December 19th 2024 – Punta Arenas, Chile

The main reason for staying in El Calafate was the town’s proximity to the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field – the world’s third largest reserve of freshwater.

Pío XI (or Brüggen) Glacier feeds off the same ice field. Covering an area of 1,265 km2 it is the largest glacier in the southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica and one of the few in the world that is still advancing/growing.

Perito Moreno Glacier is significantly smaller and has been retreating on its northern front since 2020 but is still a behemoth. Its accessibility makes it one of the major tourist attractions in southern Patagonia and it has a special feature.

In 1899  the terminus of the glacier was 750 meters from the Magallanes peninsula (where visitors today can view the glacier up close). Pressure from the weight of the ice made the glacier advance across the inner fjord of Lake Argentino. In 1917 it closed the gap for the first time and bisected  the lake at an area called the Brazo Rico on one side and the Canal de los Témpanos on the other.

With no outlet, the water level on the Brazo Rico side of the lake (that covers up to 6.500 hectares) can rise by as much as 30 meters above the level of the main body of Lake Argentino. Intermittently, the pressure produced by the height of the dammed water breaks through the ice barrier causing a spectacular rupture, sending a massive outpouring of water from the Brazo Rico section to the main body of Lake Argentino and the Santa Cruz river.

Since 1917 this dam/rupture cycle has recurred between once a year to less than once every decade.
The rupture is considered one of the most impressive natural spectacles in the world.

On our second day in El Calafate we got on the bikes and headed west towards the glacier. It was a beautiful ride. Perito Moreno is located inside Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. It was US $45 per person to get in. The last 30 kilometers from the entrance of the park to the glacier along the coast of Brazo Rico was a hoot to ride.

About 10 kilometers from our destination we were presented with the first view of the glacier.

We had parked the bikes and were getting ready to hike the trails when a gang on big GSs pulled up. It was Michael and his friends from California doing a 3 week ride in Patagonia on rented bikes. We ended up talking with them for a while. They seemed to be great guys.

The next 4 hours were spent at the glacier. It was spectacular!
The appearance of the glacier changed constantly due to the shifting light as we walked along its edge that on average rises 74 m (240 ft) above the surface of the water. We were fortunate enough to witness a couple of calvings while we were there.
 At one point a Condor dropped by. It hovered right above us for a bit to have a close look before gaining height and continue its flight. It is a damn big bird.

A lot of other motorcycles had joined the Hondas when we got back to the parking lot. I hope they didn’t pick up any bad habits from the Europeans! The ride back to El Calafate was even better than the ride out. We now had the wind at our back and the Rallys were flying.

None of the towns we’ve seen in southern Chile and Argentina so far is really worth writing home about. El Calafate was no exception but still had a nice vibe to it and offered everything we needed during our stay.

From El Calafate we backtracked a bit to reconnect with Ruta 40.
It was a pleasantly warm day with hardly any wind as we made our way south across the plains. As the day wore on snow capped mountains started to dominate the western horizon yet again.

The wind had picked up significantly when we turned off Ruta 40 towards Río Turbio.
We stopped in town for a late lunch and to fill up the bikes before hitting the border to Chile a couple of kilometers down the road.

Long lines of cars and people milling around the Argentinean immigration and custom offices didn’t bode well for a quick crossing. To my great surprise, they cleared the queue in no time. The Chilean side of the border was just as effective. In less than an hour we had all the paperwork sorted and entered Chile for the 3rd time on this trip.

The wind tried to make the last stint to Puerto Natales a challenge. Lower speed and higher revs made the ride manageable. Having ridden for +30 years in a windy country has its benefits.

Like with El Calafate it was not the town itself that has lured us in but rather its proximity to spectacular scenery – in this case Torres del Paine National Park. A small cozy cabin at the back of a garage would be our home for the next couple of days. The host that greeted us was very amiable and more than a little odd. I never figured out if he was drunk or not?

The following day was mostly overcast with frequent showers. We stayed home all morning enjoying having a roof over our heads. The weather improved during the day. It was dry and pleasantly warm when we went out to find something to eat in the evening. It boded well for the following day.

The morning sun poured through the window of our small cabin as we prepared for the day’s ride. It would be a loop and allow us to ride without luggage for once. I only bought the tool bag. You never know.

First stop on the route was The Mylodon Cave. We met a group of guys from Down Under at the parking lot. They were on an organized tour and riding big KTMs. We chatted for a while before heading down to the cave.

Back on the bikes we continued north. The roads deteriorated as the scenery improved. By early afternoon the roads had turned into crappy, dusty, pebble covered washboard while the surrounding mountains competed to take our breath away. We considered it a fair trade – even when Katrine discovered that one of the rear blinkers on her bike had shaken loose. Good that someone decided to bring the tools.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover that the last part of the day’s ride consisted of smooth roads flowing through the majestic landscape. It was the warmest day in a long time. I was comfortable with just a T-shirt under my mesh jacket.

The Mercator projection has been used for most common maps since the 18th century. It is great for navigation, especially at sea, because it represents rhumb lines as straight lines, making it easy to plot a course. The downside is that it distorts our view of the world by inflating the size of lands the further they are from the equator. Take a look at this site so get an idea of the true size of the world’s countries.

The effect has been very evident on our journey through South America. Further north near the equator we didn’t seem to make much progress no matter how much time we spent on the bikes. Now we are suddenly flying.
Punta Arenas, which is about as far south as you can get in Chile on 2 wheels, was suddenly within striking distance. 

The town is one of 3 free trade zones in Chile. The other 2 being Arica and Iquique. The zones were established to encourage investment in the extreme north and south of the country. They are, to the best of my knowledge, the only places in South America where we can sell the bikes and get our TIP cancelled legally. We hope to do just that with at least one of the bikes when we return from Ushuaia next month.

Initially our plan had been to bypass Punta Arenas on our way south. On second thought we decided to swing by to get a feel for the place and maybe do some groundwork.

We left Puerto Natales early in the morning to escape threatening clouds rolling in from the west. A strong tail wind carried us across the plains of southern Patagonia and we got away with only a few drops of rain on the visor.

The friendly winds that had followed us all morning changed their attitude and tried to push us into the Straits of Magellan on the last leg towards Punta Arenas.

We arrived in town early and stopped for lunch before checking in at the cabin we had booked in advance.
In the afternoon we headed out on foot.

One of our stops was La Guarida – a motorcycle oasis downtown. Salva started the business 7 years ago. It gave him a place to store his private collection that at the time counted 18 bikes. The place is now a very cool motorcycle shop, dealership and accessory store that features a cafe for customers and visiting bikers to socialize and get a bite. It is a family run business with a cozy atmosphere.

When Salva heard about our plans for selling the bikes, he kindly offered to share it on their Instagram page.

We are now staying in town for a couple of days, waiting for the weather to improve, before striking for The Land of Fire.