Iguape and Jureia - June 26 - 27

Friday 6/26 - A day in Iguape

It has been raining all day, non-stop. Aside from taking my laundry to be washed (you can't imagine the excitement little things can cause), I spent most of the day at Christina's downloading pictures and catching up on correspondence. That night I took Christina out for a pizza. Ah, the joy of the little things!

Sat 6/27 - Iguape, Jureia, and a baby birthday party

It's overcast and drizzling... AGAIN. But I refused to spend a day in the house and decided to take a little ride to Jureia, which is supposed to be a little fishing village with miles of sandy beaches.

It's about a 20 km ride to Jureia, through mostly rural land and a few small villages. Then a short ferry ride to the village itself. The village is built along the bank of an inlet... brackish water and supposedly good fishing

I started to ride along the beaches, but ran into a lot of wet, deep sand. After my experiences in Chile, I now avoid sand whenever possible.

However, I happened to run into two guys who had been on the ferry with me at a bar/restaurant along the river. Discretion being the better part of valor, and temptation being the only thing that I am physically unable to resist, I just HAD to join them for a couple of beers. The setting was nice, the company was friendly, and the grilled robalo was just the thing to hit the spot.

There was also some interesting bird life. I happened to like this kingfisher perched next to the restaurant

That night Christina was having a birthday party... for her one-year-old niece. You can only imagine my excitement at the thought of dozens of rug rats nipping at my ankles. But it was interesting, as a cultural event. I have never seen such decorations for a one-year-old birthday. No wonder Disney stays in business.





Tomorrow I'll take off for Rio de Janeiro. Hasta la Samba!

Iguasu (Brazil) to Iguape - June 22 to 26

Monday, 3/22

I spent the morning trying to get the bike running right. I'm not sure if it was just crappy gas fouling up the carburetor, but I took off the tank and cleaned it, took out the carb and cleaned it as best as I could, replaced a throttle cable that was about to break, put it all together, and prayed. Miracle... the damned thing started! So I was off to Brasil.

It's only a few miles from the Argentina side of the falls to the Brazil side, but when you throw in immigration and customs for the bike it's still a 2 hour process. The day was compensating for yesterday's sun by being miserable and raining. I found a dingy hotel to camp in for the night, didn't want to watch one of the two Portuguese stations on the TV, so had a few glasses of wine and watched a movie on my computer. I love this little Acer netbook that I bought just before the trip3

Tuesday 3/23

I spent the morning at the Itaipu dam. This is on the border between Brazil and Paraguay and is a joint project between the two countries. It is the largest hydroelectric project in the world. It even puts out more juice than the Three Gorges dam in China will. The total output is a maximum of 14 megawatts per hour, which provides 20% of the electricity for Brazil and more than 90% of the electricity for Paraguay.

To put that in identifiable terms, that is the equivalent of 187 gazillion, 712 trillion, and sixteen double A batteries... or enough electricity to run 242 quintillion personal vibrators for 151 light years.

Eat your heart out, EverReady Bunny!





There are 20 separate generators in the plant. The actual production area stretches more than a kilometer, and the workers travel around inside the dam on bicycles or electric carts. As you can see, the shafts of each generator are huge.








One advantage of going on the "special tour" (which included all the areas inside the dam and power generating station instead of just the overlooks) was that we were actually on both sides of the river... Brazil and Paraguay. I had decided not to go to Paraguay since the only reason I wanted to go was that it's the only major South American country that I haven't visited (not counting those little French things in the upper right corner). But Paraguay doesn't like the US's visa requirements, so they charge us a hefty $130 visa fee (I can't blame them... it's the same as we charge them). It wasn't worth it to me to pay, but this got me around it. One more country down, but not in my passport!

Here I am straddling the border between Brazil and Paraguay.






In the afternoon I visited the Brazil side of Iguasu Falls. It is great view, but not as interesting as the Argentina side where you get up close and personal. Also, there are not nearly as many hiking trails. But still, the falls are spectacular.


















Wednesday, 3/24

I'm off again, and having more bike problems. It kept dying on me every time I slowed down or stopped. Where the hell is that great mechanic that was supposed to come along with me? After trying to get it started again at a police check point (for half an hour), one of the many bystanders -- everyone has an opinion -- told me that there was a good mechanic in Cascavel, about 50km down the road. I got the bike started and kept hoping I would make it that far. It did, and fortunately the problem showed itself when the mechanic looked at it (it usually acts fine when a mechanic is looking, just like at the doctor's office). He immediately told me that it wasn't a carb problem, but was electrical. Turns out it was a short in the connector to the spark plug, and the wet weather made it worse. A $17 repair and I was on my way.

I raced the sun to get somewhere before dark, fortunately had no more bike problems, and arrive in Guarapuave just as night fell. Another day down!

Thursday, 3/25

A LONG travel day. Actually, I did longer days during the first part of the trip, but it's now winter and this has cut my potential travel time down by about 4 hours a day. Before I could travel from about 6:30 am until almost 9 pm. Now it's from 8 am to 5:30 pm. At least this will get better as I get further north.

Today's trip was an "all day in the saddle and my sore but is even sorer" type of day. I left Guarapuava at 9:30 and hit rain and fog all morning. This is also a very heavy truck route, so there was no fun there! They have double trailer trucks in Brazil, which seem to stretch for about 300 feet. Passing has to be very carefully planned.

After only two stops for gas, at 4:30 I finally got onto a secondary road and FINALLY felt like I was enjoying my riding. Although I was still racing the sun, it was a nice rural road... narrow and curvy just the way I like it. I was heading towards Iguape, on the coast of Brazil about 200 km south of Sao Paulo, and arrived (again) just as I was losing the light.

Iguape is an old colonial town that was founded by the Spanish, then given to the Portuguese by some pope in the 16th century. It sounded interesting and I was ready for some small town culture.

I pulled into the main square and found the tourist office. Ah... information! Well not quite.

First, nobody at the tourist office spoke English or Spanish. Why on earth would you expect that at a tourist office? Second, they thought that my inquiry about an economical hotel was quite amusing.. they had no idea! Finally someone suggested "the red building across the plaza" which was supposed to be a commercial hotel. Well, it used to be but it now a private house. As I was told as I was wandering around in someone's living room! But the people were very friendly and eventually Elizabeth (the owner) told me about a friend of hers who had some apartments for rent.




So here I am in Iguape, ensconced in a cute little bungalow (with an outdoor kitchen) for about 3 days for the princely sum of $15 a night. The owner, Cristina, also includes breakfast at her house a block away in the morning. A nice place to camp for a few days. It's raining, but hopefully the weather will improve and I'll get to explore some of the area. If not, I'll catch up on the blog!

Iguasu Falls - Making Niagara Look Like a Leaky Faucet ! - June 22

Sunday 6/21 – Puerto Iguasu, Argentina

The weather today was spectacular: Sunny and 70 degrees. A good day for Iguasu falls. It's about a 15 km ride from Puerto Iguasu to the national park, and a $15 admission fee for foreigners, but worth it. I met a young Finnish woman while at the information booth, which gave me someone to hike with.





The falls themselves are spectacular. They are right on the border between Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. While I hear that you get a better overall view from the Brazil side, on the Argentina side you get right up close and personal with the falls. Unlike Niagara falls, there is not a whole city of tacky shops surrounding the falls, just a national park and very nice hiking trails.






One of the most spectacular areas is called Garganta del Diablo, or Devil's throat. It has been calculated that to create this much water force artificially you would have to flush all the toilets in China, Russia, and Kazakstan twenty-seven times per minute. That, of course isn't counting the squat toilets, which don't use as much water.





During the morning the wasp that had flown up my sleeve yesterday decided that he wasn't done with me yet (his death not withstanding). As the morning progressed my arm was turning increasingly red, hot, and swollen. By noon I looked like Popeye, at least on the right side. So, discretion being the better part of health, I decided that a visit to the local emergency room was in order. Fortunately it was right across the street from my hotel.

After a five minute wait the doctor saw me and prescribed an anti-inflamatory injection. The nurse prepared a needle that had to be 8 inches long, attached to a syringe with about 2 liters of medicine in it, and told me to drop my pants and bend over. At this point I decided that maybe my arm really wasn't that bad and I didn't need any damn medicine! Oh well, I figured better to bare my cheeks and take it. By the next morning the arm was considerably better, although my butt was still in a world of hurt.

On the Road Again: The Adventure Resumes! - June 17, 2009

Thornton Wilder once said:

"The test of adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself, 'Oh, now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home. And the sign that something is wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventures."

After three months of "sitting quietly at home" in Panama, I'm back on the road again. I left Panama on June 17th and flew to Buenos Aires, where I had left my bike. El Pinguino (remember: I had to name the bike after our adventure to Antarctica, and El Pinguino just seemed appropriate) was waiting for me patiently. I wasn't planning on leaving until the second half of July, but another adventure stuck its head out of the sand and I had to move the trip up. I've been offered a visiting professorship at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea, and have to be there to begin teaching (international business strategy) on September 1.

So this trip will be a little more rushed (maximum of two months), but that should give me a pretty good feel for the Atlantic side of South America. I came down the Pacific, now I'll return via Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia. The plan is to fly the bike back from Bogota about the 10th of August, spend a few weeks in Panama, and then off to Seoul. It's been 10 years since we last returned from Asia, so I'm looking forward to it. Initially I wasn't too excited about the idea of spending 7 or 8 months in Korea, but it turns out that their first semester runs from September 1 to the middle of December, then the next semester doesn't start until March 1, 2010. Plenty of time to return to Panama and remind Karen, Maggie, Josh, and Josie (the last three forming part of the Barnett Menagerie) who I am.

So, after my 5:30 am arrival in Buenos Aires I went to Dakar Motos where I had left the bike and waited for someone to wake up and let me in. A few minor repairs, and at 1:30 I was on the road again heading north. My first major stop would be Iguasu falls on the border between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. My major worry about this part of the trip was corrupt police. Ruta 14 through northern Argentina is famous for cops looking for a little "coffee money", and I'm not always the most lawful driver on the road. What's a few more km per hour, anyway? The first night I arrived in Colon and had a nice room at the Hotel Rio de Pajaros. More importantly, after two hours sleep on the plane the night before I had a decent steak dinner, a comfortable bed and a good night's sleep.

Friday, 3/19
The constant repairs of the bike have started again. Last night´s problem was that nothing electric worked. That was an easy fix. It turned out that in fixing the turn signal Javier (at Dakar Motos) had loosened the wiring harness. it took me about an hour to find and fix. However, now the right turn signal isn´t working again, so I guess I can only turn left until I fix it. This afternoon I ran out of gas and the speedometer only said I had gone 68 miles. Since I normally go about 200 miles before I need to get gas something was definitely wrong! I don't have a gas guage, so the odometer is my proxy. Actually, I don´t even look at the speedometer itself when I have the GPS on since I have the GPS in kilometers and the speedo is in miles. It turned out the speedometer had stopped working, and I hadn´t noticed (dumb). Anyway, I made it to a gas station on reserve, and fixed (I think) the speedo at the hotel. But I think I got crappy gas and the motor keeps sputtering and died a few times. I´ll drain the carb in the morning. In other words... when you travel by motorcycle you damn well better have a mechanic with you! Damn good thing I learned a few things, but I wish I had learned more.

My paranoia about the corrupt cops on Ruta 14 finally came to fruition today. I hadn´t been stopped yet, but this afternoon I came to the infamous roadblock at km 341. I new it was coming up and so VERY carefully followed the rules. I slowed to 80 at the 80 sign and 60 at the 60 sign. They pulled me over anyway. First the cop told me I was speeding and they had me on radar. I said (politely) BULLSHIT! I told the cop that I knew that they were there, that I knew that this section was very ¨vigilantly¨ patrolled, and that I wasn´t speeding. I also showed my badge. Then the cop asked me for my insurance papers. I had the copy of my Panama insurance, appropriately doctored to include an ¨international coverage endorsement¨, and an appropriate Panama document stamp, so he accepted that. Then he told me he could fine me because I wouldn´t have stopped if he hadn´t pulled me over. So I guess now they are mind readers! I told him that wasn´t true, that I had every intention of stopping, and I did stop. There wasn´t much more he could say so he let me go, and didn´t look very happy doing it.

Night time found me in Santo Tome, Argentina, in a POS hotel in a POS town. Oh well, tomorrow I should get to the falls and some more interesting opportunities.

Saturday, 6/20

More bike problems today. The bad gas I got yesterday is still plagueing me. The motor sputters and dies when I idle. I probably need to take apart the carb and the gas tank and clean them out. Then, just to make sure that I knew that the bike gods were out there, the starter wouldn´t work. It died at a gas station.

Fortunately Johnny, a very nice Argentinian guy (and a musician) came along to help. He actually then towed me with a rope with his 70cc minibike to a shop about 2 km away. It was quite a site to see! On the inclines we actually had to both run along with the bikes since his didn't have enough power to pull the "fat Penguino". Eventually we got to a mechanic who fixed the starter, but not the gas problem.

I also got stopped by the cops again today. This time it was totally my fault. While I hadn´t seen anybody passing over a double yellow line further south, up here they do it all the time. Of course when I did it there was a cop in back of me. It took a LOT of talking to get out of this one. They told me I would have to follow them to the station where they would lock up my bike until I paid the fine on Monday. I know that is complete bullshit, but they were hoping I would ask what I could do to avoid it. I finally talked my way out of it by a combination of ¨fellow cop¨ routine and telling them that the slow truck that I passed had kept motioning for me to pass and I thought he had a problem. When they finally told me they would have to fine me or their chief would get mad I said ¨I understand. Take me to your chief and I´ll talk to him too¨. They didn´t like that idea too much and let me go. Phew!

The next trauma occured when a wasp flew up the sleeve of my jacket. Ouch! Sore and red. So, it´s been quite a day here in Argentina. I arrived at Puerto Iguasu at about 4, but you can only see the falls from the park (about 10 km away) and when I went there they would charge me the entrance even tho it closed in an hour. So tomorrow it's Iguasu Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World!

Final Thoughts... The End of the Journey - March 5, 2009

This will probably be my last post on this blog. Tomorrow morning I fly to Santiago, Chile, for a few days of business and to visit some friends, then on Monday I return to Panama. As you can imagine, this final piece is being written with a great deal of emotion.

This has been an incredible journey. Four years ago this trip was just an idea of something that I would ¨kind of like to do someday¨. I remember sitting around a table at about 2am at my 40th high school reunion and telling some friends what I was planning. I got some looks that made me feel like I had probably forgotten to take my medications, or maybe just had most of my spinach salad stuck in my teeth.

Then the idea started to become a plan: A new bike, and some real research into how one actually goes about doing this kind of adventure. I had never taken on anything so extensive. My ¨practice trip¨ for six weeks through Central America last year was a good beginning, but the difference between six weeks and six months is not linear... it´s a difference of geometric magnitude.

The bike I selected for the trip, the Kawasaki KLR650, has proven to be an excellent choice. In case I didn´t mention it before, it now has a name: El Pinguino, in honor of the fact that a piece of her went to Antarctica with me.

The Kawi is not the best bike in the world, but everything is a compromise and this was a good one. Powerful enough, not TOO heavy, and simple enough that I could find parts and fix pretty much anything. I would select it again in a minute.

It´s currently in Buenos Aires waiting for the next phase of the trip. In some ways I don´t want to see it again for a while... I´m tired and I think we need some time apart. But I know that in 3 or 4 months when I return it will be waiting for me like a faithful friend, and I will be ready once again to climb back into the saddle to see where we end up together.

This has been six months of riding by myself through six countries plus Antarctica, 24,000 kilometers, mountains, deserts, cities, icebergs, and virtually everything else. I´ve gone from 9 degrees north of the equator to more than 67 degrees south (south of the Antarctic Circle). At times I didn´t know if I would make it. There were certainly times when I just wanted to throw the bike down and shout ¨It´s enough already. I want to stop¨. And then I would come upon a scene, a road, or a mountain pass and say to myself ¨Yes, this is what it´s all about. Life just doesn´t get any better than this¨.

I´ve often said that this was the ¨bipolar trip¨, periods of intense lonliness as well as great joy over the people that I have met. Balancing these emotions hasn´t always been easy, but that´s what makes it an adventure and a learning experience.

I have met some incredible people along the way, and want to express my gratitude to so many that supported in ways large and small. It could have been through advice on a road to take (or not take), or just being available for a beer. Also, I want to thank many of you who have been following this blog and wrote words of encouragement. It´s the people in our lives that make the difference.

In particular, I want to thank Karen. There are not too many people in this world who will tell their significant other ¨Sure, take off on a motorbike around South America for the next six months¨. I know that leaving her to deal with houses, pets, bank accounts, and the other minutia of daily life that I usually handle (in Spanish) wasn´t easy, and I appreciate it. This is also the woman who said to me a few weeks ago, as I was still debating what to do when I reached Buenos Aires (sell the bike?, ship it?, continue later?, etc.) ¨You haven´t finished the trip yet. Of course you have to keep going¨. What an attitude!

I really have no idea how to sum this up, and how to end this blog. It has taught me so much about people, places, and myself that I think it will take years of reflection to make sense of it. I´ll be returning to Buenos Aires in 3 or 4 months to ¨complete¨ the journey: Brazil, Venezuela, and probably back to Bogota and Panama.

In the meantime, I´ll leave you with my last view of El Pinguino, sitting at the Dakar Motos shop in Buenos Aires. I know it will be there waiting for me to continue the next adventure.



To Be Continued ...

Finally... Buenos Aires: March 2 to 6

The ride from Mar del Plata to Buenos Aires was uneventful... 500 km of tarmac. Getting into BA was another matter. This is a huge city, and the place I was looking for is in a far suburb.

I had arranged to store my bike at Dakar Motos, a shop used by many intrepid bikers like myself. After two hours of searching -- unsuccessfully -- I finally called and Javier, the owner, sent someone to find me.

I spent the next two days sleeping in the back room of the shop (pure luxury) and doing general maintenance on the bike. There´s a little more repair to be done before I continue (the wobble in the front end turned out to be bad wheel bearings that need to be replaced), but Javier will take care of that before I return.

Yesterday (March 4), I moved to a hostel in San Telmo, one of the more active and interesting areas of Buenos Aires. I left the bike in the attentive hands of Javier, to be ready for my return. I´ll miss the old girl!

On Friday (March 6) I fly to Santiago for some business with a university there and to visit some friends. Monday, March 9, it´s back to Panama and the end -- at least for now -- of the journey.

It´s been a hell of a ride !

Mar del Plata.. On the Beach: Feb 25 - March 1

It had been about two months since I had been in a major city, and entering Mar del Plata was a bit of a shock. Normally I leave my bike parked in a place like this, but first I have to get someplace to leave it. Fortunately for GPS, I was able to find the apartment that my friend Alicia (from Ushuaia) had offered to loan me.

Mar del Plata is a huge beach resort. Think Miami Beach on steroids. Also, like Miami, the average age appeared to be in the low 100s. This is high season, so things are crowded. It was nice to just walk around and along the beach for a few days, get laundry done, and catch up on the blog.

Alicia eventually showed up and we did a little sight seeing. One was to the beach (about all I could deal with). More fun was riding my bike to Sierra de los Padres... a village about 20 km from Mar del Plata.







First we went to visit Alicia´s friend Joyce, her daughter Jackie, her boyfriend Ali, their two dogs, and eight horses. It was this last that was the most fun: We saddled up the mounts and all went for a nice ride in the country.

Gauchos we were not, but we still had a lot of fun.

We then went to visit Cristian Villouz and his family, also in Sierra de los Padres. Cristian is a friend of Angel Costa, who had helped me with a project in Uruguay last year. He kindly offered to let me store my bike at his place while I returned to Panama, but in the end I decided to leave it in Buenos Aires. However, it was nice to visit him and see his business operation (fruit preserves)

After a few days it was ¨hasta luego¨ to Mar del Plata, and off for the final run to the Big Apple, Buenos Aires.

The World´s Most Boring Road... Ruta 3 to Mar del Plata: Feb 22 - 24

I left Calafate early to avoid the Patagonian winds, and fortunately was successful. The paved road heads southeast to Rio Gallegos, then back up Ruta 3 along the Atlantic coast. However, there is a 200 mile dirt road that heads east, and I was told by the cops in El Calafate that this would cut off about 3 hours from the trip... so dirt it was. Fortunately, this time the information was correct: about four hours of pretty good dirt track brought me to the atlantic.





Along the way there was... NOTHING! You will find this to be a recurring theme for the next few days. Miles of pampas, interrupted on occasion by extreme monotony. I did see quite a few guanacos along the way, and finally caught site of several flocks of ñandú. These are an ostrich-like bird that is native to the pampas. Unfortunately, they are very shy and very fast, so by the time I got my camera out they were gone. So I´m cheating (truth in advertising) by putting a picture here that I grabbed from the internet so you´ll know what I saw











I won´t bore you with too many details of the next three days... I had enough boredom for all of us. But basically, stare closely at the picture at the right and then multiply it by 2400 kilometers and you´ll have a good idea of this part of the ride. I plugged in my Ipod (thank you Bill Gates), cranked up the music, set the autopilot (at one point there was a stretch going due north for 100 miles without one single curve), and pushed on.







I stopped the first night in Caleta Olivia, a beach town in the middle of nowhere. The next morning as I was passing through Comodoro Rivadavia I decided to replace my rear tire that was showing a bit too much wear. It only had 3000 miles on it, but the ripio (gravel roads) really tear up the tires.


I found a tire at a Honda shop that would work, but of course they only sell tires... they don´t mount them. That would have been a level of service above and beyond the call of duty. They did however, send me to a tire shop that would mount the tire. However, they wouldn´t take the wheel off of the bike to do it... that would have been a level of service above and beyond the call of duty. So there I spent the morning sitting in the middle of the road removing and reinstalling wheels so that they could change the tire. No proper jack, of course. It didn´t help that I also had a sprained wrist that was bothering me. I have to wonder what someone would do who didn´t know how to do this or have the tools. Ah... customer service at its best.


The only other problem on this stretch was gas. There are enough gas stations along the route, but this being high season many of them run out of gas. This became a problem a couple of times when I had to return to the last city to fill up. My gas milage on this stretch was terrible. While I usually get at least 40 mpg, two things cut this drastically. First, I was going as fast as possible to get this part of the ride over with. I usually cruise at about 100 kph, but I was pushing it to 120-135. The KLR is one of the least aerodynamic bikes ever built, and at higher speeds it is like pushing a brick wall. Then there was the wind. It usually ranged from 40 to 60 miles and hour (sometimes gusting more), and never seemed to come from behind me. So I was either leaning over at 45 degrees, or fighting a direct head wind.


I actually only ran out of gas once: First I ran out and switched to reserve. Then the reserve ran out, but there is a little trick with the KLR that where you lean it WAY over to the left and drain some gas out of the right side of the tank. This worked for another 15 km or so. Then there was the final time. Dead bike. No gas. Nada. Not even fumes. The happy ending: This happened about 100 meters from a gas station! It was the only time on the whole trip that I completely ran out of gas and it is obvious that the gas fairies were looking out for me!


That night I made it to San Antonio del Oeste, and the next day rode the final 900 km to Mar del Plata. My friend Alicia had offered to loan me her apartment there, so I was planning on a few days rest before finishing the trip in Buenos Aires.

El Calafate and Perito Moreno Glacier: Feb 20 - 21

Friday, February 20, was my last time leaving Chile. I had actually crossed between Chile and Argentina seven times! My passport looks like a commuter book. I think I should get frequent crosser milage, and a ¨fast pass¨. Unfortunately, the governments don´t give a damn, so I just wait in line.

I drove today from Puerto Natales to El Calafate, Argentina. El Calafate is extremely touristy. Nothing but cutesy shops and high prices. But it is also the jumping off point to the Perito Moreno Glacier. I had seen so many glaciers in Antarctica that I wondered if this would be worth it, but everyone kept telling me this was different. And they were right.

First, it is HUGE. Something like 30 km wide by 80 km long. It is also one of the few glaciers surrounded by forest. Most people approach from the road and look at it across the river, or take a boat. Some friends had suggested that I go hiking on the glacier, despite the cost of a tour. It was good advice.

First, after an hour and a half bus ride, we took a boat to the base of the glacier. Just approaching it was impressive.

We then had a short hike through the woods to where we were fit for crampons. (I was told that Extra Strength Midol is good for painful crampons, but that´s another story).

For those not into mountain climbing, crampons are like a combination of the bottom of a golf shoe and the old-fashioned roller skates that you attached to your shoes as a kid. (If you don´t know what a skate key is ask your grandparents!). They keep you from playing ¨slip sliding away¨ on the ice.

Then it was onto the ice for a couple of hours. Interesting crevasses, blue holes, streams, and all the other things that make a giant ice cube worth driving thousands of miles to see.

There was also a pay-off at the end of the hike. The guides pulled out the fine crystal, and a bottle of very cheap whiskey, and we all had a toast of whiskey and glacier ice. And then, of course, we got to hike back down drunk. Well worth it!

As we were waiting for the boat to cross back to the other side (the River Styx?), we kept looking for ice falls (also known as ¨calving¨. We saw a few small ones, but couldn´t get a picture. However, we then heard a loud muffled explosion and an island slowly appeared in front of the glacier. Evidently an underwater piece had broken off. It was eerie, and looked kind of like a new island being formed by a volcanic eruption. It was a unique way to see the birth of an iceberg.

Out of Ushuaia, Back to Chile and Torre de Paines: Feb 17 - 19

When I left Ushuaia it was an incredibly beautiful day. The mountains that had been so miserable when I arrived in Ushuaia (cold, rain, fog, and dark) were just the opposite. This lasted for a while, then ¨Patagonia¨ caught up with me again. After three hours I was hitting heavy winds (60 mph) that were pushing me across the road. This was on asphalt, but I knew that after the border I had 120 km of dirt and gravel and I really didn´t want to fight it in the wind. Also, my stomach was doing flip-flops on its own.

Fortunately there is a small hotel at the border at San Sebastian. It´s the only thing there, so they know they have you by the short ones. They only had a room with four beds, but said they would only charge me for a double. Anything at that point.

Later, at dinner, I was talking to three young ladies from France and Belgium who needed a place to stay and the waitress suggested they share my room. Oh, if only I was producing porn pictures I couldn´t have come up with a better plot premise! Unfortunately, reality once again reared its ugly head and we just ended up turning it into a dorm... or more like I was the intruder at a girl scout camp. But it was a place to sleep, and ended up being much cheaper by sharing.

And anyway, I can always lie about the ending!

The next morning was much calmer, and the ride fine. Passing Paso Garibaldi gave me a great view of one of Southern Chile´s famous fjords.

The weather from San Sebastian then turned cold. I mean REALLY cold. I stopped to put on everything I owned, including all my electric gear. (Thank you Luz for the balaklava... I really needed it). I arrived in Puerto Natales (Chile) and spent the night.

Originally I had been planning on spending a few camping in Parque Torre de Paines, but given the cold I decided against it. Remember, this is the South At Sixty Tour, not the I Can Suffer Through Anything Tour ... I´m a woooos! The electric gloves and jacket liner were great, but I forgot to turn off the headlights and when I arrived at the park I had a dead battery. You can´t push-start the bike on dusty gravel roads (no traction) but I finally found someone with jumper cables and got going again.

I had a spectacular day riding a couple of hundred miles of dirt to and through the park. Only one minor mishap that resulted in a sprained wrist that is still bothering me. But you can see why the scenery is worth the effort. The critters below are guanacos, a kind of cross between a llama and an antelope.

Back In Ushuaia: Feb 14 - 17

Our arrival back into Ushuaia couldn´t have been better. First, although the Drake Passage is noted for miserable weather and hellishly seasick passengers it hadn´t been bad for us. It was two days of open ocean, but kind of like a gentle roller coaster rather than being slammed up against a brick wall every 5 seconds. We were lucky... the next day a storm came up and the boats went through a very miserable passage.




As we awoke to come into Ushuaia we had an absolutely perfect sunrise. What a way to end the trip!

It was also nice to see that my bike was still intact at the hotel.






I spent a few more days in Ushuaia. Alicia, my travel agent, had no customers at the time since the season was winding down and wanted me to take her on the bike, so we did a little exploring.




One interesting nearby trip was to visit a guy who raises huskies to race. He has about 70 of them. As a former husky (OK, half husky) owner (We miss you, Yukon), I really appreciated seeing these. Obviously they weren´t too standoffish with me either! I was sorely tempted to bring home a few (like maybe an even half dozen). If I only could have figured out how to fit them on the bike!



We also went to the Parque Nacional Ushuaia. I hadn´t wanted to go into the park before, mainly because of the cost. The real reason for going is because this is where the road ends. I mean, this is really where the road stops: Nada mas. Finito. End of South America. Panamericana termino.... well you get the idea. So it was obviously someplace I needed a picture, but didn´t want to pay 50 pesos ($18) just to go in for a photo op. However, Alicia is a resident with all her documents. When they asked me if I was a resident also I just left my helmet visor down and mumbled ¨Si¨ in my best Argentinian accent. Result: Entry fee of 4 pesos ($1.15).





Obviously this was a picture that I had to get. As you can see, from here it´s only 3079 kilometers back up north to Buenos Aires!









I have to note that we weren´t done with discovering the wildlife here in Ushuaia. We did see one type of penguin in the park that we hadn´t seen in Antarctica. However, they weren´t as cute as the smaller variety. We are also not sure how they breed.

(With apologies to the religious amongst you... but that´s just my warped sense of humor)

The last day in Antarctica – Feb 11

Today is our last day in Antarctica. Where has the time gone? I was worried that 6 days on ice flows might be too much, but the time has flown by.



This morning we landed at Whalers Bay, on Deception Island. Deception Island is actually a volcano, and there is an opening to the caldera which is filled with water. So in we sailed through Neptunes Bellows, the narrow channel leading into the caldera. The weather was cold, wet, sleeting, snowing, and windy. Just like Antarctica is supposed to be. Coming ashore in the Zodiac was “invigorating”, to say the least.






Whalers Bay is an old whaling station that closed in 1931 due to a slump in the price of whale byproducts. There are still a number of buildings standing and available for exploration.


























Deception Island is also one of the few places in Antarctica with flowering plants (there are only two types).











We saw a field of Pearlwort. The excitement was almost overwhelming!








We also had a few fur seals for company. Unlike the other seals we tend to see here (crabeater, leopard, waddell), these are actually members of the sea lion family with big flippers and external ears.







In the afternoon we went to Hannah Point on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. Our expedition leader, Hannah, is quite proud of this place and calls it “my place”, although it was actually named after a ship that sunk a hundred years ago. I don’t think she was on it, but who knows.





At Hannah point there were – go on, try to guess – Gentoo penguins! But more interesting, we had another breed that we hadn’t seen yet, the Chinstrap Penguins.










They are obviously called that because of the distinctive chinstraps that they use to hold the tops of their heads on.










We also encountered a number of young male elephant seals. Male elephant seals can grow to five TONS. The females are only about one sixth that size. Imagine the implications for matrimonial bliss! So, ladies, when you think about complaining that Hubby has put on a few pounds, just think of the elephant seals and how lucky you really are.




I’ve mentioned before the frequent aroma of “eau de Penguin” that we’ve encountered on the islands. The elephant seals make this seem like Chanel #5. Elephant seals spend the vast majority of their lives at sea. They only come ashore to breed and to molt (lose their fur). They are molting in the above photo. In the ocean they don’t have to worry about where they go about their business, so on land they are what might be considered poorly potty trained. They simply go wherever they are, then wallow around in it. When they are done molting, after about a month, they go back into the water and have a good rinse off. But in the meantime, they can be a bit on the ripe side.

There now, isn’t that more than you ever wanted to know about elephant seals? But remember: Knowledge is Power… Go out and use it!

A final farewell:

At 9:12 tonight we passed out of Antarctica. Our last waypoint was Snow Island. How appropriate. We now head back to Drake’s Passage where we will be sailing for two days across open ocean. We hope that it will be as calm as the ride down, but heavy winds are predicted so it might be a bit of a ride.

Snow Island, according to the charts, is located at 62 degrees 51 minutes south by 61 degrees 16 minutes west.














It looks like another chunk of rock in the middle of the Southern Ocean. But it was our last view of Antarctica, and as such will always be located for me in my memory and my heart. This truly is an incredible, unbelievable place. Many people have asked me what the highlight of my trip has been. That has been a difficult question to answer. I’ve loved the people of Colombia, the beautiful colonial architecture of Ecuador and Peru, the colors of the Atacama desert, and the vibrance of cities like Bogota, Quito, and Santiago, among others.

But for a magical place that’s spectacular like no other on earth, the answer has now got to be Antarctica. What an experience!

Whale of a Tale – Feb 10

This was one of the coolest days! (Wait till you see the picture at the end)

Many of the group got up at 5:00 this morning to take a hike on Cuverville Island. I took a look at the inside of my eyelids and decided that was all the scenery I needed for the time being. 7:00 seemed like a so-much-more-civilized time for coffee!






After breakfast, while cruising from Cuverville to Neko Harbor we had more great scenery.












But then someone shouted “Thar she blows! Whales off the port bow”. Now, we saw whales almost every day, so this wasn’t that different. But I wandered up to the bridge, camera in tow. Off the bow we saw one, then two, then a third humpback whale.








Usually we see them, then they disappear. Generally we see the backs, maybe a fin, ocassionaly the flukes (tail).





These, however, seemed to have found a swarm of krill and were feasting to their heart’s delight. They also were doing something we hadn’t seen before, setting up “bubble nets”. This is when the whales go deep and blow bubbles in a circular pattern to trap the krill. The whales stayed around the boat for quite a long time.

Suddenly one decided it was time for a really big gulp, and up he came. With my fingers working fast and furious on the camera, I came up with my favourite shot of the trip. Note that there are actually three whales in this shot: one in front and one in back of the whale that is feeding. Also notice how he expands his throat to take in more water, then forces it out of the side of his mouth through the baleens. !

I can hardly wait to receive the offer from National Geographic. I’m sure it will be in the mail when I get back to Panama.