On August 4, 2014, I left my home in Bethesda, MD—a suburb of Washington, DC—for a bit of a journey on my motorcycle, a ’13 BMW R1200 GS Adventure (nicknamed, The Mule).
The first part of this journey was reported on my last post in this blog. Let’s look now at the Part II, the ride through South America, from Santiago, Chile, down to Ushuaia, Argentina, and then back north, all the way to Lima, Peru. And just like it was the case for Part I, the pictures showcased on this post were selected based not necessarily on their “artistic value”, but rather on their ability to “tell the story.” Onwards!
— xxxx —
The Americas, Part II started in North America, on December 5, 2014, the day I drove The Mule from home, on the outskirts of Washington, DC, to a warehouse at the Mid-Atlantic Terminal at the Port of Baltimore, MD. From there, the motorcycle went to Valparaiso, Chile, on a combination of vehicle transport vessels of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen group
— xxxx —
On January 19, 2015, at the Port of Valparaiso, Chile, I was reunited with my motorcycle. After a couple of days in Santiago—to make sure that all was OK with her—I left town, heading south. On this stretch, I zigzagged between the coast and the western foothills of the Andes. The list of highlights includes Loquimay, Villarica (with its lake and its volcano), the most-quaint Bahia Mansa, Puerto Varas, the ride to the Osorno volcano, and the fantastic Cotele steakhouse restaurant near Puerto Montt! (BTW, I did try to go to Chiloe Island, to see its famous Jesuit wooden churches. But it was raining like crazy, and the forecast forward wasn’t much better, so after a whole morning of punishment, I had lunch in Ancud, and then turn around to return to Puerto Montt…)
— xxxx —
Puerto Montt is the beginning of the Carretera Austral, a road on this neck of the woods with a bit of a special status among adventure motorcycle riders. On the first two days of the ride, there are quite a few ferry crossings through various fiords. Buying my tickets for these ferry rides, I ran into Harry, a super nice young Austrian, riding a motorcycle just like mine. We ended up riding together until almost the very tip of South America, becoming good friends in the process!
Highlights of the stretch: the Carretera Austral itself, with its fiords and the always present mountains; Puerto Rio Tranquilo with its marble grottos; and last but not least, the ride along Lake General Carrera.
— xxxx —
By Lake General Carrera, we turned left, heading east, into Argentina. …And, yes, “we” because now there were two of us, Harry and me. Once across the border, it was back to heading south along the foothills of the Andes, but now on the other side of it, on yet another iconic road in this region: Argentina’s Ruta 40. Near Cancha Carrera, we turned right, back into Chile, by the Torres del Paine Nat’l Park. And then it was yet more “southing,” past Puerto Natales, all the way down to Punta Arenas, on the north bank of the rather famous Strait of Magellan.
The list of highlights of this stretch includes El Chalten and its views of Mount Fitz Roy, the glacier of Perito Moreno, the Torres del Paine Nat’l Park, and of Punta Arenas and the Strait, of course.
— xxxx —
The stay in Punta Arenas was marked by a rather sad moment: having to say goodbye to Harry, my riding companion since Puerto Montt. He had developed a chronic pain on one of his shoulders, so he decided to stop his ride for a while to do some physiotherapy. From here onwards, it was back to riding solo all the way to the end of my journey.
— xxxx —
After Punta Arenas, it was a little hop across the Strait of Magellan and a short ride across the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego to Ushuaia. The self-proclaimed “End of the World.” Here, on one of the coincidences that defy belief, I met Bruno and Joana—a couple of fellow motorcycle riders from Portugal, each one on its own BMW, who were also going around South America, but in the opposite sense (coming south on the Atlantic side and going up on the Pacific one). Ended up spending three wonderful days in their company, playing “tourists” around Ushuaia.
— xxxx —
Done with Ushuaia, it was time to head back north. The plan—or better, the plan-post-the first-revision—was to stay more or less close to the Atlantic coast through Argentina and Uruguay, all the way north to Rio de Janeiro, already in Brazil; and then head west, across Brazil’s Pantanal region, into Bolivia. Well, I followed this plan until southern Brazil. Once here, I re-revised the plan yet again. More on why this ahead.
The highlights of this (long) stretch were: re-crossing the Strait of Magellan, but now through its eastern end; Puerto San Julian, with its links to the Magellan trip; the incredibly beautiful Cabo Raso; Puerto Madryn plus all of the Peninsula Valdes region; Colonia del Sacramento, already in Uruguay, with its Portuguese heritage; Ciudad del Este, also in Uruguay; Rivera, Uruguay & Sant’Ana do Livramento, Brazil, de facto one town with a border through the median of the main street (one side of the street in Uruguay, the other in Brazil); and the Jesuit Missions region of southern Brazil.
— xxxx —
Once in southern Brazil, I realized that I would save myself a lot of money if I was to cross to the west side of South America through Northern Argentina (rather than continuing north to Rio and then cross from there). And that’s what I did: From Sao Miguel das Missoes, Brazil, west to Corrientes in Argentina, then onward to Salta, and finally north to La Paz, Bolivia. Highlights: Salta, San Salvador de Jujuy, and Humahuaca all in Argentina; Uyuni, already in Bolivia, with its iconic salt flats; and La Paz.
— xxxx —
La Paz, Bolivia, was the starting point of what would turn out to be the last stage in South America. The list of highlights include: Copacabana, the one in Bolivia, by Lake Titicaca, not in Brazil; the Uros “islands” in Lake Titicaca, already in Peru, made up of Totora roots and reeds; Beautiful Cusco; riding on the Sacred Valley of the Incas, to Ollantaytambo; Machu Picchu; Nazca; and finally Lima.
Once in Lima, it was time to pack the Mule, put her on a ship, on her way back to North America.
— xxxx —
On April 15, I flew to Miami, FL, to pick the mule up, which I did on the following day, at one of the warehouses of Crowley Logistics. On April 17, I was back on the road, and once again in North America, heading north, on my way home. On April 18, shortly before midnight, I was back at home in Bethesda, MD. Altogether, Part II of my journey through the Americas added up to nearly 11,900 miles / 19,150 km in nearly 3 months.
— xxxx —
Altogether, a most beautiful trip indeed!
Until the next post. Cheers.
— xxxx —
