I am considering taking a month off in February 2010 to bike sole (and possibly two up, wife) in Patagonia (BMW GSA 2008).

This is the rough itinerary so far:
1. Shipping myself + motorcycle to Santiago, Chile
2. Head down to Ushuaia (route 40 or carretera austral)
3. Head back up through route 3 to Buenos Aires (
4. Head up to Sao Paulo through the coast (motevideo, porto alegre, florianopolis, curitiba)
5. Ship myself + motorcycle back to NYC

The total length is around 9186 Km.

- Is 4 weeks enough for that? It seems a bit tight since that would be a daily distance of 300Km. What is a good average for an easy going pace?
- Is NYC-Santiago and Sao Paulo - NYC good options in terms of shipping, specially costs? Last time I checked it would cost me around UDS 2K each way.
- The idea is to cross the aconcagua towards mendoza and south through route 40. Is is better/worthwhile go south straight from Santiago and cross over to argentina somewhere around bariloche and then continue down route 40? Or should I take route 40 south from mendoza and then cross over into chile in Chico Chile and then back through roballos?
- Is is a better option to go from El Calafate to Puerto Natales then Punta Arenas (are there ferrys?)? Or a better option to take route 5 to Rio Gallegos and down to Ushuaia?
- Should I bother with Mar del Plata on the way back up through route 3?

I am expecting to be flexible while on the trip, just want to have a sense of what are the better options based on your experiences.

Sorry for the barrage of questions and thanks for any help (first timer here).

-- lemao

Definitely doable, but pushing it. Santiago to Ushuaia and back to Buenos Aires would give you much more chance to enjoy the trip. The Carretera Austral is ausome! 300 km a day average is reasonable, but you will find that there are many places in Southern Chile that you will want to do less, and you will want to BOMB back up Route 3 to BA. It's the most boring (and windy) 3000 km on earth (OK, maybe a slight exageration).

Only bother with Mar del Plata if you like big, crowded cities. The beaches are very crowded, and not much else there. Better to spend the time in BA (IMHO)

quote=Lemao;253800]I am considering taking a month off in February 2010 to bike sole (and possibly two up, wife) in Patagonia (BMW GSA 2008).

This is the rough itinerary so far:
1. Shipping myself + motorcycle to Santiago, Chile
2. Head down to Ushuaia (route 40 or carretera austral)
3. Head back up through route 3 to Buenos Aires (
4. Head up to Sao Paulo through the coast (motevideo, porto alegre, florianopolis, curitiba)
5. Ship myself + motorcycle back to NYC

The total length is around 9186 Km.

- Is 4 weeks enough for that? It seems a bit tight since that would be a daily distance of 300Km. What is a good average for an easy going pace?
- Is NYC-Santiago and Sao Paulo - NYC good options in terms of shipping, specially costs? Last time I checked it would cost me around UDS 2K each way.
- The idea is to cross the aconcagua towards mendoza and south through route 40. Is is better/worthwhile go south straight from Santiago and cross over to argentina somewhere around bariloche and then continue down route 40? Or should I take route 40 south from mendoza and then cross over into chile in Chico Chile and then back through roballos?
- Is is a better option to go from El Calafate to Puerto Natales then Punta Arenas (are there ferrys?)? Or a better option to take route 5 to Rio Gallegos and down to Ushuaia?
- Should I bother with Mar del Plata on the way back up through route 3?

I am expecting to be flexible while on the trip, just want to have a sense of what are the better options based on your experiences.

Sorry for the barrage of questions and thanks for any help (first timer here).

-- lemao[/quote]

__________________
Steve Barnett
Panama City, Panama

Thanks, Steve!

I may need to rethink 1 month. I although, as you said, it may be possible I dont want to turn this into an ironbut experiment. Either that or I cut a piece of the trip.

What section of the 1200Km Carretera Austral would you recommend? Read that the Baco Caracole to Tres Lagos is long, lonely and boring compared to Carretera. Would that be a good place to cross over to route 7 in Chile?