Iguazu Falls - an impressive sight in full flood
ski resort at pass from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile
Inca Bridge in the mountains between Argentina and Chile. The church in the background is the only remaining building where once was a town when an earthquake triggered avalanche destroyed the entire town with the exception of the lone church which escaped untouched!
Ponderosa: Che Guevera´s 1936 Norton 350 moto that he rode through South America
Iguazu Falls-Argentina side
another funky local resident
old cathedral in Salta
town centro, Salta
Garganta Del Diablo, Cafeyete
4040 kms left to Ushuia on Ruta 40
Ischigualasto Park
Argentina or Bust...one long climb into the mountains...and you guessed it...the cold and wind! The border crossing into Argentina (from Chile) at the remote post of Pasco de Jama was accomplished with alot of laughter and friendly banter...a good omen of things to come in Argentina! It took several days on the road through high altiplano grasslands and dry mountains (with cold temperatures and high winds) before we dropped into Jujuy and Salta. (The winds on the huge, switchback decent were absolutely insane and we were constantly blown across two lanes of road and the sand and rocks in the air basically sand blasted our faces (couldn't hurt my looks!).
June 22, 2007 We needed a rest and the pretty colonial city of Salta was perfect "medicine" for our hurting bodies. (even the weather co-operated!) Relaxing in the gorgeous town centro with a Salta cerveza or two is something we will always remember!
Continuing south we rode through some pretty canyon country with brilliant colored rock formations with stops in several small towns where we did a little exploring...no tourists here! The next few days on the road were rather long as we headed off on dirt roads and the scenery consisted of days of flat, barren desert country with few towns...but great for camping as we could have fires in the evening. We are heading south and she is getting plenty cold at night but with a campfire in the evening and morning and not riding before 9 things are A-OK. Stopped at the famous ruinas de Quilmes and Ischigulasto Provincial Parks (both of which are advertised everywhere) but personally we found both rather boring!
June 29th - Several more long, easy but rather boring road days and we pull into the large town of San Juan and decide to part the bikes for a few days and take a bus to Mendoza. A very friendly Argentinian (incredably friendly folks!!!) gave us a ride to Mendoza (at about 140 and all over the road as he tried to converse with us in Spanish with the usual flailing of hands and full emotions that include looking at who they are speaking to (even if wailing down the hi-way at warp speed!!!)
June 30th - Mendoza was an interesting break as we headed out into the mountains to check out some ski hills (yes...they were in operation) and the border crossing into Chile. Some nice scenery and the weather was gorgeous so we got some good views of Condors and Aconcagua..the tallest mountain in the Americas. The bus ride back to San Juan was awesome...we got the front seats in a huge double decker bus...full comfort with meals served, including wine and it is WARM..kind of makes us want to part the bikes for a while!!!!
Just to reinforce those feelings the next day was one miserable SOB...ice in the trees and freezing fog made for one miserable ride through rough desert terrain until it warmed up around noon. We actually met a fellow biker from Australlia and he was as happy to see us as we were to see him...misery loves company!!!!
July 5th - A stop at the Che Guevera museum in Alta Gracia (where he grew up) was great and we sure learned alot about this facinating person...and the weather was nice in the afternoon (for a change!)
Several days of wind, rain and just plain old misery and into Uruguay!!! (but we will cover this country later) Back into Argentina on July 9th and continued cold, windy miserable weather. Snow in Buenos Aires...a first since 1918 and NOT good news if you´re riding a MC (and there are not to many of these on the road!!!) Not much to report but she is miserably cold before 12 and we are usually soaking wet by the time we pack it in at 5. On top of that the countryside is dead flat and boring, boring boring! Our only excitement comes when the master link snaps on the 650 right before dark in the pouring rain! When I tried to complete chain repairs the chain fell into pieces...literally nothing left of it! By the time I "mickey moused" things back together and limped into the closest town we were more than ready to take a rest!
July 11th - Two more days of rain, wind and road and we cruise into the lovely little town of Porto Iguazu with the objectives of getting our Brazil visa and checking out the world famous waterfalls. The country side near the falls is beautiful with lots of jungle and forestry plantations. First things first...we headed into town to collect reams of paperwork required for the Brazil visas but were cut short when a huge thunderstorm moved in and a bolt of lightning and insanely loud thunder clap right next to the internet place shut the entire town down! Oh well...we took what we had over to the embassy and unlike La Paz and or Buenos Aires all they wanted was our money!!! (didn´t check yellow fever, copies of MC papers, 3 months of bank statements, credit card receipts, address and phone no of contacts in Brazil...nothing...just money!
The falls are a real tourist attraction (trap) and we did it all including a raft ride right under (literally) the falls, down the river and a trip through the jungle after which we spent the entire day walking the boardwalks etc. Our hostel was a really nice place to stay and we got a fair amount of work done on the Hondogs. Our last day in Argentina began with a visit to a hummingbird aviary (total open air and the hundreds of hummingbirds are only attracted by food, can leave and go as they want) and a easy but long 2 hour border crossing (because the computer program for the crossing was damaged in the same thunderstorm that got us!)
So what did we think of Argentina? Not too much BUT we only got to visit the northern half of the country (way to cold to travel south and from everyone we talked to the southern half on the Andes side is awesome!) and the weather was truly horrible...not the combination to make for an entirely enjoyable trip on a MC. On the other hand the people are fantastic and the price of most things reasonable (less expensive than Chile, Uruguay and Brazil). The difference between the rich and poor is something that we didn´t really expect but over 50 percent of the population lives in extreme poverty...not too nice.
