February 24, 2003
Ushuai Argentina to Torres Brazil
After spending 5 days in Ushuai we headed back
north. The trip up through patagoinia was pretty
uneventful and the winds where not nearly as bad as they where when we headed
down. Pretty uneventful except for our planned side trip to see the El Moreno
glacier. A bit less then a 100 miles into our day while travelling about 65-70mph
there was a 150' long break break in the road which was rather thick gravel.
While I went through with hardly a wiggle from my bike I checked my mirrors
just in time to see Todd's bike flipping through the air sideways with Todd
flopping along the ground merrilly behind it. Todd and his bike ended resting
on the side of the road. Fortunately neither Todd nor the bike where seriously
damaged but that put an end to our plans to
see the worlds only growing glacier and we headed back into to town so could
fix his bike.
After a couple of weeks of chilly temperatures in Patagonia we stopped
at a couple of
beaches and then headed north
to the town of Azul where we heard about a motorcycle club that had an
open invitation for motorcycle tourers. The club house in Azul was great
and we set a record for the most travellers being there at once a total of
9. Three Germans, three Japanese, one English, and two Virginians. Todd headed
for Bs. As. on Wednesday with the three Germans and the Japanese and the
English lady left on Thursday but I decided to hang around till Friday for
the regular Asado(BBQ) party. I'm glad I did as 5 American riders showed
up on Friday and with half a dozen locals showing up a
great time was had by all.
Leaving Azul I made my way back to 25 de
Mayo
to see my sister inlaws family before heading to Bs. As. to meet back up with
Todd. As usual the hospitality of my inlaws was wonderful and it was great
to see them again. I also got the chance to visit the local disco with some
of the younguns which was a lot of fun as well watching some more polo action.
In Buenos Todd and I did a bit of the
tourist
thing and got our visas sorted out to enter Brazil. We had originally planned
on taking a ferry from Buenos to Montevideo in Uruguay but since it cost
almost a hundred dollars and took 4 hours I convinced Todd to just ride to
Uruguay instead. Big mistake! While I'm generally very found of Argentina
and and the Argentinian people the cops we meet that day did their best to
change my opinion of the whole country. We got stopped twice and basically
robbed to the tune of 80 dollars. The first time on the pretext that we didn't
have insurance papers and the second because we where supposedly speeding.
It was complete Bullshit and we should of just told them to piss off. Which
is exactly what we did the following day when we got stopped less then 5 miles
out of the town we stayed at and where told that we where spotted speeding
when we passed a truck even though we hadn't passed anyone and where riding
like a couple of old ladies. After repeatedly telling them that I wasn't gonna
pay them a dime and taking all of their pictures they gave up and sent us
on our way. It was still cheaper then taking the ferry but not by much and
the aggrivation was definitely not worth it.
We crossed Uruguay in a day and made it into Brazil without any problems
other then persistent rain. Unfortunately 5 months of abuse combined with
rains of the last few days has caused my camera to give up the ghost so while
I plan on purchasing an analog camera future updates may be lacking pictures.
The difference between Argentina and these countries is stricking and I
definitely feel like I'm back in the Third World.
Off to Carnival and more beaches.