Riding day 8: El Calafate - Puerto Natales

We woke up in El Calafate at Hosteria Austral. We didn't know the day before if we'll make it all the way through the desert almost 700 km so we didn't make a reservation for accommodation beforehand, which would have been the best way to get best price-quality ratio. This time we were lucky and managed to get ok quality.

After modest breakfast we started about 10 towards the Perito Moreno glacier. First we headed for refuel and also the chains needed to be tightened.

The weather was pretty cold compared to what we were used to. It was 10,5 celcius and cloudy. The ride was 50 kms straight paved road untill the gate of the national park. From here on the road changed to curvy and more fun. 30 km more and we reached the parking lot from where we took a shuttle up to the glacier.

There were walking ways to get nearer the ice. We took it and went to see the glacier. The ice was beatiful. You could hear every once in a while crackle when the ice broke and splash when it hit the water.

Scenery was magnificient and worth the visit. We ate lunch in the park and started for the next destination.

Our next destination was Torres Del Paine national park and we had to head back to El Calafate to start since the road to glacier was a dead end. We headed back to our earlier hotell to get wifi and plan our next stop. Since we didn't find any accommodation online from Torres Del Paine/Cerro Castillo village, we decided to hit the road and catch it on the go. 

We started the route 40 towards Chile. The road was pretty straight and paved.

 Pretty Boring. Untill. There was a shortcut to the right. About 60 kms gravel. Of course we took this. In my opinion this was top 3 rides on this trip. The road was wide and straight so we could keep 80-120 km/h speed. But there was also challenge since there were big rocks and smoother gravel on the road which you had to avoid. I think we got pretty good GoPro material from here since we could ride quite near to each other.

When we turned back to paved road, there was only a short way to the border. In the end there was again a short fun gravel road. Noman's land was gravel like usually and we arrive to Chilean border and a small village called Torres Del Paine. There's nothing in the village and we have to ride to next town which is Puerto Natales. This is about 60 kms straight and curves in a bit chancing landscapes so this is not so boring. There are hills and dried up trees. Snow covered mountains in the horizon. The pavement is good.

We reached the town, rode around finding a hotell and manage to find a decent priced hotel l with a few bikes in front. More bikers checked in after us. These guys were Italian and had their own bikes and support truck with them!

We went to seek a restaurant and found a good one from the main boulevard at the seaside. We took the hotell for two nights and plan to head for the national park tomorrow.

Route: El Calafate - glacier Perito Moreno -El Calafate - Torres Del Paine/Cerro Castillo - Puerto Natales

Distance: 432 km

Total distance: 2947 km

Weather: 10-12 celcius, cloudy

Riding day 7: Perito Moreno - El Calafate

Blasted through the desert

Last night we slept long and well despite that the room wasn't the cousiest one. But, we are here for driving, not for looking for fansiest hotels. Plus the owner family was positive and helpful and it cost only Argentinan 250 pesos per person. 

The main thing of course was that we got well rested cause today was a real bench mark day for us; driving through the windy desert for almost 700km. The original plan had been to drive to Cobernador Gregores and stay for the night there, but we began to calculate that we could save one day if we would drive the two stints in one day and head straight to El Calafate, and so, spend the saved day at some other more interesting location.

The road would be mainly pavement so it didn't sound impossible. So we decided to go for it.

After breakfast we refilled at Benito Moreno's Petrobras station (the gasoline is much cheaper in Argentina, at this point 8,33 pesos per liter) and headed to a perfect condition, new pavement road at about 10:45. 

The first kilometres we had tailwind so the speed was high while the helmet noice and fuel consumption were relatively low. Sun was already high up, temperatature was plus 20 and everything seemed perfect.

But when the road made the first 90 degree turn towards South-West, the reality hit us; the right side wind was very brutal, strong and impulsive. We had to reduce the speed and still watch out for the wind blasts, especially when coming out behind protective terrain formations.

We had decided to keep short brakes after every 50-60 km and at the second one we ate lunch at Bajo Caracoles.

There we also met our new friend Jeff from North Carolina, whom we got known while rafting in Futateufu. He had chosen a different route from Coyhaique (the longer route around the Lago General Carrera) than we and told that it was a beautiful route.

The windy trip continued. We all decided to put up the ear plugs due the high helmet noice. This was a great idea and increased the quality of driving significantly. Still we managed to hear the radio phones suprisingly well. For the breaks we had to find off road places to get at least some shelter from the wind. This gave also a good opportunity to practise the off road skills.

The fuel consumption increased to 7-9 litres per 100km (normally at this speed about 5-6L/100km). We tried to keep 120km/h speed to be able to reach El Calafel before the dark. 

We also saw the most animals today: lot of alpacas, emu-looking birds (which obviously werent emu's) and a couple of some kind of small desert foxes. 

Some alpacas had tested their strength with more massive vehicles with bad results. 

For motorcycler these animals can be dangerous here couse they can jump to the road at any point. Luckily there were no trees beside the road so the alpacas were quite easy to spot. Anyway, dont trust for the protection of the animal fences. 

Mika and cow having eye contact (this picture is not from todays route but between Futaleufu and Puyuhuapi).

We had seen some propability for rain showers at the forecast but we got only few drops, which we only saw on the helmet screen.

When driving through a desert, you automatically start to think what would you do if something happenes, for example the the gets malfunction which you cant repair on the road. The longest distance without gas stations, hotels etc, was about 180km and between that very leg, we met a girl who didnt have the front wheel in her bike. We found out that her husband had taken the flat tire to the next city and the wife was waiting for him with the bike. They were from Switzerland and had been driving around for seven months(!)

Unfortunately some have had to wait a bit longer..

We did the refill at Cobernador Gregores  Between that and El Calafel there was about 75 km gravel road, which was quite easy and fun to drive. We tested different angles with GoPro's and got some very good shoots. Mika's GoPro's cover opened itself by a rock when mounted to shoot the rear wheel and back and the camera falled out. Fortunately Mikko noticed this and they found the camera.

The rest 200km where quite speedy, due the wind wasn't so strong anymore and we were exited to get to the destination.

Temperature falled to 13 and with the wind it got us cooled down a bit. We all addedlong sleeves under the jacket for the first time.

We reached El Calafate at about 21:15 and found a nice accomodation from Hosteleria Austral at the very centrum. Just down the blog we found a cousy restaurant where we celebrated the another great day, enjoyed excellent Patagonian lager and planned the trip to the Benito Moreno glacier next day. 

Few tips from today:

- Dont stay the night in at the middle of desert if possible

- Use the ear plugs or noice reducing head sets during strong wind

- Use a wind proof head cover under the helmet

- At windy conditions, prepare for remarkable increase of fuel consumption if you want to keep the same travel speed

- Keep short breaks more often if needed

- For male drivers (this might also consider the female drivers also, but we don't have personal experience): although its instructed to pee towards the down wind, because of the turbulentic air you will still get piss on your face. Prepare for this!! 

Weather: mostly sunny, strong and turbulentic wind from the West, seven water drops right after Benito Moreno

Temperature: 20 celsius in the beginning and 13 at El Calafate

Distance traveled: 685km

Total distance traveled: 2520km