and create a wave large enough to surf and sounds like they were from the bowels of a demon!


A quick update on the biking...Nessie is handling like a bat out of hell!  Perfectly and maniacally!  So far I´ve camped underneath a volcano, beside a lake, on the cliffs above a valley (replica of the land before time movie), in people´s woodsheds, yards and houses (just by asking) and everywhere else in between!  Fishing has seen little love and showers even less!  Although me armpits did get a service and lubrication today along with Nessie!


Now heading for Ushuaia and then up the Argentinean coastline.  I´ll leave you with a couple of pics until the next proper story!  Take care and be good!  If not, be good at what you´re doing!
Love Rossy.

Salut Santiago!

Ahoy there all!

Tomorrow (16th Feb) I start heading south for Ushuaia and net access will be less frequent!  Planning on camping as much as possible and the first place I reach tomorrow should be Colbun Lake near Talca, which also has hot springs nearby!!!  Fishing, swimming.  mmmm.  So a little blurb about the shananigans in Santiago before I leave...

I arrived in Santiago on the 5th Feb after a hectic few days of travelling with the akubra lieing aloft thy head (Bris -Auckland - Buenos Aires - Santiago).  And all were overnight!  The akubra has certainly attracted some of the craziest looks from people and a couple of andale andale eeba eeba´s!

On the 4th in New Zealand I visited Rangitoto Island.  A grand little island that popped out of the ocean about 400-600 years ago after a volcano eruption in the ocean.  Pretty little place now!  In Buenos Aires on the 4th/5th I had to change airports across the city which was bloody hectic because some crazy uni estudiantes were havin some crazy dance fest at the entrance of each one because they had nothing better to do.  What should we do today Pablo, I´m bored...Oh lets farkin protest!  Brilliant!  Ended up having the good ol tuna wraps (best transit food ever) for lunch and dinner and slept on the floor in the airport.  From BA to Santiago there were miles and miles of paddocks...and then the breathtaking Andes!

Flying over the start of the Andes

Upon arriving in Santiago on the 5th we had a massive feast (ceviche) and went to town for some local dancing!  Great stuff.  After waking up quite hungover at 1330, I decided to checkout Cerro San Cristobal (big hill in Santiago with statue).  So went for a stroll to the hill and accidentally bought a ticket for the cable car to the top (I thought it was the park entrance fee - WRONG!)  Sunset was at about 2100 and was absolutely beautiful, setting over the city with a vibrant red glow accentuating the (holy shit) Andean mountains  in the background.  

Pics: 1. Cerviche at the hostel.  2. Skatepark alive on the weekend.  3.  Homeless bloke I gave pesos to for a pic  4.  Santiago from San Cristobal.  5.  San Cristobal statue  6.  Chillin'

 The next few days were spent checking out the fresh food and fish markets!  Absolutely amazing!  Eg. 2 kilos of peaches for 500 Chilean pesos ($1 AUD).  $1/kg for strawberries, nectarines, plums, tomatoes, bananas and more!!!  Fresh fish is available at the markets as well.  After a few days of walking around Santiago (staying at Ventana Sur Hostel) I got itchy feet while waiting for the bike to arrive so decided to nick off to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar for a couple of days (10/11^th Feb). 

 

Pics: Fish market and completos

 Valparaiso is a coastal city about an hour n a half away from Santiago by bus.  I rocked up and threw me bags in the hostel and took off through the city to get to the beach to go fishing!!!  I finally found a rocky point and several other keen local anglers!  They had been catching small mackerel.  The locals hooked me up with a special lure they make that has red cotton on it!  Unfortunately I quickly disposed of this lure into the sea due to an untimely problem with my reel!  Still unsolved, but soon enough we will be back on the fishing frontier!  I spent the night in a hostel in Valparaiso (Angel Hostal) and then checked out the beaches at Viña del Mar the next day.  Both places were beautiful with freezing cold monster waves crashing on the beach! 

 

 Pics:  Beach at Valparaiso.  Fishing views at Valparaiso.

Back in Santiago again I spent the next few days organising to get the bike and leave with it...and relaxing, eating several thousand completos (hotdogs with the wam bam thankyou mam – the lot) and going to the salsa club 2 blocks down the road.  This gringo certainly cannot dance the salsa like the locals but gave it a fair shot with some of them!  Couples dancing are very intimate and its most impressive!  Lads...the ladies sway their hips like nowhere I´ve seen before!  One of these nights the hostel owner joined several of us and we ended up in town at a rock pub (first song I heard was Whiskey in the Jar by METALLICA!!).  When we arrived back to the hostel the owner (Ivan, one of the kindest and best blokes I´ve met on this trip yet) was asking to keep salsaing in the living room...and then 2 minutes later was passed out on the couch with a grand nikko mustache, goatee and “I Love Mumi” on his forehead.  Apparently this stayed there til midday the next day...with new guests signing on, cleaners and maintenace staff and friends all seeing him and not mentioning it!!! SUPERB!


Pics: Ivan (black shirt) and his cousin cookin a barbie!  AMAZING tasting steak and some chorizos!  Beautiful dog I was trying to get some good colour contrast with but she moved...then got humped by male dog # 46,543.  Cerveza and vino at the hostel. 3 legged dog pissing!

On the 15^th Feb I finally picked up Nessie!  It was a run around the airport to get paperwork sorted but it was all done with some great Spanglish!  For those wanting to know the process search on the HUBB (www.horizonsunlimited.com) for details of flying a bike from Australia to Santiago ($3000 AUD total).  The poor girl had been tipped on an angle and had landed on the helmet.  Luckily though, as I think the helmet had stopped it falling completely over.  The front fender, and one indicator had been bent and that was it.  The handle bars were put back on and BAM...we were reunited on the road!  Although, a minute after leaving the airport...I heard whirring!!!  Sirens!?  Surely not already ay!  Turns out my new 50/50 knobblies whirr quite a bit on the bitumen!  Haha!  So all was well and we made it back to the hostel with the aid of the lovely GPS...I´m foo-kin useless in cities!  And especially when every second street is a one way street, sending you on laps of the city to get home!

Pics:  Ivan and Baaaaarbs salsaing it up.  The salsa shack.  The little dog was the envy of the biggggen.  Ivan passed the fark out.  Lunch.

 

Pics:  Peeled a thoooousand prawns.  "Desculpe señor.  Tienes humbre?" (excuse me sir, you hungry?).  

The last few night I´ve spent outside on my blowup mattress as I didnt book a bed for long enough (was expecting my bike to arrive on the 8^th).  But it´s been sensational weather for camping!  Can´t wait mate!  My final night in Santiago...I had bought a kilo of prawns for 6 bucks from the fish market which was way too much!  A “madye kilo por favor” (half kilo please) was responed with a “no, una kilo solo” (no, one kilo only).  So having so much prawns I decided to cook garlic prawns and rice and head down to the park to share with some of the homeless who camp on the benches.  Frankie (a dirty pom, great bloke though) joined me and we tracked down a few very appreciative sleeping stomachs.   

And this brings me to now...0300 in Santiago, writing my last entry for a while perhaps.  Keep an eye out and...

Hasta luego amigos!!!

Current South American Location

Nessie - How she was setup

Hola all!  Currently in Santiago in Ventana Sur Hostel.  One of the nicest in Santiago...with a pool too! Highly recommended!  Have done a bit of walking around in the city.  Some amazing sights here!  Markets are brilliant and grapes, plums, mangoes and more come in at about $1 per kilo!  South Americans are wonderful people!  So many beautiful faces and natures.  A walk through the city will see dogs roaming the streets, cars cruising down tree-lined streets on the right (wrong!) side, people skating in the parks all day long, Chilean couple smooching in the parks and people exercising on the equipment in the parks.  There are convenience shops, bottlos and restaurants lining the streets!  My first day here we had ceviche for dinner (fresh fish cooked in lemon juice) and local cerveza (beer) and vino (wine) and then went to a club and danced it up with the locals!  An amazing scene.  The afternoon was spent watching the sun go down (at 2100h) on San Cristobal, overlooking the beautiful city of Santiago.

Sooooo...the bike.  My bike arrives on the 8th so will stay around here until then and begin heading to Ushuaia when she arrives.  I decided to do this trip in July 2010 which gave me about 6 months to prepare.  The 2010 Suzuki DR650 was dubbed "Nessie"...ask me why over a beer some time.  In the 6 months a few things were done to make it road ready for the world...and a lot less was done to it than others have done to the same model.  They include:

- fitting Dunlop D606 tyres (similar to Continental TKC80s)

- making 2 pannier racks and one top rack (replacing the stock pillion handles and moving the indicators onto the rack

- removing the sidestand killswitch

- adding a switch to turn all the lights off on the bike

- adding 2 12V cigarette adapters with inline fuses and switches

- adding barkbusters and a windshield (problematic as they use the same mounting space on the bars - yet to be resolved)

- adding an inline fuel filter and tap on a T-piece for stove filling.

- fabricating an aliminium mount on the handle bar mounts for all the switches and cigarette adapters

- adding a small sheepskin to the stock seat - really makes no difference I think

- added bashplate and aluminium footrest on front for extra body movement (chopper style on a dirtbike!)

- still have stock - tank, bars, seat, jetting/airbox, pipe

See some pics below.  More later!

                                   The family before I left.                                  My brother!

                                          Rack on RHS                                       LHS rack.