Downtime in Mendoza

Enjoying the downtime in Mendoza.  Spending the weeks at Spanish school, a little bit of work and weekends out and about.  I think my Spanish is improving but some days are seriously frustrating, I still can't hold a conversation!, but at the intercultural nights I have met some interesting locals, as well as some not so local people, such as the campest old man from the US called Dick Cumming who makes flag poles for a living, I kid you not he is a real person.

Today was probably the best day out of Mendoza yet, I’d planned to go to the Uco Valley via Potrerillo Revervoir.  I’d also planned to get up at 7am, but this went out of the window after going out last night with some Brazilians.  Needless to say I didn’t hear my alarm so woke up 2hrs late.  When I left, the GPS as usual was rubbish, so just turned it off, I sort of knew the direction - always having the mountains over my right shoulder at all times helps.  One thing though, it was cold, bitterly cold, especially over 80km/h.  I was wearing nearly as many layers as the Andes crossing but for some reason after 30mins I couldn’t feel my fingers.  Not the best when you’re riding a bike.  

So cold in fact that I decided to cut the day short and just aim for Potrerillo.  Potrerillo is a huge man made reservoir created by a damming the Mendoza river.  There is not much there really unless you have a boat and I haven't amongst all my things, so instead when I arrived I found some off road tracks around the reservoir and was soon on my own without a person or car in sight, which isn’t hard as the reservoir is 12km x 3km in size.  

Route to Potrerillo

Usually boring scenery in the area.

 I did this for an hour or so and after eating some lunch I got a bit restless so decided to carry on my original trip along Ruta 89 to Tupangata and the Uco Valley.  It was already 1:30 so had to get a move on, but being oil country there are loads of tanker trucks all over the place, and on the uphill sections they can be as slow as 20km/h.  At one quiet, remote point I overtook one and for the first time in 1100km crossed the double yellow lines in the process.  Typically there were 2 motorbike policemen at just that point who then signalled me over to stop.  I couldn’t believe it, they must have ridden ages just to get to there.  I had to stop, my bike was about half the size of theirs plus I knew they had me as I’d crossed the double yellow lines.  I also knew they were not interested in road safety.

There is only one reason the police come this far out here and its not to admire the mountains.  They look to supplement their wage.  Normally I wouldn’t pay and wait unti they were tired of not understanding me, but this time I was in no position to argue, I have no Padron document yet and I had broken the law.  I tried the old “non entiendo” which is pretty close to the truth, which with my accent sounds like “no Nintendo” anyway, and prepared myself for the bargaining to begin.  It started with a US$300 fine and confiscation of my bike, which they never and can't do, and ended with me paying 50 peso, all the while some other drivers were doing the exact same thing I had only done moments before.  Cheeky feck even called his sister afterwards who speaks English and got her to explain that he was doing it to help me out as he know I am only a tourist.  But his smile indicated we both knew what he was up to and he wouldn't take the money until there were no cars around.

After this I was so cold and had to stay at 60km/s to try to get some feeling back, by then my feet were numb too but I eventually reached Ruta 89, passing through tiny settlements called Los Vegas and other familiar names until I hit the gravel section.  The gravel was about 60kms long, no traffic, with windy bends and long stretches next to Fincas in the middle of nowhere and of course the familiar mountains looming over again.  

This time without my luggage and a bit more experience I could go fast, 80-90kms on moving gravel, which for want of a better word is pretty exhilarating and was getting pretty confident when a large silent shadow appeared over me in the shape of a plane and followed my path along the road.  When I looked up I saw it was a huge bird of prey that was blocking the sun above me.  Was surreal, as it really was following me along the road.  It looked as big as the condors I saw in Peru a few years back. I don’t know if they have them down here, but I swear it was one.  I looked up at it a few times and began thinking it was a tactic to get me to crash, die and turn into food, because that is what nearly happened.  Looking up so much I didn’t see what is fast becoming my arch nemesis - deep gravel - which I hit at speed and then nearly got thrown into the left side of the bank.  It all happened faster than it takes to read this, but it was scary stuff for a moment as  I could hardly brake, so had to just drop the throttle.  As I ran out of road on the edge of the track all I could do was lean into the middle and hope for the best.  Amazingly this worked and I skidded into the centre of the road again.  Watching me gracefully survive my latest gravel moment must have pissed the bird off as it then flew off back to the mountains.  I'd like to think this is what it was thinking, but it more than likely came over to see what was creating the dust cloud.  Either way its a strange thing to feel like you are being stalked, I wish there had been someone to see this with me.  I only passed 5 farmers in their fields on the whole stretch.  For an idea, here is a crooked hand held video of this section of the road below.
 

The journey was actually the best part for me (sure there is some Chinese proberb about that) and when I got to the end of the gravel and into Tupangata and the Valle de Uco I took a few pics of the famous vineyards out here, but to be honest I had to get back as I was running out of daylight.  

Salentein Bodega

Long day in the end just short of 300km and so so cold, as I write this 5hrs after returning my fingers are still numb with pins and needles.  I have just packed my bag for Spanish school tomorrow and noticed I havn't done my homework.  Some things never change even 15yrs after leaving school, at least this time round I can use google.

So decision made

Well its funny how things work out.  Last few days I have been thinking to head north, when I somehow found myself a job of sorts.  I was in a language school looking for information on Spanish courses when after 10 mins of chatting I realised they thought I had come to ask about a teaching job.  I can see the confusion, I had my CV in my hand as I had been updating it and printed it out earlier in case I needed it in the future.  

When I realised I was being inteviewed I pointed out I was far from a teacher and I only want to learn Spanish.  The person happened to be Cristina, the owner of the Intercultural school and she already had 50 decent teachers anyway, but she said she would offer me a free room in a house in exchange for me editing their English language website and coordinating their weekly intercultural meeting in a bar.  I could then take lessons in the school as well.   It seemed like a good deal so I agreed - I get my own room after all this time away and a free beer once a week.  So I suppose I am staying in Mendoza for a month.  Decision made.

Sunset from the Balcony in my room

Mendoza now what?

So have been in Mendoza for about a week now and am having trouble working out what to do.  I spent so long wanting to get back to Argentina that I didn’t actually think about what I would do once I got here.  In the meantime I have been getting on with mundane stuff like getting the bikes first 1000km service arranged and moving hostels to Hostel Lau, and then Hostel Empedrada, both of which are better than Itaka.  

Parque Indepedencia

Other than this I have met a few couchsurfing people, drank mate, ridden all over the vineyards around Mendoza (always with the impressive backdrop of the mountains over your shoulder), and I've also been on the obligatory wine tour on bicycles trip.  The latter being where you basically ride to different bodegas and try their wines and pretend to ask intelligent question about wine production whilst getting progressively drunk.  

 

This guy was great, it was the last vineyard we visited, his family moved to Argentina from Sicily when he was one and they have been making wine ever since.  He has won loads of awards and featured in international papers.  Best wine of the day, just can't remember his name!  He really was a Don, it said so on the bottles.

Sicilian Don???

 

Also done a few day trip around and about below is Cacheut, an area with Thermal springs.  Some shockingly clad people out here in terrible swimsuits.  Was in too much shcok to capture them so you'll have to settle for the bridge that is there instead...

All good stuff but am starting to get restless now, so a decision will need to be made soon.  Return to Rosario or head off north??

Uspallata to Mendoza

 Today, was one of those days where you end up somewhere extraordinary when you didn’t mean to be there.  It turns out Uspallata is such a place.  It’s a one of those small dusty towns that most people would pass though without stopping and I would have been the same if I had made it to Mendoza yesterday.  I was staying in a hostel a few km away from the town and after breakfast I decided to take one of the gravel tracks that runs from behind the hostel to see what is around the area.   

 It’s a remote place, and despite it being bitterly cold, I’m glad I checked it out before heading to Mendoza as I was able see stunning scenery such, as in the pictures below.  Unfortunately most of the pictures are ruined by a combination of me, me and the bike, or simply the bike - its all still a novelty, but you still get the idea of how amazing it is around there.

 

Obligatory skull shot

 

Later, I came back to pack in my own individual way (which is basically taking over all available space everywhere), and as I was about to leave a someone staying in the hostel who happens runs a motorbike tour company in Mendoza came over and gave me a map of Argentina.  Not a bad spot of luck.  He then explained one of the best routes to ride in the whole province is Ruta 52, and that it goes from Uspallata all the way to Mendoza.  It’s a bit longer than the standard Ruta 7 I was planning to take, but worth it.  It was enough to convince me to go, even though it doesn’t show on my GPS, but it didn’t matter, I've now decided to only use the GPS in the cities and I had a map at long last too.

I set off and rode back into Uspallata, passing some locals who were beginning their festival for Independence.  Somehow I imagine it is different to the celebrations in the bigger cities.

A few kms later I hit the Ruta 52.  I didn’t know much about it, but I had been told that it has sections that are not paved.  This turned out to be more than half of the 100kms to Mendoza.  It was to be a real baptism of fire as it was my first time riding on gravel, but I knew at some point I would need to learn.  There are tactics to ride on this kind of surface, I knew this, but it probably would have been better if I knew what they were!  So instead I tried to take it slow and keep it under 50km/h, which I now know is not the right way.

 

It was really uncomfortable and in some sections the gravel was pretty deep (5-10cm deep), which is ok as long as you don’t deviate from the path you are on.  But I did, and on one occasion I started to pull over to take a picture and immediately started to lose control.  I could tell putting on the brakes would mean I would drop the bike, but because I had plenty of space I decided to let the bike slow down naturally in the deep gravel.  This is a massively newbie mistake to make, as although I didn’t fall off I had a nightmare of a time trying to push the bike out after - 200kgs plus around 35kg of luggage is not easy and I couldn’t ride it out.  So dripping with sweat after pulling the bastard out of the gravel I learnt pretty quickly that Lesson 1 is avoid deep gravel. 

Carrying on was still painful, as I was avoiding the deep stuff and using parts where the gravel had been aside by other vehicles.  Its just that here over time the gravel develops corrigated ridges and furrows. called "riplo" I think?  I vaguely remembered this from when I had a 4x4 in Australia and it was annoying then, but on a bike its terrible.  It constantly jars your arms and body and generally throws you all over the place.  It really shook me to the core.  Even more worryingly I knew my plastic Chinese bike was quickly being shaken apart.  

After few kms of this I learnt Lesson 2, which is, it is actually better to go faster so that you reach a speed where you float over the top of the riplo and miss the furrows completely.  Its pretty hairy stuff as you have to go at a speed that you know if you make a mistake you are going to fall off fairly hard.  You also can’t slow down using the brakes, so you really have to anticipate everything on the road otherwise you are going to fall too.  It’s a balance between killing your bike by going too slow or hurting yourself if you loose control.  For this road I worked out 70km/h or more was best.     

Lesson 3 is, gravel roads mean big bastard stones flying at you, not much you can do about that but I now have a massive bruise on one shin and my apparently “all terrain!” chain guard has been smashed to pieces, with the remaining piece hanging off.

After about 50kms the road climbed out of the valley to about 3000m and I started to pass people in cars who come from Mendoza to a sightseeing point that overlooks the Andes.  The road improved a bit too as over time the cars have cleared some of the gravel away.  This was useful as I could concentrate more on the scenery, which as always was amazing.  I didn’t know this at the time but the Uspallata valley was used for the filming of Seven Years in Tibet, not seen the film but have to say the scenery is pretty impressive. 

Views back to the Andes, can see the gravel road taken too

A picture of Mr Pitt from the movie

Continuing on I reached Villavicencio, where pretty much every bottle of mineral water in Argentina is sourced from, and from there I started to drop down the Villavicencio valley.  This is the old international road to Chile and winds down in what must be several hundred switchbacks and bends and called the Caracoles de Villavicencio, or "the snails of Villavicencio".

This was great fun but also a bit dangerous as many sections here were in the shadows of the hills and there was a lot of ice to play with, which on a track with no barriers and deep drops over the side kept me fairly awake.  Yet another new surface to ride on, but this time I went really slowly and used my legs as stabilisers.  Not sure if this is an accepted method of riding, but I can tell you it works.

This was the last section of offroad and I finally hit smooth, easy, asphalt, a godsend despite how much fun the gravel was.  Around here there were locals dotted all over bottom of the valley having Parrillas (BBQs) and the smell of food drifting everywhere made me want to stop and scrounge some food.  My GPS kicked in though, so I thought I would just get on to Mendoza instead, which was only another 20kms or so.  On a nice surface it took no time at all and I arrived at Hostel Itaka soon after, along with a thick layer of dust covering me and all that I owned.  All in all a fun, easy day and but most importantly I was in Mendoza.

Made it, done it, did it, The Andes on a motorbike

After an age of preparation last night and running just short of a million things through my mind I managed a grand sum of 2hrs sleep.  I’d packed most things the night before but still had loads of clothes left in a pile.  But seeing as I was expecting it to be cold I decided to wear as much as I could.  I wore no fewer than 4 layers all over, which I didn’t know at the time, made my legs look nothing short of ridiculous.  I wore 2 pairs of thick thermals, a pair of trousers and a pair of jeans.  The trade off for keeping warm being everything was so tight I couldn’t bend my legs much and my jeans appeared sprayed on. 

All packed and ready

I finished loading up and set out just after 9am, and after a few wobbles I was pretty confident at handling the bike.  Getting out of the city was fine, and relying on the GPS I was pretty sure I could get to the right motorway that led to the mountains.  Of course too much to ask as I ended up on the wrong highway – GPS was not a star buy of mine and google maps lacks a little.  So 30km outside of the city I found a group of taxi drivers and asked where the hell I was.   By their faces they seemed fairly surprised by my request for directions, which upon seeing my photos tonight was probably more in amazement as to how it is possible for a grown man to wear such a tight pair of trousers.  I in return was equally surprised as I understood the directions they gave in Spanish.  Eventually though after a good hour after setting out I was on the right track.  

By then nothing phased me and I was really enjoying it.  The sun was out, I wasn’t cold and I stopped a few times for photos.  I was the only motorbike on the roads and getting closer and closer to the mountains the sheer size of them really started to feel like I was about to do something pretty exceptional.  It was when I got nearer to the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores that I knew all the pain of getting to this point was worth it, in fact literal pain, as it turns out the bike seat is a bit numbing after a few hours of riding.  Paso Internacional Los Libertadores is a famous section of road comprised of 29 switchbacks which snake up steeply to 3200 metres.  It also lets you get pretty close to Aconcagua (South America’s highest peak).

  

Paso Internacional Los Libertadores

Top of the pass, around 3200 metres. Celebratory star jumps possibly not necessary

Riding through this pass is definitely one of the world’s most amazing journeys, being so close and personal to such huge mountains straight from National Geographic is nothing short of special.  There were deep snow drifts on either side of the road, and a massive number of huge trucks who quite blatantly own the roads.  At the same time below me I could see people dotted around skiing on the slopes.  

Snow clearing Truck at the top of the pass

Some of the trucks I had to dodge all day

Reaching the border control it was not exactly clear what to do (for me that is), and when I got to the first Chiliean control point I was simply waved on past 100s of parked trucks into the tunnel that goes through the mountain.  It was when I got to the Argentine control on the other side and only had my insurance document glanced over that I got a bit more confused.  To this point no one had checked my papers or stamped my passport.  I was out of Chile and into Argentina but I didn’t know whether to celebrate or turn back and find out what the deal was?  I just kept going, which has worked out well so far in this trip and after about 15km I came to a building that coaches were turning into, which appeared to be the control for tourists.  I could have easily kept going but luckily I didn’t as it was finally the immigration building I needed.

This first border crosing before the tunnel

Riding through the tunnel

Now it was the moment of truth and after a short queue I handed over all my papers including the "Padron" application letter.  I quickly folded over the top so the heading did not give away that it was not the full document (yes I know a feeble effort), and attempted a typical Englishman abroad conversation about the weather.  While I attempted this feeble subterfuge someone called out my name and looking round I realised the girl in the car behind me was Timi, a friend of mine from Buenos Aries who I had not seen for a few months, yes yes a small world indeed.   

Bumping into Timi!

Maybe because we were holding up the queue chatting or maybe because of my cunning/ridiculous concealment of the "Padron" amongst all the docs I don’t know, but somehow it worked.  It wasn’t bad at all, and despite all the trepidation to this point I was given a 6 month export visa for the bike!  Happy days.  I'd made it into Argentina.

Final control building - the one I actually needed!

I said my goodbyes to Timi and went on.  The road from here began to drop down, there was less snow, more sun and I was really loving it.  On top of this I was actually back in Argentina which until this point had seemed unlikely to happen.

Brief stopoff at a ski resort on Argentine side to regain the feeling in the legs!

The road eventually turned into long sweeping sections though scenic valleys and canyons so wide you couldn’t see the where they ended, really surreal landscapes.  I wish I could have stopped more than I did but it was to be the worse driving section of the day.  With such open sections of road the wind was terrible to ride and I was being blown so hard across the road that I could actually feel both wheels lifting up below me.  This combined with line after line of trucks gaining downhill momentum and reaching speeds well over 100km/h, made it pretty dangerous.  To make this worse every time a truck went past me it sucked the bike in all kinds of weird directions.  I tried different tactics but in the end had to settle with slowing down whenever one passed or overtook, sometimes down to 30km/h which seriously ate into the amount of daylight I had left in the day.

In fact this took so long that I didn’t reach the nearest town called Uspallata until about 5pm and there was no way I could make it to Mendoza before it was dark, so I decided to try to find a place to stay in Uspallata itself.  This was a little tough as it turns out this weekend is a holiday weekend in Argentina for Independence day (9 de Julio).  Argentina I love you but do you really have to have a public holiday every week?  All the campsites, hostels and hotels were full and no one would let me camp anywhere.  Luckily just as I was about to find some dodgy camping plot by the river just outside of the town, someone offered me to use a spare bed in their room.  I had to pay a bit more than planned, but it doesn’t matter.  After 8hrs on the road, and witnessing one of the world’s most amazing sights, I made it over the Andes.  Weirdly too, despite riding all day I can still see the Andes from my window albeit from the other side....crazy stuff.  

FELIZ FELIZ FELIZ ESTOY EN ARGENTINA

Insane Chilean Bureaucracy

Finally got the number plates, never have I been happier to see a couple of pieces of metal.  Should be good news.  Trouble is I still need the Padron (final proof of ownership document).  I have a ream of other documents that prove the bike is mine but not the Padron.  Just spent 9hrs today going to loads of different government agencies/police departments. Some said I can cross the border on the bike and some said I can't???  Craziness.

Joining the masses at the Registo Civil, Santiago

I’m not entirely sure but am going to gun it for the border early tomorrow.  400kms over the Andes, the highest mountains outside of the Himalayas hell yeah adventure time. Wish me luck, see you on the other side.

Getting ready to go, possibly trying to pack one too many dress shirts?

 On another note, you know when you are in school and they tell you your intestines are long enough to reach around 2 football fields, well double that amount and you get a picture of how much rope and elastic I’m using to tie my stuff down.  I could probably get away with a lot less if I knew some real knots but I don’t, so granny knots it is.

Almost packed and almost balanced

 Dan and Simone who helped me a lot to get going, cheers guys!

This time tomorrow it will all be over.  Finally getting out of here.

Go fuck yourself somemore San-tiago

Ok so if you have nothing good to say say nothing at all....But I will say this...I’m still in Santiago.  The border is open finally today, but may close any day.  Rang the dealership to get my bike papers as arranged last week and they admitted they have done nothing despite me buying the bike on 22/06.  Means I might have to wait another week or so until they are lodged with the government.  Pretty devastated really.  

In the meantime I am preparing for the border crossing, which has included becoming an expert on the weather.  People from the hostel I am staying in are even asking me about the weather now if they need to know how the next few days will be.  Its not the best really, even when the pass is open the freezing level is nearly 1000 metres below the border pass altitude (3200 metres), and I think I have 160km to ride over at this altitude, the total distance to Mendoza being 370km.  Wind chill is between -15 and -30 not including the ride speed added in.  Using highly trustworthy internet conversions this equates to -60 if I travel at 40mph….that can’t be right can it?  Probably not?

Other than all this I have been doing some touristy things.  Some pictures from the top of Santa Cristobel hill, Santiago.  Mountains look a bit on the BIG side.

Picture of the large globe in the entrance to the natural history museum.  They decided to omit the UK, must know something we don't.

Meanwhile I am still eating healthily….found a place that gives FREE empanadas with a Super Completo, being stuck here is no longer so bad.