Left the city late morning - had the oil changed and bought some new waterproof gloves and some duct tape for my rain suit. Uneventful, and I wasn't really looking forward to riding more dirt roads in the rain.
Traveled north and took a wrong turn (how do you take a wrong turn onto the only other paved road in the region?, but I did) generally a neutral day until I hit the dirt again and --- tada!--- Incredibly.
The beauty gold standard has been revised - tahoe is now only a 9. This region of Chile is amazing. I did a slow drive and only made 145 km all afternoon.
Pulled into a tiny little town on an inlet bay and ran into a Spaniard and a Chilean whom I shared dinner with and then found a little cabin on the water.
A good day!
Nick
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I Lied

OK, so the Chilean dirt roads can be just as vicious. This morning was just a teaser; this afternoon they got nasty - and then it started raining - a lot! Mi Corazon!
Riding in Argentina was generally flat; throw big mountains and mud into the equation and it gets scar - as in YIKES!
Argentina likes to use danger signs: dangerous curves, dangerous grade, dangerous truck crossing. Chile does not. When you see a Peligroso sign here you have two options: slow down or die. You should expect an extreme turn with loose gravel, reverse banking and a cliff without guard rails - muy peligroso. Needless to say, I had to slow way down and focus on keeping the rubber parts in the down direction.
I had hoped that my new rain gear would be waterproof - a reasonable expectation when you buy quality gear, yes? Silly me. Fortunately my boots are. I need to look for a camping supply store tomorrow for better gear if the sky isn't sunny.
Today I drove Chile Chico to Coihaique. I hope it was beautiful - all I saw was wet.
Tomorrow I will spend an hour tightening things on Mr. Moto.
I got pulled over by some version of military police for leaving a gas station via the IN lane instead of going around the block... These people really need to relax their Pinochet attitude - this guy took himself entirely too seriously - demanded my documents - checked them three times, had a million rapid fire questions - I did the "Doe in the headlights" impersonation. He did the inevitable - say it again but louder and faster - I just slowly scratched myself and tried to look dumber. I was waiting for him to pull a riding crop out of his jack boots and start slapping the bike. Dumb worked - he stomped off.
The rain must have driven all the campers indoors - I had to scramble to find a pseudo-dump for way too much $€¥.
Its only 9 so I'm going to go out exploring.
Nick
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El Chalten

I left El Califate and Los Brasileros this morning and did a casual ride of 133 miles to El Chalten. It was nice riding with them but it was time...
Arrived El Chalten, Logo del Desierto and Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Fitz Roy) mid-day with time to hike a little (Aleve is good) and ride up to the lake.
For me the gold standard for beautiful mountains is the tahoe region of the Sierra Nevada Range - this place is equally spectacular with the addition of massive glaciers and amazing cloud formations. The little town at the base of it all is charming and hospitable.
This afternoon I ran into a kid on a DR650 with a trashed rear wheel bearing and steered him to a shop in Rio Galleros - 450 km away - but there is nothing here and very little in between - he will probably try to truck the bike to El Califate and then take a bus to Rio G to try to find a part. He was coming south on exactly the route I plan on using so it was nice to hear his experiences (having a huge limb break off a tree and shearing off one of his side bags, followed by a nasty blow out in the middle of nowhere on the same day (after traveling for months without incident.) Asi la vida.
This evening about 10:30 as I was going to get a bite to eat I drove by the little bus station just after one had arrived - it was funny to watch about 40 loaded backpackers scramble to be somewhere, anywhere warm, some hostel, anywhere out of the wind.
Like Torres del Paine, there is no cell service here so when this posts - who knows...
Tomorrow is many miles of dirt on Rt 40 heading north east towards la frontera with Chile.
Nick
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50 km

What a difference 50 km makes! Beautifuller.
I'm laughing, yesterday the Berkley kid was telling me how fast he rides on the dirt roads - I'm thinking he's a really good rider - NOT! These dirt roads are more like occasionally rough golf cart paths; he's in for a rude awakening (hehe).
Nick
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Chile Chico, Chile

Just crossed the border back into Chile and checked into the Plaza Hotel (but with a Bolivian ambiance - I paid more for dinner than the night) . Have been in places with no cell coverage and this place won't allow me to add attachments - no bandwidth.
After several days of light travel I pushed it today. Rode 407 miles in 11 hour 46 minutes with a border crossing and 2/3 of it was dirt and rough rock like a fire-trail road. You can't relax because the road varies from deep gravel (guaranteed to spill a top-heavy bike) to killer washboards interspersed with 1/2 buried rocks that will cut a tire and deep ruts - my arms are exhausted.
El Chalten to Perito Moreno then to Chile Chico, Chile.
Came across a lot of interesting people today. I was in the middle of NOWHERE when I came across two people walking south - stopped to see if they needed help - No, they were just walking the entire continent (with only small packs) - I've met many bicyclist doing the Alaska - Ushuaia trip but these people were just plain loco but they were probably going to make it. Whereas a couple days ago I came upon 2 swiss (a couple) on €5000 bicycles who must have been carrying 70 pounds of stuff attached to every concievable surface - their stated goal was Alaska. - I'm thinking they won't make the northern border of Peru. Had 6 young Israelis flag me down just to say "hello" - they were driving a rented club-cab truck south and wondered how far the next town was and did it have gas - they didn't have a clue - I suggested they get some extra gas cans (and water) because they had a 350 km section of rocky road and no services to look forward to.
I was stopped to take a foto and out of nowhere drives an old couple in an old ford mini-pickup; they stopped to see if I needed help - I learned they were from sweden - came down, bought a truck, and were just touring around. Finally I shared an ice cream at a gas station with a guy from Berkeley coming south on a KLR 650, he had come south from Alaska and had just been where I was going and visa-versa so we swapped suggestions.
A good day. Tomorrow I ride the Austral (Ruta 7).

Nick
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Torres del Paines - then onto El Califate.

Left P. Arenas early 3 days ago and headed for the Chilean national park Torres del Paines. Spent two days hiking and visiting. Did a 8 km low difficulty hike to a fantastic vista point below the glaciers - I was happy to be able to do it considering knee surgery just before I left US. The image of the mountains from about 40 km out on the appreach to the park from Puerto Natales - from there on the roads are mainly rough dirt and gravel; unfortunately, they're paving many of the remaining tierra (earth) roads which seemingly takes the adventure out of Adventure Riding.
The Brazilians say they took a vote in Ushuiua to "adopt" me and I'm glad to still be riding with them, having a great time, and learning a little portugese how to travel cheaper.
We left T.dP. this morning and crossed la frontera (border) in the middle of nowhere from Chile back into Argentina and got stuck at passport control behind a combination hotel/bus (its this monster mercedes bus on steroids pulling a hotel trailer like a sleeper train car but with a huge pop out section) full of OLD Germans! (enough said!!!) We RACED to the next border control (about 10 km) to get ahead of them.
Traveled all dirt from the park to la frontera, then pavement for about 30 miles, and then we got to La Ruta 40 (its famous) and rode a bunch more dirt - probably 400 km in the last 3 days.
We lost the tall dane this morning at the park - he was staying to camp for another 5 days. I'll likely split off tomorow and head north to El Chalten for a day and then to Porito Moreno where I'll cross back into Chile (I dread the hours wasted at their borders). The Brasileros want to spend time here and I've already spent several days on a prior trip. Also, they will travel remainder of the trip in Argentina.
Nick
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