December 12th 2024 – El Calafate, Argentina

Even though summer had arrived in Patagonia it was still a good idea to keep an eye on the weather forecasts.
We arrived in Coyhaique during a cold spell. It should stay like that for another couple of days until heavy rains would announce a return to more pleasant temperatures.
There was no reason for us to ride through one of the most beautiful places in the world fighting the cold and with rain on our heels so we decided to wait out the weather once more.

Coyhaique is by far the largest town and the cheapest place to stay along the Carretera Austral. Not the worst place to be stuck for a few days. We were allowed to extend our stay for US$20 a day. Our host Estella and her 23 years old son Miguel did everything to make us feel comfortable and at home. They even insisted on feeding us. Both worked long hours so most of the time Katrine and I had the house to ourself. We spent the days getting to know the town and taking advantage of its offerings.

The weather progressed as predicted. After 3 cold days and a very wet one, the weather improved and it was time to get moving again.
Estella had tears streaming down her face when she hugged us goodbye. She declared us family and told us her door would always be open for us. It was touching but also a bit overwhelming.

Leaving Coyhaique on Carretera Austral we picked up where we had left off 5 days earlier. Nice riding surrounded by stunning scenery. We gained a bit of altitude during the morning. The previous 24 hour’s rain had fallen as snow at 1.000 meters. It was now rapidly melting.

Talking about altitude: Southern Chile is the home of the highest peaks of the Andes. Without giving it much thought I had expected that traveling through Patagonia would involve riding at altitude. It doesn’t – and now that we are here, it completely makes sense. This close to Antartica the snow rules the mountains year around. All major (and most minor) roads meander through the valleys not much above sea level. Keep that in mind when you look at my pictures – we’re not high up, it’s the snow line that’s far down.

The level of awesomeness, as well as the temperatures, just kept rising throughout the day. In the afternoon the asphalt turned to gravel and stayed that way until we reached Puerto Río Tranquilo. We stopped by the town’s bakery to pick up the keys for an apartment I had booked the previous day.
In the evening we went for a walk around the small town located on the shore of General Carrera Lake, the biggest lake in Chile.

Usually we like to start early and reach our destination mid afternoon. Cold mornings and long days have made us push that schedule forward a couple of hours. It makes for very relaxed mornings. It’s nice that running out of daylight isn’t an issue. At the moment it gets dark around 10 pm and the days keep getting longer.

We left town on gravel roads following the lakeshore south.

Around noon we reached the southern tip of General Carrera Lake. After almost 900 km it was time to say goodbye to Carretera Austral. In regard to natural beauty it has been one of the absolut highlights on the journey so far. I can not recommend it enough to anyone who visits this part of the world!
We could have followed it for another couple of hundred kilometers to its culmination just south of Villa O’Higgins but that would have involved a lot of backtracking or a once a week, 43 hours ferry crossing from Puerto Yungay to Puerto Natales. Neither seemed appealing.
Instead we followed the lake’s southern shore towards Chile Chico and the border to Argentina.
Beautiful weather and pleasant temperatures accompanied us all day.

It was getting late in the afternoon when we arrived in Chile Chico. A cozy small cabin in a backyard downtown was to be our home for the night.
A few days earlier I had noticed that a seam had come undone on Katrine’s Mosko Moto harness. Being a Saturday, it was a longshot when Katrine asked our host Jessica if she knew someone who could fix it for her. Shortly after Katrine shouldered the harness and got in a car with Jessica. They found a cobbler who opened up his shop and did the job for $3.
There was still plenty of daylight left when Katrine returned with the fixed harness. It allowed us to take a leisurely stroll down to the lake before dinner. The temperatures dropped with the sun. The small wood stove back at our cabin made short work of the chill.

It was Sunday morning. We only had 5 kilometers to the Argentinean border and a short ride planned on the other side. There was plenty of time to get the wood stove going and grab an extra cup of coffee before saddling the bikes.
There were a few other travelers at the border but no lines anywhere. It took maybe 30 minutes in total to get out of Chile and into Argentina. I believe that is a record.
Our departure from the border was delayed a bit, when I discovered that someone had been sloppy with the chain oiler on Katrine’s bike. The lid’s O-ring didn’t seal properly. All the oil had drained as a result. Riding on dusty roads for a few days had concealed the over-lubing of the chain. With the chain oiler cleaned, inspected, refilled and assembled we were ready to continue.

When we arrived in Perito Moreno, our destination for the day, we had left General Carrera Lake (called Lake Buenos Aires on the Argentinean side of the border) and the snow capped mountains behind.
We stopped at the only gas station in town to fill up the bikes, have a little lunch and use their wifi to get in touch with our host for the night. The border crossing had taken less time than expected. It would be nice if we could check in early. Unfortunately that wasn’t an option, so we ended up hanging out at the gas station for a couple of hours. The gas station had decent coffee, and we spent the time productively, so all was good.

Eventually we were allowed to move into our small cabin on the opposite side of town. It was spacious and cozy. The bikes were parked just outside our front door in a fenced garden.
We went for a run before shopping for dinner. It took forever to get out of the supermarket as their cash registers and payment systems constantly stopped working. Cooking the food back at the cabin turned out to be a challenge as well. The power kept cutting out. Wifi stopped working early in the evening as well. Our host was very apologetic and offered to relocate us to a bigger cabin on the premises, but it wouldn’t solve the issues. It apparently was how things worked in that town.

Being back in Argentina was a rude awakening after almost a month in Chile. Basic things working was no longer a given. The general standard of living seemed lower and suddenly everything involving transactions became a hassle again – how to pay and in what currency? It was all part of the adventure.

In the morning it was time to say hello to the infamous Ruta 40 and have a look at the Argentinian side of Patagonia. It was a whole new world. Lush greenery surrounded by rugged snow capped peaks had been replaced with vast expenses and big skies. Winding roads were a distant memory.
We encountered the first Guanacos since leaving Bolivia and stopped to chat with an armadillo. It was not interested in what we had to say.

We had been advised to refuel whenever possible on this part of Ruta 40. We followed the advice and topped up the bikes at the only fuel pump, in the middle of nowhere, between Perito Moreno and Gobernador Gregores. The place had been sticker bombed by other travelers. Without that fuel stop we would have been hard-pressed to cover the 360 km between the two towns. High speed and strong winds kill the fuel efficiency of the otherwise frugal Hondas.

We rolled into Gobernador Gregores with a strong tailwind. The town had a wild west feel to it. Only the main street was surfaced. Motorcycles packed with everything but the kitchen sink crowded the parking space in front of most accommodations in town. It must be a Christmas thing.
Our accommodation for the night was a small walled property on the outskirts of town. We had the whole place to ourselves. It turned out to be a challenge to find a place for dinner in Gobernador Gregores. We ended up at the gas station’s dingy restaurant like everyone else. The lack of competition reflected on the prices and quality of the food.

After dinner I went for a walk in the hills outside of town while Karine returned to the house to relax. A dog joined me the whole way. We both enjoyed the company. It turned out that it lived at a house just across the street from where we were staying.

Most dogs live sorry lifes in this part of the world. In Chile and Argentina almost all of them seem to belong somewhere. They are considered more a form of alarm system than living creatures. Aside from feeding them, the owners (and everyone else) ignore them completely.
Either the dogs patrol fenced front yards knee deep in their own feces. Many of those have gone mad from solitude and lack of stimulation.
Alternatively they live on the street, roaming the neighborhood during the day and sleeping in front of the houses where they are fed during the night. These dogs are generally in good mental health but with a multitude of untreated diseases and injuries.
That many of the dogs are afraid of or at least very apprehensive towards people is a testament to how they are treated. People who are cruel to animals are scum with pieces missing!

We picked up Ruta 40 in the morning. Flying low on the empty road I noticed that the surface was covered with bucks of some kind – most of them crushed but some still crawling. I stopped to investigate. It turned out to be grasshoppers.

The previous day there had been multiple short sections of gravel on Ruta 40. This morning the asphalt was unbroken until it stopped altogether. The next couple of hours were a combination of gravel, sand, dirt and mud.

Eventually the road turned to pristine blacktop and stayed that way for the remainder of the day. We had been moving in a south western direction all day, back towards the mountains. Glacial lakes with a backdrop of snow capped mountains dominated the afternoon.

We had booked a cabin in El Calafate, a small town on the shores of Lake Argentina. It seems like a good place to take a break and kick back after being on the move and sleeping in a different bed every night for 5 days in a row.