30th Sepember 2008

Our journey to South America begins. This time the bikes leave first . On 30th September 2008 we loaded them aboard a borrowed truck in drizzling rain and delivered them to Seafast Warehousing in Tilbury  from whence they will end up in a container on a vessel called MV Monte Pascoal. The sea voyage will take 21 days to Buenos Aires. Will I see my packed panniers again?We had to have them in metal crates. This has given us a fair amount of bother. First we got hold of some Yamaha crates from Tinklers of Norwich , and then had to have them altered. This was not particularly easy but RBS of Fakenham did the job. All quite different to when they were last freighted out of Cape Town. There they were on a wooden base and then sort of packaged with plastic. This time the crate was very open so that all can be seen, including our panniers.We set off on 31st October by plane.

6th Oct 2008

Found a website that tracks ships.  Have uploaded a photo of the container ship that the bikes are supposedly on...the Monte Pascoal. Hope our container is not sitting on the top!!

7th Oct 2008

Not great news...bikes still sitting in warehouse in Tilbury!! Some technical reason as to why they did not make the ship but now earmarked for next ship. This should go this next Saturday,;so it is NOT called the Monte Pascoal but the Alianca Maua, which for you shipping buffs has the call sign  DCPC2, so we can now follow the bikes as they hopefully cross the Atlantic.  This means that the bikes will arrive after us and we will have an initial delay. We have also been given a list of interesting documents that we need to bring, including the packing list in Spanish!

19th Oct 2008

We heard a few days ago that the bikes definately got on their ship. That was good news! We are tracking the ship on a website called www.sailwx.info. This morning it`s opposite Lisbon which is quite amusing as Clive is not far away in Penela, Portugal. Whilst I try and tie up a hundred and one loose ends here, Clive is seeing to his  interests there.One of the documents that we have to provide is a certificate,in Spanish,showing our address to prove we really do live here in Uk. This entailed going to the Argentinian consulate in London with a certified copy of Clive`s passport ( because he is in Portugal with it) , utility bills in each of our names and money ( £22 each!). Another difficulty as utility bills in my name ( or farm`s) . The utility bill I brought was too old( April 2008) and the bank statements I brought for Clive were deemed no good. However nice girl said I could try emailing other things when I got home to Norfolk. What a hassle! Found a more up to date bill for me and something better ( mobile bill) for Clive which appears to have done the job. We probably will never have to produce these bits of paper! 

30th October.

All set, ready for LHR, panic today dog badly cut her foot so Vet visit required...!!!  We have condensed the old Africa trip diaries into three so if you have received warnings of up-dates etc it is only that. Hopefully we now have enough room for South America and also the Africa diary will be more readable.Must start packing...!!!

Oct 31st friday .

Final jobs get done including taking Millie the dog to Clff and Caire who have kindly offered to look after her. Millie  unfortunately had to have a day at the vet yesterday because she cut her ankle and it needed stitching. So we have left her sporting a pink bandage on her front leg.My parents arrive and we drive to Stansted to catch a coach to Heathrow. All goes well and we catch our flight to Paris and then the connection to Buenos Aires. Horrible long night as we gain 3 hours sleep going westwards. Plane was late on take off by one hour so it will be 14.5 hrs on board. We finally had our `supper` on the plane at 1.30am.

 Nov 1st Saturday

Have got quite lost with time. Thought we were 3 hours different from home but it seems to have ended up 4 hrs behind. Flight was bumpy, slept little as was cold, but we landed and gradually made our way to our hostel.We caught a bus as recommended by our hostel which took us to some terminal not particularly near the hostel. Now what?  Then a van arrives and we are told to get in and we are finally delivered to the door, no extra price/money. Really quite impressed. Hostel booked on recommendation is fine. Very friendly, 3 internet computers at our disposal and our room is a welcome place to sleep after those horrible seats on the plane.Rested, we go off with guide book in hand to the Cafe Tortini. It is the oldest café in Argentina . Seemed to have the highest prices too, so we went in and we went out. Took up position on a pavement across the road with our drinks at a reasonable price and watched life from there instead. Seemed very casual indeed and Clive started muttering about transsexuals. Definitely some very strangely dressed people passed by. Then we realised that a demo was coming up the road. We now know that the first Saturday in Nov. is homosexual etc demo day. It was a good display...several women with   ? boobs hanging out, bare bottoms, lots of music etc. We enjoyed it. Tired, jet lagged etc but here we are in the heart of it.Only problem was we left all our cameras in the hostel as we were worried about thieves.

Nov 2nd Sunday.

Because our bikes failed to go on the intended ship to here we now have to wait a few days for them. The ship they are on should have arrived yesterday and then it will take some days to decontainerise and reach a warehouse. We will know more when we ring the shipping agent tomorrow. In the meantime we are frustrated bikers. However the weather is a very pleasant 20 something  and it is Sunday in Buenos Aires. Reading our Lonely planet guide we find the waterfront area ( done up from 1989) and also SanTelmo where we hoped to see Tango dancing and a street mkt which is only on a sunday. City is very empty. Huge wide roads to cross and very little traffic. We guess weekdays will be different. What people are around are in San Telmo. We watch life go by in a café,see some Tango dancing and wander the market. All we tourists are gripping our bags tight in case of thieves. It all appears fine but Clive and I are being careful!Our hostel is fairly noisy, full of younger travellers who are all very friendly. They were up late last night..infact very late.

Nov 3rd Monday

Buenos Aires has burst to life with the start of the working week. Traffic and people everywhere. Our goal this morning is to contact the shipping agent and get motor insurance for the bikes. We tramp the pavements in quite hot sun getting hot and tired.We are sent from pillar to post but in the end very nice girl knows what to do. One months road insurance costs £7 each. Lunch was a snack under a huge avocado tree with some sweet little bird singing beautifully. We met Marcela, the nice contact who suggested we stayed in Che Lagata hostel. In the afternoon we meet our shipping agents and agree to meet again tomorrow to begin the process with customs. Clive samples large icecream and looks for a bag to hide his camera in. 

Nov 4th Tuesday

 We meet agent as agreed and go along to customs . We fall at the first hurdle. The bill of lading is in my name only. The customs man does not like it. We are dismissed! Shipping agent issued the bill of lading so it can be changed. However we now have to wait till bikes are out of their container. We had all hoped we could do paper work whilst waiting. Nothing more happens today so on till tomorrow. It is very frustrating and we have to remain tourists in Buenos Aires. We mooch around and shop...well Clive does! He buys a bag to disguise his camera in AND some new shoes. (see photo). Of the top 5 things to do ,as listed in our guide, we had done 4. The last was Recoleta catholic cemetry. It was not far from where we were . We are glad we did. Solid `streets` of tombs with coffins stacked inside. City of dead for sure. We found Eva Peron`s mausileum. Many other famous argentine generals,politicians etc are there too. Clive thought it was spooky and could not wait to go to` Freddo` across the road and have today`s icecream! 

Nov 5th Wed 

Here we are sitting on a bench, wooden, slatted, in a gaunt industrial building. Workmen are working  up one end, welding and trying to put up 3 ply boarding which keeps falling down. We are with Eduardo who is the shipping man. He knows the system and speaks the language. We know the bikes are out of the container. We are now number one in the queue which consists mainly of other foreign bikers. We have exchanged stories. One is a japanese man who has ridden for a year and a half across Russia and Europe on a 250 Honda. He speaks little english and no spanish and has no helper. Possibly holding us up.... Until we hear the `system` has failed! We are continuing to sit. There is no food, no drink and it is hot. We cannot see into the all powerful office to see the all powerful official in there. Soon it will be lunch and he will close for lunch. We have been here for 1.5 hours now.And so we sit till 1am when door locked and we are told to come back at 2.30pm. We all troop ,including the customs people,to nearest café. Clive and I  go back at 2pm and take up position again. Think that Japanese has been told to go to his embassy. They cannot cope with him because of language difficulties. Poor man. Hopefully we really are next.Customs man comes back at 2.30pm. We all jump up to make sure we get in the door first. There are a lot of people hanging around trying to jump the queue..... Anyway we get in. Watch our papers get slowly gathered together and then all double stamped and signed. We begin to smile, Eduardo talks about the warehouse etc.Then customs man  turns to his computer to enter what he has done...system down again. Can`t do it. Puts our finished and stamped papers to one side and tells us to go and wait outside again. Now it is 3pm. Visions of getting bikes today evaporate.By 4pm the computer system has got going but another hurdle is put in place. All papers now need big boss signature. Big boss has disappeared, surprise surprise. His office is now chaos, with everyone desperately trying their level best to get their papers done/on his desk. The warehouse shuts at 5.30pm.We are told to wait. Papers go off to the big boss by car. It seems he is perhaps playing golf!? They arrive back at 5.40pm, signed. We arrange to meet warehouse helper at 8.30am tomorrow.These vital papers that were required today were a photocopy of our passport, reg document, and bill of lading. For that we waited all day.Tomorrow we may ,may get there and actually see our bikes. Cross your fingers. We now need a drink. ( or 2!! C ) 

Nov 6th thurs

 We have our bikes and we have ridden 200 miles to Azul, south of Buenos Aires . We are both adjusting to the new situation.! We have not ridden our bikes for 6 weeks and now here we are in a strange country with different trucks and cars and roads. However.....8.30am we were at the warehouse with Daniel. Within half an hour we saw our bikes. All was well with the crates and we set to, to put on screen, connect battery,wing mirrors, handle bar and in my case put the front wheel on. Whilst we did this Daniel did his bit with those seemingly same bits of paper. More stamps, more signatures etc. Smiles, handshakes and we had done it in 3 hours. What a pallaver to get through a border!Off to hostel, got the rest of our stuff ,changed, repacked and off. Buenos Aires was a modern good city but we are really happy to be on the move again. Off through the northern pampas. Birds of prey, vultures, reas, horses and of course cattle to feast our eyes on. Endless fields of grass but to my surprise lots of big trees. Some crops and flat as a pancake. Road is good. Traffic lessened quite quickly and after 30 miles it was mainly trucks and a few fast cars. Free at last to think my thoughts and devour the landscape. We are spending the night in a `bike` place, as recommended on a diary website. Its interesting! As Clive said `its better than camping`. Just! Had a pizza in the town in a very gaunt place. But very friendly. All towns so far laid out on a grid system so easy to know where you are. Dogs were barking as we walked back in the dark. Felt safe.... 

 Nov 7th friday

Having thought my ipac`s battery had been destroyed by charging it on the bike (got very hot!) it has miraculously come back to life. We can write this on our phones too but easier on this gadget.This morning the temperature was 14c as we packed ourselves up from our rather strange stopover at La Posta....rather different from yesterday at 30c. As we rode off rain threatened and an hour or so later we were cold and putting on raingear. You really do not need to feel jealous any longer! Most of today has been like riding across the fens in England. More grass, more cattle but plenty of crops. Vast flat expanse. Not a weed, thistle, wildflowers or nettle in sight. Barley crops being grown for seed and prob so is the wheat and maize. The birds are not like England. In some water I saw a pink large bird like a pelican in size...ibis? Several kinds of birds of prey too.The road is straight but fairly empty and progress is good in between our stops! Clive is enjoying tasting different delicacies. Empanadas especially.As we neared Bahia Blanca , which is on the coast, the weather got warmer and warmer inspite of rain clouds. By the time we were searching for an hotel it was 27c and we were peeling off our layers of clothing . The hotel we were looking for had been entered incorrectly in the lonely planet guide and was marked as being on the other side of the street. Round and round the block we went. I was being blamed as I had the guide. Eventually found it....it was a building site! We have had to get used to eating later. The restaurant we went to did not open its doors till 8.30pm! It was only really filling up at 9.30pm. Had plenty to eat including a dessert of Dolche. Dolche is an argentine speciality. Its like thick brown condensed cream. Very sweet and eaten on bread as a spread,as a flavour of icecream, or as a sweet with caramel. Does one no good at all!   ( blah  blah  blah,,,! )

 Nov 8th Sat

I am riding along with my bike leaning in to the wind. We are crossing an area with very light soil which is blowing in this strong westerly wind. Every now and then we go into a dust storm and find it difficult to see.We made a mess of getting the right road out of town after breakfast at the hotel. About half an hour was lost asking for the way and wandering around Bahia Blanca. But once out, the road was straight as it headed across this rather lunar landscape. Grassy , flat , sometimes grassy hills, and large fields with crops. Single storey houses surrounded by trees. We had very little traffic but had to concentrate hard on the wind which was blowing us across the road. It was like this for nearly 170 miles. At one point one of the dust storms was so bad that you could barely see the white line on the side of the road and had to slow to a dangerously slow speed...dangerous because traffic behind might come into you!. Trying to wipe the visor and keep the bike leaning against the wind was tricky!. The dust came in everywhere, inside and outside the visor, on my contact lenses and Clive`s glasses etc.We reached Viedma had a stop and continued on. This time the road was headed mainly into the wind and it was easier. Petrol consumption on both bikes is high as they are pushing into the wind fully laden. My computer read out says it has gone down from an average of 60 miles per gallon to 54 mpg. Clive`s is even worse ( bigger engine, heavier load!).The very straight road reminds us of both Australian outback and Canadian praire. The countryside has changed to scrub and is virtual desert. If it had red soil it would be very like Australian outback . Not much out here. A few birds and a few cattle is all we see for 120 miles. Dust storms rage as we head into San Antonio Oeste. The hotel has a bath! Heaven!

Nov 9th sunday

Had anxious moments with my camera last night. It had got dust in it from the duststorm and the lens would not open ie would not work. With repeated goes..on ,off,on,off....poor battery...it eventually got going again. Thank goodness! Had another problem last night too. Checked my bike for oil and nothing was registering on the dip stick. Bit odd as it was serviced just before we left and cannot have done more than 800 miles since. Anyway put oil in and must check again soon.We head off down more very straight road through this scrubby dry land. Nothing but scrub. Hardly anything moving; a few cattle , one or two sheep and the odd bird of prey. Far less wind today and we get along very well. Clive and I can talk bike to bike as we go along with our Scala wireless communication. It works on bluetooth and seems to be working fine. We had always had trouble with Autocom which is a wired system. It always failed us. Scala allows you to listen wirelessly to music too through another gadget that we both have, the Zumo gps unit. Though it does not have a south american map it can tell you the direction of travel, the elevation, and numerous readouts of speed, average since start etc.One more thing to keep you busy on boring scrubby straight roads is the bike`s own little readout of time, speed, petol consumption, outside temperature (24c), mileage etc. Quite enough to look at and I was so busy playing gadgets that I nearly missed seeing my first wild llamas near the road. Into Sierra Grande to fill up with subsidized Patagonian petrol and empanadas and on towards Puerto Madryn. We deviated to Puerto Piramides which is in the Peninsula Valdes national park. Apparently excellent place to see lots of sealife. Most wildlife seemed to be down endless gravel roads so we lost enthusiasm and instead enjoyed Piramides ,which was picturesque in a little cove with big beach and whale watching tourists, and searched the sea with binoculars for the Southern Right Whale. This is where they breed. We could have gone on a boat trip at some cost but instead stood on a cliff top and indeed did spot the odd back of a whale. They are huge and slow. They reach 12 metres and can weigh over 30 tons. Hardly likely to be doing back flips! Pulled out of there and headed back to Ruta 3 and Puerta Madryn, a cool 93 kms.

Nov 10th Mon

We found an hotel after several tries. 155 pesos, a bit on the high side for us. This morning on check out he claimed it was 155 dollars! Horror! The room was not that great and we cannot afford it. He was very nice, spoke good english, and we paid our 155 pesos. The difference was about £70 or more!Puerto Madryn is about 44° south but its minimum winter average temp is 14c. Much warmer than I would have imagined.We head south to Trelew and a couple of `welsh` places, Dolovan and Gaiman slightly off our road. Welsh nationalists were allowed to settle here at the end of the 1800`s. Trying to equate a grid style cowboy style town with a welsh village was difficult. I think we were disappointed!. Before leaving a tea shop Clive managed to bash his head on a very low sign outside. Now sporting plaster over loo paper padding. He says he was very brave!We then head on south through the endless scrubby desert which has now gone on for about 500 miles.(it is a big country) It is not how I had perceived Patagonia. I thought it would be wetter, greener and not so flat and dry.. My contact lenses get very dry in the dry air. It is pleasantly hot. Very little traffic..a few trucks and cars and us. We gradually gain height and end up on a plateau of greener scrub at about 500-600 metres. The prettiest scenery of the last 2 days comes as we drop off the plateau through a valley and down to the coast at Comodora Rivadavia. Its a dump and we cannot find a suitable hotel. I am happy to camp but Clive is not. It transpires that he has not brought his airmat for sleeping on! In the end we find a motel in fairly industrial surroundings. I believe we are going to eat at the petrol station café....Wifi has been in every spot we have stopped in. It means we can download emails but not send ( our phones have a microsoft bug apparently). There is even Wifi at the petrol station. But it didn`t work!

Nov 11th Tues

Commodora and Trelew are the only 2 towns we have seen that had rubbish problems. On the outskirts it was bad especially near cheap (``breeding boxes` says Clive``) little new homes . Otherwise Argentina has been pretty clean.15c and cloudy. We have a longish day reaching Puerto San Julien. As we leave Commodoro we go past lots of `nodding donkeys`. Oil was discovered here in the 40`s.Nowhere in between to stop! Today the road has a few bends and ups and down but we still do a fair number of miles on a straight road across bleak countryside. Scrub gives way to tussocky grass. The wind is strong on our right side and at times we have to really fight it, leaning the bikes over. We stop at roadside petrol stations when they appear...they are few. This morning I noticed that my bike was leaking coolant. A hose was coming off. We managed to get it back on and hope it will not do it again. Its possible that it got dislodged by the front wheel whilst it was in its crate. The front wheel (which was off) was leaning against that area.In San Julien there is a fighter plane, on the sea front, that was involved in the Falklands war. Just to remind us! It has 3 trophy ships on its side....that it sunk?

Nov 12th Wed

As we arrived in town yesterday we bumped into another biker...Tony from Melbourne, Australia. He has been `on the road` for 8 months. We stay in the same hotel and eat and chat together. He tell us a bit about what we can expect as he has travelled down South America. Tony is taking the same road as us today so off we go together. He likes to travel at a slightly slower speed so we leave him behind to catch up at the petrol/tea stops. This works fine. He has a smaller bike, a Yamaha 650 single, and it is working hard. Same type of scenery but more wildlife. Llamas/vicunas, sheep,rheas, geese, ducks and believe it or not, 2 flamingos head down in a pond. We have noticed the white salt around these shallow bits of water but I can`t work out why they are salty . Suits the flamingoes!Weather has got colder, now 15-21c. Lucky with the wind today..its veered into the north a bit which means it is slightly more behind us. Also it was not so strong. Arrive early in Rio Gallegos, 52° south. Many hotels full but we find a spot.Managed to ring home on Skype to find that my mother is already back home after having an operation to renew her knees. All has gone well we think.Just looked up the weather in Ushuaia and its about 4c and showery! We must be mad. We have also learnt that we had motorbiked yesterday in a wind gusting to 75mph! Tonight the wind has got up again and is apparently gusting the same. Certainly sounds like it . Glad not on the road now.!

Nov 13th Thurs

Today we have to cross from Argentina into Chile over the Magellan Strait and then back into Argentina before travelling 80 miles to our next stop in Rio Grande. Well here I am writing this sitting in a howling wind literally in no mans land between Chile and Argentina. My motorcycle has a back wheel puncture! We have been on gravel road for 70 miles, it had nearly ended but I got the puncture just 600 metres inside Chile before the customs post.  We managed to get some air in and get across the border amd thus into the 10 mile gap between Chile and Argentina ( ie no mans land ) when the tyre went down again. Clive has now gone off with the wheel on his bike to the border where we hope it can be fixed. He may have to go through and then back through again! Plus points are that it is sunny and dry. 10c.We said goodbye to Tony this morning. He has gone a different way.We had 222 miles to do today plus 2 border crossings and a ferry. Ferry is behind us. The sea was wild! I am now gazing out on a flat grassy plain with grazing sheep. We have seen lots of llama/vicunas /guanaco. No one has told me the subtle difference. Also seen some pretty biggish birds with a long curved bill.Clive comes back. Its now 5.40pm. Says the tyre is not punctured ,its more serious as it is leaking round the spokes. Using 3 of our little compressed air bombs I leapfrog to the Argentine border..as the tyre deflates, reinflate with another `bomb`. Just make it. Clive meanwhile has been ridIng to and fro trying to locate the only tyre repair man he has apparenlty gone to town and we later discover will not return for 24 hours. ! Clive then negotiates the transport of my bike the 70 miles to Rio Grande with a water delivery van that is passing. This van is a box van and almost full of large empty plastic water bottles. With the help of the driver and his mate, we load the bike into the back of the van. There is nothing to tie the bike down on and we make room for the bike by piling the bottles to the front.  I then have to sit inside the van in the pitch black hanging on to the bike amongst a whole lot of empty plastic containers while we drive to Rio Grande. Clive rides behind. As we drive off many bottles fall over me and I am surrounded by these lovely empties.! Off we go and after 15 minutes the van starts bouncing around, clearly we are off road. After what seems an age the van is stopped by Clive who opens the door and instructs me to quickly get out with my valuables asap...  apparently we had  gone behind the hills into no-where and were approaching a workers camp which he feared we could have been mugged robbed and worse...  so he instructs the driver to go off and do whatever he has to do and return to collect us on his return.. meanwhile we stand by the road in the dusk and cold, the van with my bike dissapears....    fortunately it returned 20 minutes later still with my bike and I resume my postion in the dark.  The journey then continues in a temperature of 2 degrees to Rio Grande where we arrive about 10¨45 pm and there we are deposited by the driver at a puncture repair place which is still open.! They are very friendly, we remove the wheel again and to our utter surprise find I have a tube in the tyre. The puncture in the tube is soon fixed and then we make our way, very late, to the only contact we have, the Hosteleria Argentino. The lady owner Graciela, is not only up but greets us warmly with a bottle of wine at 11.30pm. We end up in bunk beds entirely grateful that argentines keep such late hours.! The bike is fixed, we have learnt a lesson, and we can continue on tomorrow as planned. BMW have put tubeless tyres on their bikes for several years now. This new bike of mine, the latest model... has old style tubed tyres...why have they reverted back?

 Nov 14th Fri

This day is a doddle compared with yesterday as we make our final push to Ushuaia. We have 130 miles of tarmac to do. After 20 mins of setting out we see trees! Mostly dead and mishappen but trees. We have not seen trees outside town for days. The countryside is now pretty with treeclad rolling hills. Then mountains appear with snow. As we go over a low pass (410m) to Ushuaia , it snows. Its 1c there and 5c in town. In between these snow showers its sunny. As we set off from a traffic light stop in town a wandering dog attacks Clive`s foot and tears a small hole in his thick leather boots. I was therefore prepared when it was my turn! We have prebooked a B & B which we find. We are here for 3 nights.   

15th Nov Sat

It is sunny cloudy and NOT windy for a change when we set off for the final few miles to the end of Ruta 3 and the sign which will say 3079 kms from Buenos Aires and (more). It is in a National Park and we slowly wend our way in very pretty scenery on a fine dirt road for about 20 miles in all. Plenty of tourists all taking photos of each other by the sign. Just as we are getting bikes aligned by the sign, a big Fuegian Red Fox walks nonchalantly by. Clive got a photo of it!
We take a short walk along a path. See some wildlife, mostly birds. Its very pretty with sea, trees, and mountains around with snow.
That done, its all north bound. Make our way back to Ushuaia. Clive explores the airport road thinking of his daughter who came here and ran along this road.
Every Argentine town we have been to has very similar street names and Ushuaia is no different. Certain ones crop up in every town...san martin , 9 de julio, belgrano, brown,maipu, 5 mayo etc. It does make getting around easier but exits from town are without signs and difficult.

16th Nov Sun.
Points on Ushuaia . It has grown in the last 25 years from 7000 people to 70,000. The houses seem to be built and designed by the owner out of anything to hand. Crossroads continue to be a free for all. Temperature in town ranges from 0c to 10c year round and the wind blows!
We have had it good with the weather..no wind yesterday and sun/cloud today. We have done an other must do...climbed up to the Martial glacier. Motorcyclists are not renowned for fitness but we made it up! Motorcycle boots are good for trecking and our jackets make fine anoraks! My tankbag becomes a rucksack and we are ready. Fantastic view of the Beagle channel. Clive aided his climb by using a chairlift part of the way. He said it was more peaceful and gave him time to admire the view on the way down.

We will now end this section of the diary as it has got quite long. Look out for new South America section.