I suppose this should start with a brief intro, before trying to razzle dazzle folks with hardcore pictures of big cc bikes loaded to the gunnels, big mountain ranges and a pic or two of the bikes in the rain, mud & sunset with a eagle soaring in the background grabbing an animal, mid-air, in the moonlight......

Kath

Kath, Rob's Mrs, is awesome, and has completed a ride across most of Australia by herself in 2012. Her username, when she's on ADVrider (which is rare), is Spaghettilegs. She's put up with Rob for quite a while, and now she's quit her job and is ready to see where the road takes her.



Rob

Rob's writing this, and has been fortunate enough to get a year off work, to travel. He's happy on any bike, and pretty much anywhere away from major cities and highways.



Elisa

Elisa, aka travelbugblues on ADVrider, has joined up for the first leg of the trip. She also has a ride report (Americana in Latin America - ADVrider) of the trip, if you're keen to get her perspective (but if she says we have too much stuff and travel too slow, remember she's full of it)! We don't know how long she's riding with us, but we greatly appreciate her ability to speak Spanish, make us laugh and help us keep to a strict budget!



The plan

Back to work in 2015 for Rob and Kath, so the plan is to ride from Chile, up to the USA, but nothing is set in stone. We may look at Europe later in the year, but that's a way away.
Elisa is keen to see Patagonia, and southern South America, and maybe more.

We're all turning 30 this year, and are ex-school teachers. We've just bought our first brand-spanking new bikes in Santiago, and are ready to see further south.


The 'Gang of '84'

Join us! (will update on the road, when sufficient power, time and WiFi allow).









So, we flew into Santiago, Chile, as we heard it was the one of the easier South American countries for foreigners to buy bikes. Looking at prices, and the associated potential paperwork issues, we decided to buy new. Originally, the plan was to get Honda XR125s, but you could buy two Honda CG125s for the price of one XR, so the decision was made. Bikes, including paperwork (rego, insurance, plates etc) snuck in under $1500 USD each.



Our three beauties:



We all bought our own riding gear and luggage, and the bikes easily accepted the various constructs.

Rob's setup:



Kath's



and Elisa's.



We looked at our massive map of Chile, and decided to head for our first trip 'goal'; do the Carretera Austral on these teeny bikes.



So far, unsealed roads have lead to speeds of only around 30km/h, so it may be a long 1200kms!







So we left Santiago, ignoring those 'run-in' instructions so instructed in our wee Hondas' manual. We left down the Ruta 5, at around 80km/h, which equates to around 8000rpm.

We headed to Pichilemu, an apparently famous surfing sea-side village. To get there, once off the highway, we snaked through much pine forest at around 70km/h and didn't slow many travellers. Overtaking was done closer than I was used to in Australia, but once used to it, it was quite safe.





Myself and Kath were still getting used to the right-hand side of the road thing, and had a few errant wonders onto the left hand side.......lucky our little bikes are equipped with dual horns and we're riding in a group!




Once a hostel was found, we bunkered down and celebrated our first day on the road by going and watching the hordes of surfers crowd the left-hand breaks Pichilemu had to offer.




The next day involved a real coffee (most places just serve instant Nescafe) and cake with a friend of Elisa's, in Pichilemu. She too was a teacher, and we heard her tales from life in Pichilemu; batshit crazy-busy during the summer months and nice and quiet in the other months. Work is scarce, and most locals earn their entire year's living during the busy summer months, where surfers flock to the coast.



We covered a few miles, then stopped in a small town for another coffee top-up. I think we were a rarity, and when we requested it they gave us a brand new tin on instant coffee, a jug of boiling water and some milk. We foolishly asked the price after consuming, and consequently the lady pretty much made up the price. Lesson learnt; ask prices first!



The road took us along many great roads, snaking through pine forests. There were roadworks, where we got our first chance to see how our wee bikes would handle unsealed roads. They handled it ok, if going slow, and it's just a lucky in deep gravel – think happy thoughts!



Despite the fact our bikes only had a few kilometers on them, we had our first race – flogging them to over 8500rpm (9000 reline) and we nearly reached 95km/h! German hostel that night.



The German hostel was pretty swish, we were paying around $23 a night to stay, each, whilst others were paying $150 each to use the same facilities and receive the same free breakfast. We did some bike work in the morning, and everyone changed their own oil, checked their chain and put Slime in their rear tyre.




Great spot for maintenance


Post-oil change carpark test ride!


The day then disappeared with a mix of swimming in the pool, wandering around the grounds, a couple of s and some serious hammock loitering. Batteries recharged.




Still a bit behind - trying to catch up. Posting this here as homage to the folk who listed the 'how to' guides for buying in Chile. Greatly appreciated, and may not be here without them

Most excellent ! You have my attention, small bikes and long travels are always

Thank you,
-zie egret.

The next day we were back on the road, with our fresh oil. Had an uneventful day on the road, a little more bike racing on the back roads and stopping for feeding in a few towns. I tried a traditional Chilean drink which, in a cup, has corn kernels, peach pip, sugar and water. Can't say I'm a convert, but it's certainly an interesting mix. My phone managed to poop itself, so, without a GPS, we spent a bit of time asking locals for directions. I'm able to ask for directions (excuse me, where is 'x'), but cannot understand any of their spoken directions. I just hope they point in a direction, and I then go and ask someone else in that direction. Not perfect, but it seems to work eventually.

We had a sushi dinner (sushi places are everywhere), in Chillan, and enquired if there was any camping in the area after looking at the run-down hostels. After driving past a 'lovers hotel' where you can rent rooms by the hour (which we considered as they have secure parking and a 12 hour rate), we found the camp ground. I have to use that term loosely, as it was actually a 'pool park' with pools and slides, with an oval where they let people park. Our camping neighbours enjoyed playing really loud, Mexican sounding dance music until around 4am, and started it again at 9:30 the next morning when we happily left.......









Decided to see if we could get the bikes in for the free 1000k service – in luck.
Walk into town, coffee and pizza and chat with a nice young waiter.

Picked up bikes, found out that our bikes have non O-ring chains, which is why we've adjusted my twice in less than 750ks.......the guys were great, and they even showed us out of town on their bikes. Things are relaxed here; the mechanics are able to duck out for an hour, while customers are in the shop, just to show us out of town.

Rode along, had a great lunch for just 1000 pesos ($2), bread rolls with avocado and tomato outside a little shop. Weather was getting silly hot, and we got more water, and chatted to a father and son as best we could about our time in Chile, where we're going, where we've been etc. They also offered us water etc, which was again another example of the kindness demonstrated during our visit.

On our way to Chacay, we saw the stunning, almost 3000m volcano, on our way into town. It was difficult to stay focused on the road with its awesome presence felt from afar.








Later, we deliberated, at length, over an accommodation. We were initially planning to camp for two nights to have a day hiking, which was around $20. But, Kath's sister had given us some Christmas money to spend on a nice night or twos accommodation, so we decided to go for it. I was well glad we did, as soon as we dumped our shit of our bikes, we jumped in the pool, found out the place had excessive cherry trees (and picked ferociously) and a pond with hundreds of fish. We then returned to the hut, boiled lots of water for the following day's hike, and had a nice dinner Kath prepared. We ate dinner, looking at a snow capped mountain, while the girls ate chocolate and I drank .

I think we all felt pretty fortunate.


View from the room




Beer for me, chocolate for the girls – everyone is happy.



Wood is used here as the prime building material; far more than back home.





Next day we rode a few k, then went for a hike.



All dirt, and speeds were in the push-bike realm so didn't feel too guilty about a lack of protection.



The Andes's size is difficult to capture, but we still tried.



Volcano gazing:





We then got to the lake; Laguna Del Laja – 1000m above sea level if memory serves. Weather hot, water cold – great combo.





Honda CGs are fun for all.



Back on the road again.



We had to do a little highway, and I started drafting trucks. It allowed me to cruise at 80-90 with minimal throttle.



Then, after a while, we came up to a crash where a truck had rear-ended a tractor towing a harvester.



The truck was a mess, the tractor was on its side and the harvester was ruined. Worst of all, others saw a bumpy blanket in front of the truck. I took that as a stark hint not to draft trucks, and ceased drafting.....

Got near Pucon, and another volcano started photo bombing.

So, we had a day off the bikes and climbed it.



By memory, we started at around 1400m, and climbed it (summit just shy of 3000m).



Nearing the top, you would often see the blue glacier underneath your pick.



The volcano's massive mouth (there are people in the background here so you can gauge the size). It smoked whilst we were there.






To be continued....



Next was a short ride to visit thermal pools. We found our best camping price yet ($2000 pesos/$4 per person) and even got given a light globe in the evening to plug in!



The ride there was around 20k of awesome dirt:





In hindsight, we should have free-camped on the way to the springs, but that's always the way. There were plenty of lovely spots on flat grass, by a running creek flowing clear water.

The thermals were expensive, but very nice. They had multiple pool of different temperatures. The place was immaculate and you got the impression everything was well cared for. Later though, we saw the staff putting a little chlorine in one of the pools, and the pools drain into the 'pristine' river......

To cool off, they had a waterfall which was a balmy 9 degrees.



Still, a relaxing way to waste a few hours.






Then, back to the campground.



Stopping on the way, this dude stopped at the supermarket we were stopped at, and parked like so.



Not one person tooted their horn, or got overly annoyed. I guess everyone is expecting the unexpected, and with that mentality, it's all good. We've had our share of road-related shocks – reversing down the road on a blind corner, leaving your car in the middle of the road with all doors open etc and with our 'anything goes' mentality, we haven't yet been shocked. In Australia, this dude would cop all sorts of abuse, or at the very least unfriendly looks.

This dog was a campground local:



Many of the street dogs are ferocious when you first meet them (enjoy chasing bikes) but very friendly once you 'greet' them.

Next day, on the move again.



Everyone is welcome on the roads.

Stopped for lunch under some trees, to get off the highway.



Our standard feed of avocado, tomato and cucumber in a roll.



I heard there was a brewery outside Orsorno, so we had to check it out.



Was pretty good, but quite dear. Had a plan to ask them if we could pitch our tents there after purchasing , but they seemed a little too fancy for that.

Back on the road.....




Stayed in Puerto Montt, and found out we had to book a ferry at the beginning of the Carretera Austral. Went to the ferry booker, who didn't open, and found out from another company that the ferry is booked out for now, and only runs once a week.....so, we had a decision to make. Loiter in Puerto Montt, or go through Argentina and cut onto the Austral a little later. We chose the latter......

Great, small bikes are the way to go!

You can always get your feet down when needed, you can pick it up alone if it falls over, every village mechanic can repair it, and a new rear tire costs about fifteen Dollars, not 150 like on a big BMW.

Hope to read more on your trip later on!

Took photos of my speedo showing my birthday.



On the way, we saw a Studebaker mueseum – had to stop. Kath and I love looking at old vehicles. Vehicles had style back then.






The owner was a funny old man, who spoke in what he called poor English (for us), but is was better than our Spanish (still working on that).

This one, Kath could easily sleep in the back seat.



Again, the building was primarily made of wood and looked fantastic.



After the museum, we again hit the road, with the plan being to cross the border early in the morning – we still didn't really know if we had all the required documents. We bought insurance on the way (3 days of insurance in Argentina), just in case it was required.



Lovely ride.




Got ripped off camping in a national park just shy of the border, ready to hope to cross....



Ride to the border was nice, albeit a little fresh.



Then, booyah!




The surrounding area was covered in a fine, sand-like material. You could see many 4x4s had been playing in the area; unfortunately our bikes weren't suited to sand!



This lake is just inside Argentina.



Weather wasn't the greatest.



We failed to change money near the border (at banks, you will get 6 pesos per USD, but on the streets you can get more than 10; a budget game changer). But, I won at finding a brewery.



Decorated brilliantly.





Doesn't this make you want to stay, like until infinity?



We cruised into Bariloche. This was one of the few vehicles we managed to overtake, and it looked like he had a working exhaust which was fine, but chose to hang, with rope, two more exhausts just for looks. Certainly didn't help performance if we're overtaking.



In Bariloche, a guy sold photos with these two dogs. This one was free.



Looked in the Church – lots of Catholics about.



And, eye-pleasing wooden buildings.



After successfully changing money (10 pesos per dollar), we left to El Bolson).

Great stuff,
You guys should head down to Quellon and catch the ferry there to Chaiten, it runs once a week, thursday as I recall. Chiloe park is nice beautiful beach, Welsh communities down there

Sent from my SM-T211 using Tapatalk

Keep up the good work mate. Following your adventures with great interest.
Little bikes are the way to go
Keep the rubber side down, Macca

From here, somewhere near Las Flores Argentina, we rejoined Ruta 40.



Great road cut into the mountain.



Horses, and donkeys, often have their front feet tied together to keep them local. You feel for the poor things, and feel like setting them free!



To an amazing view – so many different colours.



I’m actually riding in that photo, way down on the right.




Then, to a hostel in Guandacol. In town, there’s a sign which says it’s 5km away, which was off-putting, but we persevered down the unmarked dirt roads. We were glad we did – it was excellent. A coffee pot (serving around 5-6 coffees) was about $2.50. They had speedy WiFi, excellent meals and the best service we’ve had. We were constantly bought grapes, fruit, pastry treats etc, all for free. The lady was also amazingly patient, and helped us with our Spanish. I pretended to do uni work for a few days, and these guys kept the bikes safe.



Unfortunately, from here Ruta 40 was blocked due to a landslide, which meant a 250km detour. Road wasn't that much better.



Seeing as we had to go past it, we stopped in a national park. There were thousands of years old paintings, and a massive canyon.





Saw a funny looking animal.



By now, we were in cactus country.



Surprised to see they flower.



More.







250k after the detour, we headed north ready to cross back into Chile over the Paso de San Francisco. A 500km stretch over 4500m; this road proved to be our biggest challenge yet.......

Thanks, Macca.

Hoping you get the chance to share your Asian ride adventures; contemplating stopping by on our way back to Oz.

Cheers, Rob.

So, we embarked on our 500km pass, over ‘Paso de San Francisco’ which connects Chile and Argentina……….
*
We needed more gas. Sadly, it took us little time to collect all these bottles. Strangely, lids were the hardest to find…..



We cleaneds the bottles and gots 15 litres.



No Touratech styles here; Kath just jammed on the 15 litres of extra fuel, without paying for a fancypants fuel tank, and doing our bit for the environment.



The road was pretty much deserted, but pretty in a rugged sorta way.



It soon opened out into enormous expanses of, empty, land.





As the afternoon snook up on us (yep, made that word up), we soon needed to find a bed or something to eat and drink, but there was absolutely nothing. We assumed there would be a couple of shops selling food, water etc as South Americans are generally incredibly resourceful.

Except this ‘refugio’, with a questionable character lurking at the door:


*
Seeing as it saved us putting up the tent, and was a similar shape anyway, we made it home for the night. It was pretty fresh, and by now we were at 3500m.

After a cold nights ‘rest’, we pushed on.

I chased some ass.



We scared some wild Guanacos across rivers.



By now, we were reaching serious, for us low-lying creatures, altitude.





Nerd talk time:
Vehicles roughly lose around 3% of power per 1000 feet of elevation, and being at around 4500m (15,000 feet), we therefore had lost around 45% of our paltry apparent 9.7hp. Also, that 9.7 is at the crank, so taking off another 12% of power loss due to the drive-line, means we were packing around 4.6hp at the wheels. But, given our bikes max power at around 8000rpm, and ours wouldn’t rev over 4000rpm due to not being tuned for altitude, I estimate we had around 2hp. Which explains our maximum speed of 30km/h on the flat.
*
Back to normal speak; the small tufts of grass made the surroundings a dull yellow.



As the day drew near, and we crossed the Chilean border, our concerns were raised regarding food and, more importantly, water. Fortunately, after explaining our plight to the Chilean border guard, he gave us a massive packet of cookies and filled our water from his personal water bottles. We were extra grateful, but it didn’t seem right to pay off a border guard, so a handshake and extra thanks were all he received. Also, no picture unfortunately.

So, we poked along. By now, it was crazy cold and the bikes were annoyingly slow, 15km/h up hills was good going. We stopped in the final ‘refugio’, at 4500m+ to assess our situation.



Shortly after discussing our silly situation where we had very little water, no food, it was freezing cold and had 300km to go, a bunch of Argentinians bikers came into the shelter. We had a chat, as best we could in our not too flash Spanish, and before long we were pals and we were ‘crazy’. They offered us food, which we declined as we felt guilty, but they soon pressured us into eating bread, cheese and canned meat in bread with them.



Not only that, they left us 2 rolls, a can of meat and a can of Sprite for our onward journey. We were extremely grateful and they insisted I look one of them up on Facebook!

However, shortly after they left, I got altitude sickness. I threw up what food I had eaten, and it was clear we were not going anywhere. Kath unpacked, set up our beds and did absolutely everything while I sat on the concrete step falling alseep. Things were not looking good.

I was alseep by 5pm, but had awoken early, cold, and had my longest night’s rest – constantly waking up cold and hoping for the sun to rise…….
*
The morning came, and Kath, again, did absolutely all the work packing up everything. I thought I felt better, and having found water in the refugio, drank 3 teas and ate a roll for breakfast. Just before we left, I vomited it all up. Oh yeah, that was the start to my 30th birthday………
The bikes were covered in ice.



I was full of life.



But, we needed to knock out the 300kms, as we had a can of Sprite, 1 bread roll and a few cookies to last us the day.

Little did we know, that the road also turned to dirt for 90% of the kilometres. But, boy was it a visual feast.



Then, a rock got caught in my sprocket, and luckily only knocked the chain off without getting caught up and doing any damage.



500m later, I got a front flat. We had gone from mentally positive to mentally pissed off. I couldn’t find anything which would fit the front wheel, so we considered waiting until a car passed and jump a ride. But, who goes, both, or does one stay? Who stays? What if one of us gets a ride to a place which can’t help? Neither have working phones, or reception. We played out a bunch of theoretical situations, and then it dawned on us that again we hadn’t seen a car today. So, I had another crack at the wheel and got lucky using a shitty shifter.



Hour later, we’re back in business and treated to a spectacular lake at over 4000m.











Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time for photos – we had a train to catch (metaphorically speaking).

Oh yep, so Kath decided to ride past the world’s biggest active volcano, like a boss. It’s 22,560 feet (6,887 m) and called Ojos del Salado.



Riding pretty much nonstop, I stopped for a numerical milestone.



We drank our Sprite in celebration and continued on. The border was a breeze, and we were back on the road. But, shocked to find more uphill. By now the scenery had turned brown.





Finally, we commenced the downhill run.



And booked it (for 125s), down to sea level at Copiapo, Chile. We arrived in the dark, and got a room in some shitty, but expensive, accommodation. Didn’t even buy a , just went straight to sleep.
*
The day had literally been emotional. From altitude sickness, to bike trouble, lack of water and stunning scenery. Due to vomiting, I had involuntary completed the 40 hour famine, was getting shafted on the accommodation cost but hadn’t felt so alive in years.
Who would have thought a starved day, filled with vomit and bike woes could make a man feel so alive.
I had a great 30th, and owe Kath for looking after me so well.

Congrats with your bday. Allthough it was to some extend shitty, i envy you guys for the truip you are doing.

Keep up the ride reports, its good reading

I to want to wish you a very Happy Birthday. Thanks for taking the time to post photos and write up a report.

Your doing a great job of it, not just posting, but also making the journey.

Continued good luck with the ride.

BeachGuy