After an eventful week in northern Chile, it was time to make our first cross over the border into Argentina. On our way out of San Pedro de Atacama, we made a new friend:
The next few hours were spent riding over and around sand dunes with a gorgeous blue sky. At one point during our ride, we could see Bolivian mountains not too far in the distance. We actually thought about going the five kilometers or so over the “border” into Bolivia, just to ride around for a few minutes, but it would have involved a lot of dirt and sand at 4,800 m / 15,748 ft and we needed to make it to Argentina before sundown, so we pressed on. It was a hard decision to skip Bolivia on our trip, but in the end we decided getting to Patagonia before it got too cold was a bigger priority. Besides, the Uyuni salt flats would have been wet by the time we got there (not at all fun to ride in) and Brian had already spent a month in Bolivia eight years prior. Thus, we continued riding until we reached the border.
The border crossing was our fastest one yet, taking less than an hour. While getting gas on the other side, we ran into Sandra, a fellow riding friend that we met in Cusco. After chatting over some lunch, we decided to ride the rest of the way together, passing by a small salt flat on our way (some of which Brian decided to eat to confirm it was in fact salt).
As sundown was approaching, we opted to stop a little sooner than planned in a small town called Susques. Up until now, Brian and I had no issues just showing up to a hotel without a reservation and securing a room for the night. Susques, however, was another story. After visiting all four of the hotels in town, only to be told they did not have enough rooms, Brian and I finally found the last room in a hotel outside of town. Luckily, our room had extra beds since Sandra ended up being kicked out of her room due to overbooking. A few other riders whom we saw in town earlier (also unsuccessfully looking for lodging) ended up staying in the same hotel as us, and we spent the evening chatting over beers until 1:00 AM.
The following morning, Brian, Sandra, and I set off for a very rainy ride into Salta -a large colonial city in the Andean foothills . After so much time in the desert, it felt strange riding through the rain again.
Brian and I stayed three nights in Salta, eating more empanadas than we could count, watching traditional dancing in the main plaza, getting our first real Argentinian steak, taking the teleferico (cable car) up the mountainside for a view of the entire city, and visiting El Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña (MAAM) where we saw the remains of three child sacrifices from the Incan civilization. The children were never mummified, but their remains were perfectly preserved for over 500 years due to their location on the cold summit of Llullaillaco, the third highest active volcano in the world. During our time in Salta, Brian also finally recovered from his cold, but I unfortunately caught it.
Our next stop was Cafayate - one of Argentina's wine regions, famous for their Torrontés. On our way there, we rode past giant red rock formations, one of which was called Garganta del Diablo (Throat of the Devil) and was reminiscent of Zion National Park.
We spent our afternoon in Cafayate walking around town to the nearby vineyards and visiting one of the many wine bodegas. That evening, we hung out with Juan and Angela, a couple from Colombia that we met at our hostel, and enjoyed some wine and empanadas with them and a few locals.
The next morning, we set off south toward Chilecito with Juan and Angela. The road consisted of hundreds of consecutive hills that made it feel like we were on a roller coaster. This made the monotonously straight pavement a little more interesting and occasionally exhilarating when a random small stream or pile of sand was waiting to surprise us in the middle of two hills.
Despite not feeling well, once we unpacked the bikes, Brian and I climbed the 200+ stairs to a lookout point over the city, complete with towering Jesus statue, before getting dinner and some much needed sleep.
The next day would come to be known as the day I thought Brian died. All was going well on our ride to San Juan (a stopping point on our way to Mendoza). I was feeling better and we were both enjoying the winding roads through the beautiful red rock covered landscapes. That is, until Brian decided to stop and take these photos:
Brian had ridden ahead a little bit (as is customary when we get to a fun, twisty stretch of road since I tend to be a bit slower), and thus our intercoms were no longer connected. Typically, I find him waiting for me five or ten minutes down the road and we continue on together. As 10 minutes of riding quickly turned to 15 and then 20 with still no sight of him, I started to question my initial thought that he was just enjoying the winding road for a bit longer. I rode for another five minutes, passing through multiple straight stretches where I would typically see him before deciding to stop and wait in one place. At this point, I began to worry but figured it would be easiest to find each other if one of us stayed in place. After 10 minutes of now very anxious waiting, I had convinced myself that the only alternative was that he must have taken a turn too sharply and rode off of a cliff or into a ditch (that seemed like sound logic at the time). I quickly turned around and began frantically searching the sides of the road and looking for skid marks. FINALLY, after about 40 minutes from when we parted, I saw him riding toward me! Although I was in tears at the time, we can both laugh about it now. We figured out from watching GoPro footage that I must have passed him on the road during the 10 seconds he went down a small hill (out of sight) to look at a mirador (lookout point) before turning around, back up the hill to take the two pictures above and wait for me. We also realized he stopped only four turns away from where I was waiting in place before turning around, thinking I must have been behind him. What a way to start to the day! Relieved to be reunited, we both continued on down the road.
We eventually came across two people who had run out of gas and a guy with a punctured bicycle tire, and we were able to pay it forward from the people who stopped to help us with our broken tire pump the week before.
As if the day was not eventful enough, we were stopped at one of the police checkpoints for the first time this trip (up until now, we had made it all the way from Colombia without being stopped once). After a quick showing of ownership documents, we were back on our way. We eventually made it to San Juan and met up with our friend Sandra for a fun night of dinner and drinks.
The next day, we had a short 170 km ride to Mendoza. Despite the straight, truck-filled roads, it was a fun day of riding as we traveled into the city with Sandra, Juan, and Angela - forming our own little motorcycle gang.
Mendoza accounts for 71% of Argentina's wine production, and with more than 1,000 vineyards, Mendoza (and the surrounding region) is the largest wine producer in South America. They are known especially for their delicious Malbecs, and we were excited to spend a couple of days relaxing and drinking them. Our initial plan to stay two nights quickly turned to four as Brian and I both really enjoyed this city. We spent our time doing a wine tour with Sandra, relaxing in the gorgeous park at the city's center, riding out to a winery for lunch, going to the local gym, and getting dinner and drinks on the lively streets.
The only downfall to Mendoza was that we were unable to find any of the spare motorcycle parts we had been looking for, despite being sent on a wild goose chase after each small shop assured us the next shop would have what we wanted. We weren't too worried, however, since we were heading across the border to Santiago the next day and had heard we could find the parts there.
Thus, the next morning, we packed up our belongings and set off for the border into Chile. We had plans to do a lot of work on the bikes, including replacing the cheap chains we got in Peru, and had found a motorcycle hostel that had a workshop attached. As seems to be the trend when we are on our way to fix something on the bikes (see Riding through Northern and Central Peru: Part 2 blog post), my chain decided to break about 100 kilometers outside of Mendoza, just before crossing over the Andes.
Fortunately, the chain broke at the master-link and Brian had the foresight to keep the master-links from our old chains so we had two spares! Within 20 minutes, we had the chain repaired and were back on the road with only a broken tail light and scratched engine casing to show for it. We were lucky the chain did not create a hole in the engine when it broke, or this day would have gone quite differently.
We continued toward the Chilean border, and before long we could see Aconcagua - the highest mountain in both the Southern and Western hemispheres at 6,960 m / 22,837 ft.
This was our sign that we were close to the Chilean border as the mountain lies only 15 km from Chile. After stopping at various lookout points to admire the snow-capped peak in the sunshine, we continued down the road. The plan was to skip the tunnel that goes through the mountain range dividing the two countries and to ride over the mountain instead. We had read online that this was possible, so we set off up the mountain. The steep, hairpin turns in loose gravel and sometimes sand proved very difficult for me after riding on straight, paved roads for the last couple weeks. The scenery, however, was more than worth the challenge.
When we got to the top of the pass, we encountered a group of other riders from Argentina. They informed us that not many people go down the other side of the mountain, but rather that most people just come up for the view and go back down the way we came. When we looked on the map, the turns on the other side appeared a little sharper and much more frequent. Thus, we decided to head back down the way we came and then take the tunnel. It was a good thing we did, because I struggled with a few of the turns on the way down, dropping my bike on one of them (although definitely not for the first time this trip - I have mastered hopping off quickly when slow maneuvers go wrong).
Once on the other side, the border crossing went smoothly, taking about an hour. We then enjoyed some more hairpin turns on our way down the mountain toward Santiago.
Other than an unfortunate collision with a bee's stinger and my neck, the rest of the ride went well and we made it to Santiago before dark. We had planned to be in Santiago for three nights, but the vibe at the motorcycle hostel quickly convinced us to stay an extra three. We developed somewhat of a riding family during our time there as we spent most days sharing stories and chatting with fellow adventure riders (only some of which are in the photos below).
We also got a lot of work done on the bikes. Brian installed new chains and brakes, we did our own oil changes, and we had taller custom windshields built in preparation for Patagonia. We also found all of the spare parts that we couldn't find in Mendoza.
A few other highlights of our time in Santiago include experiencing a minor earthquake the first night, staying up to watch the lunar eclipse on the roof of our hostel with our new friends, and exploring a few parks in the beautiful city.
We also met up with a guy from the U.S. named Fede, who was our absolute hero. Brian had posted in a Panamerican travelers Facebook group to ask about shipping our camping gear down to Chile (we knew lodging would be cheap in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru and did not want to be sick of camping by the time we reached Patagonia, so we did not bring our gear initially). After realizing from all of the responses that it would be crazy expensive and probably get stuck in customs for a month, Fede came to our rescue. He was traveling to Santiago for work 10 days from when we posted and exactly when we were planning to be there! He so graciously offered to bring our camping gear down for us as well as take some of our belongings back to the states, and we cannot thank him enough!
After six days in Santiago, it was time to say goodbye and continue heading south. We rode to Concepción, Chile before pushing on the remainder of the 925 kilometers to Pucón the following day. Pucón is a town in Chile's central lake district and is situated next to Villarrica Lake and Villarrica Volcano, one of Chile's most active volcanoes. We enjoyed views of both, spending one night in a hotel in Pucón and then putting our camping gear to use at a motocamp just outside the city. Our friend Sandra met up with us and we spent the first evening chatting around the campfire with her and some other travelers. We enjoyed the motocamp so much that we ended up staying three nights just relaxing in the hammocks by the river and chatting with other riders. During this time, we also finally figured out our route for Patagonia, opting to continue to cross back and forth between Chile and Argentina to catch the best parts.
After three nights of camping, we packed up our bikes and headed toward the border, thus continuing the Argentina-Chile shuffle as we officially made our way into Patagonia!!
Cheers,
Erin and Brian