Riders: Gareth Morgan, Jo Morgan, Dave Wallance, Tony Armstrong,Brendan Keogh, Chris Stephens
Motorcycles: BMW F800GS
Distance: 16,856km
Countries: Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil
Trip description: A ride from the Alto Plano of Bolivia and Peru to the frozen tip of Patagonia; on the world’s most dangerous road, where the stakes are high, on to Argentina’s fabled Ruta 40, where the steaks are large and cheap.
Across salt pans, into mud holes, up the Andes and down again; past the ruins of the ruins of Macchu Pichu, and finding themselves on the edge of the epicentre of the Chilean earthquak
Central and northern Uruguay is home of the gaucho – boots, breeches, belts, buckles and berets – the Basque influence is heavy and these guys dress like this every day for work. Indeed we passed one that was also wearing a black cape. the pace he was galloping along at, all that was missing was […]
We have been surprised how security conscious everyone is right around this continent. Houses are behind bars and often have security shutters and guards patrolling as well. The hotels we have stayed in have gates locked at night and in a couple of towns we have been told not to take cameras out with us. […]
We had been at the deserted resort town of San Gregorio only a few hours when a lady comes to me with a cell phone. She had an English speaker on the phone and I was offered a trip to the beach. Gareth and I jumped in the ute and had a tour of this […]
We navigated the widest road in the world as the 16 lane main drag through Buenos Aires is reported to be. It’s not a motorway and I’m sure there were more lanes than that. So it was my morning adrenaline rush getting to the ferry terminal to clear Argentinian customs. A 40 km 1 hour […]
After a time travelling you think of the people who come to NZ for a break and inadvertently cause offense. The norm in most of the world is quite different to ours when it comes to the disposal of loo paper. Here all toilets have a waste paper basket for the toilet paper, you don’t […]
It is Easter and I had champagne for breakfast at our down town Buenos Aires hotel, as it is a day off. Back to the room to trample some of the clothes that haven’t been washed for ever. It all seemed clean for the first month and then it was too cold to get big […]
We had a night in C. Pringles and loved the small town feel, and being off the main route was great. The surrounding areas had John Deere machinery and adverts everywhere attesting to the wealth of this agricultural town. After another coffee, bread and jam breakfast, we were desperate for some protein and called into […]
I looked at the huge map of Argentina and the Ruta 3 does a big curve on the way to Buenos Aires so I decided it would be better to cut the corner and go to a dot called Coronel Pringles, Gareth agreed as the busy roads pre-Easter are unpleasant and traffic was fast. so […]
As the two of us persist on the traverse of Eastern Patagonia, knowing that the arid Pampa will come to an end and the 3,000 kms to Buenos Aires isn’t really that far after all, the monotony of the traverse is broken by a few diversions we make. First to the Welsh villages that line […]
The original planning was for Gareth and me to have half of this trip alone to see if it is possible for us to manage repairs and maintenance of the bikes, his work schedule, and stay talking to each other. I have always been spoilt by having others here, to go for an explore with, […]
