Chile

The ride north begins

I hit the lonnggg, cold, and windy grind up ruta 3 in search of warmer days. I’ve been heading south since I left my home in Arizona and for the first time in almost a year I point the bike on a northern trajectory. I want to make it to Rio Gallegos from Ushuaia which […]

A stormy Torres del Paine

A fierce storm brewing behind the massif that resulted in yours truly getting pummeled by ice from all directions. The Torres is one of my favorite national parks in Latin America. Hiking the “W” Trail is worth the extra time.

Gone with the wind

I am interested in crossing the border to El Chalten, Argentina from O’Higgins but my interest is quickly squashed when I learn there is no aduana at the border post so no way to process a moto. On top of that the ferries have stopped running for the season and I’m not certain they can […]

Dragging my feet to Cochrane

I feel myself slipping into a riding funk so I opt to stay in Coyhaique for a couple days and enjoy the solitude of the cabin. The Austral slices through a remote Chilean Patagonia and the back drop of fiords and glaciers are something I want to savor. Some people blast through Patagonia just to […]

The Carretera Austral

The mornings are quite cold now and one’s desire to get an early start is tempered by the frigid remains of the night. The relative warmth of 10 AM is a nice compromise and we make good time to the border. We arrive to a cold drizzly Futaleufu then head south to where we pick […]

Carretera Austral

Cold and wet on the Austral in southern Chile. Near La Junta, Chile

Distrito de Lagos y mantenimiento de la moto

I was climbing the walls in Santiago and relieved to have a new passport and be on the road again. I feel pressed for time but don’t know why, the looming winter in the south, perhaps. 300+ mile days of high speed asphalt don’t normally appeal to me but the bike is running well and […]

Take a number please

With the bike’s forks sorted I head north to find a pass that will take me to Uspallata and then on to the Chilean border for a third time. I’m looking for a dirt pass in lieu of the more traveled main road and while I do find the road, I later learn it’s not […]

Getting on Argentine time

I feel trapped in San Pedro but I picked up a nagging cough in Bolivia and need to rest up before riding over Paso Sico to Salta. I pass the time with my friend Paul, who I met in Uyuni, and another friend, Stefan, who’s on a 990 heading north. I convince Stefan he needs […]

Flip flopping in the Atacama desert

The last four months of riding in Peru and Bolivia have been epic to say the least. As I descend some 8k feet from the Bolivian alitplano to the Atacama desert plain I reflect on a kaleidoscope of experiences I won’t soon forget. That tranquil border crossing in northern Peru seems so far away now […]