By the numbers.

These are the answers to the most common asked questions. The BIG 5. Where?When?How Far?How Many ___?How Much?

Countries visited – 5

Number of border crossings – 16

Total Kilometers- 24,300 mas o menos (more or less)

Total number of riding days – 78 (314 km/day avg)

Total duration of trip – 132 days

Days in Uruguay – 15

Days in Argentina - 43

Days in Chile-42

Days in Peru-25

Days in Bolivia-7

Days camping -0

Average Hotel price - $50CAD

Most expensive hotel - $170

Least expensive hotel - $17 (but not the worst hotel)

Cost of fuel – 0.50/liter to 1.58/liter depending on country.

Total number of bike repairs completed - lots

Broken skid plate bolts (4), tire changes(1 rear each), flat repairs(4), wheel bearings(1 set each), chain repairs(3), chain replacement(1 each), radiator repair(1), plastic body panel repair(1), luggage rack welding(1), luggage rack bolts(4), oil changes(2), air filter cleaning (2 times), headlight bulb (1), windshield (1), clutch lever replacement (1),  riding gear repair(1), tank bags destroyed(1), wipe-outs, accidents and tip-overs (1 Stew, 4 Brenda) but who is keeping score.

Q: So, where to next???

A: We are working on that. :)

All I need is a Boston Bruins logo and my Jerry Cheevers bike will be complete.

Brenda's odometer.

Destination reached.

May 9-18 Trinidad to Montevideo

The last 200km’s of bike travel this year is brightened knowing that we will have a few days in MVD before flying home. It is bitter sweet knowing that we are heading to finish line once again. There were days when we wondered why we chose to see the world on motorbikes when there are much easier ways of travelling. Ways that keep you insulated from the elements, not having to put up with the dust, the diesel fumes, the insane drivers, and the overwhelming odors of road kill/garbage/stock yards. But, most days we are happy putting along some dirt road seeing the culture of the country in the small towns and truly being in the moment.

The highway from Trinidad to MVD gets larger as more and more secondary highways join together the closer we get to the capital. We soon see the signs of urban sprawl and industrial replacing the agricultural landscape.

Mate crop.

Sorghum crop.

Looking more like home every mile.

The city is familiar enough that navigation is easy and very little need for the GPS, Hwy#5 branches and we take the waterfront route into the city center. We are now looking at cargo ships, the large active port area, our favorite abandoned train station and before we know it the lobby of our hotel.

Done.

Well there is still a bunch of tasks requiring attention here in MVD, I have to give the bikes a once over and complete repairs as needed before parking them for the season. I know that my bike needs new rear signal lights and the muffler repacked, while Brenda’s low-beam stopped working some time ago, so those are the three known repairs. There is also basic maintenance of oil changes, cleaning of air filters, cleaning the throttle bodies, checking all bearings, sprockets, chains, sorting luggage and one professional cleaning.

The Lavaderos (car washes) down here take their work seriously and really spend a lot of time cleaning the bikes. They make sure all the tar and road grime is removed then give them a quick wax and polish. This all sounds quick and easy but in reality takes me four days to complete. Willi lets me do the work in his shop, which is very kind of him, allowing me access to some tools and the convenient used oil disposal. The other big advantage is that if he does not have it in his shop he can direct me on where to find it in the neighborhood, the typical Latin American layout of the city means that everything is within walking distance and if it isn’t there is always a mid-afternoon break to got fetch something.

So now with all the mechanical work complete we can relax and enjoy the last few days of our winter excursion. Montevideo is such an interesting city for us as we enjoy walking around and looking at the old architecture, sitting in the numerous parks people watching, or strolling along the beautifully developed shoreline. We even make use of the exercise equipment stations that are incorporated into the malecon design, with so many people living in small houses or condos these public gyms get a lot of use, not exactly Muscle Beach but pretty good for an open air facility. We are also reminded of how intense the sun is as we soon look a little red, even with 60spf sunscreen.

Kevin, the fella we store the bikes with, has invited us to go flying with him at the Canelones airfield. He is a pilot at the skydiving place so it is a great opportunity for us to see the area from above. The airstrip is small as are the planes, but we enjoy the sightseeing flight around the area all the same. It is amazing how different it looks from up there.

Craig has arrived from Calgary for the start of his trip, he has a couple of days before he needs to be in Buenos Aires for the arrival of his girlfriend and their second motorcycle, this allows us some opportunities to visit, catching up on events and sharing travel plans. A nice way to end our trip and transition back into our other reality.

Our last land border crossing.

Mar 7 Corrientes to Salto

Our last border crossing of the trip is cause for reflection and a sense of accomplishment. Although the travelling is not over just yet we take a bit of time to let it “soak in”. We make sure that our paperwork states 365 days of temporary import for the bikes, this will allow us to store them once again until next winter when we will continue our travels.

Might as well break the law one last time in Argentina and park illegally.

No line-up, yay.

Across the dam into Uruguay.

Fruit pickers enroute.

 While walking around the downtown area we noticed that the main street is closed off to traffic for some maintenance, it seems strange that they are painting the entire road surface white though. We theorize about what they are up to and later in the afternoon the reason becomes apparent. Today is Friday and tonight is the local celebration of Carnival. The street is painted white for the parade and dancing that will ensue after dark, much after dark, the parade starts at 10pm and the dancing carries on after that. We are excited to be able to attend  the festivities as this would be a more traditional Carnival parade with elaborate costumes and such. Some of the other Carnival celebrations were more like a drunken street dance than what you would imagine as a Rio de Jinero Carnival celebration. We waited patiently between dinner and the start of  the celebration only to find out that we were not allowed to enter the festivities. While we were waiting the organizers of the event closed off all the adjoining streets with temporary fencing and posted police at the entry points, this ensured that only residents of the municipality were allowed to attend. We tried a couple of different entrances before giving up and heading back to the hotel. We would have to settle for watching it on the local TV station, the really crazy part was listening to the music coming from the street and watching the dancers on TV, in perfect unison.

Mar 8 Salto to Trinidad

After a disappointing evening of no Carnival we pack up and make our way South to Trinidad, not the country but the town. It is only a 200km ride so we can take our time as always.

There are limited choices for hotels in town and after checking at the first one I return to my bike only to find that it is completely dead. No lights, no starter, nothing...so starts the process of elimination as to what could be wrong. Check the fuses, all ok. Check the battery, full 13.2V. Check the sidestand and neutral switches, good to go. Tear out the ignition and blow the dirt out, wiggle the wires, and spray in some WD-40, yay we have spark. Well that was a fun hour, at least the hotel owner came out to talk and even tried to boost my bike with his car. Nice hospitality.

He however had no parking available so we had to find alternate accommodations, the $200USD a night place was...well $200USD per night so we settled in a smaller older Hotel with parking for $40CAD, and that was overpriced.

Not much to do in town but walk the shopping street, eat supper in the park, people watch, and go to sleep.

Mucho LLuvia

Mar 4-5 JV Gonsalez to Corrientes

It was as straight as it looks.

The rain is still falling when we wake but it has lessened in intensity. More of Hwy 16 East today, not going to Saskatchewan this time but the scenery is similar. Fairly flat with farmland as far as you can see, and straight. Sometimes I track on the GPS that it is 20km between curves. There is evidence of the heavy rains in the ditches and in any spot that will hold water. There is of course some interesting things along the way, like the horse drawn wagon being driven by a couple of Amish looking guys or the kilns for cooking bricks. Then of course there are the large farm yards complete with grain silo’s, multiple John Deere tractors and combines and because it is Uruguay, modern Gauchos in traditional dress on their horses talking on cell phones. Claro.

We enjoy Corrientes this time as much as we did before, the little things that bring back memories of familiar things and new experiences combines. “Sturgis South” as we nick-named the block long and three bike deep parking area on the main square. We are still not sure how the guys in the middle get their bikes out.

 The restaurants along the Rio Negra river offer up tasty dishes and some unique scenery for a couple of prairie kids. It is not often that we can look out on a river and see barges loaded with cargo being pushed upstream to be offloaded. The roller-bladers are still gliding along the river front along with their jogging and cyclist buddies, past the pancho vendors and sunbathers.

Catch of the day.

Mar 6 Correntes to Mercedes

It gets hot early and by the time we are leaving town just stopping at traffic lights creates a good sweat. But we are not complaining, it is much nicer to ride in the heat than cold and/or rain. The farmland continues to impress us with its vast landscapes of wheat and corn mostly. The closer we get to Mercedes the wetter the surrounding look and it appears that there has been standing water for some time. I initially assumed this was due to the rainy season but when we came across an alligator it was clear that this is just a large marsh area. The GPS confirms that this whole area is at between 80-90 meters above sea level. Low, flat, and wet seems to work for the ranchers as well though as there are cattle and horses everywhere.

Ready for the boot factory.

Last trip when we stopped by chance in Mercedes we truly enjoyed the small town feel and laid back “country” vibe. This visit confirmed what we expected and that our first visit was  not a unique experience, it is like that everyday. People going about their business in a relaxed but purposeful sort of way. The leather work of local craftsman is second to none and is displayed in the local stores in the form of everything from handbags to horse tackle. I had also promised myself to find a unique guacho knife, this turned into an evening of shopping and admiring the craftsmanship of the locals. That was after it stopped raining and the minor flooding had subsided. We were in our room when we heard the rain which had created a small river on the street and the corner was completely under water. The locals just carried on like nothing was happening which tells us that this is not a unique event.

It's a dogs life.

Mar 3 Col.Moldes to JV Gonsalez

The forecast is once again calling for rain overnight, however they got a little more than expected. In the city of Santa Fe they got 400mm (15.75”) in one day, the cities of Rosario and Cordoba are also on the flood watch and as these were on our travel plan towards Montevideo we had to make a quick decision to backtrack to Salta then take a long SouthEast angle towards the north end of Uruguay. Hopefully avoiding flooded cities and roads along the way.

The early start is delayed due to another flat tire, this time Brenda’s back tire has picked up a nail and overnight the slow leak deflated the tire.

I proceed to change the tire and install the spare tube, the hotel owner sees what I am up to and informs me that there is a Gomera (tire repair shop) just up the street 50m. This sounds good to me as I am sweating like crazy already, it is very humid and already 25C. I take the tube up to the tire shop for patching but it is not open, back to plan A and installing the spare.

Once installed I thought I would give the tire shop one more try in hopes of using his air compressor instead of my little tire pump. He was open and a couple of seconds of air soon revealed something that made me scratch my head. I guess somewhere along the way I forgot that the spare tube was the punctured tube from the last time we had a flat and now I just installed a tube with a hole in it. Good thing the young guy at the shop is used to the heat and is soon removing the tire and patching the tube. I figure I might as well get him to patch the other tube as well, he has all the good supplies and tools to do it. Our guide dogs came along for the walk and initially waited patiently at the street, mostly due to the two large dogs in the shop (one can be seen above), but soon they got courageous and entered the yard to see what we were doing. Big mistake, one of the shop dogs proceeded to turn the older of our guides into a rag doll. The dog fight was broken up by the mechanic and surprisingly the little guide dog ran back to the hotel, we were relieved that we did not have to tell the hotel owner that his dog got killed at the tire shop. The kid is finished with the tire and we pay him the $50pesos ($5CAD), back to the hotel to install the tire and get going.

Dog of the Day, safely resting under my bike.

Our little dog is there waiting for us, her ear cut and bleeding but other than that she seemed okay. We let the hotel owner know about his dog and how it happened, he replies that it is not his dog but a neighbor that lives on the block behind the hotel. This is getting comical, they have been hanging around the hotel the entire time and they belong to someone else.

We roll back up the road into Salta and after a quick visit to a bike shop we are on Hwy 16 on our way to JV Gonsalez for the night. Much like our Hwy16, it is straight and uneventful, lots to see but it does not change much from mile to mile. There are a few hotels in town and shortly after checking in the rain clouds roll in and give the area a good soaking all night.

Gaucho Chaps.

A little chicken and salad to go with the wind burn.