Torres del Paine National Park

Nov 27 Rio Turbio to Puerto Natales

The last couple of travel days

Today marks our first entrance into Chile so we were not sure what to expect at the border. We knew there would be the usual Immigration and Aduana out of Argentina and then the same into Chile but what we did not know is how long the process would take and if there were any special requirements. The Argentine side was very fast, after all we are leaving their country so they don’t care much about searching our bags or anything. On the Chile side, they were formal enough to ask us to remove the luggage from our bikes and put it into the xray scanner for inspection. I refused saying it was a lot of work to remove all the luggage and besides it is not like they ask the cars to put all their contents into the scanner. The official agreed to a verbal search of the luggage and that we put our back packs through the scanner. We had already filled out the declaration form that states no fruit, meat, vegetables or seeds are being transported when the official finds a single plum in Brenda’s tankbag. He of course loses his mind, ranting is Spanish about false this and false that, the whole time Brenda and I are looking at him wondering what the fuss is about. He didn’t say anything about the apples and oranges in the backpack. He insists that we fill out a new form and check “yes” for the question that asks about fruit and vegetables. I asked if I could eat it, he really went into a rant then, I guess he wanted it for lunch to go along with the vegetables and stuff on the little table behind the scanner. The little table also had a knife and cutting board set up so I am assuming they are eating the confiscated goods.

No harm no foul, we get going before someone changes their mind and we are now in Chile.

A short ride of 28km brings us into Puerto Natales which is on the shore of a the mainland and looks across a channel at one of the many islands that make up the region called Magallanes_and_Chilean Antartica. 

The tourist booth is a great help and soon enough we are checking into a nice Hostel with secure parking for the bikes. 

Typical standard for our rooms.

Lounge area

The system of names for hotels and hostels is different down here. It has more to do with the number of rooms and the services provided than it does with the classification of the establishment. A hostel can be the same price and services as a hotel but because it has less than 20 rooms it is called a hostel. A Hospedaje is a house that rents out a room or two depending on the size of the house. These usually involve communal bathrooms like in any house but are also the cheapest option next to tenting. We have looked at a couple of Hospedaje’s but have not been tempted enough to stay at one. In any event we were very cold by the time we checked in and a hot shower was about all we could focus on.

Chilean money is colorful like ours

We ate supper at Don Jorge Parrilla, which had two whole lambs on spits roasting over a smoking bed of coals. The restaurant smelled heavenly and the food was just as tasty. I had a beef steak instead of the lamb and the chef cooked it on the wood fired grill that we could see from our table. It was absolutely amazing, a nice cut of meat seasoned with salt, pepper, oil, and a couple of secret spices was all that was required to make a truly enjoyable meal.

We needed all the energy we could muster the next morning as we were up early in order to get out to Torres del Paine National Park. This is rated as the 5^th most beautiful spot on earth by National Geographic. The mountains are jagged and snow capped, the lakes are like huge emeralds, but the road is like the most neglected piece of dirt in the world. We were warned about the rough roads but nothing could prepare us for 6inch deep washboards and golf ball sized gravel. We made it all the way to the end of the park and took a short hike out to see Grey Glacier, the tour boat was not running but we did make it to the viewing platform at the end of the hike. The glacier could hardly be seen due to cloudy skies and light rain; we could however see a few brilliant blue chunks of ice that had floated across the lake after calving from the glacier.

One more stop at the rapids before we leave the park and the day in the park would be over. Well ok, one more stop to duct tape my windshield back together after a rather large rock got pitched from a car and smashed it. Good thing it hit on the right side because had it hit on the left it would likely have broken my GPS as well, that means another new windscreen in Buenos Aires at the end of this trip. I may also have to rename my bike the Red Green Special as the silver duct tape  is slowly taking over the other colors.

At the rapids we bump into a couple on the trail carrying a baby and we say the usual Hello/Hola and don’t think much of it. When we return to the parking lot the family is in the car beside our bikes and the lady is holding a zip lock bag with pizza in it. She holds out the bag and ask us, in English, “Do you want some?” to which I reply “Do we look that hungry?” . We both start laughing and the conversation starts. They are from Saskatoon and she works at Waskesui up in Prince Albert National Park, I think she said she works for the Park Service. We share some Sask jokes and laugh that we may be related, and of course share some travel tips about what to see and where to see it. We ended up chatting for about 45 minutes while we ate most of her pizza, she said she was going to throw it out as they did not expect to have a fridge that evening. 

The road out of the park took a different route as we did not pass through the entry gate, it was not until we were almost at Cerrano Castillo corner that I realized this. At the corner there was a motorcycle tour group that we had seen a couple of times during the day, it turns out they are from South Africa, and came over as a group then rented motorbikes in Punta Arenas. They were riding F800GS’s and F650’s which is very typical for BMW bike rentals. Since we were stopped anyway we thought we should look inside the little corner store that was covered with moto stickers, this turned into about 30 minutes of window shopping and a cup of coffee.

All this touristing was getting tiresome so we headed down the road back to Punta Natales for a nice restful evening and some more excellent steak at Don Gorge’s. It was so good we had to try it twice.

We don't do this in Canada, at least not on the front counter.

We also had to figure out our route for the next day, we either go North via Rte 9 in Chile or backtrack a bit and return to Argentina and follow Rte 40. After some distance calculations it is decided to take Rte 40 as the gas stops are more frequent, although we would still have to pack extra fuel in addition to the jerry cans just to be safe as there was one leg that was just over 300km.

A taste of Route 40

Nov 25 San Julian to Rio Gallegos to Rio Turbio

We overnight in a nice Bed and Breakfast, Hosteria Ketty, and then make tracks in the morning for Rio Gallegos. Another day bucking the wind of Patagonia and fueling up more often that usual because of it. We are also noticing alot of motorcycles along the route, probably more that we seen all last winter in the northern part of the continent combined. At one gas stop we bump into two Portuguese riders who tell us that they were in Ushuaia and there was a travellers' meeting there just a few days ago. This explains why so many bikes are being seen.  A nice exchange of travel stories is shared then it is back into the wind for the last push to Rio Gallegos. It was a total relief that when we turned East for the last 10km into town we could finally rest a bit while riding, the wind was finally at our back. 

Rio G is a unattractive town, mainly due to the wind blowing debris around and the general feeling that this town is past its' prime. Maybe it was just the bad first impression from the striking workers burning tires at the traffic circle that has tainted my view but either way we were not sad to be leaving in the morning. 

There was a lengthy discussion about the feasibility of going all the way to Ushuaia for a picture by a sign. Lets see, 5 days round trip, 1500km each way from here, not much to look at from our research, and all the Ant-arctic tours are full, not much motivation there. The final straw was the police check point on the edge of the city when we were leaving. The officer asked where we were going and then told us that the border has been closed on the Chile side, no entrance today and only a 50/50 chance tomorrow. Well that was the sign that we were to head West across to the Andes instead of South to the sign post, the only issue is that today there is a 45km/h wind with gusts to 75km/h and we are going straight into it. 

We take a short cut across through a pasture to connect back to Rte#3 West, then it is tuck in behind the windscreen and hope for no rain. The next 250km is going to be grueling.

We had already packed an extra 12 liters of fuel for expected trip south and a good thing because at the 175km mark my bike was done, we still have 100km to go to reach Rio Turbio which has the first services. I think at this point we had seen 3 vehicles since leaving Rio Gallegos, and one was upside down in the ditch. We poured in the extra fuel and kept going much to the delight of the sheep that were watching all this action. That is one of the amazing things about Patagonia, it is all fenced, which to me means that someone owns all this land. It is literally like riding on Hwy 22 south of Longview, but it goes on and on for 3000km, similar distance as from Calgary to Phoenix. All flat, all fenced, no tall trees, the occasional sign for an Estancia (ranch), and then a few cities sprinkled about. This is truly a barren landscape.

That is just a couple of the things you think about while hunched over the gas tanks for hours on end. Then we join up with the famous Routa 40, whose claim to fame is intermittent pavement broken up by deep rutted gravel roads, washboard gravel road, strong cross-winds, construction in an attempt to join the pavement sections, and if you are really unlucky—rain. The rain held off and the construction equipment was not in use today so there were no added delays there. I do not understand why a country would try to build 200km of road all at the same time, why not tackle small sections at a time?? Again, something that crosses my mind as I am navigating through endless construction detours and deep soft gravel. 

Brenda feels she earned her Gravel Badge today, I guess that is a peak into what she was thinking about. In any event the bikes handle this terrain like champs, they seem to like it more than constant highway speed for hours on end, and before you know it we are enjoying a nice freshly paved road into Rio Turbio. Not too bad, 6hrs of travel time and 300kms completed, plus almost two full tanks of gas each which is almost 50% more than usual. Damn wind.

There are not many options for hotels, actually we could only find one, and it was $70USD and a dump. You would not likely stay here if this was in Canada, again everything is just a little bit broken. The light fixtures in the dining room either have burnt out bulbs, missing globes, or paint splashed on them. The tables have random chairs, the floor tiles are cracked, the curtains don’t match, the toilet in our room requires removal of the tank lid in order to flush, you get the picture. If it wasn’t 5C outside we would have pitched the tent. The saving grace is that the people are very friendly and courteous. They make us some coffee to help warm up and one of the other guests chats me up while I am doing my daily bike maintenance. Rio Turbio is a border town with Chile, and a coal mining town, a lethal combination in any country I suppose. No biggie, this is just an overnight stop before attempting to cross the border into Chile tomorrow, country number 18 of our bike journey. Sure hope that the border is open.