World Tour - Europe, Asia, North and South America - Entries for: Argentina
20° | sunny | km 560
Retired nomads
on 2018-02-19 in Argentina
[Basti] I took the closest border to Argentina, crossed without any problems despite not being insured and rode on a dirt road to the one main road going east. I wanted to do some mileage this day and definitely reach the Atlantic ocean. After my couple of days in the hostel it was also time to camp again.
Even though there is only vast Pampa around, everything is private property and fenced in. Thanks to iOverlander I knew that there would be one suitable spot 140 km north of Rio Gallegos. I had to do the D-tour to Rio Gallegos for a supermarket and gas anyway. On the parking lot I met the German couple Nicki and Moe. Both just started their adventure and were excited to ask questions about what's coming. They call themselves Moppedhiker and their blog is definitely worth checking out!
They stayed at a nearby super cheap campground and I was tempted to go there as well because it was already late afternoon.
But because the sun goes down late that far south and I was motivated to ride a bit more I said goodbye to the two.
I arrived at my desired camp spot for the night just before sunset. And being the only spot in hundreds of miles it was no surprise that I got company. A Toyota Landcruiser with Swiss plates parked there already.
So I had the incredible pleasure to meet Paul and Brigitta. They offered me their left-overs so I got an unexpected delicious hot cooked dinner.
We talked only a bit because it was already late, but we both were very interested in each others stories.
Well I slept too long the next morning and with opening my eyes I only overheard Paul saying "Goodbye Basti, hope to see you in the national park!".
I knew we would have the same destination today: Parque Nacional Monte León. So I rode to the park to see the Pinguin colony.
You have to walk to the colony and and because of pumas in the area you are not supposed to walk alone. But what can you do when you ride solo?
Walk alone was my only option as there was nobody else around.
When I got to the colony I was a bit disappointed because their pups were already big enough to leave their nests. They gathered on the beach which was quite far away from the viewpoint. No comparison to the unique experience on Isla Magdalena. But this park is for free and when visited at the right time the foot path goes also right through their breeding area.
On my way back I met Paul and Brigitta again. I drove a bit more around in the park until I had the opportunity to get some nice shots of Guanacos. These camelid animals are everywhere in this region and you need to look out for them at all times while riding.
At the gas station I ran into Paul and Brigitta once again and we decided to spend the night together at the nearby river Rio Chico. I enjoyed the additional comfort of an RV while camping tremendously. That way we had beside a mini kitchen also a table with chairs. They surprised me with delicious sausages and cheese. We had some wine and cold (!) beer and talked until it was getting really late. What a wonderful night with such a friendly couple. They are traveling for much longer than me and I can only recommend to read their beautifully written blog circumnavigation. To have a quick insight about the two world travelers watch this outstanding video: retired nomads (only in German).
Thank you two for your incredible hospitality and friendship.
The next day we went to the gas station at Puerto San Julián to have a shower in probably the nicest gas station shower ever, made the only picture we have from each other and said our goodbyes. With no time limit their travel speed is much much slower then mine. Have an incredible journey Paul and Brigitta, I hope to welcome you one day in Munich!
Even though there is only vast Pampa around, everything is private property and fenced in. Thanks to iOverlander I knew that there would be one suitable spot 140 km north of Rio Gallegos. I had to do the D-tour to Rio Gallegos for a supermarket and gas anyway. On the parking lot I met the German couple Nicki and Moe. Both just started their adventure and were excited to ask questions about what's coming. They call themselves Moppedhiker and their blog is definitely worth checking out!
They stayed at a nearby super cheap campground and I was tempted to go there as well because it was already late afternoon.
But because the sun goes down late that far south and I was motivated to ride a bit more I said goodbye to the two.
I arrived at my desired camp spot for the night just before sunset. And being the only spot in hundreds of miles it was no surprise that I got company. A Toyota Landcruiser with Swiss plates parked there already.
So I had the incredible pleasure to meet Paul and Brigitta. They offered me their left-overs so I got an unexpected delicious hot cooked dinner.
We talked only a bit because it was already late, but we both were very interested in each others stories.
Well I slept too long the next morning and with opening my eyes I only overheard Paul saying "Goodbye Basti, hope to see you in the national park!".
I knew we would have the same destination today: Parque Nacional Monte León. So I rode to the park to see the Pinguin colony.
You have to walk to the colony and and because of pumas in the area you are not supposed to walk alone. But what can you do when you ride solo?
Walk alone was my only option as there was nobody else around.
When I got to the colony I was a bit disappointed because their pups were already big enough to leave their nests. They gathered on the beach which was quite far away from the viewpoint. No comparison to the unique experience on Isla Magdalena. But this park is for free and when visited at the right time the foot path goes also right through their breeding area.
On my way back I met Paul and Brigitta again. I drove a bit more around in the park until I had the opportunity to get some nice shots of Guanacos. These camelid animals are everywhere in this region and you need to look out for them at all times while riding.
At the gas station I ran into Paul and Brigitta once again and we decided to spend the night together at the nearby river Rio Chico. I enjoyed the additional comfort of an RV while camping tremendously. That way we had beside a mini kitchen also a table with chairs. They surprised me with delicious sausages and cheese. We had some wine and cold (!) beer and talked until it was getting really late. What a wonderful night with such a friendly couple. They are traveling for much longer than me and I can only recommend to read their beautifully written blog circumnavigation. To have a quick insight about the two world travelers watch this outstanding video: retired nomads (only in German).
Thank you two for your incredible hospitality and friendship.
The next day we went to the gas station at Puerto San Julián to have a shower in probably the nicest gas station shower ever, made the only picture we have from each other and said our goodbyes. With no time limit their travel speed is much much slower then mine. Have an incredible journey Paul and Brigitta, I hope to welcome you one day in Munich!
28° | sunny / windy | km 574
Trees out of stone
on 2018-02-21 in Argentina
[Basti] I decided to have lunch in the nearby town Puerto San Julián. Since I am in Argentina I of course ordered a steak. What I got was a steak almost too big for the plate! Crazy, but crazy good too!
Completely satisfied afterwards I took a small beautiful dirt road alongside the ocean. Having fun riding my bike just for a few miles until I had to go back on the boring main road. There truly is nothing to see on this endless road RN3.
My next destination was a petrified forest about 230 km away. I spend the night just next to the dirt road a few miles out of the park Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificado. To get some shelter from the wind I pitched up my tent behind a small gravel backfill. I used the bike as additional wind barrier, attached the tent to the bike and hoped that the wind wouldn't get stronger.
Luckily it didn't and I had a good rest. The next morning I arrived at the ranger station in front of the petrified trees.
Of course I was the only one there and the ranger didn't speak English. It didn't matter at all, he was very friendly and tried to explain to me the petrification process in his small museum before he showed me the path to walk through the area.
In short a petrified tree is a super old tree who turned into stone through a special process that takes millions of years. It is astonishing to see the fallen trees lying around looking like regular trees in a desert like area. You recognize all the typical structures of wood but when you touch them you feel that it is stone! An incredible thing I had never heard of.
It was quite hot that day and I saw a super cheap but well equipped public campground in iOverlander in reachable distance. I decided to go there and have a shower!
But before that I looked for a spot on the beach where sea lions like to enjoy sun baths. I was very skeptical to say the least.
But this time it was 100% true! I couldn't believe it. Just outside of Caleta Olivia on a normal gravel beach, accessible by anyone, no entrance fees and no fences I saw probably 100 sea lions lying around enjoying the afternoon sun. I approached them carefully and always kept at least 10 meters distance. The smell is awful, like on a fish market. But watching those huge animals up close in their natural habitat was breathtaking anyway. Too funny how they seal over each other to get to the best spot. Those how get pushed a side complain loudly. And they didn't seem to care at all about me!
With this incredible experience I drove happily to the campground in Rada Tilly and bought myself a takeout burger and some drinks from the supermarket. It was already a great day, but I didn't know yet that it would get even better. This night would change my trip for the upcoming weeks!
Completely satisfied afterwards I took a small beautiful dirt road alongside the ocean. Having fun riding my bike just for a few miles until I had to go back on the boring main road. There truly is nothing to see on this endless road RN3.
My next destination was a petrified forest about 230 km away. I spend the night just next to the dirt road a few miles out of the park Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificado. To get some shelter from the wind I pitched up my tent behind a small gravel backfill. I used the bike as additional wind barrier, attached the tent to the bike and hoped that the wind wouldn't get stronger.
Luckily it didn't and I had a good rest. The next morning I arrived at the ranger station in front of the petrified trees.
Of course I was the only one there and the ranger didn't speak English. It didn't matter at all, he was very friendly and tried to explain to me the petrification process in his small museum before he showed me the path to walk through the area.
In short a petrified tree is a super old tree who turned into stone through a special process that takes millions of years. It is astonishing to see the fallen trees lying around looking like regular trees in a desert like area. You recognize all the typical structures of wood but when you touch them you feel that it is stone! An incredible thing I had never heard of.
It was quite hot that day and I saw a super cheap but well equipped public campground in iOverlander in reachable distance. I decided to go there and have a shower!
But before that I looked for a spot on the beach where sea lions like to enjoy sun baths. I was very skeptical to say the least.
But this time it was 100% true! I couldn't believe it. Just outside of Caleta Olivia on a normal gravel beach, accessible by anyone, no entrance fees and no fences I saw probably 100 sea lions lying around enjoying the afternoon sun. I approached them carefully and always kept at least 10 meters distance. The smell is awful, like on a fish market. But watching those huge animals up close in their natural habitat was breathtaking anyway. Too funny how they seal over each other to get to the best spot. Those how get pushed a side complain loudly. And they didn't seem to care at all about me!
With this incredible experience I drove happily to the campground in Rada Tilly and bought myself a takeout burger and some drinks from the supermarket. It was already a great day, but I didn't know yet that it would get even better. This night would change my trip for the upcoming weeks!
25° | sunny | km 568
Adiós Comfort Zone
on 2018-02-23 in Argentina
[Basti] It was already dark when I was sitting in front of my tent watching two bikers arrive. While they were pitching up their tents I went over to say hello. Christoph and Raphael are from Vienna / Austria and had a BMW 1200 GSA and a Yamaha Ténéré. We soon decided that we would enjoy some beers together, so I quickly drove to the supermarket to get some. While talking Christoph realized that he knew us already! He wrote Fabi once to ask about the Heidenau back tire in smaller size that Fabi was riding with for a while now.
Needless to say that we had a lot of fun, enjoyed our stories and the beer. Christoph and Raphael know each other from their childhood and were now together on a several month long South America trip. They started right after New Years, shipped their bikes to Valparaiso, drove down the Carretera Austral to Ushuaia and were now like me on their way up to Buenos Aires. Christoph would ship his BMW back to Germany end of April while Raphael had a lot more time and wanted to drive up to Alaska after they split up somewhere.
We decided that night to spend one more night in this campground to sleep in. The next morning though the showers were under repair and we felt surprisingly well and motivated to go further.
So we drove all the way to Trelew, didn't succeed to find an affordable place to stay, bought meat and beer for a barbecue and went to a nice campground at the nearby beach town Playa Unión.
Great how all the campgrounds have wonderful barbecue areas here! As it is kinda boring to ride all day long on a straight highway we talked about things we wanted to see before Buenos Aires. All we came up was the Península Valdés. A nature reserve where you should be able to see a lot of seals, sea lions, penguins and if you are really lucky orcas attacking seals on the beach!
Since it also was about the right time for that we agreed that we have to give it a try. Next days destination was set then and because it wasn't far we checked out the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum in Trelew to see some Dinosaur skeletons. It was a nice and interesting little museum and just the right thing before we went to the peninsula.
The nature reserve costs an entrance fee and inside is just one small touristy town with a campground on the beach. We pitched up the tents in the sand, cooked us some dinner and enjoyed the evening.
Needless to say that we had a lot of fun, enjoyed our stories and the beer. Christoph and Raphael know each other from their childhood and were now together on a several month long South America trip. They started right after New Years, shipped their bikes to Valparaiso, drove down the Carretera Austral to Ushuaia and were now like me on their way up to Buenos Aires. Christoph would ship his BMW back to Germany end of April while Raphael had a lot more time and wanted to drive up to Alaska after they split up somewhere.
We decided that night to spend one more night in this campground to sleep in. The next morning though the showers were under repair and we felt surprisingly well and motivated to go further.
So we drove all the way to Trelew, didn't succeed to find an affordable place to stay, bought meat and beer for a barbecue and went to a nice campground at the nearby beach town Playa Unión.
Great how all the campgrounds have wonderful barbecue areas here! As it is kinda boring to ride all day long on a straight highway we talked about things we wanted to see before Buenos Aires. All we came up was the Península Valdés. A nature reserve where you should be able to see a lot of seals, sea lions, penguins and if you are really lucky orcas attacking seals on the beach!
Since it also was about the right time for that we agreed that we have to give it a try. Next days destination was set then and because it wasn't far we checked out the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum in Trelew to see some Dinosaur skeletons. It was a nice and interesting little museum and just the right thing before we went to the peninsula.
The nature reserve costs an entrance fee and inside is just one small touristy town with a campground on the beach. We pitched up the tents in the sand, cooked us some dinner and enjoyed the evening.
25° | sunny | km 483
Orca stakeout
on 2018-02-25 in Argentina
[Basti] Naturally we wanted to ride the whole loop of the Península Valdés. Almost all the 230 km are dirt tracks, sometimes with scary deep gravel. As Raphael and Christoph haven't done much gravel roads yet they hesitated a bit to drive fast enough and were quite surprised when I flew by. But by now I have learned that speed is the only way to ride through deep gravel without crazy side motions.
Our first stop was at a dried out salt lake. Compared to the Salar de Uyuni it was too small to have the same effect, but we used the chance to make silly photos.
Further on our way we found some beaches where we could see many penguins, sea lions and seals. The real attraction though would have been to see orcas. We knew very little about it, just the name of two beaches: Caleta Valdes and Punta Norte. We found the beaches, but weren't lucky. No orcas today.
Instead we had a nice visit from two armadillos when we came back to our bikes at Punta Norte! They were curious and fearless so we got real close.
When we rode back to our camp ground it got already dark and we arrived to a beautiful sunset. After dinner at a nice restaurant we went to a bar where we met Esteban from Buenos Aires with his friend from Austria.
They were more then excited to tell us the real story about the orcas! Apparently this is the only place in the world where they developed a hunting technique called "intentional stranding". They would blast on shore to surprise a seal lying on the beach. Because this brings the risk of getting stranded they do this only in the last two hours before high tide. Then the water level is already high enough and in case of being stranded the still raising water would save them. They do not just eat the seals but also use them to train their young ones in hunting. The two also showed us YouTube videos like this one. They will go there every day on their 4 day stay to try to see it. It was the time when they will be in the area, but even then they show up maybe 2 times a month.
Still we were hooked and decided to give it another try the next day!
After checking the tides we would have to be at the first beach at around 3 p.m. That's why we used the time to go for swim at mid day. The water wasn't crazy cold and we enjoyed our first bath since a long time. To our great surprise we had some penguins swimming next to us! Maybe 5 meters away, with incredible speed! We couldn't believe it!
Later we rode the shortest way to Caleta Valdes which was still 80 km gravel road. Sadly no orcas their, but 3 hours later would be high tide at Punta Norte another 50 km away. Our friends from yesterday were already waiting there. It was a bit sick that we watched these cute sea lion pups hoping they would soon be killed from a giant orca!
Lucky for the pups they were safe today, no orcas around. We decided that it was worth a try anyway.
The next day we had to leave the peninsula in order to reach Buenos Aires in time because Christophs girlfriend was about to visit him there.
Our first stop was at a dried out salt lake. Compared to the Salar de Uyuni it was too small to have the same effect, but we used the chance to make silly photos.
Further on our way we found some beaches where we could see many penguins, sea lions and seals. The real attraction though would have been to see orcas. We knew very little about it, just the name of two beaches: Caleta Valdes and Punta Norte. We found the beaches, but weren't lucky. No orcas today.
Instead we had a nice visit from two armadillos when we came back to our bikes at Punta Norte! They were curious and fearless so we got real close.
When we rode back to our camp ground it got already dark and we arrived to a beautiful sunset. After dinner at a nice restaurant we went to a bar where we met Esteban from Buenos Aires with his friend from Austria.
They were more then excited to tell us the real story about the orcas! Apparently this is the only place in the world where they developed a hunting technique called "intentional stranding". They would blast on shore to surprise a seal lying on the beach. Because this brings the risk of getting stranded they do this only in the last two hours before high tide. Then the water level is already high enough and in case of being stranded the still raising water would save them. They do not just eat the seals but also use them to train their young ones in hunting. The two also showed us YouTube videos like this one. They will go there every day on their 4 day stay to try to see it. It was the time when they will be in the area, but even then they show up maybe 2 times a month.
Still we were hooked and decided to give it another try the next day!
After checking the tides we would have to be at the first beach at around 3 p.m. That's why we used the time to go for swim at mid day. The water wasn't crazy cold and we enjoyed our first bath since a long time. To our great surprise we had some penguins swimming next to us! Maybe 5 meters away, with incredible speed! We couldn't believe it!
Later we rode the shortest way to Caleta Valdes which was still 80 km gravel road. Sadly no orcas their, but 3 hours later would be high tide at Punta Norte another 50 km away. Our friends from yesterday were already waiting there. It was a bit sick that we watched these cute sea lion pups hoping they would soon be killed from a giant orca!
Lucky for the pups they were safe today, no orcas around. We decided that it was worth a try anyway.
The next day we had to leave the peninsula in order to reach Buenos Aires in time because Christophs girlfriend was about to visit him there.
28° | sunny | km 1773
Buenos Aires
on 2018-03-04 in Argentina
[Basti] In order to reach Buenos Aires before the weekend we put some mileage on our bikes. Almost 1500 km in three days. Since there really is nothing else then pampa we were quite confident that we wouldn't miss much.
First night we stayed at a very nice little private hostal in Viedma and enjoyed having a kitchen. Second night we camped at Camping Balneario Municipal in Coronel Pringles. This little military town has a great public recreation area with BBQ places, swimming pools and sport facilities. Inside this area you are allowed to camp for very little money and you get basic showers with hot water. All we needed!
We arrived in Buenos Aires already on Thursday evening and we three rented a nice little AirBnB for the first four nights. It was a modern single room apartment with a private balcony, private parking and a community rooftop. It was perfect! We enjoyed ourselfes by doing nothing except drinking beers.
Sightseeing was postponed until Christophs girlfriend Franzi arrived and on Saturday night we took the chance to go on a boys night out. Christoph was our guide, because he read the Lonely Planet about Buenos Aires. The first bar was a bit too fancy for our taste, but after that the club was so much better!
We are not sure if it was the lack of girls in the last weeks, but we found them incredibly hot! And there were even more girls than boys in that club! We had a great night even almost no one was able to speak any thing different than Spanish.
The next day we walked a bit around the city and to the Japanese Garden. Not too much though to still be able to go sightseeing with Franzi. On Tuesday we changed apartments and picked Franzi up from the airport. Our new apartment was right in the center of Buenos Aires on the top floor! What a view!
Sadly but typical for places in city centers we didn't have a parking space. We parked our bikes therefore in the neighboring parking garage and accepted the price because we simply didn't had a choice.
But the guys were super friendly and let Raphael maintain his bike inside the garage. He wanted to change his clutch and was quite nervous about it since he never had done something like that. So I was his backup. But he did very good!
In the meantime I tried the washing machine. The nice landlady warned me, that it doesn't work properly. But by adding water manually it was working ok. Nonetheless she was calling a repair guy to come by the next days. As it would turn out, he was making things worse... I spend quite some time the next days to wait for him, test it, call the landlady again, wait again and so on :)
On one of her visits the landlady told us about her flat. The whole building consists of small flats that were used to fuck. Even today this is still the main purpose for some of the flats. With a big smile she added that she had good times here!
The next morning we wanted to participate in a so-called free walking tour. This is a nice concept where local volunteers show tourists around their city expecting nothing but a little tip at the end.
We managed to arrive a bit late at the meeting point and it took us a few moments to find the tour. But we did and it was nice to hear some unknown facts about the city and Argentina. For example the fact that all road names change when crossing Avenida Rivadavia or that since 1960 the Avenida 9 de Julio was with 140 meters the widest street in the world. I can highly recommend that tour!
Overall we spend 8 days in Buenos Aires and it surprised us big time. It is definitely worth a visit!
We left Buenos Aires to Uruguay in different ways. Christoph and Franzi took the ferry while Raphael and I drove around Rio Uruguay. We would meet up two days later in Montevideo.
First night we stayed at a very nice little private hostal in Viedma and enjoyed having a kitchen. Second night we camped at Camping Balneario Municipal in Coronel Pringles. This little military town has a great public recreation area with BBQ places, swimming pools and sport facilities. Inside this area you are allowed to camp for very little money and you get basic showers with hot water. All we needed!
We arrived in Buenos Aires already on Thursday evening and we three rented a nice little AirBnB for the first four nights. It was a modern single room apartment with a private balcony, private parking and a community rooftop. It was perfect! We enjoyed ourselfes by doing nothing except drinking beers.
Sightseeing was postponed until Christophs girlfriend Franzi arrived and on Saturday night we took the chance to go on a boys night out. Christoph was our guide, because he read the Lonely Planet about Buenos Aires. The first bar was a bit too fancy for our taste, but after that the club was so much better!
We are not sure if it was the lack of girls in the last weeks, but we found them incredibly hot! And there were even more girls than boys in that club! We had a great night even almost no one was able to speak any thing different than Spanish.
The next day we walked a bit around the city and to the Japanese Garden. Not too much though to still be able to go sightseeing with Franzi. On Tuesday we changed apartments and picked Franzi up from the airport. Our new apartment was right in the center of Buenos Aires on the top floor! What a view!
Sadly but typical for places in city centers we didn't have a parking space. We parked our bikes therefore in the neighboring parking garage and accepted the price because we simply didn't had a choice.
But the guys were super friendly and let Raphael maintain his bike inside the garage. He wanted to change his clutch and was quite nervous about it since he never had done something like that. So I was his backup. But he did very good!
In the meantime I tried the washing machine. The nice landlady warned me, that it doesn't work properly. But by adding water manually it was working ok. Nonetheless she was calling a repair guy to come by the next days. As it would turn out, he was making things worse... I spend quite some time the next days to wait for him, test it, call the landlady again, wait again and so on :)
On one of her visits the landlady told us about her flat. The whole building consists of small flats that were used to fuck. Even today this is still the main purpose for some of the flats. With a big smile she added that she had good times here!
The next morning we wanted to participate in a so-called free walking tour. This is a nice concept where local volunteers show tourists around their city expecting nothing but a little tip at the end.
We managed to arrive a bit late at the meeting point and it took us a few moments to find the tour. But we did and it was nice to hear some unknown facts about the city and Argentina. For example the fact that all road names change when crossing Avenida Rivadavia or that since 1960 the Avenida 9 de Julio was with 140 meters the widest street in the world. I can highly recommend that tour!
Overall we spend 8 days in Buenos Aires and it surprised us big time. It is definitely worth a visit!
We left Buenos Aires to Uruguay in different ways. Christoph and Franzi took the ferry while Raphael and I drove around Rio Uruguay. We would meet up two days later in Montevideo.