Our trip to the Land of Fire

Patagonia trip – January 2008 Anne and I started our trip on a cold winters day in England, with snow flurries in the air.

We flew to Santiago via Madrid, and then another 2 hour flight South to a place called Osorno in Chile where our Adventure started. This was our first experience riding with a group as we have always travelled alone.

As we only had 3 weeks we could only do the trip one-way. The group consisted of 10 Americans and one other Englishman and the majority were all experienced riders with varying motocross/enduro backgrounds. The group were aged from 50- 60 except for the 33 year old Englishman.

We left Osorno under the view of the wonderful snow covered volcano in a temperature of 26˚C and blue skies. We had a good, fast ride on tarmac roads to Bariloche, which is famous for chocolate and its wonderful snow covered mountains and deep blue glacial lake. From there we rode further South into the Rain forest where true to its name, it rained.

Fantastic ride over dirt/gravel/mud roads to Coihaique where we joined the infamous Ruta 40 (which is the reason everyone was there). This road is notorious for toughness because of the changing conditions of the road (gravel, deep piles of stones, mud, and fierce winds which blow you across the road and we even had snow!) which requires high levels of concentration.

And also the fact it goes on for hundreds of miles through flat expanses of nothing and then into higher altitudes. The majority of the group had a fall at some point, but fortunately only resulted in bruises.

The trip was 2500 miles long and we crossed the Chilean/Argentine border 6 times which meant approx 1 hour at each border post with lots of paperwork each time. There was also anything between 5 and 10 miles of ‘no man’s land’ between each border post. Maybe they don’t trust each other!?

At the end of each day, the feeling of relief that we had survived it, had everybody reaching for a Pisco Sour (wonderful local tipple) followed by a few beers before anything else! Accommodation was very good although often isolated so in certain areas electricity was provided by a generator and water from a local source. But they were always clean and comfortable.

Fuel stops were few and far between and when we stayed on an Estancia (Ranch) in the middle of nowhere, the bikes were re-fuelled by siphoning from a plastic butt! It didn’t taste good and reminded me of the old days!

We saw lots of wildlife (guanacos, armadillos, rheas, foxes, wild horses) and at the Estancia the skin of a puma they had shot recently.

The weather was kind to us although getting colder the further South we travelled. We visited the Perito Moreno glacier which is the only glacier which is still growing. Having seen Glaciers in Alaska, this dwarfed them.

From there we went to the most photographed and spectacular sight in Chile: Torres del Paine National Park. The Towers of Paine are three 3000 meter high granite monoliths that explode into the sky from the surrounding foothills.

The size of the Park is comparable to Yellowstone park in the US. While there you feel totally isolated as there is no-one around and the roads, although gravel, are great to ride on.

From there we travelled to Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire), via the Straits of Magellan. Here the land is totally flat and the winds howl across from the Pacific to the Atlantic. We have never experienced such winds. They were high on the gravel roads and increased to 70mph cross winds when we reached the tarmac.

It was the most hair-raising thing we have ever done and there was total relief when we arrived at the next town (Rio Grande) to find that all had arrived safely after hearing tales at the border that a German had been blown off his bike.

We continued on to Ushuaia (over the Garibaldi Pass – yet more wind!) and arrived in the most Southern city in the world, which is only approx 680 miles from Antartica. The temperature was now 6˚C with fleeting glimpses of the sun.

Everybody was ecstatic that we had arrived safely although the bikes were looking worse for wear. One 650 Dakar had a blown shock, with the others having worn out tyres and hooked sprockets. After a day in Ushuaia, we travelled back across the Straits of Magellan to Punta Arenas where we caught our long flight home (took 36 hours due to delays at airports!).

Having never ridden in a group before, we were very fortunate to meet such a friendly and like-minded bunch who are still emailing us now saying the grin hasn’t worn off yet. We booked the trip through HC Travel who are based in Farnborough. David Grist, the owner, was very helpful.

The couple that led the trip are called MotoAventura Chile. They are a thoroughly professional & fun couple with well prepared BMWs (650s & 1200’s). It was that good that 4 people signed up before leaving for a trip to Machu Pichu, Peru in June! Wish we could be with them!