The 1st day without bikes - Heading to Santiago

At Sunday we had 5:40am flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago so we got up already before 3am with Mikas iPhones psychedelically ringing and flashing alarm.

It was easier to wake up because the shower provided only cold water. The breakfast was few cookies which big-hearted Mikko shared with us.

The packing at last night had been quite an episode in a 10 square meter room but we managed to stuck all the stuff back in the Ikea sacks. Some extra duct tape was needed due the sacks had got some hit already.

The hosteria lady took us to the airport. It was dark as hell and of course, already windy. Check-in wasnt open yet so we had to wait a bit. 

This was the first day without the bikes so the trip was already at its final but we were still exited to experience Santiago cause no one of use had visited the city before. It had been a good idea to book the flights so that we could spend one night in sunny Santiago before heading back to Finland, where winter  was at its coldest. The last days rides hadnt been so warm anyway.

Somehow it felt a bit weird cause for 14 days our main goal had been to ride certain amount of kilometers on a bike saddle and now we didnt have those goals anymore. I think that the memories and moments will come to mind more strongly later after the trip. Then this blog will get usefull for us writers also. The best thing with this kind of blog is that it keeps the memories alive till the eternity and when speaking about the trip with someone, its easy to show things from the blog. I think that in the future we will see more of this kind of trip blogs from the authors of this one.

(To reveal a little secret, we already started to plan the next trip which would be arranged to the South-East part of Africa at 2017. That would be a grade 5 level trip when this Patagonia had been grade 4 when it comes to difficulty of the route. But more about the future plans later on..)

Flight to Santiago took about four hours and in the middle we made a stop at some smaller city.

At Santiago airport we tried to find a bigger taxi and we had decided to find one with a good price also. You know how it usually goes at the airports; of course the most proactive sales guy tried to convince us and actually took our luggage trolley and started to take us to his associates vehicle, which naturally was missing. After yelling to his phone for a while the minivan actually arrived to near by parking lot. 

The price didnt end up to be the best one but at least we got to our next accomodation smoothly. And the accomodation was actually the best one we had had so far. Four bedroom and three bathroom apartment at a great location beside the Santiago National Library and beautiful parks. 

The owner recommended us some restaurant areas and sight seeing places.

After walking a few minutes through a nearby lush parks, beside the river which flew through the city to a near by restaurant area, we already got a feeling that Santiago is a beautiful city which should be explored with much more time. There lives about about 5 million inhabitants in Santiago, which is third of the whole Chiles population. Santiago de Chile was founded by mr Pedro de Valdivia at February 1541. It became the capital at 1818. 

After enjoying the first cervezas we took the 'Funicular', which is a special made cable railway, to a hill called Cerro San Cristobal. The railway was opened at 1925 and is one of the main things to experience in Santiago.

From the hill opened a beautiful scenery over the city. The hill was full of religious icons, including a 22 meter tall Blessed Virgin Mary statue on the top. 

When coming back down from the hill, we decided to take a shortcut through the bushes. It was plus 30 degrees so even going downhill got us to swet in the sun.

When almost down, we faced actually the first injury at the whole trip when Manu hurt his toe when sliding down the hill with his flipflops. The injury was a major one, as you can see from the picture, but Manu bravely continued without crying at all. Fortunately we had a surgeon in team so he got a proper medical care fast.

Actually we had been fortunate that after riding with motorcycles almost 20000 km together in a strongly variable terrains for two weeks, this was the biggest injury. And happened while walking, not with a bike.

We ate a great lunch at a nearby outside restaurant street and enjoyed the sun and lively Sunday afternoon atmosphere.

After the lunch we met our old friends Chewbacka and Startrooper who were also traveling in Chile.

We got back to the apartment where some of us took a short nap while the others continued enjoying some refreshments and good music.

Later on at the evening we had the last dinner on this amazing trip at a nearby dinner place.

The day ended with a great conversation about life and business between a heart surgeon, economic, car brand manager and entrepreneur who all shared a strong passion for motorcycling. And that passion had only grown bigger during the last two weeks.

This Patagonian project was about to end but in our memories it will definitely stay forever.

Riding day 14: Penguins and returning the bikes

Our last day in Patagonia started slow. After all, we are on holiday. Our hotel, the Yellow Submarine, turned out to be a disappointment. WiFi worked only occasionally and breakfast was the usual what you get in cheapest hotels; instant coffee and white bread with some jam. No meat, no eggs, no fresh juices, no cheese. This obviously is not a problem for us but the price... The price was maybe the highest we had seen during the entire trip. So for this reason we packed our stuff and moved for few blocks to another hotel. 

After moving our stuff we already went to have some lunch. We were not going anywhere anymore so we didn't need to rush. We had lunch next to our new hotel and started the bikes again at around 2pm. The task for our last day was to find penguines. After some google investigations we decided to go to Otway Sounds (Seno Otway) Magellan penguin colony. The reason for this choice was simple, it was near and no boat needed. So we left the city and drove about 20km north and then after the airport we turned west to the gravel roads. Patagonian winds were quite frighting again... At some point the wind coming from the side just pushed us sideways. No matter the speed, loose gravel under the tires acts like a ball bearings. So when wind is pushing from right, left we go and vice versa. After this incredible figth of around 25kms we finally arrive to the site. There is two separate charges to pay; one for the usage of private road (1500 pesos) to get there and another the see the penquins (7000 pesos). Alltough we are going to see wild animals in their natural environment we realize that this place is just another trap for the tourists. 

We park the bikes and head for the walk towards the sea shore.

After few hunded meters of walk we arrive to first watch point and also find some penguines. We learn that these lovely creatures go out to sea for the day and then arrive back to shore at late afternoon. We see in total of around 25 penguines but all the time some came up from the water. In Otway Sounds lives hundreds of these funny walking birds but we have no time to wait for all of them to arrive.

When we had seen enough of these creatures we walk another way back to parking lot and see also some flamingos in a distance. We have actually seen beautiful pink flamingos several times during our trip but they have always been too far for a qood picture with a phone. As they were this time also.

We have tailwind when we drive the gravel road back towards east and it goes smoothly. But when we turn south to Ruta 9 towards Punta Arenas we face the strongest winds we have experienced during the entire trip. These gusps are so strong they can move a bike 2m to the side in a second. Extremely exhausting 20km or so but we make it. Fueled the bikes in the gas station for the last time and headed to the dropping point. We took all our own gear out of the bikes and handed them over to Moto Aventura's local contact. He examined bikes briefly and that was it. Our motorbike journey had officially ended. Mixed feelings because we gave away the trusty companions which took us up to a volcano, over the deserts and mountains, cross the borders so many times and through Tierra del Fuego all the way to World's end. But at the same time it is a relief. Everything went well and we didn't have a single accident. Now we are just regular travelers with couple bags of materia with us. Not easy to get around but easy to handle.

Dinner and a short sleep. Very early at the morning we head up to Punta Arenas airport and from there to Santiago de Chile. Slowly heading towards home which is more than 15.000km away. Actually our journey homebound started already at Ushuaia, it was the furthest point in this magnificent adventure.

Distance: 120km

Total distance: 4750km

Weather: sunny, +13C, windy as hell!

Riding day 13: Rio Grande - Punta Arenas

We woke up and started the final complete day of the trip from the little industry town called Rio Grande. The road was already familiar to us and there was nothing special before the northern passage to the mainland Argentina. 

We enjoyed the gravel roads, driving through them 100-120km/h. After the ferry we said our farewells to Tierra del Fuego and continued our way towards Punta Arenas. On the way, we spotted an old rusty shipwreck on the shore of the Magellan strait. The rusty wreck reminded us about the history of the islands of Tierra del Fuego, where hundreds of ships have ended their journey to the bottom of the sea. 

After continuing towards Punta Arenas we noticed that our gasoline levels were surprisingly low due to the strong head wind we have had. We decided to reduce our speed and try to reach the city in time. One rider didn't make it and was left 100 meters from the first petrol station in Punta Arenas. Right then we knew who had the heaviest hand on the handle. 

Even though today's road was familiar, we still enjoyed the ride, the sunshine and feeling of traveling. In these passive moments on the bike, your mind starts wondering inside your helmet and inside your own head. Listening to the humming wind outside of your helmet and seeing the landscape passing by gives you a deep relaxed feeling which could be described as one kind of meditation. You don't need to think about riding or controlling the machine you are sitting on. A machine that can hurt you or even kill you if not under control. But you have made an agreement with that machine during the past weeks. You have grown on to your bike and it has grown into you. 

In these kind of trips the days just mix together to a one complete journey. You look at where you're going and where you are and it doesn't have to make sense, then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge. Yesterday we discussed the theoretical possibility of prolonging our trip and driving back all the way to Osorno where we left. All of us would have been willing to do so if such possibility would have existed. 

Motorcycling is truly the best way to travel. You can feel the road under you, taste and smell the air and see way more than with any other ways of traveling. The sense of presence is simply overwhelming. Another thing is going with the daily routines and non routines. The need to adapt to the changing landscapes and climate, different cities and variance in roads, where to spend the next night and where to fill your stomach. In the end, it is the making of the journey that is important. And even though some times it's a little better to travel than to arrive, this day marks the starting of the end of our journey. Our motorcycle trip to South America Patagonia.

Distance travelled: 425km

Total distance: 4642km

Weather: Sunny but windy

Temperature: 10-15c

Riding day 12: Ushuaia sightseeing, bike repair, Ushuaia - Rio Grande

We eat breakfast just before 10. It's Sunny and windy outside. At the yard we see 4 guys on bikes from Brazil. We saw the same guys in a Restaurant in Puerto Natales. We're not in a hurry. We take our time packing the bikes and head to explore Ushuaia. You learn to pack on a trip like this since you pack and unload the bike every day. First we take a small serpentine road up the mountain hill (Luis Fernando Martial) to see the view of the city.

 There are a few hotells on this road and a nice looking restaurant which was full. There was a big closed mountain hotell on the hillside which reminded us of the Over Watch hotell from the movie The Shining.

After this we go see the mechanic who's adress we got the day before to see if he can fix Juha's bike's rear shock absorber. We find the place but the mechanic, Pablo is absent and we find his wife to tell us that. We decide to come back later.

We head downtown for lunch. We find this cozy restaurant/ bar "Fast lunch" and eat there. The walls are covered in stickers and flags and writings and things that people have put there. The place is nice and the food is good. We put a Moto Aventura sticker on their wall with our names on it. 

After lunch we shop for souveniers and have coffee.  

We go to Pablo's place again and now he's there. Pablo doesn't speak a word english but his wife and son translate for us. Pablo says that fixing the rear suspension is no problem. We just have to call Moto Aventura to make sure fixing it is ok with them. Mika calls them, speaks with the mechanic, the mechanic speaks with Pablo. We wait for a confirmation call from the boss from Moto Aventura and in a while he calls back, talks to Pablo and confirms fixing the absorber is a go. We make a deal to get the fixed bike back the same night. Think of the speed of motorcycle service in the southest city in the world! Juha leaves his bike there and we head for "the culture splash" of this trip with 3 bikes Juha travelling on Manu's rear seat. Pablo's workshop shelves are full of trophys and walls are full of pictures of Pablo riding motorcycles. Pablo and his son are and have been succesfull in motocross.

We enter "Museo Del Fin Del Mundo" It's a small and interesting museum telling about the history and nature of Tierra Del Fuego and Ushuaia. 12000 years ago tierra Del Fuego was Part of South American continent. First proof of man was found 6700 years ago. The native tierra Del Fuego residents were guanaco hunters. There were selk'nam living in the center part of the island and Housh in the east. Both were hunter gatherers mainly hunting for guanaco. In lesser extent birds, rodents, sealions, fish, mollusks and beached whales.

The first seamen that arrived to tierra del fuego were European at 16th century. 1520 Ferdinand Magellan discoverd the strait which was first called the strait of all saints, the Only passage between Atlantic and Pacific ocean before the Panama canal was opened in 1914. Dutch expedition led by Willem C. Shoute and Jacob le Maire went around cape horn to access the pacific.

After signing the limit treaty with chile 1881 land expeditions to Tierra del Fuego started. Explorations were aiming at finding resources to encourage permanent settlements. There were Both friendly and hostile encounters with the natives. Mapping was made, places were named, weather conditions were recorded. Ushuaia has also had a penitentiary where Argentina sent the most dangerous convicts. An extremely remote location like Ushuaia is actually a good location for a penitentiary. If you manage to escape the prison, you will either freeze or starve to death on mountains surrounding Ushuaia or desert surrounding the mountains. So this makes it a very hard place to escape. 

After culture Mikko and Mika start for Rio Grande to find a hotell for the next night. Juha and Manu will follow when Juha gets his bike fixed. We were told that the bike would be ready at 21. As me and Mika head out of Ushuaia the weather is cloudy and there are a few drops rain. Temperature is 5,5 celcius, the coldest we 've had this far. As we climb up the mountain road the Temperature drops to 4,5. Single layer leather gloves are too thin for this weather although the gripwarmers are at full power. 

As we climb down the mountain range sky clears up. Sun helps a bit with freezing hands. Next comes low tree forests and following that deserted flat grasslands as we approach rio grande. The wind is very strong and we ride maybe at 20 degree angle leaning toward the wind! This strong wind takes joy out of riding and adds danger to it actually. As we ride through a canyon, suddenly the direction of the wind changes to opposite and then it turns back again. On moments like this you better have both hands on the handel bars and eyes on the road.

Even more challenge strong wind is on gravel roads. Sometimes you have just 1 meter wide space you drive in between piles of loose sand and you really have to pay attention to the wind so it doesn't push you on loose sand and trouble.

We get closer to the city and we get tailwind. This actually deletes the air resistance almost completely and suddenly you can hear the engine and radio and ride is a joy again as you don't have to lean anywhere riding straight. We arrive to Rio Grande and ride to a place that we've checked beforehand. It's somebody's house and They provide accommodation in one part of the house.

Manu and Juha will continue from here with the story of their ride back to Rio Grande...

Manu and Juha:

Mika and Mikko left to Rio Grande at around 6.30pm and Manu and Juha stayed in Ushuaia and continued to sivilize themselves in an other museum near by which had an exhibition about Ushuaias near history.

After that we went to nearby cafe to eat and spend time till Pablo should have been ready with Juha's bike. Through windows we saw some showers and wondered how wet would we be when we arrive to Rio Grande.

At about 8pm we left the cafe in a modest rain. Pablo's garage was now full of guys all repairing something. And talking about Pablo's garage something can be anything... The place was full of partial motorcycles, boat engines, ATVs, grass cutters, car engines etc. Basically it seemed that anything which has ever produced with an engine has been repaird here. We even saw those back-mounted engines for paragliding. And one of them seemed pretty old, can't even imagine a person crazy enough to hang it on their back and fire it up!

One of the workmen was finishing the repair for our bike's rear absorber. That was good news and about 9pm the bike was ready. 

Pablo took Juha's signature to the receipt. The repair cost 2000 Argentinan pesos (about 150 USD) which would be covered by MotoAventura. We were satisfied, thanked Pablo and his men, installed Juha's sidebags in place and hit the road about 9:05pm. There was little bit heavier rain and the air had cooled to +3 degrees. We were guessing that the air would be even more breeze up in the mountains where the road was taking us.

So we were heading up to the mountains when darkness fell together with heavy, low dragging rainclouds. Immediately when we rose higher to the mountains the temperature started to fall... +3,5C... +2,0C.... +1,0C... +0,5C!!! And the pouring rain started to change to snow! Dark clouds made the landscape look even more dangerous as we continued to climb. Local cars were parking to the side because they were afraid of slippery road. But we just pushed on knowing that either we go over the mountains quickly or we have to stay in Ushuaia. Coming from Finland we are not afraid of cold or snow or icy roads. But a facing them with fully loaded motorbike on a curvy mountain road is still something different. 

Due to the rain and moist air we had to drive with visors partly open. And in every few hunded metres we had to swipe the snow of the visors. We could see the road but the details on it were not visible anymore. Rough pavement constantly gave us surpises, luckily this time with fully functioning suspensions! We were all the time keeping on eye on the ground next to the road. As long as the falling snow melts immediately there is no danger of icy roads. Trusting on this we kept the fast pace, taking corners and overtaking other vehicles. 

But the feeling when we reached the other side of the mountains! We saw the lake Escondido which we remembered and then we knew that the worst was over. At the same time sky started to clear out and temperature started to rise again. From here on we would only have around 150km of normal regular roads. We took a short stop to warm up our wet and frozen hands and the pushed on.

We stopped at the familiar gas station at Tolhuin and have some updated information to Mika and Mikko. Hot tea and we were ready for the last challenge, the darkness. It was already almost 11pm and the mid summer night finally cought us. Luckily the horrifying wind had calmed down and the rest of the ride was just a battle against cold. Temperature stayed on a level of +5C but our Rukka driving jackets did the job! We arrived to our destination, cold but thrilled with excitement! This ride we will surely remember rest of our lives!

Ride for the day: 230km
Total kilometers: 4213
Weather: half cloudy, 4,5-11 celcius at daytimeat (Manus and Juhas drive 0,5-11 celcius)

Riding day 11: Punta Arenas - Ushuaia

The eleventh day was a special day cause we were supposed to reach our destination, a city called Ushuaia which is the capital of the territory called Tierra del Fuego which in English means "Land of Fire". (From Wikipedia: The territory was first seen by Europeans in 1520 during Ferdinand Magellan's expedition. He named the area Land of Smokes (later changed to Land of Fire), as he saw what were probably the fires produced by the local Amerindian peoples for heat.)

This was a semi long driving day, about 450km. 

We woke up quite early cause we had to catch the 9am ferry from Punta Arenas to Porvenir. We made a delicious scrambled eggs for breakfast at our cottage, or 'cabanas' as the locals call them. Mika is already pro in this. Actually the best breakfasts at the trip have been the ones we have made ourselves. Usually hotel/hosteria breakfasts include white bread with jam and with that you dont survive long on the motorcycle saddle.

After the breakfast we mounted two gopro's in time-laps mode to film our packing and morning routines to be added to our trip movie. May not sound interesting but I can assure that there happenes a lot of stuff in a brief moment.

An old torpedo boat at the Punta Arena harbour (we didnt travel with that, unfortunately)

The harbour was near, about five minute drive away and we bought the tickets straight from the counter cause they didnt have online reservation system. Tickets for one bike+rider were about 15000 Chilean pesos (about 23 USD)

The ferry trip took 2,5 hours so some of us got to continue the night sleep and  charge the batterys for the long day. 

After we got to Porvenir, we refilled the bikes and already then noticed that its going to be a windy ride. It was blowing hard at the coast. 

The first 150km was gravel road, accompanied with strong side wind. The scenery was cruel looking desert without nothing interesting to see. The only joy was to ride on the gravel.

Just before the Chilean border, in the middle of nowhere, we found a little hosteria where we ate local tuna burgers. The owner seemed to be an old pilot keeping the restaurant with his wife. 

Quite popular seating place was next to the gas heater cause the wind had already went deep to the bones.

There we also glued one MotoAventura sticker to the front door. 

From the border we rode to Rio Grande and before that we saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, so now we had seen both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.

We also noticed some oil pumps on the fields. That area in Tierra del Fuego is rich in oil.

From Rio Grande we found a nice and cousy cafe and warmed up a while there and Mikko reserved a hotel in Ushuaia.

We started the last leg towards Ushuaia, about 200km. When we left Rio Grande, we saw on the side of the road a warning sign which indicated the  risk of forest fires. So the air and land were very dry at the moment.

In the middle of the leg we stopped for refueling and then, we faced the first technical challenge with the bikes: Juhas rear absorber blew the oils out at the gas station parking lot. 

So there was only suspension but not any shock absorbing. Driving without a proper absorbtion can be dangerous cause the wheel doesnt "follow" the road surface as it should and that decreases the fraction between the tire and the ground. We called to MotoAventura about the issue. Their mechanic first told that it could be fixed if we manage to ride to Ushuaia with the bike. But shortly after that we got an email from another MotoAventura person who told us to drive the bike back to Punta Arena! That would have ment to drive about 350km of which about 150km would have been gravel road, without functioning rear absorber. Of course talented driver would not care about this so much but nevertheless that was absolutely idiotic advice from the rental company personnel in general. Naturally that would have been the cheapest solution for them but that would have ment that the driver would risk the bike and more importantly, own and maybe also some other drivers health.

We poundered the options and since we had already paid hotel room in Ushuaia and the road there would be good quality pavement, we decided to continue the drive and make further decissions there. Anyway the rental company had given us a permission to drive with the bike and Juha trusted his capability to handle the bike.

The rear of the bike was bouncing up and down quite a bit in deeper bumps but it was driveable when Juha stayed focused in the sharp corners. 

Great thing was that the rest of the trip was very good weather and beautiful scenery in the middle of high mountains and deep gorges at a beautiful sunset.

At the mountains just before Ushuaia, the tempereture decreased to six celsius which felt freezing despite that we had good gears and grip heaters. We had to drive rather slow and carefully when coming down from the mountains cause the road was quite bumpy.

But kilometer by kilometer we got closer to the goal and finally we passed the large Ushuaia signs at about 8pm (great thing in driving in these latitudes is that the day light stays till 10-11pm at this time of year). 

Ushuaia seemed to be much larger city than we predicted. We even passed a downhill skiing center before reaching the city. Ushuaia is the biggest hub for example to Antarctica and has quite a big harbour. From here its also possible to make trips to Antarctica but unfortunately our time table was not that flexible. But maybe next time..

Mikko had booked a nice three bedroom hotel room where we warmed us up a bit with some Chilean rom which we had bought from a restaurant in Puerto Natales. We also had got an address to a motorcycle repair company from MotoAventura so we decided to check that out next day. 

We took a taxi to a very nice restaurant called El Turco where we celebrated the successfull adventure. We still had two full driving days left, but since at those we had planned to ride back to Punta Arenas, our main mission felt to be accomplished.

El Turco himself. And then there is also the waiter.

Feeling good and happy with a great driving company!!!

Weather: Mostly cloudy, strong wind

Temperature: 6-16 celsius

Distance traveled: 445km

Total distance traveled: 3967