28th December - Ushaia

We made it!!! We arrived to Ushuaia late last night after a long day from the border with Chile. We are still in the hotel, we are tired! The last few days have been hard, lots of wind, cold and rain. It snowed last night as we were comming in to town!!!! As you can imagine, we are fair weather birds... so we are not very excited with this weather. I wanted to spend a couple of days fishing here, but it is so horrible that we are trying to change tickets to get out asap! We have to see tomorrow Monday with the airline, and then use the rest of the day to prepare and send the bikes on a truck. Wado willl drive back on his super machine! I think he will leave tomorrow, as soon as we know we can change the flights!
We still have to take one last photo near the sight of Ushuaia to finish the story, and perhaps we will do one last drive through the national park Lapataia today before we pack up.
Jorge

Without Wado...

Sunday: We left Esquel just Luis and me, Wado stayed behind waiting for new tyres. Lovely ride, open spaces and big skies. Stopped for fishing, Luis caught lots of trout!!!! Even on dry fly!!!! Then we stopped again in a big river, nothing.. very very windy!!!
Reached Rio Mayo, small town.. stayed in small hotel...
Monday: Waited here for Wado, since we got up late we could not go fishing to a good spot. I went to small river, no luck. Wado arrived at lunchtime, we fell off on gravel but nothing happened. Just had lunch and are off to do 100 km of gravel, which a Spanish couple here say is really bad... we´ll see. We should arrive tonight at Perito Moreno town on route 40 where we are planning to sleep. Jorge.

Cool pics and traffic jams

Day7: Saturday: decided to spend 1 day here in Sequel before going to tough gravel roads further south. Wado went on the Patagonian train La Trochita…. Luis spent the day fixing his bike, he changed carburettor again… after changing transmission and front brake pads…. He says it's perfect now¡¡¡¡ And mine…. I went fishing, but got completely soaked with rain in the mountains… never got a chance to fish….It's pouring now and we don’t know if we will leave tomorrow or not. Also Wado is waiting for new gravel tyres and they will arrive tomorrow night, so we might just wait for him , although he insists we carry on till Rio Mayo and he will catch up next day… we will see….

(Not sure if it's Sequel or Esquel - Jorge is having trouble with his fingers, which are not designed for a PC keyboard...)

Roads, Trains and Bikes!

Watch out for emus, they're better equipped for this type of road!

Should've taken the train...?

Day 6: El Bolson to Esquel: We took it easy again on the way through the mountains on tarmac.
We even stopped by a river where I caught my first Patagonian trout!
We reached Esquel early evening and are staying in a nice flat near the centre of town. Again we did a tour of abut 100 km on gravel through Los Alerces national park, I caught 4 lovely strong trout by a river¡¡¡¡

Photos of boys and bikes...

Day 4: Las Lajas to La angostura: We left Jimemnez after a small breakfast of café con leche and cookies… It was a hard day which ended up with a stretch of 100 km in gravel at the end of the day, through lakes and mountains… It was a busy road and I was cautious after the day before´s falls¡¡¡ We slept in a lovely cabin….

Day 5: Angostura to el Bolson: we took it really easy in the morning, repaired bikes and checked e mails and bought things like sun cream etc. Had to go to Bariloche to buy spares for Luis bike. The guy in the shop spend half an hour finding it, only to be refused by Luis when he told us the price¡ I bought it¡¡¡

Getting Colder...

They're hoping to reach the glaciers soon, as you can see by the update below. But the temperature has dropped already and they've now had to start wearing gloves. This was fortunate as they came in useful when Jorge had a nasty fall after chasing an emu offroad and he ended up sliding along gravel for several metres on his gloved hands and well protected bum. (See I told you the proper clothes were worth paying for!) I still think maybe a full service on the bikes before the trip, rather than during, would have been worth it too...

More Pics

Day 3:
From Malargue in Mendoza to Las Lajas in Neuquenm (all on rute 40). Left early after a quick breakfast. Lovely arid terrain, clear skies and open country. This is the day when I fell trying follow an avestruz¡¡¡¡ (emu!) and then again while taking a corner on gravel a bit faster than I should have¡¡¡¡
Ended up very tired in a small place Las Lajas, owner of the hostel was a bit weird. Senor Jimenez…. We thought he was going to shoot us while sleeping to steal the bikes and dump bodies in the river….. I managed to get a smile out of him while leaving…..
Had to bring a mattress from another room and put it on the floor.

Update from Jorge

All is going well, bikes are working fine now. We are in Esquel, the last biggish town.. we are spending 1 rest day tomorrow, and will carry on on Sunday. We should be in the glaciar area on Monday. will keep you posted as much as we can...

Days 1 and 2

It didn't start well - Belgrano lost, score unknown...

However, the boys set out on Day 1, Sunday 14th December, riding through the green hills of Cordoba, and meeting up with a bikers convention along the way. After stopping for a rest in Rio Quarto, Luis' bike wouldn't start again and they had a bit of a panic. They started it up with a push and made it to Villa Mercedes, to meet up with cousin Jorge and family for asado (what else?) Then they travelled (after a push start again,) to the town of San Luis, about 500km south of Cordoba. Luis' bike was giving him a hard time, and they were worried about oil consumption, however a quick trip to a local mechanic ensured that he was back to the smiling Luis that we all know and love.

They left San Luis, a 'slow, nice provincial town, with lots of people out on the streets at night' at noon on Day 2, heading for Mendoza - known worldwide as the wine-producing region of Argentina. They arrived safely in Malargue, on Route 40 at the end of Day 2, tired but in good spirits. After enduring 40 degrees heat they were happy to see snow on the tops of the mountains, as they are now at the foothills of the Andes. The bikes are running well despite thunder storms, and the 'skies are beautiful.' OK, we believe you, but we'd like to see some photos!!!

Are we ready? Erm...

Needed - 1 photographer...

Thanks Jimena for the professional video supplied - see below.

When you hire a professional, one of the most important things, in my opinion, is reliability. I've been asking for photos every day since day one to keep everyone updated, and so far Jimena has come up with the goods. Wish they were taking her too, but 'no girls allowed', and probably definitely not little sisters... Damn...

So heres hoping that Belgrano win today so at least they won't be in too bad a mood when they set off tomorrow, although judging by the video, that's not guaranteed. And here's hoping that at least one of them stays in touch with someone so we know what's going on...

Jorge Vs Moto 2

Jorge Vs Moto 1

In the Beginning...

They set off from all corners of the earth (Houston and Sharjah anyway,) to meet in Cordoba, Argentina on Tuesday, 9th December. The first two to arrive dropped bags and immediately set off on a test run, resulting in mechanical failure after 50kms... Undaunted by this and rain, thunder and lightening, the third to arrive dusted off his moth-eaten motorbike license and went to exchange it for a shiny new one. One theory test, one road test and a slightly shaken bald biker is ready to roll. Once his bike comes back from the workshop...

The Ferrari boys (Jorge, Eduardo and Luis) have undertaken the trip of a lifetime and in a few short days (after Belgrano play at home on Saturday) they are foregoing cosy family Christmases for the dirt, tarmac, rain and possibly snow, of South Argentina. Keep checking this blog for exclusive updates and photos (anyone know a decent photographer in the area???) and all news Ferrari.