It's summer again and here we go

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing!

Just to give you guys a bigger view of everything in the last post. This is a region where the three countries meet. In this pic you see Paraguay on your right, Argentina on your left and Brasil is your point of view.

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This is the Marco das Três Fronteiras (The Three Borders Monument). The river is the Iguaçu river.

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Every single one of these three countries has a similar monument.

And this is the starting point of our fun in Argentina. But first, let me tell you about the next photos.
During the 1600’s the european settlement process of de la Plata River arrea, as well as some other parts in Brasil, had a hard time with the resilience of some Amerindians like the Guaranis, Tupinambás (these in southeast and northeast Brasil) and Tupiniquins (located at the same place of the previous ones). Some of them where very good warriors and the violence was a common place. As for Tupinambás, for example, they scared the Europeans to death for their habits too. They were anthropophagus as part of their beliefs. To eat the enemies was a form of recognition for those enemies’ importance and skills as warriors.
But aside of war, another form to put the Amerindians under the Europeans control was the “Missões” or “Reduções”. They were sort of communities built by the Jesuits. Their goal was to convert the Amerindians to the Catholicism, to “protect” them from the slave traders and provide them faith/salvation. Many historians agree that the Jesus Company (the Jesuits) were actually another “arm” of the Portuguese state and their colonial politics towards Latin America. Some Jesuits, like Antonio Vieira, took place as members of the Portuguese government.
So parts of Brasil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay were targets for the Jesuits as they were very important to the Iberian States. Missiones, province where you find the Iguaçu Falls in Argentina, is one of those regions. And here you can see what remains from the Jesuits work.

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Thanks for taking us along for the ride arjones!.. Your photographs are fantastic, and they make me want to visit Brasil. I could do without the Patagonian flowers, whether your wife likes them or not. We have those Russian thistles here in Wyoming too, and they are terrible weeds!

Thanks a lot Cowboy and rebel346!!! From the last post on we gonna tease you with the Argentinian landscape. San Ignacio Mini ruins are in Argentina, Misiones province. Although hot as hell (at least in this time of the year), a beautiful and peaceful place. Very easy to visit, since it's right there on the road.

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Excellent Ride Report and photography, thank you for taking the time to post. I think everyone reading this now wants to travel through Brasil.

Your beloved one clearly shares your entheusiasm for moto travel:


Wishing you both the best in the coming year,

That's awesome!! You are welcome in Brasil any time. Just PM me and I will be glad to take you to some beautiful rides!!

Yes, she's a real trooper (as you guys say)!

poolman, I just arrived from a place that could be the best pool ever for a "poolman". You would spend a life time doing pool things overthere!! Stay tuned for some fotos...

All the best for you and your family too!

Really enjoying this Ride Report. Awesome photos of what looks like a beautiful country. I am headed to Argentina in a month or so and then on to Antartica on a photo. shoot. With all that truck traffic it makes we glad that I have so many Wide Open Spaces that Texas provides when you get out of the cities.

Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing. When you say hot, what temperature are you meaning? It is HOT as hell here in summer also and I do not ride much then. The other seasons are great.

Thanks a lot! You know, doing this has brought another flavor to my trip. It's hard to keep things on track, I mean, up to date. BUT, having you guys giving your opinions and compliments fill me with this desire to move on. You will love south Argentina. Don't miss the Perito Moreno and the others glaciers in the area. Also, there are lots of little rides to do around.

Argentina is a country of extremes. You can spend a day riding under 45-48 Celsius, and, in a matter of a day, been catch by temperatures range between 5- 10 Celsius, depending of where you are. Some times, the difference of those temperatures can be felt in a ride of 500 km... You start the day chilling and finish your ride sweating like a pig!! And the wind... man this is another chapter, apart from all the awesomeness. It can scare you to death, no kidding. Riding with side winds up to 90 km/h is an experience I don't wish to anyone...At the end of the ride you can see your tires with a different pattern in one side:eek1. No BS.

As for the trucks: every trip to Argentina and other countries of S.A. demands a cross country trip in Brasil. And this a vacation trip, so the schedule is a little tight. Therefore, we must take the main roads in order to leave Brasil as soon as possible. But we could cross the entire country without all that hassle, for sure.

Tomorrow we are leaving early in the morning to Quebrada de Humauaca, Jujuy area. I'm hopping for a beautiful day, clear skies and great landscape. Today was cloudy, but we managed to do a little ride, nothing really special but fun. Maybe tomorrow night I'll post something more colorful.

P.S.: if you like meat, don't miss "bife de chorizo". You will be feeling like you can't even see a cow for months after that!

Happy New Year to you both and ride safe in 2013 !
Great report.

Another awesome update!!! Awesome Tucan and parrot photos. Where they wild birds or caged??? Nice fall shots and also thanks for the history as its educating as well.

Ciao, obrigado

John

Thank you, very much. I'm in such a state of spirit right now... I'm sure that I'm the best person to wish you a happy new year! So, HAPPY NEW YEAR BROTHER!!!! All the best for you and your beloved ones.

Thank you John, you're very kind. The "Tucanos" and "Araras Azuis" (Araras="big" parrots; azuis=the color in the plural) live in sanctuary, a beautiful work of a nice german lady. They live there after been rescued. The sanctuary also works breeding some of them to put them back into the wild. So they are not caged, but they are not really wild. There are several other bird's species there, it's worth the visit big time.

Sorry to take so long for this my friends, but the last three days where busy, riding and visiting... Here we go:

After see the San Ignacio Mini’s ruins, we kept an average speed of something around 130-140 km/h (80-87 mi/h) but the heat was giving us a hard time. Temperatures were up to 45 Celsius (113 F)!!!! Nobody was thinking of shooting pics at all. We arrived in Corrientes, had an ok meal to celebrate Christmas and went to bed so we could start the day as soon as possible to avoid the heat. The plan was to ride something around 600 km (373 miles). But the heat and the wind didn’t allow us to do it so. Winds around 60 km/h (37,3 mi/h) and stronger gusts drove us to Quimili, a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. At 3 p.m. we called the day. No photos again, sorry.
You see, the wind, as I told before, is a thing to consider when you ride Argentina. Last year we went to South Patagonia and had the most terrifying experience of our life when we got hammered by wind gusts of 80-90 km/h. For 200 km!!! The Ruta 3 (going south all the way having the Atlantic on one side and the Patagonia environment on the other) can be blasted by winds that can turn a big truck upside down. No BS. So, when the winds started at the Chaco Province we instantly remembered of last year’s experience and called the day.

The next day we waited until around 12 pm when the storm and wind gave us a break to ride to Salta, Northwest Argentina. The ride was uneventful and temperatures were in a good range. This map is our route after I met my wife up to Salta.

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Salta is what we could call a medium size city, surrounded by mountains and a good base to do lots of good rides in the area.

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Also, there is a museum (Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña) where we could see the remains of three children who were given in sacrifice three centuries ago and lots of good info about the Inca and pre-Ica civilizations. Better than my lame English: http://www.welcomeargentina.com/salta/archeology-museum-salta.html

After that we took a small and fun ride to this:

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The light wasn't that good for photos, as you can see... BUT the next day...

I'm in San Pedro de Atacama, and heading for Valle de La Luna (the moon valley) right now!! Later guys with a little more.

I'm looking forward to this.

I tried my best!!!

Well, the next day started with clear skies, good temperature, no wind and a feeling that we would have a memorable ride.

There are two ways to leave Salta towards San Salvador de Jujuy. The fast, on a brand new road; and an old one, twisty, climbing all the time, in a forest and so narrow that they would advise you to honk when the turns looked too narrow for two cars… Take this one, please!!!!

Anyways, in the middle of this wonderful ride we end up in the “altiplano”, just to take a detour and face this:

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We couldn't believe how lucky we were to have this place only for us.

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We took everything out and the wife started her thing on the go pro.

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We shared it with some domestic animals and wild ones too.

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We took our time…

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in this peaceful place.

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Sorry by the lame iPhone shot, but this was the only way to give you a bigger picture of the place.

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We leave the place feeling that anything else in the day would be a bonus. Heading to "Quebrada de Humauhaca" we rode some beautiful scenic roads...

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Where we can find some really strange wild life (at least for us from the tropics)...

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We called the day in Purmamarca, a tiny, really little town (only 600 inhabitants) in a nice hotel where my wife made some new friends:

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We had a good night of sleep to start the climbing of the Jama Pass (El Paso de Jama) to reach Chile and the Atacama Desert. The morning brought some more colors to the Cerro de Los Siete Colores.

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Or going "chilling"?:huh

Anyways, we started the climbing only to be mesmerized at the few first kilometers...

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It was getting really cold (we were good with our gear, but you could feel the temperatures dropping fast) and even more beautiful

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and between the altitude and all that beauty, I started to act funny::

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We were heading to Salinas Grandes. The road started to became flat. We were at the high "altiplanos" of The Andes...

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And we were really happy!!!

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There, in the middle of a salt lake you could spend some time buying or just enjoying the view.

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We went on to fill up the bike in Susques:

Took a break at high altitude:

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Even the wild life was enjoying the day as much as us!

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To be continued in a our or so...​

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Amazing shots, thank you. What altitude are you at ?
Happy New Year !

Subscribed!
well the Arthritis in my hands will not let me ride anymore so this is the only bike trips I get to take now. I am enjoying your RR and look forward to the rest of the trip.
Happy New Year and may God Bless your Year
David from south east Texas