Well, it’s not really square one, since we are not flying to New York but to Seattle, but it is the US of A.

Date: 10/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy, foggy / fresh

Today is the day, we are leaving. We packed the rest of our luggage in the morning and send some parcels away, with things that we didn’t need any more. During the afternoon we had some time to spare, so we talked about our trip and we thought it would be fun to figure out some sorts statistics. Here they are:

Distance on bike:     48851 Km/bike
Petrol used:         2540 litre/bike
Speeding fines:        0
Bribes paid:         0
New front tyres:     2/bike
New back tyres:     4 (5)/bike
Bike failures:         0
Broken limbs:         2 (one per Continent, chance? 🙂 )
Continents visited:     2
Countries visited:     Sigrid 17, Bjoern 16
Border crossings:     Sigrid 33, Bjoern 33

Highest Temperature while riding:      +38C (Mojave Desert, leaving Las Vegas)
Lowest Temperature while riding:     +2C (leaving Terra del Fuego)
Highest Winds on bike:             Peaks up to 90km/h (Rio Grande, Terra del Fuego)

Three hours before departure we got in a taxi. Close to the airport we saw some fog on the side of the road… Ah well; it was only on the side of the road, the airfield looked clear. When we arrived at the airport, guess what, there was a huge long queue, the longest that I have ever seen at check-in for a flight. During the check-in we were told that we have to get our luggage in Mexico City and check it in again. No problem, we have more than 4 hours to do that. We spent our last Argentinian Pesos at McDonalds, it was just enough for a kids meal 😀

Not long after that we boarded the plane. We were sitting there for a while, then the announcement came… There is fog and it could take another 15 to 20 minutes before we would take off.

Well after an hour we got the next announcement. The airport is closed for ,at least, the next two hours. Now it started to get a bit tight for my taste ~ we might miss the connection flight in Mexico City and had to arrange something else to get to Seattle. The good news was that the entertainment system was switched on, so I could start the watching movies. I might have the chance to see them all this time 😛. After two hours the fog was as dense as before, but we took off anyway…. That’s Argentina for you. I was happy that we were in air.

Date: 11/06
City: Seattle, USA
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny/ warm

We landed in Mexico City at 10:30 and left the plane around 10:50, our connection flight would leave at 11:40. At the gate a woman was waiting and calling our names. She rushed us to the customs area and to the luggage area, where we finally got our luggage, went through customs and put the bag on another conveyor. Then we ran to the terminal which our flight was leaving from. Lucky we got our boarding passes in Buenos Aires for all our flights, so we made it just in time.

Next stop Las Vegas!  We arrived in Las Vegas, on time and without any problems and getting through the US border protection and migration went without a hitch. From the plane we saw the hotel Luxor – where we stayed last year.

We had to pick up our luggage and check it in again, since the next flight was a domestic flight. Well, we waited until all the luggage of the luggage carousel was gone and we were the last people standing there. Hmmm, maybe our luggage didn’t make it. So we looked for somebody to talk to, and finally we found a lady looking after the luggage on the carousel. She told us that it would not be unusual that luggage didn’t make it, normally it would arrive the next day. We should put a luggage tracking request in once we get to Seattle and they would deliver the luggage to our hotel. Hrm… We will see I guess.
Walking to our gate, we saw some slot machines, well it wouldn’t be Las Vegas if you couldn’t play the slot machines at the airport 😉

The flight to Seattle was uneventful. In Seattle we went to the Baggage claim area and filled out a tracking request. It turned out, that our luggage got flown to Dallas with Delta, nobody knows why. It should arrive tomorrow evening and if we let them know where we are staying they would deliver it to our hotel. So we looked around for a hotel close by and, after making a couple of phone calls, picked one for a good price and free airport pickup.

First thing at the hotel was to have a look online where our bikes were. I found out that they have been shipped from Los Angeles two days ago, but they didn’t arrive anywhere so far. That is odd, a flight can’t take that long, except if the air plane got lost. It was too late to do anything tonight, so tomorrow morning has to be good enough.

 

Date: 07/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Today we planned to spend more time in La Boca. Last time Sigrid was on crutches and walking was hard on the cobble stone streets. So we hopped on a public bus and rode it to La Boca (no moto L ). The houses look nice with the different colours and figurines on the balcony.

We were walking around, looking at gift shops and other nice things

before we had lunch at a restaurant that had a tango performance.

After we finished our lunch, we thougth that it doesn’t look too difficult, so we gave it a try as well. I had fun, it was a bit more difficult for Sigrid wearing her Crocks J

On our way back we passed the harbor and some interesting wiring experiences, imagine trying to find a fault in there.

 

Date: 08/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Sigrid found a ball on the way to the Recoleta cemetery and had to use it for her stretching exercises.

The cemetery consists of a labyrinth of ways lined with pompously decorated mausoleums.

Some doors allowed us to have a peak into the inside. This mausoleum had a marbel altar in front and on the left side are the stairs down to the crypt.

Other mausoleum seemed to be forgotten and nature starts to claim them back.

There are also mausoleums which looked like a small church or some giant sculptures.

I liked the cat on the right hand side.

One of the famous mausoleums is the one of Eva Peron, so we had a look for it. We thought that we would find large signs guiding us to it, but it was nothing like that. The mausoleum looked like all the other ones but had some flowers on the entrance door, nothing more.

We had a hard time to find the exit in the maze of roads, but in the end we managed 🙂.

From here we had a look what’s around. First we found an art marked and then we stumbled across the metal blossom. The flower opens at 7:30 in the morning and closes at 18:30, the weight of the whole blossom is 2 tons and it is driven hydraulic and solar power.


Date: 09/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy/ drizzling

Today we had an appointment in the hospital to get Sigrids scar inspected. The doc was happy and removed the stiches. Sigrid was happy, mostly because this declared the end of our hospital visits, at least for her broken leg.

On our way back we took the subway for the first time. It looked really clean and new, as we found out, this station was inaugurated three weeks ago.

The trains reminded me of the old berlin underground.

Back at the hostel we started to pack our gear, tomorrow we would leave South America and fly to Seattle.

Date: 03/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46531
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Originally we had planned to arrange a visa for me.  Sigrid doesn’t need one because Germans don’t need a visa for Brazil, only US, Canadian and Australian Citizens.  First we realised that the consulate was closed on Sunday, and today, Monday, we realised that I didn’t bring my passport photos. I had left them on the bike… darn. So we decided that Sigrid would do a money run to Brazil and after some difficulties Sigrid returned from the Brazilian side with some US dollars. It took much longer and was not as profitable as we thought. After that we just sat back and waited for the airport pickup.

We arrived in Buenos Aires that night and went back to our hostel.

 

Date: 04/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46531
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Most of the day we repacked everything as we were told that we shouldn’t send personal items or camping equipment with the bikes. We fitted everything onto the bikes to make the start tomorrow morning a bit easier for us.


After the work was done, we strolled to the refurbished dock area. On the way we passed the Casa Rosada (workplace of the Argentinian President), this time at night. Unfortunatelly my water tight photo camera refused to show anything on the monitor, so all pictures we took  tonight were taken with a bit of guesswork.

Over the water was a newly built area with high-rise buildings and a nice restaurant area.


We noticed that this area was particular clean, and we heard later that for whatever reason the army was in charge of this area. Anyway it reminded us of Berlin again, this place could be somewhere on the Spree.

Tomorrow is the day where we say goodbye to our bikes, well, until we pick them up again in the USA.

Date: 05/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 72
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / cool

When I got up in the morning, I was a bit nervous. It was the first time that Sigrid would ride her bike again after breaking her leg – and it was also the first time that we shipped our bikes. So we went two up to Dakar Motos. Luckily we left a bit earlier as we got stuck in the morning traffic jam for about an hour. When we arrived, we repacked everything as planned . Then I found out that Sigrid’s bike wouldn’t start…  @#$%.

I should have tried it when we were there last time, as we could have charged the battery. Sandra was her usual calm and collected self and said ‘No problem the guys from the workshop next to us will give you a push start’. And so it went, the guys were pushing like crazy and I was sitting on the bike. After the third attempt the bike started. So we hopped on our bikes and I hoped that Sigrid’s bike wouldn’t stall before the battery was charged again. We arrived at the airport after an hour, spending a bit of time in traffic jams again, but luckily without stalling the bike. Sigrid didn’t have any problems with the frequent starting and stopping of the bike, her leg was holding up nicely.

From here on in it was a no brainer, Sandra’s description were so easy to follow. So first got our paper work to enter the cargo area, then we drove the bikes onto the scale. Sitting on the bike and seeing the weight of the bike with and without me indicated that I need a diet after we get home 😛


Next step was putting the bikes onto the two wooden pallets. After driving the bikes onto it, we disconnected the battery, removed the front screen and that’s it. The guys tied the bikes down in no time and after their lunch break they fixed the luggage and the other stuff.


Here they are, our noble steeds tied down.


Then they X-Rayed the bikes and wrapped them. And here is a short view how the whole story was wrapped up.

After the bikes were wrapped we took the bus back to the hostel, now we have to us public transport to travel in Buenos Aires, which is a strange new feeling….

Date: 06/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Today there was not much on our to-do list. We got the price for shipping the bike from the Cargo Company,

Then went to the bank to pay the money into their bank account

and received the shipping documents.

That’s it; we are now without bikes until we arrive in the USA. It is a strange feeling to finish our South American part of the trip. Well, we still have a couple of days in Buenos Aires before we leave for the US, so let’s discover Buenos Aires.

Date: 30/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46531
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy / warm

We had a rest day but Sigrid got restless and we decided to visit the Teatro Colon in the evening. It is the main theatre in Buenos Aires and is considered to be one of the five best theatre venues in the world (I love wikipedia, I can pretend I knew these things before we went there 😉 ) .   We actually went to have a look at the beautiful interior, but when we got there we saw a concert as a freebe. Below are some pictures of the theatre.

When the concert was over we left throught the main entrance, which was really nicely decorated.

Since Sigrid couldn’t wear here bike boots yet, so she was wearing her croks. As you can see they matched nicley with the carpet J

 

Date: 31/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 12
Cumulative kilometre: 46531
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Today we planned to buy our bus tickets to Iguazu and to organize the bike shipping. When we talked to our host, she told us that a bus strike is planned for tomorrow and nobody knew when the strike would end. So we went to a couple of travel agents and finally found one which had some flights not much more expensive than the bus tickets, we were happy. On our way to Dakar Motos we found a restaurant making real Asado in the kitchen, I guess vegetarians have difficulties in Argentina . Here are two pictures, before and after.

When we arrived at Dakar Motos Sigrid was happy, her bike was there.

We organized all the paperwork needed for shipping the bikes. Sandra was very organized and it didn’t take much time to finish the paperwork at all.

So it looks like the bikes will be put on a pallet on Wednesday and shipped a day after. Cool, it seems that all is lined up and tomorrow we leave for Iguazu, our last destination in South America.

Date: 01 – 02/06
City: Puerto de Iguazu, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46531
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

The taxi ride to the airport was crazy. I thought that nobody could make me feel uncomfortable with their driving, but our taxi driver did. I couldn’t watch him driving, every direction change was a close call. I understand now why the taxis in Buenos Aires don’t use their indicators; there’s no time for it. Before the light starts to blink they have changed the direction again. Anyway, we arrived at the airport after 45 minutes of mad driving, well, the traffic wasn’t really moving, only our taxi was J. We hopped into the air plane and arrived in Iguazu at night. I like the atmosphere and the temperature here. It’s warm, a bit humid and it feels like rainforest, which is no surprise; Puerto de Iguazu is in the rain forest.

The next day we took a bus to the water falls; they are part of a nature park which is 20km outside of Puerto Iguazu.

You get around there in a small train, which drives you to two different train stations. And there we saw coatis for first time.

As we found out, they know how to open the animal safe trash cans, they just squeeze themselves under the handle and the lid opens.

And then we got the first view over the falls.

Below are different picture from different viewpoints.

One area on our walking trail had plenty of butterflies

And there were the monkeys.

There was a possibility to take a boat trip close to the falls and we thought why not. On the way to the jetti we came across some more viewpoints.

After booking the tickets one guy told us they don’t sell the raincoats since they don’t really work and we had to put all the gear that should stay dry into a dry bag. Okay, I put my motor bike jacket in my t-shirt, socks and shoes into one bag. Sigrid was clever and put her long trousers in as well…  Turned out to be a good move.

As it turned out, it felt like we were drowning while we were sitting in the boat. I understand now what the guy was saying – the rain coats don’t work – they just can’t keep you dry when you are submerged in water.  A wetsuit might have been a better idea 😉

After we got sort of dry again we caught the last train to the devels throad, apparently the best viewpoint. On our way to it we followed a board walk that let over multiple rivers

After roughly one km we arrived at the fall, and it was amazing.

What an amazing day.

 

 

Date: 27/05
City: Buenos Aires, Colonial de Sacramento, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46507
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny, warm

We got up early and arrived at the ferry an hour earlier. We went through the check-in without problems. When we were on the ferry I realised that I didn’t have my receipt for the paid reciprocity fee with me. Without that I can’t get back into Argentina until I organize either a copy of it or pay it again. That would mean that I would miss the ferry back, great. Sigrid had the idea that we could have a look for an internet café to get another printout of this document. We will have a look in Uruguay so nothing what we can do about it now. The seating in the ferry was quite nice and the time traveling went fast.


Unfortunately we couldn’t get outside during the traveling time and the windows were fogged up. We arrived in Uruguay after an hour and the weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and it was not too hot or too cold, just right.


We first visited the tourist information to find out were Internet cafes are to try to print the missing document. But before we got there we strolled along the river to the historical part of the city with a gate and a draw bridge.


Well, I can tell you it’s not easy to lift up.


Strolling through the historic town reminded us of Italy.


And then Sigrid spotted a church…. Well lets have a look at that.


After getting my document printed out again, we still had some time before the ferry would leave. We sat in the restaurant we had seen earlier and spend the last Uruguay pesos. The place had a nice flair with some old cars that could be used for dining- well two of them, the third car was a huge flower pot.



The way back was straight forward. Tomorrow I have my appointment at the US embassy, hope that all goes well there, otherwise we can forget Alaska.

Date: 28/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 12
Cumulative kilometre: 46519
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy, rain / warm

I got up early and arrived at the embassy thirty minutes early. After getting told where I can’t park, I finally found a spot where I could park the bike and nobody was complaining. After queuing for a while, I joint another queue, and after two further queues I could sit and wait (in a sitting queue). The interview went quick and the visa is approved, yippee! I hopped on the bike and made my way back to the hostel. I could see dark clouds coming up, so I was happy that I arrived just before the rain started. Sigrid and I had breakfast and then the rain and hail started. The roof must have had leak! In the hallway the water was coming out of the light fittings and flooding the floor.

And there was ice on the terrace, winter starts here😉. Hopefully the Iguazu falls are not frozen when we get there in the next couple of days 😉

So today was now official declared as a day for blogging and that’s what I did the whole day, well I had a short snooze as well. Tomorrow we have to get up early and hopefully Sigrid’s screw will be out by noon without too much pain or complication.

Date: 29/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 12
Cumulative kilometre: 46531
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy/ warm

We arrived at the hospital a bit earlier and waited for the doctor.


There are no chairs for people to sit on when they are waiting, so Sigrid used the stairs. After a while a different doctor appeared and led Sigrid to the operation room. I was standing in front of the door and staring at it for an hour.

Then the doc and Sigrid appeared, Sigrid showing off her new trophy, the screw.

As it turned out, the docotor was a specialist in removing the screws, but he seems to lacked a bit of experience in getting the dose for local Anestisia right, and it seems that he didn’t care too much about it. After getting back to the hostal, I organzied some pain killer (happy pills) for Sigrid and after a power nap we went for a test run around the block.

It seems that Sigrid could walk quite nicely, with a bit more excercises and the wound healed, she would be ready to ride her bike again. But first we are going to visit the Iguazu Falls.

Date: 18/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46434
Street: N/A
Weather: Cloudy, rainy/ fresh

Today was the day; we tried to organize the removal of Sigrid’s long screw. When this is done, she can start to walk without having the risk of the long screw breaking. Some people suggested  that this operation should be done at the public hospital while others said to go to the Aleman Hospital. So we got our guy on the front desk to help us and work as a translator. He called the public hospital and the next available appointment would be next Wednesday, but we would have to queue in front of the hospital from around 2AM. That’s right. From two AM at night. The hospital opens the door at 6:30 then we would have to run to grab a number which would make us eligible for an appointment… Okay, so that option is out. 🙂
We tried to get an appointment in the Aleman hospital, well only the emergency department was open on the weekend, so we’ll have to wait until Monday.

Later on in the hostel we meet Mackenzie, an Australian girl who just finished the Pan American Highway from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia with her husband Adam on two KLR650’s. Both are from the Australian South Island, Tasmania 😛. Adam was still on the way back from the Iguazu falls on his bike; Mackenzie sold her bike earlier and had the advantage (or perhaps penalty) of a bus trip. Anyway, Suma and Hoa met Mackenzie and Adam before, so we all decided to meet for dinner in a Peruvian restaurant that night.

We had a great evening together, full of stories of each others trips.

Date: 19 – 20 /05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46434
Street: N/A
Weather: Cloudy, rainy/ fresh

A relaxed Sunday, we tried to find a way to get our hands on US$, since that would make the shipping of the bikes and our flights cheaper. In the afternoon we had a short stroll around our area, close by there was the National Congress building.

On our way we found plenty of impressive buildings, somehow Buenos Aires reminds me more and more of Berlin.


After all that walking Sigrid earned a treat, so we stopped at a cafe close by and had some nice cake.

Tomorrow we will have a look at the German hospital; hopefully they can remove the screw.

Date: 20/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 35
Cumulative kilometre: 46469
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy, fresh

We arrived at the German hospital around 10:30, the hospital made a very nice impression even if it was a bit crowded.

Well it’s a German hospital after all, so we can’t see a doctor without an appointment, right? So we talked to a lady at a counter and got one for tomorrow, Tuesday. That means another day to wait, nothing we can do about it.

The next task for today was to go to Dakar Motos to see Sandra and Javier. They actually put the GPS position on their web site, which makes life so much easier, except if you have finger troubles….. Well, I put the wrong minutes in and guess what, we arrived at our destination and there was no Dakar Motos… not even a street with name where the shop should be. We ask a nice lady who was just leaving her house for directions. She tried for several minutes to describe in Spanish how to get to the street. Eventually she gave up, jumped in her car and told us to follow her. Isn’t that amazing? People are so helpful here. Below is our good fairy.

When we arrived we got a warm welcome from Javier and Sandra. Sandra also called our transport company to ask where Sigrids bike was. Apparently it was on the truck and should be delivered to Dakar Moto in the next couple of days to  . That was great news. Isn’t it amazing, if you speak the language it only takes a couple of minutes to find out what’s going on…. We would have spent at least an hour trying to get the same information 😀

Arriving back at the hostel we went for a stroll again, this time the opposite direction. Sigrid decided to walk without crutches and her boot, since Juan, the doctor in Esquel, told her she could now start to walk, but carefully. We visited Casa Rosada, the building where the Argentinean president works. When we arrived, the building was rigged in. Talking to some people about the rigging, they told us that this is done for the Argentinian Independence day, the 25th of May, five days from now.

So the rigging was done for the sound and video system for that day, apparently the new Venezuelan president and Christina Fernandez, the Argentina president would be here as well. We will still be here, so let’s see how the Argentineans celebrate their independence 🙂.
On our way back we took a couple of pictures of the Obelisk, which we used often as a guideline of where we were.

And we saw the picture of Evita Peron on the building not far from us.

We were happy that Sigrid could do all the walking without crutches or her boot, so it looks like the recovery after the screw removal should be relatively quick. In the evening we got an email from the Aleman hospital with price estimation for removing a screw. This is supposing an easy ambulant operation. The estimated price was 2500US$, which was far more than we expected. That would put a substantial dent in our kitty. Bummer, back to square one, we have to look for alternatives.

Date: 21/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46469
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy, fresh

We looked for other options and Sigrid wrote an email to Juan, the surgeon from Esquel. She asked if he knows about other options and also enquired if he would remove the screw if we were to come back by bus.

Date: 22/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 12
Cumulative kilometre: 46481
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy, warm

In the morning we ask Micas, our receptionist for help. She called different hospitals for us to find out if we can get an appointment and if they could tell us roughly what a screw removal costs. She spent quite a while on the phone for us.

There was nothing concrete, except for one hospital which told us that they would make the operation and it would be cheaper than the 2500US$, but Sigrid had to go there to get a consultation done first. When we arrived, Sigrid got an X-ray and then we met Doctor Mariano O. Iglesias, the surgeon. He told us that the screw should be removed earliest after eight weeks otherwise Sigrid runs a risk of getting Arthritis. That would mean we had to wait for two more weeks before the screw could be removed. Below is Sigrid before the news and after, can you spot the differenceJ ?

Well we ask him for a quote as well and he told us it will be far cheaper than the Aleman Hospital, but he needs to talk to his boss about the price and send us an email tomorrow. Ok, let’s see how much that will cost. On the side note, the doc was so nice to remove my remaining stiches from my wound during Sigrid’s consultation, which were annoying me for nearly 10 month, I was happy.

On our way back to the hostel we came across a shoe maker and got the zipper on our boots stitched in again and spotlessly cleaned. When he was done, they looked like new.

 

Date: 23/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46481
Street: City roads
Weather: Cloudy, drizzling

In the morning we got an email from Juan, the surgeon from Esquel. He read about the trouble we had in Sigrids email and organized an operation for us on Sunday in a hospital in Buenos Aires. It looked like Sigrid would finally get rid of her screw and we can then continue with our trip. We were over the moon. We walked a bit around the neighbourhood, this time Sigrid did use her crutches again, since the surgeon in B.A. suggested not to risk the breakage of the long screw (me playing with the crutches)

At night we meet with Mackenzie and Adam again (the Tasmanian couple that just finished their Prudhoe – Ushuaia trip), to have their farewell dinner together, before they fly to the Amazon and swim with the Piranhas.

They had planned two Amazing weeks in Brazil before they would return to Tassi. We really enjoyed the evening.

Date: 24/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 14
Cumulative kilometre: 46495
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny, warm

Today we have a dry run to see how long we need to get to the hospital and where we have to be on Sunday morning. It took just a bit over thirty minutes to get there and we quickly found the counter we were supposed to get to on Sunday. So we thought we have a look at the touristy side of Boca, which is a touristy suburb where they dance tango in the streets and in the restaurants and have colourful buildings.

We had a coffee there and realized that was not the best spot to watch the tango performances in the street, on the otherhand Sigrid used the crutches which was realy tyring, so we decided to leave it and come back another day – after the screw is removed.

 

Date: 25/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46495
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny, warm

Today is the Oma Ermie’s Birthday and Argentinian Independence Day! After hearing drums being played in the streets we had a look. It turned out there were plenty of people with banners and drums, the whole eight line road was filled with people as far as we could see and some of them even dressed up.

The drums and the trumpets created a great atmosphere. When we came closer to the president’s office, it got more and more crowed so we decided to sit on the lawn and have a look at the groups passing by. That was really great until a couple of guys put a huge banner in front of us.

So we decided to slowly go back to the hostel. On our way we found a nice coffee shop. We had a nice coffee there and watched the people passing by. Well I actually watched the Champions League final, which just so happened to be on the same day. Man, the 25th of May was busy!

Tomorrow is the day where Sigrid finally loses her screw and can start to train her leg again without being afraid that the long screw breaks.

Date: 26/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 12
Cumulative kilometre: 46507
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny, warm

We arrived in the hospital an hour earlier and met the surgeon around 10:20AM. After examination of Sigrid leg he booked an OP and organized the tool for Sigrid screw, an Allan screw driver. Around 12:30 Sigrid got into the OP and an hour later the surgeon came out and told me that there is a problem. The screw driver didn’t fit into the screw so it couldn’t be removed. He closed the wound and will get another tool that is not available in the Hospital at this time. Great, Sigrid was completely devastated. After getting a couple of injection into the fresh scar for the numbing of the area, she had now a smaller open wound again without achieving anything – only the enjoyment to go through the same again on Wednesday. Not happy! To have something to do in the meantime, we decided to take tomorrow the ferry to Uruguay. As I said, it is not easy to lose a screw……

Date: 17/05
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 183
Cumulative kilometre: 46434
Street: One lane, three lane highway
Weather: Sunny/warm

Today was Sigrid’s Birthday. Luckily I had a printed picture of our cute grandson, so I cleverly turned it into a card. And I organised some some chocolate before 🙂

We had really nice long breakfast, since we had plenty of time; Buenos Aires was only 180km away.

On our way to Buenos Aires we could still see some resedue of the flood at beginning of April, it felt a bit like riding through wetlands.

After a while we arrived at the toll both of a four lane highway. What a difference within one day, from Patagonia to Buenos Aires!


When arriving at the hostel we had earmarked we realised that there were plenty of steep stairs for Sigrid to manage, so we decided to have a look if something else was around. We ended up in a nice hostel which still had stairs but was in the middle of the town centre. The room was great and the view somehow reminded me of Berlin.

So we unpacked and let Suma and Hoa know that we were in a different hostel. We met at night and went out to a nice restaurant with typical Argentinean food (Asado).

They also organised some candles for Sigrid, which was really nice.

We had a lot to talk about, our different experiences and adventures, so time went by without us noticing it. We left around 1AM, it was a great evening.

Date: 11/05
City: Rio Gallegos, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 306
Cumulative kilometre: 43804
Street: One lane highway
Weather: sunny, cloudy, gusty/freezing

We didn’t hurry too much, since I was hoping for a bit more sunshine before we started. Around 11AM it got a bit warmer so we started. It was cloudy but calm at first but that changed after 50km, where we got very strong gusty winds. I found it strange to lean the bike to the right in a left corner. On our way we found a sign to a town called 28 de Noviembre, which is my birthday  😀

 

After just three hours we arrived in Rio Gallegos, without any problems. The plan for tomorrow is to make 700km with the two of us on one bike. The weather prediction is against us once more predicting very strong winds from the west, we will see.

Date: 12/05
City: Puerto San Julián, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 360
Cumulative kilometre: 44164
Street: One lane highway
Weather: sunny, cloudy, gusty/freezing

We started before sunset. Yes we really managed it, though the sunrise is around 9AM, so plenty of time to get the bike ready. After a while the wind started to get stronger. A couple of kilometres before San Julián the sun disappeared behind clouds, the temperature dropped dramatically and the wind picked up a lot. When we arrived at the petrol station, Sigrid was shivering and I wasn’t warm either, so we decided to stop at the hotel behind the petrol station for the day.

We were sitting in a warm room and watched from the wind outside. That felt good! We had enough time to do some planning for Buenos Aires, organise appointments at the US Embassy, arrange for Sigrid’s bike transfer and plan when we would travel to the Iguazu falls. It was a really nice afternoon.

Date: 13/05 – 16/05
City: Comodoro Rivadavia , Puerto Madryn, Rio Colorado, Saladillo, Argentina
Kilometers ridden: 2087
Cumulative kilometer: 46251
Street: One lane highway
Weather: sunny, cloudy, gusty/freezing

The next 2000 km were mostly done in a freezing, windy environment. Below are some pictures we made during the next four days. One morning we had +3 degrees when we started and as a result we could see rime on the side of the road, so I took it a bit easier just in case.

To be prepared we put on a lot of clothing. Below are all the layers that I put on. Come to think of it, the rain trousers are missing on the picture.

After putting all the gear on, I had to leave the hotel room rather quickly, otherwise I would be drowning in my own sweat in no time. We couldn’t have made the way to Buenos Aires as easily as we did without our Gerbings jackets and gloves. They kept us cosy warm even in the stong cold winds.
in Puerto Madryn we had our first accommodation without an appropriate heater, but we noticed it too late, so we were sitting rugged up with a tiny electric heater.

In this hostel we met a guy from Buenos Aires. He travels around the country and sharpes knifes and scissors using his Bicycle and he gave us a demonstration.

In Rio Colorado we found the entrance of the city intresting, we couldn’t figure out why they had the boar as a city symbol.

We also realised that we are traveling further south. We now had two hours more daylight than we had in Ushuaia. The advantage of Sigrid riding as a pillion is that she can take pictures while riding.

So she could take a picture of the first trees that we saw on the side of the road in weeks.

On our last day we arrived in Saladillo, only 180km from Buenos Aires. We went much further than we thought that day, nearly 700km two up, but it is easy when the days are longer. Tomorrow, we will arrive in Buenos Aires and it is Sigrid’s birthday, too! Important events during our journey! Buenos Aires is our last city in South America; from here we plan to ship our bikes back to the US and we will have our second attempt to get to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. In the evening we were looking back at our journey, there was so much happening. Thinking about it made us excited but also a bit sad. We have nearly finished our South American bit of the trip. But there is not much travellers sorrow that you can’t overcome with a good meal and a nice glass of wine 😀

Date: 10/05
City: El Calafate, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 43489
Street: N/A
Weather: sunny, cold/freezing

This morning we got picked up by the bus…

…and it turned out that the road was paved up to the glacier. Bummer!! We could have used my bike to get there! On the other hand I could enjoy riding in a bus, looking through the window and sleeping on the way back 🙂.
The first stop was at a view point where we could see Largo Argentina and ice capped mountains.

Next stop was our first view of the glacier. It is hard to imagine the real size. The front face of the glacier is as high of a twenty story building! I guess it becomes clearer when we get closer to it.

Next we went on a boat trip, which takes you close to the glacier. Now that /was/ amazing!

I didn’t expect the ice to be so blue.

The real size of it only becomes clear when you have a reference. If you look very closely below on the left side in the top half of the picture, there are people walking on the glacier. Yep the small dots are people.

Below are just a couple of more pictures of the glacier with the sun shining on different parts of it.

Arriving back at the shore, the bus drove us to the boardwalk and we took our time to get to the viewpoints. The angle here allows you to get a better idea of the size of the glacier.

The noise of the calving glaciers was amazing, but it is hard to get a good picture of the glacier calving. The deep roaring sound gave a pretty good indication of the size of the pieces breaking off. It was a great day and we were lucky with the weather as well. Tomorrow we will start our journey towards Buenos Aires.

Date: 05/05
City: Ushuaia, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 42600
Street: One lane highway
Weather: sunny, cloudy/cold, rainy, stormy

Today we thought we start to make our way to El Calafate, but it was raining and very windy in the morning, so we decided to sit out the weather and stay a day longer. It was another day for blogging and planning. We hope that the weather will be better tomorrow; at least the weather forecast says so.

Date: 06/05
City: Rio Grande, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 212
Cumulative kilometre: 42812
Street: N/A
Weather: cloudy, sunny/cold, rainy, stormy

We didn’t start early, since it was windy and drizzling again in the morning. I tried to get money from the ATM, but there was a message in Spanish which I didn’t understand. I should have taken a picture of it and asked Google translate 😛
Short side note, I really like the guys who designed the GUI- insert sarcasm here-, they ask you if you speak Spanish or English, the whole process is done in the language you selected, but if it doesn’t work, you get an error message in Spanish… Great, thanks!

Doesn’t matter we will get money in Rio Grande. So we left around noon even though it was still drizzling and I took it very easy since I was afraid of ice on the road. We didn’t hit any, but the temperature would have allowed for ice and water was seeping out of the mountain onto the road…
After we passed over the hills, the sun came out and the streets were dry so riding was really enjoyable. I like the signs in other countries, have a look at this one. By the way, as I have been told, they are actually Guancos and not Llamas. But they are cute anyway 😀

Just twenty km from Rio Grande the wind began to be very strong and gusty, so it was hard work to keep the bike with the two of us in our lane and out of the gravel on the side. When we arrived at the hotel, I had a look at the weather; the history showed wind gusts up to 90km/h. And I agree, it certainly felt like it!

After recovering from this adventurous ride with a short snooze I went to town to get money from the ATM, go shopping and fill up the bike. In Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego I found something common in every town, you have to queue. You have to queue at the supermercado checkout, the petrol station and the ATM. So I queued at the first ATM, and when it was my turn the ATM gave me a Spanish error message but no money. Ok, so I tried Sigrid’s card which I took just in case it was a problem with my card. It didn’t work either. No problem I thought, I try it at another bank. I queued again and…… no money and I tried it at a third bank, but this time I had a plan B. If this card (Master Card) didn’t work I try it with my Visa card.
And so, finally, something happened. This time the ATM kept the card and I got piece of paper out. Suffice to say, I was not amused. (luckily no picture was taken here, otherwise it may have spoilt the illusion of my constant happiness :P).
We only had enough cash left to pay for the accommodation and get petrol, so no shopping for me and I have to look at our account and find out what the story is. Maybe somebody cleaned the account out? To keep it brief, and me sane by not having to re-count the details, there was some technicality that prevented us from getting money for a couple of days. On top of it, our host told us that the bus drivers where striking for a couple of days and if it is not resolved by 7PM, there would be no bus tomorrow either, so we are stuck here. What a day!

Date: 07/05
City: Rio Grande, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 42812
Street: N/A
Weather: cloudy/cold, rainy, stormy

In the morning we heard that the bus strike is over, but the busses are only starting to drive again from tomorrow. So we decided to stay here today and take it easy. The plan was to get some money, buy the bus ticket for tomorrow, get my credit card back, go shopping, get petrol for the bike and have a look if we can find a place where we can eat some seafood. Today everything seemed so easy! We got money with a different card, got the bus ticket, got petrol and went shopping. Well, while I went shopping – Sigrid meanwhile tried to sell some credit cards …

Well she was actually sitting down when I was …… queuing at the checkout 😀. When we tried to find a restaurant that served seafood, we got an insider tip. A restaurant that didn’t look very promising from the outside, was rumoured to have great and reasonable priced food. Below are pictures of Sigrid, on the left when the waiter told her that there was no seafood. We then told him that we came all the way from Australia to taste the seafood in this restaurant, so he went to the kitchen and ask for an exception. On the right, Sigrid after the waiter returned and told us that the kitchen would make an exception.

The food was great, I got a seafood soup and Sigrid got Trout, both meals were very delicious. Aren’t we lucky that the bus drivers striked?


Back at the hotel I tried to cover the bike, which was more difficult then I first though. The final solution was easy though; I had to keep the cover in the air and place the bike underneath 😀


I hope that the wind dies down a bit tomorrow; otherwise I have 150km dirt road and gusty winds in front of me.

Date: 08/05
City: Rio Grande, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 380
Cumulative kilometre: 43192
Street: One lane highway/ dirt road
Weather: cloudy/cold, stormy

We started early today. Well, early for us is when it is still dark when we get moving. Sigrid hopped (literally :P) into a taxi that brought her to the bus terminal.

I waited until after sunrise before I took off, which is good for avoiding Llamas on the road and not freezing to death 😀

So for today I had 350km to ride, two border crossings and a ferry crossing. If the wind gets worse the ferry won’t go and I’ll be stuck at the ferry crossing. The first bit, up to  the Argentinean/Chilean border, was a bit windy. Well, it was mostly freezing, even with my heated Vest and the gloves on full blast. After the Chilean border, the dirt started and so did the wind. Let me put it this way: gravel and gusty winds are not my preferred riding conditions and I was happy that Sigrid was not on the bike. Towards the end of the dirt road, the wind started to die down, so riding became easy now. Nevertheless, I finished the last bit of dirt road in South America and I had to show my appreciation for the tarmac 😀.

The rest was easy, the ferry was going and not long after the ferry I arrived at the Chilean/Argentinean border. An hour later I was already at our accommodation in Rio Gallegos. I tried to get my bike insured for another month, but guess what, the insurance shop is the only shop that closes at 17:30. Of course I arrived at 17:30. Doesn’t matter, tomorrow will do. And on the bright side, there were no queues this time. Ahh, and I tried my credit card and it worked again, I feel better now 🙂

Date: 09/05
City: El Calafate, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 306
Cumulative kilometre: 43489
Street: One lane highway
Weather: sunny, stormy

In the morning I went to to the insurance to get my 3rd party for the next month renewed. And …. I had to queue. No problem since this time we only had 350km on tarmac with a bit of gusty winds in front of us. Actually we now know why there are no palms in Patagonia, the reason is not the cold, no, it is the wind and we saw the sign to prove it.

The landscape was plain but the clouds were amazing. The camera didn’t really captures the different levels of clouds, but I guess it gives you an idea.

We arrived in El Calafate around 4PM, found a Cabana for a good price, and the owner helped us to organize the bus trip to the glacier for tomorrow.


So everything is setup for our 2nd last target in South America, the Perito Moreno Glacier.