When we were leaving San Pedro Attacama, these two German guys on 1200′s were also heading for the Pasa Jama. We checked out first and an hour or so later they came flying past us at probably 150km/hr. We were to see them all day, as they would stop and we would pass etc. .
Immigration and Aduana was fairly efficient and luckily we got here just before a bus of tourists. The only problem was that I had no insurance for the bike, and I didn’t want to ask if it would be a problem or if I could buy it here at the border just in case they sent me back to Chile.
So after some deliberation with K&C and the two German guys, we still didn’t know what was the best decision to make. K&C have had insurance as they have been in SA for two years and the German guys purchased theirs in Chile …. mmmm …. Crawford had emailed me a while back to say he got caught re-entering Argentina somewhere and had to ride back 80km’s to buy insurance, so in my case if I got caught on somewhere on this road I would have to go back hundreds of kilometers …. just then a German tourist in a 4X4 had come from Argentina so one of the guys asked and they said there was no check stop until Jujuy. Let’s go! By the way, there is a brand new gas station at the Jama Argentina border.
(For those of you who have already been here and viewed and read, well things are different now because I had a problem downloading new photos yesterday. The thing is while I was trying to download photo’s unsuccessfully, I would try and bail out of the site by saving and signing out except that when I did it would erase portions of my previous entries. A massive problem that I still don’t understand. However what I did learn is this …. for months now whenever I checked into a hostal/hotel they would say yes we have internet and then when I would try to use unsuccessfully they would say, it’s because of the wind, and I would smile and say okay I’ll try again next time, turn around thinking yeah right, and walk away. But it’s true! Yesterday it was really windy and now I know why I had all these problems. So anyway, the words are different but the pictures are the same. Enjoy …. )
Here come the German’s again ….
Mid-afternoon we rode out of the twisties onto the plains and ahead in the distance we saw a bicycle. And then noticed it was a tandem, with our friends Arnold and Julie from France! We had first met them in Uyuni, Bolivia and here they are again!
They had been riding for 5 days from San Pedro Attacama to where these pictures were taken, and we had just left San Pedro this morning. The night before K&C and I were just talking about Arnold and Julie, wondering if and where they were, and we found them! One thing I can say about all motorcyclists, is we all shake our heads and think ‘I thought I had it tough’, when we see these bicyclists crawling through these great lands. The most difficult thing for Arnold and Julie is finding water between the vast stretches of no civilization. For example they took the same road from Uyuni, Bolivia as Crawford and I did, the same road I crashed on. There is nothing there except natural beauty, and these two peddaled their way through, ran out of water, and luckily found a hut or something where the locals led them to a natural spring. I can’t remember exactly how many litres of water they carry but it’s all they can handle that’s for sure, with the weight and all. Anyway, I can’t say enough about the physical and mental strength of Arnold and Julie. They admitted they were getting tired but still they keep moving on.
After talking and such, we said our good-bye’s, and I recall Arnold saying that next time somewhere else in the world they may take a 4X4 instead, but who knows eh, they may want the bicycle again someday.
Around this point we pulled over for a local moto guy who was waving us over. He had run out of gas, but happened to have a container and hose to siphon. When we asked how much gas he needed he said he wanted the container full, 4 litres to get to the next town 90km away. So we obliged, all the time thinking this guy is a pro, because it was all too routine. He had a small bike a 150cc or something and Ken figured he easily had enough to get to the next town so we gave him 3 litres between both our tanks and rode off. Later we even thought that maybe he lived in the hut we could see in the distance, toward the direction his bike was facing, which incidentally was not facing toward where he said he was going. Oh well, deed done, and if he is a pro, well hopefully this doesn’t catch up to him someday.
Later in the day we arrived in Tilcara, Argentina and found a great old hostal a couple of streets up from the main square, ‘La Posada’. And would you believe it, again I get #4. I can’t tell you how many times over the last 5 months I’ve been given a key for room #4.
After washing up, K&C and I went for dinner and shortly after that, the music started. Take a close look at the instrument the young guy is playing on the floor below the stage. What a crazy sound it made, and the visual impression was equal.
Click the link below if you want to hear the raucous ending to the night when everyone was encouraged to dance, which incidentally Argentian’s don’t need, actually all of Latin America. (sorry for the distortion, no cans and no way to monitor, I’ll get better at guessing further down the road).
Just as we were about to leave we met Mathias, a moto tour guide, after a hard days work. He was leading a group of bikers on rented bikes through some crazy dirt roads on a four day trip. The most difficult part is knowing how skilled a rider is, contrary to what they may say. One of his clients had crashed and they had to leave the bike, get a new one overnight and continue on the next day. Mathias is a cool dude so if anyone can do what he does it would be him. For me, not a chance.
The next day I watched K&C ride off toward Buenss Aires as they had some parts for the bike that needed to be picked up before being discarded, not to mention the holding fee. So I stayed behind in this grand old house to catch up with the photos and this site. Nice office eh.
In the main square I walked into the middle of a Bingo game, so I hung around and waited to see who would win the 1000 pesos. A smiling young woman won the odd $250 dollars.
Then a siesta in my tranquillo room …
… before cooking dinner for my new friends Carlito and Roceo who help run the hostal. After dinner we went down to the town for a beer and when leaving the pizza joint Carlito asked ‘Una masse?. Si. Vamous’.
And we walked out of the centre for quite some way, before entering a large hall, ‘in the Bronx of Tilcara’ as Carlito put it laughing. Excellent music, dancing and fiesta. And only one Gringo, me.
At one point while I was watching the band and the people dancing, a young large chica grabbed me from behind, not spilling my beer, and pulled me in to dance. I did for some time, mixing a crazy Canadian style with an Argentinian suave step, but to most watching, and most do when you’re the only Gringo, I probably looked pretty crazy in a good way I hope.
At the end of the night, well our night which was at 2 in the morning and the dancing was still going strong and nobody was leaving but us …. anyway leaving the hall I was talking to this dog as I often do, ‘Hey Perro, what’s up?’ Well this dog started following us which is unusual for a street dog as they always have business to attend to. And he followed us all the way back to the casa, some twenty mintues. The other crazy thing is no other dog would mess with this dog, even though this dog was entering and exiting other dog’s territories. Usually they get barked at or chased but no dog even uttered a noise when this one was walking through and sniffing where it wanted.
When we arrived at the casa, Carlito and Roceo went inside and I stayed at the gate to say thank you and good-bye to the Perro who was standing a distance away. After I said a few words the dog howled a low groan, turned and walked away. What a night ….
The next day I wandered around …
… and then I received this news from Ken and Carol ….
On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 4:31 PM, Ken and Carol Duval <bmwduval@hotmail.com>
Hi Markus,
We did not make it to our intended destination yesterday and ended up in Rosario de la Frontera about 130 kms north of Tucuman on Ruta 9. We had a major crash with a front wheel blow out at around 70 to 80 kms an hour. Carol`s pannier is smashed again and the crash bar has been worn down quite a bit. We are both very sore but nothing broken with shoulder and rib injuries. Our clothing took the impact and is in tatters but saved us from major injuries. We were rescued on the highway by a local motorcyclist (driving his car) and we are now recouperating with his family. Ken is still unable to ride because of the shoulder damage and may see a private doctor tomorrow to check it out more thoroughly. We still need to get to BA and will decide in the next day or two whether we go on the bike or leave it here and catch a bus.
It appears the cause of the accident was the overtightening of the valve stem on the rim at the tyre changing place in La Paz. The valve stem pulled completely out of the tube so the tyre went flat very quickly and we went down fast and slid a long way. We had only done 36 kms since our lunch stop at Metan.
Hope your journey south is more uneventful. We expect to be here until Tuesday night and leave Wednesday either on the bike or bus. The bus takes 24 hours to reach BA, if we go on the bike it will take 3 to 4 days as we expect not to be able to do big kms. We will make it to Viedma one way or another…. by bike or bus!!!
See you soon.
Hugs from the sore and sorry Aussies!!
Oh my word!!! I´m so sorry but happy to hear you are both relatively okay. Jesus Murphy!! You´re both so lucky as I assume there was no traffic and you slid to a safe stop. Wow, I´m so tongue tied right now, I never thought I would receive an email from you two like this …. okay, if there is anything I can do please let me know. Currently I am still in Tilcara, been taken in by the young couple Carlito and Rosia, and was taken to the local dance last night, only one gringo, me. I will be leaving from here Tuesday morning to head south and make some serious kilometers toward Viedma, and will stop somewhere to do some tire changes and valve check and shimming if necessary. I´m so very happy you are both okay. How is the bike?
Markus
PS Much love and good thoughts for healing ….
And the next day I was to ride into Jujuy with Carlito but just as we were about to leave his friend called and said I’ll be there tomorrow so I started to work on my site during the big winds, and hence all the trouble I mentioned earlier in this section. However that being said I was invited to lunch with some university students staying here at the hostal. They cooked up some rice and vegetables in a stew with fresh salad and fresh watermelon. Yummy. I also met more of Carlito’s friends who stopped by to see if Carlito was home. Basically I had the whole house to myself for the day, playing house keeper and talking with various people. I went to bed early and woke up before sunrise and noticed, no wind! So I jumped onto the computer to re-enter all this again …. now I’m going back to bed.
I was sent this picture from the coach, David Michael, of the Brass Taps Hockey Club back in Toronto. We won the championship last season, ’08/’09, for the fourth time, and every team that wins the championship in the Downtown Hockey League, gets their picture at The Hockey Hall Of Fame in Toronto, displayed along with the big guys of hockey. Yes! The team is kicking butt again this year I hear.
I met this guy, Martin, who is staying at the hostal the night before. The next day I went to Lapena restaurant for a bite and he was there eating too. I admit I was reluctant to sit down with him after he offered cause he didn’t speak any English and I thought it was going to be kinda awkward … and it was to an extent. Every time I said ‘No intiende’, he would smile and sigh and look for a different way to explain himself. A while later we were talking about quantem physics, philosophy, Herman Hesse the author, documentaries, and about every day people and how we fit into the scheme of things. It turns out Martin is an astronomer and he is here in Tilcara for work. Of course the dictionary helped fill in the gaps and I have to say I got goosebumps when we connected on ideas that are difficult to explain in the same language let alone two different ones.
Then he got into a similar discussion with Senora and it was quite funny to listen too. In the end I broke the conversation by saying we have both Lenin/Lennon ‘s here with us today. She got a good laugh out of my comment. Later I walked with Martin to the tourist office as he had a meeting with someone there.
Got myself a brand new Argentina map too! A good one.
In the evening Carlitos organized an Asado, for all the people staying at the hostal plus a couple of friends. Miguel did the cooking, wickedly good meat.
Carlitos and Roceo, with the thumb up.
I got into an argument, or rather a self-defense mode when this guy who had just arrived at the hostal, well he started talking about how I should know more Spanish since I’m in their country and boy oh boy did that get me going, especially after the meat and wine. The university girls got into it too and with passion too, translating for me as this guy only knew hello/goodbye. I told him at one point, through one of the ladies, that I had had a deep conversation with a guy who didn’t know any English and we didn’t have a problem. I also thought, what happens when you want to visit Asia, are you going to learn the language before you go there or are you just gonna go there. Waste of time, narrow-minded fool, he won’t go anywhere. At one point I said out loud in English, ‘You’re driving me crazy I just want to punch you in the face’. And that’s when I decided to leave the backyard for the peace of my room, falling asleep to the girls giving it to this guy still.
The next day I did Senora’s homework for her, the woman who works at Lapena, where I have been frequenting. She is studying English, and she wants to travel to the USA. Her picture is a few back, the one listening to Martin in the restaurant. Oh yeah, so I decided to stay one last day, as it was a full moon and Martin was going to bring his telescope down to the plaza in the evening.
It was so complicated, the phonetics of English, that I had to re-read it several times to make sense of it all, which makes me wonder how the hell is this woman going to learn English this way.
I bought a glass of wine from a restaurant and took it into the plaza to watch the various kids look through the magnifying glass, adults too. Everyone smiled when they pulled away from the telescope. Every event is an event around these parts; latin america; nothing but good times, and always mostly gratitude and mutual respect.
The last customer …. she was so cute asking all these questions of Martin and the Moon while he was packing up to eat and drink.
Time to hit the road …. muchos gracias Tilcara and mi amigos ….
Riding down ruta 40 two lanes turned into one and a half. I was so happy to get to farmland, trees, greenary, and a crazy one lane road of twisty’s.
I rode through Salta, time to keep moving. This was one of the most peaceful rides I’ve had on this journey so far …..
Arriving in Cafayate, and surrounded my vineyards ….
A wee dinner in the plaza ….
…. and a contemplative walk back to Ruta 40 hostal.
I was up early and on the road, and to my surprise, a visually stimulating ride laden with great contrast …. (ugh, what a stupid sentence), basically the scenery was really crazy …. PS I added some more sound for the Tilcara portion if you’re interested, before the walking around bit, called “BackyardSounds”, at casa La Posada.
I was going to stay the night here in Monteros, but was having so much fun riding I thought I’d just keep going.
I love moto countries; they get the shoulder cause they usually don’t travel as quickly. The shoulder even comes with mini-speed bumps so the cars won’t use it too. I however, having the speed of a car and the width of a moto, well I used all three lanes.
I arrived in La Cocha, a small town. I looked everywhere for accomodations but couldn’t find anything. I asked a few times and each time was asked to go this way and that. I never found the hotel. Even when I was right next door I still couldn’t see the hotel; that’s because it was behind the gas station. Cool little place. Oh and one person I asked and then chatted with gave me a small religious icon for another province here in Argentina. Gracias. When I get to Viedma for the Horizon’s Unlimited meeting, I’m going to do a lot of gluing onto the bike. Carlitos and Roceo gave me a Matte cup, (not spelt correctly), and the key and number for the room I stayed in, #4. I told them how crazy it was that I kept getting 4′s alot of the time since Canada and well they gave me the skeleton key and wooden #4. Anyway I got my room, #1, and watched some funny movies ….
Excerpt from journal … Day 171 Cafayate to La Cocha What a scenic ride, from vineyards to cactai, jungle and plains. I really enjoyed riding today. Later on … watching BBC comedy, excellent: ‘Punch Drunk Love’, ‘Head Case’, ‘Mighty Boosh’, ‘Peep Show’.
The next morning I ate at the gas station. An Argentina breakfast is bread and coffee and dinner doesn’t happen till 10 or 11pm. And I rode and rode …. I kept seeing these people walking everywhere, all going the same direction as I, a religious pilgrimage I was told. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. Now these people even have one up on the moto’s and the bicycles, for they are walkers.
Later I was stopped at the back of a line for which I thought was some sort of Police check but as it turns out it was a Medical check, for the mosquitoes in Cattamarca carry Dengue. I didn’t understand and they didn’t understand … ‘But I’m not staying in Cattamarca, I’m going to Cordoba. And besides I was bitten fiercly last night in La Cocha. No problem in La Cocha. But that’s only 100 kilometers away. Please sir just let me put some of this cream on your neck and face. But why I’m not going to Cattamarca? Is there a problem in Cordoba, or in all of Argentina? No. (the doctor arrives to inquire about the massive dialogue) He doesn’t understand. No intiende. No. (More dialogue) But I’m not going to Cattamarca, is there a problem in Cordoba or in Argentina in general? No. (We all smile) Okay, so I’m outta here. Bien suerte. Gracias.’ As I was riding away I was thinking, but what about the rest of my body, shouldn’t they cream the whole body? Oh well, I’m not going to Cattamarca so who cares anyway.
Later I arrived in Cattamarca for fuel and to get some money from the bank machine. I was mildly paranoid, but honestly didn’t really worry. I also saw the destination for all the Pilgrims, massive tents and such for the arrival of all these dedicated people spread out for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. When I was a kid we never did anything like this. We just rode to the 7/11 for a slurpee was all.
And then this long and desolate desert road. All I kept thinking about was what happened to Ken and Carol, their front inner tube exploding. “… it goes to show you how hot the Argentinian roads are ….”. Yikes. I have to admit I was really paranoid. I even took unnecessary breaks to let the tires cool down. I know it’s not the same as what happened to them but still I couldn’t help think this all the way down this long hot desolate road. I don’t even know how long in kilometers, an inner tube is safely good for. Yeah I was going crazy ….
It was here, just south of Dean Fune, that I stopped to close the vents and to button the hatches for I saw some clouds ahead, dark and ominous. While doing so, I noticed the colour of the sky was not normal. Shit, that’s dust. Shit that’s a lot of wind. So for 15 minutes I just stood there with the bike and the wind so I could judge the potential problems/options as it came at us. Is this an Argentinian tornado? Doesn’t look like a tornado. Maybe I can’t see it behind all the dust.
After this bus passed I got back on and rode, spooning the bike down low just in case something more was coming, or something a gringo doesn’t know about such things. Incidentally, Ken told me that someone told him that ‘Gringo’, is a name for the U.S. soldiers in green way back when …. ‘Green Go’, said the people. Don’t know if that’s true, one never knows eh.
Then I stopped here cause it was windy, and I also noticed I hadn’t seen any vehicles since the bus. I was only going around 80k just in case …. ‘A vehicle should have passed me or come at me by now?’. So I took some pictures, after angling the bike just the right way I hoped.
And that’s when a lone vehicle was coming down the road. The Police Jeep stopped, backed up right beside me and said in rapid Spanish, ‘The road was closed just after you and you have to go back to the last town. It’s not possible to ride to Cordoba, 140k or so away? No. Accidente? No, biento(wind). No possible para mi? No. Returno donde? (a name of a town I couldn’t quite hear with all the wind and Espanole and such), and ‘Policia’ he added. No possible si? Si. Okay, gracia (no ‘s’ at the end of ‘gracia’ in Argentina, sometimes. I really do like the different slang ever since Mexico). Okay, so I ride back to Dean Fune to find the only hotel is full. What did the Policia say when I re-entered town, ‘You can go north-east on this road for 100k and then go south on the other side of the mountains’. Okay, let’s go!
About 40k in I rode past this little village to face more wind and after about 5 minutes I said ‘—- it, let’s go back there and see what they have to offer’. So we did and much to our amazement it was a beautiful, tranquillo village, and they even had a wooden map posted of this village named Villa Tulumba near the entrance, which showed the way to the only accomodations. And what a georgeous abode, and kind people.
So I bunkered in after a good chat with Senora, Senora Staff and Senor. I bought three beers and a can of tuna, lemon, bread, and some chocolate and hankered down in the silence and peacefullness of this grand old home, while listening to music and looking through the photos.
The next morning after bread, coffee, mango juice and again great conversation with the casa people and guests, we parted ways. After that familiar but patient sigh Senora reiterated to me yesterday evening, ‘This village is within a micro-climate …..’. A rare bird indeed I thought when leaving this morning, after saying our ‘good-bye’s. ‘Mucho suerte. Gracia, and to you too my friends’.
Alot of sparrows here, as I dodged a few and found one lying here in the above picture. Perfect condition, just dead is all, and no blood. They are all over the place, wizzing here and there across this road. And the picture below, more tributes to the woman I mentioned before, the one who walked after her husband who went to war, with their newborn child in her arms still feeding after she had died of thirst.
And into Cordoba, for new tires and such. The GPS let me down in a city for the first time; it lead me into the center of a neighbourhood which was alright but not anywhere close; and anyway I just asked and then about 5k away I found where I am now, and currently so to speak. I ate McDonald’s for lunch, which is ironically always a treat down here, before finding my home for the night. I don’t know why but the most difficult time I have had getting food is at McDonald’s; here in Cordoba and also in Cusco. No lo say … ironic too ….
And here probably the most plain a place I can imagine, but everything works so who cares anyway? Una, dos, tres, cuatro ….
The next day to the moto mecca here in Cordoba. Motos shops everywhere in a concentrated two blocks. In the end, a guy from one shop called his friend and had him ride over and then I followed him about 15 minutes out of the mecca and into a residential neighbourhood located here ….
Fernando’s shop, with all kinds of work being done by various people.
I don’t recall this guy’s name right now but he checked my valves while I tweaked some things from the accident, cleaned the air filter, and such. The valves hadn’t changed since Maine, U.S. or your shop Jim back in Ontario. We also changed the engine oil and fork oil. Done. $100 dollars all in. Off to find some tires ….
Back to the mecca to shop around. I decided on Pirelli 60′s for the rear and 40′s for the front, $250 dollars installed.
However even though I was watching closely, I was also talking to this other customer with this wicked ride, circa ’79 in perfect condition. I received an email from Scott about someone he had met who also had a bad accident because of his tire tube blowing from over tightening of the valve stem screw to the rim just like Ken and Carol’s ride. Scott also mentioned that when he changed tires his rear tube was nearly pulled apart. So tomorrow I will check myself.
Back to the hotel to get some laundry done, dinner and sleep. In the morning after I pack up I need to stop by Fernando’s shop as the temperature guage isn’t working as I think maybe the sensor was not connected back together again. No say. The learning curve is steep all these days ….
“Darling,” replied Valentine, “has not the count just told us that all human wisdom is summed up in two words? – `Wait and hope.’”
Basically I had a lot of thoughts today and they all ended up to the last two words of this book and the right to survival, and the right to live …. while watching “The Banger Sisters” …. cause who can explain any one river while swimming to and fro ….
I woke up late, to the call from reception asking me why I was still here and if I would like another night. No, give me a minute. A minute later he called back, ‘una noche?’. No, gotta run …. so I went to Fernando’s shop but it was closed so I thought, let’s go.
I didn’t receive a boot full of water, just the seat and crotch. Afterward I decided to stay in the next town, V. Mckenna. It was here when the only hotel I stopped at said it was 150 pesos, too much. So after he said go another 100km for a cheaper motel, in a nice way, I said no way I’m cold and wet and he then suggested a hospadje two blocks away. The dude was cool and the parking and room were excellent.
In the morning I took a couple of pictures of these birds, rabbits and gophers or something. In the night before the morning, I quietly snuck near the cage to observe these animals resting; a lovely sight. Also the rabbit was Mr. Curious while everyone was sleeping, with one eye open.
Here I had a chat with about 10 hawks(or the equivilant) in two separate trees. They were making a fuss about me being there and after I tried to get close to get a picture, they went further away so I just hung out by myself and they were quiet. When I was ready to go, I wished them good dreams, luck, food and life. They didn’t squawk or anything, they just kinda figured out the meeting was over and I think they were relieved or considering the next hunt.
And here I was stopped at the border of a province of Argentina, and asked if I had any fruit. Yep, they took my apple. You can see it at the bottom left of the frame before it went into the incinerator. I offered the apple to the guy but he wouldn’t take it. He wanted me to eat it and I refused out of principle. So the apple went into the bin. While this was happening a cop walked across the highway and started I think, telling the food police to just let me go cause I was a tourist, but in the end he had to admit they were just doing their jobs. Okay, let’s go.
And so here in Rio Colorado, I have stopped for the night. No pictures yet …. Viedma tomorrow for the masse moto reunion’a(?).
