In the morning a windy ride to Viedma, well through Viedma to El Condor.
Tony is a customizer of motorcycles in Germany, and as you can see he has no use of his legs but that doesn’t stop him.
Tony’s girlfriend Ina.
Canadians Brian and Marie.
Nick the Brit is in there somewhere.
Andy and Mia’s ride.
John who lives near Mendoza, ex-pat Brit.
Ken and Lorraine from England.
Javier from Dakar Moto, of course he is tinkering with the bike.
Bob the ‘smelly biker’.
Sandra from Dakar Moto.
Chris and Sylvia from Switzerland.
And all of us and many more having a bite to eat.
The next day a ride out to an acerage for an Asado.
Sebastian who lives in Viedma, originally from Germany.
Front and center my two favourite Aussie’s, Ken and Carol, rode a bus from Buenos Aries. Ken isn’t able to ride from the crash just yet. Oscar and Nancy who host the Horizon’s Unlimited meeting here in Viedma, El Condor in the background. Well there are many people as you can see but I’m tired of writing down the names like roll call at school.
Riding through a dust storm to Viedma for coffee and ice cream.
And more travellers have arrived.
The next day a few of us rode out to see the Sea Lions, Elephant Seals and tons of Parrots.
There’s Nick and Annette.
Lunch and the photo shoot. That’s Mia waiting for every one to gather around.
The next morning I decided to stay and watch every one leave. It was kinda depressing really, but thankfully Brian and Marie as well as John and Isabelle stayed too.
The German family as every one called them. The girls are so sweet and grown up, I guess this kinda trip will do that to a person. Actually, at first when they were preparing to leave Germany, they didn’t want to go. Now they both want their own moto’s.
Paulo from Brasil was the last to leave after packing for hours. He wasn’t in a hurry I can tell you that.
And my office for the day ….
Tomorrow I hit the road south, and I’m hoping to see a bunch of these people again in Ushuai for Christmas. We shall see …. oh and sorry for the bland description of a fantastic weekend. It’s just there is too much to tell but one thing is for sure, these people know how to live.
Here are John and Isabelle who are riding a truck around, and centered on the seat is our friend of twelve years old who is a kind, respectful young chico. I never did get his name right or at all and anyway it doesn’t matter, he’s cool. He invited us for dinner, guitar and piano and fishing at 2am, his parents came by the campground to re-confirm. I said yes but didn’t go and explained to mi amigo that I needed some zen time to ride early tomorrow. He said in English, ‘Don’t worry about it’. J&I went to the wee hours, I think 4am.
Instead I hung with my Canadian friends Brian and Marie from Quebec. We had dinner, chatted about alot of things and then retired just like we planned. In the morning they were the first to leave …. (incidentally their picture is back a bit within the HU photo shoot, Marie doing a fancy pose on the back of the bike with Brian in the cockpit, you can’t miss it, just go back a few photos ….
I had a quick bite with J&I, paid senor, and hit the road again ….
After sliding through a food check stop I asked the guy has he seen any other moto’s and he said he had about ten minutes ago. Forty five minutes later I rode by the Germans, that was cool ….
A while later I had something kinda disturbing happen to me, and I’ll explain why. First off I have passed through tons of check stops since entering Mexico, including countries like Honduras and such and all those borders … and today I encountered a check stop which was the most … how do I say? …. aggressive. I was surprised when he waved me over cause they usually let me pass and only stop trucks to see what’s inside. But this guy waved me over which is no big deal cause maybe they just want to check papers and have a chat but no, I could see that look in his eye. It reminded me of some of the other previous people/check stops I had been stopped at in the distant past, and it seemed to me at the time by the wave of his hand, but I only recognize this now while writing this.
Some Spanish I didn’t understand and then, ‘Sorry I don’t speak much Spanish, what did you say? Passport yes of course, here. What? Yeah, registration here. (I don’t know why they didn’t ask for the insurance, why don’t they ask for the insurance I paid for already?) You want to look in the cargo? (I shut the bike off and opened the pannier closest to me for the Gendarmie of Chulbut. So the guy starts sifting like they always do and then the second guy who seems cool asks to look in the other one so I open it too. He checks underneath my bag of clothing to find my walking boots and another bag of clothing and then signals he’s finished. Meanwhile the other guy is kinda waiting for me to watch him as he sifts further into my stuff, and he goes through everything. He sniffs at campsite dirt inside plastic bags, thoroughly inspects my bag of WD40 and all the other bike stuff and then I sigh again…. are you for real? I’ve been through shit loads of dudes carrying machine guns and you’re going to look through my mechanical stuff I was thinking. He went through everything, sniffing away like a dog, even my first aid kit. I sighed again. After he was finally finished he patted on my camping equipment and my back box and said with his arms, ‘go’). Gracia I said, and geared back up to leave, re-aranging the mess and finishing with the sunglasses, ‘Chow’ was my last word and theirs was nothing. (As I rode off thinking this is really weird, ‘a shake down in Argentina’ I pulled my camera out to take a picture of the three of them watching me ride down the road but I didn’t, partly because I didn’t want to stir the pot and partly because I said that guy wasn’t worth the picture. I’ve heard from some riders that the cops can be aggressive here in Argentina but for all the way down to that point everyone gave me a thumbs up and even helped me by suggesting I get gas before I was thinking. Go figure. After all this tranquil time I am suddenly faced with the same as long before. He was the worst from Canada to here just north of Puerto Madryn. And to top it all off, he was really making a big deal about certain parts like for example one bag he looked in thoroughly was my media bag with about five see through zip lock bags that contained spare keys for me and Scott, sticks, cables, batteries, battery chargers, a fake wallet, a mini speaker for music and a bag of cotton balls to keep things humid free and also for starting a fire quickly without any kindle. What an ass. He didn’t even ask me about the Columbian Military Bullits glued onto my bike …. argghhh … I wouldn’t have expected this here, but that being said I have heard there are a few hanging around extorting money for this and that. However that being said, this is the first for me after thousands of kilometers here in Argentina. Honestly it’s hard cause you gotta watch their hands and make sure they don’t take anything, which had never happened to me before up to this point, mostly they just move bags aside to see what’s there but this guy was going through everything. I don’t like people who invade my space, especially such a small space and for nothing but a waste of my time ….. without conversation, drink or food, not even a ‘suerte’ for ‘luck’. Don’t be a …..
And I ended up here …. in Rawson. 12/15/09
Before walking the beach after dinner ….
On the road again ….
A slight diversion to Tombo to see some Penguins …
And here is the first one I found ….
… who lives right next door to these ones, uhmmm ….
ListenToThePenguinsByClickingHere
These Penguins were just stepping around in the mud. Some others you can’t see, Chicks, were squawking and one time you can hear the bellow call of some other distant ones.
Every gas station, cafe etc., other motorcyclist’s have posted their stickers everywhere; this is a popular road the ruta 3, and then after Ushuaia, the dreaded ruta 40.
I rode into Comodoro Rivaderia and looked for a place to stay but gave up after one try, and decided to move on to Rada Tilly.
Which was even more difficult, not that Comodoro was, it’s just I figured it would be more mellow in Rada Tilly, and it was, a beach town but only one hotel and one cabana and hosteria that were too much plata; so in the end I stayed at the Rada Tilly Hotel and to be honest the woman was a cow, but in the end she took twenty pesos off my bill and wished me luck. What a beautiful beach town.
The next day I was going to see some petrified wooden trees some 35 metres in length and 150 million years old, but decided I didn’t want to ride 200km there and back on dirt gravel since I’m going to have so much on the Ruta 40 after Ushuaia so I kept riding the Ruta 3, also I missed the turn off.
Did I mention the wind? The Biento is Loco!
I stopped for gas and met these people; one a Japanese guy wearing new jeans and riding a rental from Buenas Aries and a German couple with also a rental from Chile. It was really hot at this gas station, but after I said good-bye and hit the road, the constant wind changed from the west to the east, and the east was much colder with very strong gusts. The German couple offered me a place to stay in their house in Germany for the future. The Japanese guy I’m sure from his laugh would have offered me his life. This dude was cool, and I didn’t spend hardly any time with him.
It was here I stopped to put on more layers ….
… and here to put on more ….
… and after I saw these moto’s rip past (there were three), all wearing their rain gear, I stopped again to put it all on, and turned on the hand warmers to high.
… and then I rolled into Puerto San Julian, wet and cold, to find this quaint little hosteria, warm and comfortable. I bought some wine, pate, Rocquefort cheese, almonds and watched a favourite movie of mine, (can’t remember the name, the Russian sniper in WWII), showered, cleaned clothes and now this upadate).
Here is a picture taken by Marisol at the Viedma meeting; Sabina and I playing together, no flash, very good ….
Namaste Friends,
A quick note to let you know that I have a new email address:
corinnemcnally@gmail.com – please send me a quick note so that
I can get you into my contact list……(is there an easier way?)
I’ve just returned from an amazing 2 month adventure to India,
where I spent my time in the north, at the base of the Himalayas.
I was in Rishikesh studying yoga, the culture, & birthing. I still haven’t
exactly landed, as every cell of my body is permeating with the
beauty & essence of beloved India, I am longing to return again soon.
I’ve been blessed with the spiritual name “Indu” by my Yogi, Vishva Ji,
Indu, means one who is deeply introspective and goddess of the moon.
He didn’t even know about Lotus Moon Wellness- so I think he is the one
who is deeply introspective. Soon, I’ll have pics up on facebook, if you’re
not on FB, then Hari Om! (or it’s time you were, hehe).
Wishing you a blissful holiday season with lots of warm hugs & giggles.
In love & light,
Indu (corinne)
xoxoxooxoxoxo
my friend Markus…please resend to corinnemcnally@gmail.com
so I can get you in my contact list!
Hope all is well with your travels…and if you want to go to India with your bike I
think it’d be great, there are more bikes than anything in Rish, you just have to
be brave enough to drive there, total chaos!
Merry christmas, keep in touch!
love love
Corinne,
The trick to changing your email address is to send from the new one, but I don’t know if you can do that and I don’t know that I did all those many times I did before. Regardless, this should work, sending to the correct address. Yes, the madness I love, so India should be great. Well, if I get to Europe from Africa I will be happy, but at this rate a wee late for a Russian summer. I met some French Canadians who went from Europe through Turkey, Iran Pakistan etc., maybe I’ll do that if I’m lucky enough, or take advantage of my British/Euro passport and work somewhere for awhile. I don’t know, I am only living one day at a time, and have been for six months, or maybe only one day I don’t know ….
Markus
I woke up at 9am and immediately thought I should just stay and hang out a little but I packed up the bike anyway, paid senora and rode through town toward the gas station and discovered a huge line of traffic that went down the block and around the corner. I remembered seeing one on the Ruta 3 so I rode past, ‘Suckers!’. When I got to that station, well they didn’t have any gas. Shoot, do I risk riding the next 130km’s to the next town, or go back into San Julian. I figured the next town might not have gas either so I better go for the sure thing, and off I went back to San Julian.
While waiting at the back of the line I remembered I hadn’t charged my IPod in a couple of days so I checked it and sure enough the battery was low. Darn, that won’t last one hour of the four and some hours of riding today. Argghhh. After 45 minutes it was my turn for gas, he pumped her up and then I thought to myself …. ‘Already two problems at the start of my day and I don’t want to discover the third so I turned back to the hospadje and rented my room back for another night.
So I walked along the beach and then took the tour of the replica ship, “Victoria” and learned about the Captain Ferdinando Magellan and his necessary ways to remain Captain of four ships and three other captains. He would let know one see his maps, pretty good security, but in the end he too was eventually murdered, right here in this happy port town. All this while circumnavigating the globe. What a life.
Here was my tour guide.
I tweaked some things on the bike, one of which is the balancer chain adjustment which I always forget to do when I do an oil change. Then I went for a ride to record this ….
Time to head south …
I stopped at a gas station and waited in the long line, and while doing so, I recognized Nick’s bike parked off to the side. He is the English guy riding a Suzuki 350. We had met in Viedma and had agreed to ride down to Ushuaia together but as you know, I stayed the extra day to catch up with this site and to chill out before going. To be honest at the time I saw Nick and Annette riding away I felt a lot of regret, but as it turns out I ran into him again. We were both excited to see each other. I guess he and Annette weren’t happy riding together so this is why she wasn’t at the gas station with Nick. Okay, let’s go!
Some other riders returning from Ushuaia.
We camped here in Rio Gallegos, in a hard to find place by the airport. At first we thought it was a dismal place but once there we were just starting to set up when this guy pulled up in a car and said take his spot. We didn’t even notice the area he was in which was much better. He even had a fire going already and some wood from a broken pallet. Thanks!
A couple of young ladies were kicking a soccer ball around and eventually the ball came over to us. ‘Hola’ I said and that was it. They came right over and started talking. Luckily the older sister spoke a lot of English so it was easy to get to know each other. In the dark they returned to their spot where yet another sister and her boyfriend were making a meal. When finished, they came over with a bottle of wine/juice and we had a toast together before their father came to pick them up. The young ladies were 18 and 16, and very mature for their age, and not afraid to talk to a couple of foreign men on bikes. In fact at one point, (shoot can’t remember her name starts with a G), G said, ‘So tell me more about yourselves’ ….
At the first Argentina/Chile border we met a a German couple riding two up, Monica and Bettina.
