Adelie Penguins
 

Today we had a special treat as we had been informed that a colony of Adelie Penguins was near by. They are not normally found this far north. They also do a lot of sliding down hill on their bellies that the others don't do either.

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GS5 pm 1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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GS5 pm 4 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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GS5 pm 22 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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GS5 pm 32 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The Adelie have a black beak and a white ring around the eye and they are smaller than their Gentou and Chin strap cousins.

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GS5 pm 16 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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GS5 pm 30 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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GS5 pm 55 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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GS5 pm 59 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

A polar plunge and cape Horn
 

On our last day in the Peninsula region we headed into the volcanic crater of Deception Island. We finally had a day of bad weather. The expedition leader said finally a day of the “usual Antarctic weather”. It was so bad though we could not make the morning landing in Telefon Bay. Later we headed to Whalers Bay for a hike to Neptune’s window and then a Polar Plunge.



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deception island 2 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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DSC01574 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Headed thru the very narrow Neptune’s Bellows.


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deception island 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 8 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

A snowy hike to the Neptune’s Window.

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deception island 17 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 14 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 18 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 29 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 28 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 26 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 27 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Now for the plunge with some fur seals.

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deception island 37 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 50 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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deception island 53 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We had the “best Drake crossing in 25 years” and so with some spare time the captain took us to Cape Horn.

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DSC01650 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Cape Horn by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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DSC06897 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


We had Dolphins leading us back up the Beagle channel.

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DSC06958 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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DSC06965 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Spectacular doesn't even begin to cover it. Wow!

Hey
 

What is ever more crazy is that it looks ten times better in real life than the photos. Truly epic. Sp

To Porvenir
 

Well what an epic trip so far! Now north again to the Carretera Austral! But first lets get out of Ushuaia! Today we headed back 215 km to Rio Grande for the night.


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Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 12.48.47 AM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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FILE3827 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The next day we went the very windy 80 km to the border at San Sebastian. Here we gassed up on the cheap Argentine gas and met up with Dave (Prairies to Penguins).


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Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 12.50.37 AM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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DSC01672 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We headed over the first 14 km of dirt to the Chile border. No one maintains this section so it is full of Potholes. Dave said “ I don’t remember it being that rough.” We were lucky this time at both crossings as we were the only people there.

When we were just about to leave Dan noticed Dave had a completely flat rear tire. Since we had just 140 km to go to Porvenir we stayed to help him. The funny or not so funny part was after 45 minutes of trying to set the bead on the Heidenau the woman watching us from the food truck says she has a compressor. We had already asked the border guys who denied there was any air available here!!!

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DSC01673 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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DSC01686 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


We were entertained by the fruit sniffer dogs for sure.

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DSC01678 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Now off road to the ferry dock at Porvenir.

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FILE3897 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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This is a wind swept little town.


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DSC01691 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

To Punta Arenas
 

In the morning we headed to the dock at 1130 for the 2 pm sailing and were of course first in line, except for those with reservations. “You can make reservations!!??” We all said since this is not listed anywhere online.

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Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 12.52.30 AM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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DSC01699 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


In the end there were 12 bikes… Us, Orvar from Sweden, Trevor from Calgary, Tony from Spain, Bart and Renata from Holland, Eran from Isreal, Faizel, Madie, and Zamri from Malaysia, and Argentinean couple.

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FILE3986 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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DSC01711 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The 90 min crossing took over 3 hours with salt spray and waves crashing over the bikes and us at times.

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DSC01713 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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DSC01717 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Arriving in Punta Arenas we headed first to the shop of Alejandro, who is a great mechanic at Alelago Workshop! We needed oil changes and he did a one over and adjusted and fixed several things on both bikes. Thanks so much! I don’t think our bikes have been this clean since new.

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There is a very impressive cemetery here and a nice waterfront as well.

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DSC01763 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

To Puerto Natales
 

Now an easy ride 247 km to Puerto Nateles.

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Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 1.04.20 AM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We ran in to the Malaysian team again on the road.


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puerto natales 1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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puerto natales 4 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

It’s a small town so we eventually met up with 10 of the 12 riders from the ferry ride for a Parilla dinner.

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puerto natales 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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puerto natales 10 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We did a bit of riding around town.

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puerto natales 20 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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puerto natales 12 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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puerto natales 16 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



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puerto natales 15 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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puerto natales 19 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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puerto natales 23 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Torres del Paines
 

The big attraction here is the Torres del Paines National Park, where people come from all over the world to hike the 5 -day “W” route. Initially “we” entertained similar loft plans, but luckily I reminded Daniel, “we really don’t like backpacking trips remember”. That said we opted for the 1- day hike to the towers. This is 9 km each way. Somehow we convinced Orvar and Trevor that this was a great plan.

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Screen Shot 2014-02-16 at 4.15.17 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


So we all got up early to drive the 150 km to the Park gate, with the last 90 km ripio. Driving along we had the view of the mountain range and the towers that were our target for the day.

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torres del pines 1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 3 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The entrance fee is a steep 18 CP or about 40$. We set off with water and a lunch to walk the 4 hours up to the towers in 3 ½.

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torres del pines 43 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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torres del pines 4 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 6 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 9 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The middle section is less steep as we walked up the French Valley headed by the spires of Cerro Cota and Cerro Cathedral.

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torres del pines 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 8 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 13 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 12 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The last 45 minutes is switchbacks and then scrambling over boulders.

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torres del pines 17 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 18 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The view of the spires for our picnic was amazing.

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torres del pines 22 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 23 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 25 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 31 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



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torres del pines 40 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr






Laying on a hot flat rock we all had a 45- minute nap to recover for the 3 hours walk down.

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torres del pines 38 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 42 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Torres del Paines
 

The back road thru the park is all ripio for 110 km back to Natales, but the views are stunning along Lakes Nordenskjöd, Pehoe, del Toro, and Sarmiento. (red on the map)

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Screen Shot 2014-02-16 at 4.11.46 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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torres del pines 44 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 48 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 52 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



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torres del pines 53 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr





The lakes are all a vivid turquoise color because of rock flour or glacial flour, which consists of fine silt sized grains of rock generated by glacial erosion that are suspended in the water and make it look cloudy.


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torres del pines 55 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 56 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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torres del pines 61 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



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torres del pines 62 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



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torres del pines 64 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


The last section of the road at this end of the park is closed 10 am to 930 pm for construction. ( yellow road from where the red and green roads meet on the map) Luckily they opened the road just as we arrived at 745 for a very dusty ride back to Natales on the south side of Lago del Toro.

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Screen Shot 2014-02-16 at 4.11.08 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Wow, I know what I'm doing for 5 days when I get down there...

Hike
 

If you love hiking you can enjoy the whole circuit for ten then! :taz:

Sp

To Baja Caracoles on the Ruta 40
 

We had to have an extra days rest in Natales after our big hike and the other guys had a day to see the glacier at Perito Moreno, which we had already seen and so we were a day behind them. Time to catch up. We had a 280 km drive to El Calafate, with a bypass on the Ruta 40 between the 5 and the 7, which is a 115 km gravel road.

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Screen Shot 2014-02-22 at 7.45.58 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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Screen Shot 2014-02-22 at 7.46.58 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We headed out of town towards the border crossing at Rio Turbio. This was an easy 2. We handed our import papers to the agent and he just said thanks. We were done so fast we said “is there not anything else?” He laughed and jokingly said no “ get out!” Then there is a 3 km drive to the next control. Here we had a 10 minute entry to Argentina.

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to calafate 1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


We stopped for cheap gas in town of Rio Turbo and then headed to the turn off to the Ruta 40 (where the gravel started) to add our sticker to the collection. It was nice to arrive to find a room booked for us and a great restaurant picked out by Trevor ad Orvar.

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to calafate 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to calafate 2 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to calafate 3 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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IMG_2510 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We headed out of Calafate in very heavy winds on the pavement to Tres Lagos in 163 km.

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Screen Shot 2014-02-22 at 7.53.26 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to baja caracoles 1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to baja caracoles 2 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The worst part of the day actually was the desvio or detour into the town with high winds and very deep gravel. The gas station is past the town so there was no need to do the detour!!!

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to baja caracoles 3 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

All we had heard from people in the last week or so is how horrible the road is north of Tres Lagos. Heading up the Ruta 40 with some trepidation the first 20 km were shit with deeper gravel, but it was pretty good for the most part after that. All the nay sayers failed to mention the paved sections in the south part and that the last 180 is paved. We managed to sneak onto a few of the blocked off paved sections.


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to baja caracoles 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to baja caracoles 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to baja caracoles 12 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Trevor did have a miracle today. A huge gust of wing hit him and pushed him into the deep gravel. He ended up in the ditch, but with the gas on when BOTH of the wheels came off the ground and he did a 180 and landed it facing backwards down the road looking at Dan! Wow we had some wind on the gravel today. We did stop to hear the tale on a sheltered corner.


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to baja caracoles 11 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


We stopped at 430 in Gobenor Gregores pretty tired from the wind and dreading the last stretch and considering staying for the night. We met this couple from Denmark and Colombia who were riding to Ushuaia on this heavily loaded 250. We were happy to hear from them that there was pavement for the last 180 km to the “town” of Baja Caracoles, where there was gas and actually not a bad hotel.

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to baja caracoles 20 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to baja caracoles 13 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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to baja caracoles 21 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to baja caracoles 25 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The Ruta 41 to Paso Roballos
 

We had been advised by Roberto and Matteo to go to Chile on the Ruta 41 as it was more scenic than the routes farther north, but that the road is a challenge. Luckily we had a great day for it, since we were advised not to go if it had been raining.



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Screen Shot 2014-02-22 at 7.56.41 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 2 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


The first 10 km were crappy deepish gravel, but after that it got better.

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to puerto tranquillo 4 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


We stopped on the road waiting for the other two. It turns out Trevor had his brake lever come loose, but luckily none of the parts were lost. While Orvar was waiting to help him his bike was blown over and he had to unload.

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to puerto tranquillo 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Just then I said I hope this “ great scenery” starts soon. Well just 1 km further it was spectacular.

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to puerto tranquillo 14 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 11 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 16 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

There were some easy parts and some challenging bits for all of us on the 91 km to the border and some annoying washboard too.

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to puerto tranquillo 28 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 29 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 32 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 40 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


We had some nice views on our way to Paso Roballos.

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to puerto tranquillo 42 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 43 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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to puerto tranquillo 18 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 21 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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to puerto tranquillo 26 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



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to puerto tranquillo 27 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



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to puerto tranquillo 33 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



The panorama just before the Argentina border was stunning.

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to puerto tranquillo 35 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 38 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



Driving up to the border there was a locked gate, a security guard, and a border official. It was an easy process and since there were no computers he entered everything by hand in big ledgers.


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to puerto tranquillo 47 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 48 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 49 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 50 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

To Chile and the Caraterra Austral
 

Now just a short 10 km to the Chile crossing.

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to puerto tranquillo 51 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 52 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

This was a more substantial operation, but again everything was done old style by hand here and using carbon copies.

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to puerto tranquillo 53 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 54 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 55 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 56 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 58 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Then there was another sometimes-challenging 70 km on the 41 to meet the ruta 7.

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to puerto tranquillo 59 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


We drove along the river and had a few water crossings.

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to puerto tranquillo 61 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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to puerto tranquillo 64 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Dan for some fun headed off into a field to chase some Vicuna/Guanaco.


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to puerto tranquillo 66 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr



The 7 is a good gravel road along several lakes here to the village of Puerto Tranquillo for a total of 253 km off off road. We were super happy to find a cabin with a kitchen and 2 bedrooms for 20$ each, since we were all just too bagged to “camp”. A hotel room here in this tiny place is 95$ and the camping is a tent on a weed patch.


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to puerto tranquillo 67 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 69 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 70 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 72 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to puerto tranquillo 75 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

To Coyhaique
 

Getting up the next day we were headed to Coyhaique in 234 km of which 146 was pretty good gravel.

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Screen Shot 2014-02-22 at 7.57.35 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 2 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


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to coyhaique 3 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Just out of town were stopped as they had cut down a huge tree, which had then fallen on the road so the guys pitched in to speed up the process of clearing the road.

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to coyhaique 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 12 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The views were panoramic.


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to coyhaique 9 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 14 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 18 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 19 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 20 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 21 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 23 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Coming down the mountain on the switch back gravel we finally met the pavement and stopped for lunch in a food bus in Villa Cerro Castillo.

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to coyhaique 16 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 34 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 40 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 39 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 38 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr


There were some crazy curves near the end of the day. This is a bit of a crappy town, but we found a great place for dinner at Momma Gaucha.

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to coyhaique 41 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 44 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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to coyhaique 45 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr