CYCLE SOUTH ♾ (BLAZING A TRAIL THROUGH 17+ COUNTRIES. ALL TRUE ADVENTURE AND ACTION!)

Am beat. ‘Twas a long day.
An early arrival at the pier and loaded and underway on the Hornopiren—>Caleta Gonzalo ferry.
Beautiful skies and weather for the 4’45” voyage. Decent cheap coffee and lemon pie on board as well as places to stretch out.
Upon disembarking, Ruta 7 turned to heavy ripio and stayed that way for 40km. Lots of zero visibility areas with dust clouds from passing busses and trucks (one bus driver almost took out Olaf). Then, right before Chaiten the road turned to fresh pavement and the rain started. And the temps plummeted.
We stopped to change into warmer drier gear and then continued on. Our original goal of camping faded away as the rain refused to let up. Upon reaching La Junta we found a Hostal and climbed out of our wet gear and found a restaurant and had food and beers.
As we were arriving, we received messages from Sergio and Kurt saying that they stayed put today due to heavy rains. When we plugged their location into Google Maps were we’re surprised that they’re only 45 minutes south from us in a campground! So we will get an early start and meet them there. Then the Gang of Four is back baby!

Looks like you are one day ahead of me now. I'm in a nice Cabina in Hornopiren having been down to the Somarco office and bought tickets for tomorrow 12:30 sailing.

By the way....when you've been crossing in and out of Argentina have the Argentina customs guys been asking you proof of insurance before they let you in?

I've heard of other's being asked, but I haven't been asked myself. We are going pretty slow, so hopefully you'll catch up.

Hola de Patagonia en el Region de Coyhaique!
Yesterday was a picture-perfect day weather-wise, as we'll be needed all the good karma we can get, as reports first-hand to us from Moto-travelers heading north from Ushuaia haven't been good. Warning-level winds and deep ripio (gravel) for nearly 80km north of Tres Lagos on Ruta 40 back in Argentina have us concerned. One Africa Twin rider and his wife just were there three days ago and they crashed twice and saw innumerable motos laying on their side with an injured rider or no rider at all visible. He reported to us ripio that is over 20 cm deep in places and winds that literally shift you sideways in the gravel as you try to steer straight. Hopefully the prior crazy winds we've already seen have us somewhat prepared.
We are looking at other options as well including heading further south in Chile on Ruta 7 (Carretara Austral) towards Villa O'Higgens (the end of Ruta 7, normally requiring a 250 km backtrack to Ruta 265, the first East-West road heading back into Argentina heading north from O'Higgens) and picking up a 41 hour ferry that'll drop us near Torres del Paine, bypassing that stretch of Ruta 40 that's such an issue right now. We will see!
Tonight we're at a nice campground with covered areas for the tents with a huge wall for a windbreak, as it's starting to get windy AF again, as the dense forests thin out.
The Wifi is good here, and there are plenty of charge outlets and we all need to get things charged up. The 20,000 mah power bank I brought has proven invaluable but it needs brought back from the dead now.
While camping yesterday my kickass custom gasoline-burning camp stove failed. The teeny o-rings in the valve failed and it spewed gasoline all over the fuel line. I HAD a repair kit for the stove (as well as a titanium cookware set and assorted spices) that were left in a Hostal many weeks ago. I have some cheapo silverware now, but no way of repairing the stove. So toady for $28 I bought a small gas stove and gas canister, that should last me quite a while. I've seen gas canisters available all over SA. Now I'm trying to decide whether or not to chuck the old stove and windscreen setup into a trash bin rather than cart it around. I was so proud of that stove. Maybe I'll carry it a while and try to find o-rings that fit in an auto-repair shop or somewhere, At least I can cook again.
On to the pictures. The next large group of pictures constitute my travels from Barliloche to here just south of Coyhaique Chile (which, by the way, shows serious damage from protests. Lots of ACAB grafitti and burned out buildings)
Next up, PICTURES!...YAY!....everyone loves pictures!

At "the House Hostel" in Bariloche, at their Friday night party



This is the kind of shot the Nikon bridge series of cameras are famous for



The border between Argentina and Chile was closed for almost 4 hours due to a computer being down


Another Cycle South tag!

Dueling volcanoes



It was cold and windy. We stopped at this cafe in the middle of nowhere. Best coffee in weeks! And Ewan and Charlie were there just a month prior filming "Long Way Up"


The first short ferry that Olaf and I took trying to catch up to Sergio and Kurt. This one from Sector Caleta La Arena to Caleta Puelche

Look carefully....a dolphin fin!



This picture was taken at 2pm...cold, dark and wet



Glacial melt

You are right we love pictures and especially these. Hope the next leg is less troublesome than anticipated. Sending good vibes your way.

Three photos up....
Best picture of this entire RR.
Color, clarity, proportion, and of course content!
Keep it up Dan

The Caratera Austral has incredible scenery and trees and plants probably unlike anything you've ever seen.

Thanks Tim.
The swimmers are Sam, from England and his girlfriend Mystery from Alaska. They’re riding with us now on a Honda XR400.

I'm curious why the front wheel of the Africa Twin is in the air while parked on the barge?

It is on the center stand, and the gear on the back of the bike is heavy,

Dan

Dan, are you shooting in auto mode with the B600, or are you manually working the settings ? Really incredible pics.

Well I've made it to Coyhaique....where are you guys at the moment.
I have to decide whether to do the run down to O'Higgins or whether to go to Chile Chico and take my chance with the gravel and wind.

Where did that 41 hour ferry sail from / to?

Auto mode, with tweaks to brightness, vividness and hue as needed to match what I see. To get to adjustments in auto, just touch right on the thumb pad. Thanks for the compliment!

We are in Puerto Tranquilo. Trying to figure out what to do. Olaf and I separated from tha others last night as it was hard finding room for all of us together. I’d like to take an extra day here to do a boat tour of the marble caves.
That ferry starts in Puerto Yungay and goes to Puerto Natales I believe. Will try to find details online today. Wifi is real spotty where I am. And I have had recent feedback that the bad section on Ruta 40 north of Tres Largos is manageable.

We are in Puerto Tranquilo Chile on the shore of Chile’s largest lake, Lago Gral Carerra. Today we went on a boat ride to the Marble Caves, large expanses of solid marble that time, currents and the reaction of the calcium carbonate in the marble reacting with the lake water created.
It was a cool and sometimes wet boat trip. The guide was good (all Spanish) and it was good weather! Enjoy!