The "Roaring 40's" Didn't Disappoint (Monday, December 17 - Punta Arenas to Rio Grande)

As I mentioned in one of the earlier posts, the area we are riding in now (between 40 and 49 degrees of latitude) is called the "Roaring 40's" for the very windy conditions.  That is exactly what we had all day today.  It didn't take long after we left Punta Arenas this morning to feel the forces of the wind.  We quickly learned that riding here is not for the faint of heart or for those without adequate riding experience.  For much of the day, it took all the strength, weight, and will-power we had to keep the bike on the road.  Much of the day was spent riding with the bike leaned over just to make it go straight with the very strong side winds.  Needless to say, we are a little tired tonight.

Most of the land in the area we are riding now is very flat and very desolate.  Occasionally there are some rolling hills but there is not a lot to photograph from that perspective.  There are 2 things we did see a lot of today and that was sheep and guanaco.  The sheep are grazing in the fields everywhere!  I have never seen so many sheep in my life.  I think that is because that is all the land here is good for is grazing sheep.  The guanaco are related to llamas and are in fields by the roads.  They are often in groups of around 10 but we saw a few groups of about 30. We must approach with caution as one  never knows which direction they are going to run.   Thankfully, no close calls today.

Our first stop today was at an old sheep operation that dated back to 1876.  I don't know when the operation closed but many of the builds still contain sheep wool and other remnants.  I know Bill H. knows what I am talking about!

  

The next stop was waiting for the ferry to cross the Strait of Magellan. Due to the windy conditions, the ferry was not running when we arrived.  Upon arrival they thought the wait could be up to 2 hours.  After some coffee, pictures, talking to a couple from California, etc.  the ferry arrived about 1 hour and 45 minutes after we arrived.  Getting the bikes on the ferry was a bit of a challenge due to the combination of wind and a wet metal ramp.  Fortunately, no incidents to report!

From the ferry just after we left shore

Bikes tied together on the ferry deck

Ferry boat operator tower

After crossing the Strait of Magellan, we entered the area known as Tierra del Fuego.  Later in the day, we completed our first border crossing as we went from Chile to Argentina.  This took some time as first we had to do all the paperwork to get out of Chile and then you drive down the road a ways and then you do more paperwork to get into Argentina.  I am sure glad we have our guide to do all the talking with the border people on both sides.  All we had to do was hand them our passports.  Our guide worked in customs for 10 years before starting to do these tours so he still knows some of the people; that always helps!

We also did our first gravel road riding today and that went well.  We had our choice of routes, one was paved and the other was gravel.  We asked Wilfredo which route was prettier and he said gravel so we went for it.  The roads was very hard packed gravel with only some spots with loose gravel and rocks just to keep you on your toes!.  The roads were of similar condition to what I learned to ride motorcycle on way back when I was a kid so I adjusted pretty quickly.  Pradeep is very familiar with driving on these types of roads so he had no issues at all.  Fighting the wind while driving on gravel added to the challenge but generally the wind was less so we managed without incident.

Along the way, we had to put fuel in for the first time.  The amount due for the 2 bikes combined was over 23,000 Pecos.  It is the first time I handed over a piece of money that has a value of 20,000 and it was enough to put gas in a vehicle!  In U.S. dollars it was about $33 dollars so it wasn't cheap but it doesn't feel as bad as 20,000.

Tonight we are in the town Rio Grande.  Tomorrow will be a shorter riding day as we head to Ushuaia and the "end of the road".  This is as far south as you can go by road in the world!  We are really looking forward to tomorrow's ride and views.