Goodbye Argentina!

We have made substantial progress since our last entry. We are now in Salta, Argentina, near the tropic of cancer and Bolivia. Tomorrow we leave for San Juan De Los Cobres, the last town in Argentina before Chile (again)

Mendoza was a dirty and hot city. We didn't like it one bit, except for the food (of course) We tried to visit the BMW dealer there to have them work on Bee (oil Change) but the mechanico was on holiday for the next week. We left early the next morning, in an attempt to miss the holiday rush. We saw a terrible accident on the way out of town, a guy was being carted off in a gurney. Happy semana santa, man. The roads in and around Mendoza are really unsafe, and we took extra precaution.

We reached San Jose De Jachal by mid afternoon, and met a Belgian guy in town. He took us to a great Parilla (steak house) where we dined and talked for a few hours. The guy has been all over the world on his bicycle. Everywhere. He just goes and goes and goes. We met him the next day on the way out of town, riding in the sweltering heat towards the next town.

We rode forever through the desert, and it was HOT! It is hard not to let little things get on your nerves when you are almost dying of heatstroke. I cant imagine doing in on a bike, though.

By the tome we reached Andagala, we ready for a change of scenery. The desert was really starting to wear on us. We left Andagla and our crap room early in the morning in a light drizzle. Awesome! 10 days of not a cloud in the sky-sunburn weather ends! We faced 130 km of dirt roads before we reached the next pavement. The roads across the desert go up and down, up and down. The down is usually a wash for the infrequent floods, and is covered in sand and gravel. Hurry up and slow down. The road out of Andagala was different, though. We immediately began to ascend a mountain, and climbed into the clouds. The road was one lane, dirt and really steep, all hair-pin switchbacks. This went on for like an hour, through the clouds to a plateau covered in green grass, farms and horses. What a change! We were stoked to be somewhere other than creosote country. The road improved, too. We could go like 40 mph on the dirt. We stopped at a gas station, where a friendly Moroccan made us coffee and let us make lunch in his restaurant. Thee hours, 40 miles. Bee almost overheated, too.

We climbed even higher, into cloud Forrest and mud before we began our descent. We were definitely out of the desert now! The downhill part began, and we descended through mists and cloud Forrest for another two hours, hairpin switch-backs in the mud and big trucks coming at us. The scenery was awesome. Thousand foot cliffs at the roads edge. Huge trees with hanging vines looming overhead.

As the road straightened out, it started to rain (hard) - definitely out of the desert now. Finally, the tarmac began, and we took off like a rocket. Five hours, 100 miles. All dirt. Fun.

We made it to the main highway, and promptly got lost. After so long in the boonies, civilazation came as a shock to us. Traffic, stop signs, road signs, passing vehicles, busses... We missed our turnoff to Calafate, and ended up in Tucuman (somewhere we didn't want to be) We decided to push on to Salta, 130 miles away. We made it here by 6pm, and found a great hotel. We had the wind at our backs the whole way from Tucuman to Salta, and Bee got 55 mpg.

We are enjoying the subtropical weather now, but the next week will see us back in the desert. We have decided to cross into Chile again to see the world´s largest open pit mine, and the Atacama desert. We will enter Bolivia from the west, and see the huge Salar´s there before heading north again.

Sorry about the pictures, but we couldn´t track doen the flash-trax. Loading pictures off a CD is really cumbersome and frustrating. I managed to post these before I got totally pissed off at the computer.

Val stepped in something stinky...
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Our campsite in Bardas Blancas. Bee makes a great tent stake
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We stopped to explore some caves we saw along the highway and we made a little friend! Well, not so little..
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more cacti
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The terra cotta mountains
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San Jose de Jachal. Hot as f*?¿%·"
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Route 40 in Argentina. The herd of about 500 cattle took up the entire highway for about a quarter mile.
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I fell in love with this abandoned kitten at our youth hostal. Adam was a bit jealous. Gatito was adopted by a girl from Buenos Aires before we left.
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Bee receives her first oil change. I managed to track down some synthetic in "moto-town" the people at the youth hostal were nice enough to let me do the work in the hall in front of our room. Ha!
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Argentina (click for map)

The last seven days have been a blur. Since our last posting, we have traveled 1500 miles north. We are resting our weary bones in Mendoza, Argentina. We have traveled 3200 miles so far.

For the last week we have traversed the high desert between Perito Moreno and Mendoza. This whole strech is sparsely populated at best, with few gas stations or restaurants for the ever hungry val. On some days, we would go 200 miles plus without seeing another car, village or human being. Our only company were the hawks and vultures riding the oppressive El Zonda, the stiff winds descending the leeward side of the Andes, remnants of pacific storms that have dumped their water in Chile. During one stretch, the winds were so strong we could go no faster than 40 mph without risking being blown off the road. I estimated the sustained winds to be 40 mph plus. When the winds came from the side it was hard to control the bike, when the winds came head on, it was hard to maintain speed. It sucked. We saw another motorcycle group that day, and watched (from a safe distance) as a semi-truck passed the group, the wind blowing the truck out of control, almost smash the lead rider off the road. We were both surprised when the truck moved into its lane that the lead rider was not road pizza.

The further north we get, the milder the climate (and the winds) have become. Near Zapala, it was getting downright balmy. Hot weather is trouble for us. All of the layers we wear in the cold are shed, and we have nowhere to put them. This causes much aggravation and "some snippetyness" when decisions must be made about what to donate to the locals. You can imagine the fuss Val makes when "we" decide that her precious food rations must go to the local stray dogs. The food eventually makes room for the clothes, and we move north. I think Val has some sort of famine sensing nuclear chip in her head - she is like a squirrel in autumn, gathering "provisions" for lean times.

The High desert scenery if incredible. I Think Val likes it more than I do. Sure, it is pretty and incredible in its bleakness, but the lack of water and shade make me want to keep moving. We have found some beautiful oasises and have followed some raging rivers, and I always feel better when we travel next to them.

Where are the pictures? Your guess is as good as mine. We managed to lose the FlashTrax in some seedy hotel room somewhere in the last 1200 miles, and we are busy trying to track it down. I hope we can locate it. I will go to retrieve it, whether by bus or plane. Trying to find the bight side. . .

The best part about Argentina (surprise) is the food. The steak here is other worldly in its goodness, and it is CHEAP. We have eaten steak three meals (four in vals case) a day. Huge steak dinner with two bottles of wine = $15 Same dinner at home $75 (but worth much less)

Val standing in line trying to buy a $10 hair dryer. It took three queus, three stamps and her mothers maiden name to purchase the darn thing.
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The one shot we got of the bad road shows its best part! drat! Due to the rain and slippery roads, we didnt take any pictures of the gnarly parts.
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Clothes hanging to dry. Val miraculously was able to get all our clothes warm and toasty after our drenching.
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Another view. The locals use this small river as their harbour, due to the drastic tidal variations here
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Fishing boats lined up at Puerto Cisnes, where we spent the night waiting for a new road to be built.
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View on the left. This is where the rear brakes quit working. The idiots at BMW Santa Cruz didnt tighten the bleed-nipple, and we lost all our brake fluid.
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Some crazy hippie drug this old airplane fusilage out here and made a house out of it. I think it is a DC-3 (dad?)
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The first mile into the carretera austral. Huge, amazing, gigantic mountains with water cascading down their sides.
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The ferrys wake and the sunset. Lovely, especially since we were drinking dollar forties.
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looking over the ferry to cuidad Castro - Goodbye!
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The ferry has arrived! we are on our way!
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Were having a great time! (three days in second gear) MAP -CHATIEN to COHIQUE

We have had a real fun time during the last week (seriously) We caught the last ferry out of isla chiloe, and spent three days in second gear on dirt roads. The scenery was awesome. Day one was no problem, we made great time. We tried to camp along side the road, but while we were setting up camp, the rain started. we beat a hasty retreat back to town in a downour, but didnt get too wet. It rained HARD all night. We woke the next morning and set out in the rain for then next town. It never stopped raining all day. not even for a minute. The road was turned to shit. We had to ford many spots in the road that had flooded as a result of the high water. The road made cambodia seem like a piece of cake. We made it to puerto cisnes on the coast, and realized we had made a wrong turn 20 miles back. We turned arounf and rode back uo the road, fording the river again in many spots. By this time I was soaked to the bone and shivering.

We made it to the correct road, and had to push the bike accross a mudslide. As soon as we had pushed the bike accross the slide and reattached the luggage, a caraven of busses and trucks appeared coming towards us. we learned that the road ahead had washed out, and the road crew was building a new road for thwe traffic. "Manaña" they said. We re-crossed the mudslide and rode back down the road to puerto cisnes over 20 miles of bad roads, fording the same streams again. We found a great place that had a fireplace, and val got busy drying our clothes. It was still pouring rain.

It rained HARD all night. Our clothes had dried by morning (thanks Val!). the weather cleared by 10 am, and the sun was peeking through the clouds. We saddled up and headed back up the road. I have never seen a road is as bad of condition. the "fixed" paret of the road looked like a war zone. we were rifing through deep mud, streams, sand, deep puddles, up steep mud hills. It was great. the road parraled a huge, crashing river - the meanest strech of water I have ever seen. We passed the bad part of the road, and headed the 136 k´s (some paved) to coyohique. We are resting today, and will cross into argentina tomorrow. It poured for 48 hours straight here - biblical proportions - i considered getting baptized before the ride...

The bike has taken all the punnishment we could give it. I am changing the rear diff oil today.
We have agreed that it is time to head north, boith because of the awful weather and because we both want to spend more time in bolivia, peru and ecuador than we want to spend in chile.

We are over chile. We bought a hairdryer today, and will use it to dry our gloves. Pictures tonight.

are they trying to get stuck?

Hi mom-
Thanks for writing. We bought our tickets outa here today, and we wil leave tomorrow. We went on a great ride today and saw penguins. The best part of the trip was the road getting there. It was 7 miles of muddy dirt, dodging oxen, horses, carts, dogs and cows. There was one real steep part where 3 cars were struggling (it looked like they were trying to get stuck) It was a windy uphill covered in mud. Good ol´bee took it like a champ, with nary a wiggle. It was great. We both got awesome adreniline rushes. Val hind-end is still puckered up!

The bike has proven to be capable of taking on whatever chile has thrown at it. The penguins were really cute, but small. I want to see the emperor penguins in Antartica. We even got to ride Bee on the beach! how many mid life crisis guys in the bay area have done that on their beemers?

yesterday we rode to Quellon in southern chiloe. There was nothing but drunks there! the streets were full of merry men dancing and gambling. I wanted to stay and join in the merryment, but val was not game. We went home soon thereafter.

Tomorrow night we cross to Chatien (see map again) We get there late. We met some gringos @ the ticket office that are heading the smae way (although not on big bee´s) We have gotten to know Chiloe very intimately over the past five(!) days. We are READY for the next leg of our trip.

HAPPY B-DAY MEGAN! THANKS FOR TAKING CARE OF THE CABIN!!! A&V

p.s. i know it sounds a bit rough but don't any one worry! we are wearing fantastic riding and protective gear, and when the going gets rough we're going pretty darn slow :)

Look at that lavender church made of tin! - click here for the treasure map!

We are on Isla Chiloe in southern Chile. It rains here. Alot. So much, in fact, that V and I have gotten used to it. Our gear works great. We will be here for the next 5 days waiting for a ferry to take us to the mainland. Once off this island, we will tackle the Carretera Austral, 600 miles of unpaved roads through the Andes. We cant wait. Until then, we will take it easy here and relax. There is alot of nothing to do here, but we are optimistic. Especially Val, who is great at doing nothing (just kidding - wheres the childrens-chewable-valium?)

How pastoral. We followed this long lake to the ocean.
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Bee waiting faithfully in the rain.
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Bovine Beach @ low tide
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¿What are you looking at Val? thats it, step into the light... :)
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the rare and elusive, endangered beach bovine. California cows got ñuthin on these cows!
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what big leaves you have!
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The Pacific ocean @ parque nacional chiloe
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Val making a GREAT seaside lunch.
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Are we in Italy? Poplar trees outside cuidad Castro.
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The barge from the mainland to isla chiloe. we made it just in time.
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Free Bee! The bike is chained to a semi-trailer for the night, behind locked gates.
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Volcan Villarica looms above Pucon.
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"Look at that purple building over there!" - v

The rain has stopped (hopefully) We have had a mall-ratt type day. we missed the movie (damn you cerveca crystal y hotdog!) We push on further south mananna, toward isla chiloe (where jim says the food rules) Val is mildly drunk and enthusiastic, hoping it holds for tomorrow. I am stoked. having an excellent time. We spent a few hours this evening with the owners of our hotel, drinkig wine and cerveca, exchanging words and world views - a most excellent expierence. Val is getting REALLy good at spanish (in only 9 days) I suck at spanish, and I took it for like 300,000,000 years in H.S. go figure. I drive bee, though. good tot!

Enjoy the pictures, and comment if you wish! (v)

They hate bush here just like us! finally, kindred spirits! Dennis im sorry. your daddy...

El Rainbow de Val.

The main graveyard in Puerto montt... A hill of stones with a parasitic Eaucyliptus growing out of the bones...

Behind us. Puerto Montt.

A&V at the tallest hotel in town enjoying pisco sours, the sunset and each other. Awesome day. the rain had just stopped and the sun invigorated us. We are raady for the road again!

Mennonite Church in Puerto Montt.

A&V in Puerto Montt. Its Raining and COLD! but were on our way to the mall! woo-hoo!

Pucon in central Chile - photo courtesy of Val. "Thats a volcano hiddn in them there clouds" -v

The long-shore-men help us uncrate the bike. It was like christmas. The warehouse guys were snapping pictures with their camea phones.

Val is opening the crate!

Holed up in Puerto Montt

After four days and 800 miles, we have reached the Pacific at Puerto Montt. Valerie described the city as a "mixture of seedy and quaint" - a description of our favorite kind of city. It is great to bee in a city with so many facets - you can get chicken and a liter of Cristal beer for practically nothing within walking distance of one of the best movie theatres either of us have ever been in. We saw "Constantine" last night (cheesy but fun) and will see "The Aviator" tonight.

Why all the malls and movies you ask? shouldn´t we be experiencing the culture and flavor of southern Chile? Of course, but it is pissing rain outside. It is fugly out there. We are just waiting for a slight break in the weather. The weather underground predicts rain off and on for the next week. Looks like we will have to tough it out on the bike. Valerie keeps insisting that we are chasing winter, and I am beginning to agree with her.

This is our last big city until we reach Punto Arenas in the far south. We are trying to enjoy it while it lasts. The road to the south passes through some wicked, sparsley populated terrain. I hope the rain lets up.

long lost family found in agentina!

Hi, Adam & Valerie, Your mom sent us your email address. Quite a trip you're undertaking,best of luck always, dont take chances just for a thrill, yur a long way from home. Davids daughter, Natasha Deterding, lives at VOITA, 593 Esquel, Chubut, Argentina if you might be interested. Her mother, Susan, has remarried to Familia Tomasini. They live at 9211 Epuyen, Chabut, Argentina. Natasha & her step-brother are your age,so they might show you around, if you go that way. THE BEST OF LUCK to both of you.
Grandfather Leo Leodeterding@aol.com

240 miles

(Valerie) we've had many adventures in a short time! customs turned into a 100 mile paper chase but it made for some terrific sightseeing. the lodging has been better than expected and as the food is concerned{ i have probably put on ten pounds- in otherwords, fantastic luck getting great meals so far. we finally broke the bike out yesterday afternoon and after a night of adam's amazingly regimented packing we actually managed to get all of our stuff on board! we set out this morning and covered 240 miles., plaññing to slow it down a bit once we hit patagonia...

(adam) Once we cleared the customs hurdles and found our way to the warehouse, we found the bike (which val has named "Bee") within minutes. The crate was in perfect condition. Amazingly, and to my complete and utter astonishment, the guys at the warehouse let us tear the crate to pieces right where it lay. The guys there even helped us out. They even let us leave the substantial mess for them to clean up. The total bill for the bikes storage and transportation in chile was $15 US. Ha! Customs was free (no import duties)

much love... adam and val

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Val is about to tear the crate to pieces...
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the ski-chair-lift in Santiago. what a ride.
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Valparaiso.
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The escalators in Valparaiso.
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la puerto in san antonio - the view is better than the olfactory sensation. San Antonio is the main port in chile. The place actually grows on you (after five days!)
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adam and val at the japanese gardens in santiago - what a view. the city is unbelievably huge.
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val eyes the camera suspiciously...
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