PInguinos del rey! On a beach with no other tourists, we saw king penguins. The way the locomote is incredibly silly. And the chicks are enormous! The reserve where this waddle of penguins nest is privately owned and they built a very nice little interpretive center. We are also proud of the owners as they only allow humans on one small trail and humans have to stand and gawk at the penguins from behind wooden fences with small horizontal slats for viewing. While we didn’t get very close to the penguins, we did not feel guilty about our encounter with them. As we were riding off, I looked off to the left and shouted “Ernie, stop!”. He stopped and said “What? What?”. I said, “Look to the left!”. There were a dozen penguins in the distance that were standing on top of a little hill. Ernesto said, even before we left for this trip, that he wanted to see penguins from the seat of his motorcycle, and he finally got what he wished for. Bueno.
As we were walking back to the parking area another motorcyclist entered the loop trail. Imagine that we thought, another moto guy as the only other tourist, and out here on a non-moto path. Turns out he was one of 14. Ernesto was already talking with another one of the men and they are mostly from England, France and Switzerland. We thought they may all be buddies, so I asked if they were all friends and he said “no, I hate those guys” and we all laughed. They rode from Osorno a few weeks ago and were headed to Puerto Natales, after which they would head home. After they all pulled away this pick up truck with four people and a bed full of tires and tools and gear went by. The truck had “BMW Expeditions” plastered all over it. I should have realized it earlier based on how little gear each bike had on it (i.e., each bike only had two small side cases), but all those people were part of a tour group. They rent the bikes, ride them like they don’t care, don’t have to deal with logistics of eating and sleeping, and have a medical and mechanical safety net behind them the whole way. In part I was jealous of all the worry that they didn’t have to deal with, and in part I felt like they were cheating.
There were two women in the pack and one was clearly a passenger (just based on how she was dressed). But another woman was in this full high-vis yellow waterproof armored suit and I assumed she had her own bike. I went to say hello and check her out because outside of the two women on the Stahlratte, I haven’t seen any other women on their own motos (lots of city scooter types in nice clothes or with crates of eggs at their feet, but not adventure riders). Just as I was approaching her she went to pass out chocolate to all the people. It really struck me… I was thinking about how this woman was so badass she could ride Carretera Austral on her own BMW GS800 AND still be the kind of woman who is nurturing those around her and doing maternal things like making sure everyone has a chocolate snack during pit stops. Turns out she was a passenger on the GS800. No disrespect, but hopefully this trip inspires her to be a rider herself. Ernie has things to say about this… He says that it is probably is harder for those ensconced in the comfortable world of wealth to break the mold, but maybe someday? It is sweet that a man and a woman would have that kind of partnership, if that is truly what they both want. But it's hard to believe that every woman on the back of every bike that we have seen wants things as they are. It isn’t against the law, it just isn’t supported by these male-dominated cultures. We’ve met women down here who own hotels so there is a population of independent women. Maybe they just really don’t want to ride motorcycles (recreationally anyway, as we’ve seen so many riding in professional/commuter capacities). Maybe it is us USAmericans projecting onto them. (End quotes)
Unrelated to our gender conversation, the penguin center had three relatively big dogs. They greeted people at the gate and took up half the floor of the visitors center as they slept. In El Senor’s speech he told us the dogs are guard dogs - penguin guard dogs. They dogs protect the penguins, really the penguin chicks, from the foxes. I have mixed feelings about that. Why do the penguins get more protection than the foxes, both here and around the world?
We are thanking the penguins for the rest of the day, as none of it was as we expected. First, the weather said it was going to rain most of the day. Second, we had two big stretches today (one N-S and one E-W) and our map of Argentina said the N-S road was paved and the E-W road was gravel. Our Chile map said the exact opposite, so we planned on lots of gravel just in case. Third, everyone we have talked to and every blog we have read says this part of Tierra del Fuego is really windy. Like it could blow-you-off-the-highway windy. And fourth, our route today included our final border crossing. Needless to say we were prepared for a pretty wet, cold, windy, bumpy, long, and frustrating day. We got no rain, and in fact lots of sunshine and few clouds. There was wind, but it wasn’t life threatening and at parts mild compared to Northern Peru. There was brand new pavimento for kilometers; we probably had 30 km (of ~250) of gravel. And leaving Chile took 20 minutes and entering Argentina took 45. They did not ask for proof of insurance… Another thing we hoped for but didn’t expect was more wildlife, and we got it. Andean foxes (a new species to us as the other foxes were Patagonian foxes with black tails), the usual guanacos, rheas, caracaras, etc., and a few dozen flamingos. And not just Chilean flamingos like we have seen, but today we saw Andean flamingos. In addition to a different and brighter pink, they have a dramatic black triangle on their wing/butt. Very sexy.
Our character of the day was Billy. When we pulled up to our hotel in Rio Grande there was no one there. We bumbled around and I found a man that looked like he just left the place and he smiled so I decided to start up the conversation. Do you live here? Do you know where the owner is? Oh, we need to call? Well we don’t have a phone, do you have a phone? Would you mind calling pretty please? He called, someone was on their way and I gave him an awkward South American cheek kiss in exchange (I still don’t know when and how you are supposed to use those things). When I got back to Ernesto he was chatting it up with Billy (in English, my debacle was in Spanish). Billy pulled over because it looked like we needed help, which we did, and also because he wanted to talk motos. He had a Super Tenere. After we all chatted on the street for awhile we said our “mucho gustos” and goodbyes and he went back to his truck and put his turn signal on to go back into the street. He saw that we were still just standing there and not going to the hotel… he came back out to ask why and we explained that someone called for us and El Senor is on his way. He said “Ok” and then without missing a breath said “Do you want to come to my house and drink? I only live ten blocks away”. We giggled and said (many times) “muchas gracias muchas gracias” but that we were tired. We have read several times that it is a huge compliment to be invited into someone’s home and that it is rude to not go… Grandma and Grandpa are very flattered by Billy’s invitation and I hope he forgives us.
Our disgusting moment of the day was at breakfast. In addition to instant coffee, sugar juice, white bread, and rubbery ham and cheese, there was a bowl of… well, I’m not sure. It was pink and was clearly squeezed out of a tube. It wasn’t too far from what I fed Choriza in Ecuador. I guess I was still a bit upset over the cold shower and $58 dinner so I stopped questioning it, dismissed it, didn’t think it was at all funny, and treated it like it was an insult. Ernesto sat and stared at it for a minute and said in a very fun and pleasant voice “It’s whipped hot dogs!”. My guffaw echoed through the restaurant.
November 11
137 days later, we arrived to Ushuaia. Wow.
It was flat windy desert until Tolhuin, at which point Ruta 3 turns west. First came the trees that smelt like holiday spice (and it was a very intense smell), then came the trees that smelt like pine (but looked like a cross between a conifer and a deciduous tree), and then came the unexpected topography. Snow capped peaks, chocolate and sand covered hillsides, and red and orange river and marshlands below. The roads were good and twisty. It was all very idyllic, and even though I was the human version of a melting icicle I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
Today was the rainiest day of our trip. Outside of about 20 minutes, we had solid rain from start to finish of our ride. And it was 45 degrees. I couldn’t feel my feet after about 50 km and I was in a state of shivering thermogenesis for the last 100 km. My hypothesis is that Mother Nature wanted to let us know that she thanks us for taking this trip on a moto (and not in a car where we can’t feel her) and that we have her to thank for the overall amazing weather. Looking back on how some rides could have been under different conditions, we know we experienced very good weather. So to you Mother, you are welcome, and Thank You.
Despite being uncomfortably cold and wet when we got to town, we decided to take a picture in front of the famous “Fin del Mundo” sign. This was slightly unwise because it is Saturday and there is a cruise ship in town, so there is lots of foot traffic. We politely waited our turn and then snuck in to take pictures of the bikes in front of the sign. We had planned on asking someone to take a picture of us, but a lovely Dutch man offered before we even had to. We were quite a scene at the sign… many people took pictures of and/or pictures of themselves with our bikes. We ended up with people in the background of all our pictures. But given the crowds, I guess it was that or be total assholes and go up to people and say “please get out of the way of our photo”. I posted our four favorite pictures because they show some classic human behavior pretty well. 1) walk by, see something going on, 2) stare blindly, 3) walk right up to scene, 4) linger and remain in middle of scene even though you can clearly see that someone else is trying to capture a special moment. If it weren’t so funny I’d be upset, as I really like the last picture of Ernesto and I and our two bikes. If any of you readers out there are good at photoshop, we would be grateful if you could delete that lady out of the photo and send us a copy of the new pic.
After our little photo shoot we headed straight for the hotel. Unpacking the bikes was hard. Not removing the cases as we do that most days, but unstrapping all the straps, removing the gas and crate, taking Rosa y Papa off my handlebars… I am definitely suppressing emotions about it. After a hot shower and a sniff test for “what smells the least bad” we went out to celebrate. Not much was open at 3:30 pm, but we had some good pasta and Ernesto’s liter of draft beer came in a pinguino pitcher. Aww. With full bellies we walked the the Triumph dealership in town. They just opened three months ago. We heard about them yesterday from one of the moto guys at the penguin colony, but then we actually met one of their employees as we were coming into town! We were at a stop light and this little red car pulled around me and talked to Ernesto. She gave us a shout out and invited to the shop and was stoked to see that we did the ride from Oregon to Ushuaia on Triumphs. She said when she can afford a bike, she is going to get one like mine. Unfortunately they were closed, so we’ll try again another day (we are in Ushuaia until Saturday).
Our Apart Hotel Bahia Grande is our favorite place we have stayed this entire trip. In addition to being in walking distance of everything in the clean and welcoming town of Ushuaia, this place has huge windows, a beautiful view, hot water, shampoo packets for every day we are here, kitchen table and chairs, functional kitchen, lots of space, and TV and cable (we are watching yet another Fast and Furious, or have we seen this one already?). There are even a few books on the bookshelf and a map of South America as the decor. We have grocery shopped and arranged the pillows and coffee table so that our feet are up and we have full back support. Our side cases have sort of exploded in the main room... We have to figure out what we are keeping and then how to pack what where, but not today as we still aren’t sure of the plan for the week. Unfortunately we are still struggling with our shipper Ignacio…Grr. Sigh. All we know so far is that Monday we are taking the Pira Penguin Tour and Sunday we are going to the mall. Note that wasn’t a “we may or may not be going to the mall”. We are going to the mall. Ernesto y Tara necesitamos nueva ropa.