Day 379 Friday 28 November Puerto Gradual to Perito Moreno 198km

Last night Peens was Braai Master again, and he also had a Braai Companion, but not a dog, this time it was a cat, who was later joined by another 3 cats, not a stray-dog in sight.

There is nothing a liter of glue and enough pressure overnight can’t fix, so this morning Pie had boots that would fit any ducks foot.

We were drinking a new Chilean Cultivar Wine which was really nice. Carmenere, dark red, but with a distinct taste.

Route 265 was SPECTACULAR !!! It is definitely the most scenic gravel road pass I had ever ridden. In Norway you are not on gravel road and there are very few passes (they just build a tunnel through the mountain.) And no gravel in Norway, all tar, with a house or farm around every corner, and also not deserted and desolate as today’s ride. We were all alone for long periods, with a car coming from the front, covering you in dust only every 10 minutes or so. We had the mountains to our right and a very big lake to our left.  We had gravel up to the border, 106km, non stop.

Once again, just when we got to some really good-6th-gear-gravel we met up with Psycho and his Brother. We were stopped at the Stop & Go and they tortured us by making us watch in horror as the brothers took a perfect Gravel Highway and then break it to pieces right in front of our eyes, and then  Mad Max in the water truck turns it into mud, and then we are allowed to proceed, which we did, with extreme caution.

Note above how good the road is before they “fixed” it.

Some of today’s photos:

We traveld next to this lake for 100km, it is called Lago Gral. Carrera in Chile and Lago Buenos Aires on the Argentinian side. It is the 2nd largest Lake in South America, with a surface area of 1850 square kilometers. It is 590m deep and is famous for its Marble Caves into which there are tours on Kayaks and Speed Boats. There is also lots of fishing and sailing done on this lake.

Below is a photo of Dog, he loves Toys, (yesterday he had his drone follow him and when the drone got confused it simply turned around and went back to where Dog had launched the drone, waiting for him to return.) If you look carefully you will see some “stick” bolted onto the handlebars. It is a 360 Degree Video Camera,(Insta 360 it is called,) far far better than anything Go-Pro has. You can extend the “stick” and then the footage looks like you were filmed by a drone. The best part about this Action Camera is the software that comes with it on its App. It starts by editing the “Stick” out of the footage, thus the Drone affect. And then it makes you a little movie, adding music which you can change, and it switches around between footage taken towards the direction you are riding and footage taken backwards. It is really very easy and poor Go-Pro has been playing catch-up for more than a year now, without success, this product is far superior.

We found three farmers coming towards us on horseback, with their dogs herding the cattle along the main road. The light was from the front and I could not get a good photo, this is the best I got, note the hat and the pants and the scarf, typical “Cowboy” wear in Chile.

The border crossing was fast, just an hour to cross,  and they gave Peens, who arrived 1st, again, (without winning any prize, again,) only 90 days on his TIP (Temporary Import Permit.) We are returning on the 1st of February, so 90 days would have been enough, but things can go wrong, so he put on his best smile and begged for 8 months, the Maximum we got before. They felt sorry for him and gave him 8 Months, and he gave each of them a little wire animal. I could not believe how happy the one lady who was helping me at the time when was she could chose one of the 3 animals, she chose the Elephant from his hands, she stroked it and hugged it, loving the gift, and then they went into overdrive and we were out of there in record time, called to the front of the line, pushed in front of the other tourists, who arrived with our wire animals, suckers.

The primary school of the border town, actually a little village, called Chile Chico was having a parade on the main road as we stopped for a coffee. Not sure what the celebration was, but it was big occasion with teachers and parents dancing and waving flags and posters. Noisy, but nice.

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Short noisy video below:

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The best photo today was the one below taken by Pie of Dog coming up the pass through the shadow:

The Dog is back. Those who followed this Blog when Dog drove our Back-Up-Vehicle through Mongolia, China and into Laos, will remember that Dog, then 30km heavier and single, used to put on a mask and scare the Chinese kids who would stand next to tot us for photos. Dog takes Selfies of himself everywhere he travels:

After the border crossing we were back onto tar and immidiately the scenery changed back to the landscape of the Great Karoo, flat, dry. Patagonia is definitely much nicer on the Chilean side of the mountain.

Our town tonight is minute, like Naboomspruit in size. The hotel (yes, no longer staying in Cabanas,) is like Time Traveling back to the 60’s. We sat in the Cafeteria drinking the beer, served by the owner. The Owner and his very noisy friend sat in the corner playing cards. The betting was fierce and one guy who kept on losing was sent to the ATM to get the money he owed. They were very loud and many cups of Espresso were drunk with a little “something” poured into it, probably Pisco. They also just started smoking heavily, so I need to get out of here , fast.

But Rocky went to his bike and fetched the left-over meat from last night, borrowed a knife from said owner and we proceeded to make us each a sandwich, we were hungry, we missed out on lunch.

We only have 2 days of riding left, the end of the trip is in sight. We have a few Tourist things to do in El Calafate, plus the normal washing of bikes, some maintenance and the whole storing-procedures to follow.

Looking forward to sharing more of  our Life On The Road with you tomorrow.

XXXXXXX

Fleisch