A restless, poorly timed decision that led me to buy a cheap Chinese copy of a small Suzuki motorbike in Santiago, Chile and take it over the Andes in the height of Winter and then a few miles more on the other side
As road kill goes, this has to be the most impressive.
Writing this
much later its seems pretty trivial now but at the time I was a bit concerned
about this next section of the trip.The
result ended with my original concern about Ruta 14 amounting to nothing and instead
having an unexpected problem with the bike.I was aiming for Rosario, some 900kms away, where I was going to stay
with Juli and prepare myself and the bike for Patagonia.I could make it in two days, however it meant
going along Ruta 14 all the way through Misiones and Entre Rios Provinces.The problem is Ruta 14 is infamous to
overland travellers for the number of police stops along the way where they
like to find original and ridiculous reasons to fine travellers.Anything from carrying the wrong luggage to
not carrying a fire extinguisher.Its so
well known there are nine pages on this road alone on the horizonsunlimited.com
travel forum, with one post even mentioning having a gun held to his head.The Police block at km 341 apparently being
the most troublesome.
As I was
carrying $800 I’d taken out in Paraguay to sell in Rosario, I didn’t really
want to be searched, so I prepared by wrapping it in the folds of one of my
spare inner tubes and holding a dummy wallet with copied documents and small
notes.Setting off I felt ready to blag
my way out of any trouble.The forum was
correct too.There were more police
blocks along this route than I have seen anywhere so far.I tried several tactics to avoid the police,
the two most successful being hiding behind a lorry as I arrived at a road block
and then following it closely through the stop unseen, or just slow down ready to
stop but instead of stopping, overshoot the stop slowly and keep going past
looking through my mirror in case they tried to stop me.Most times they didn’t bother.Only on two occations did I get waved
over.The first time a policeman indicated me
to move over to the right and stop for his colleague further up.I did exactly that but as his colleague was
distracted by another driver I just kept going.The second time was at the notorious km 341.The police waved me to slow down so I waved
back, and as the I crossed through I kept going again and the car tailgating me
stopped instead.No one seemed concerned
when I looked in my mirror so I kept going.For whatever reasons I made it through all unscathed and kept going all
day, just stopping for breaks and the odd unusual roadkill.Not everyday you see a 7ft alligator cut in
half on the side of the road.As the day
ended I reached Chajari and searched for a campground, which I found in Santa
Ana, next to a massive manmade lake, populated by millions of toads.
Toads, everywhere. In my tent, by my tent, in my toilet, by my toilet.
Riding around this
area felt like being in some old 1950’s American film.It was as though time had stood still.No one was in any rush, people drove around
in huge old pickup trucks or worked in their barns or in orange and lemon
orchards of which were so numerous that you could smell the citrus in the
air.It was while I was riding around
daydreaming about running away from the real world and hiding out here growing
oranges, that my chain came off the bike.No biggie, just put it back on right?Well no, it had ripped off the chain cover over the front sprocket,
which had in turn torn off a small section of the engine where the cover is
attached by a bolt.I was pretty pissed
off as I could have avoided the problem by changing the old chain earlier but I
was waiting to get to Rosario.Now the
engine was exposed to air so it meant I couldn’t go on the until it was
filled and for sure there are no mechanics in the area.
One of the many Orchards around Chajari
The next
morning after a sleepless night due a summer storm I found a guy who could
help me fix the bike temporarily with an epoxy mix.I also let him change the chain and sprockets I had been carrying
since Santiago too.I was still pretty annoyed as it is
a really ugly job and will now reduce the value of the bike.Anyway I could at least make it to Rosario, and
the new rear sprocket was smaller, so due to some
gear ratio magic I don’t understand, made the bike about 10km/h faster at lower revs.Leaving at lunchtime I went as fast as I
dared to through Entre Rios, stopping regularly to check for lost oil.8 hours later and in the dark I crossed the
bridge into Rosario but no matter I know the city well now, and was one
relieved man to arrive at Juli’s with no more problems.
The "mechanic"?
Sundown just as I was leaving Entre Rios into Rosario, Santa Fe
After 4 nights
in Foz it was time to move on and get back to Argentina.The border crossing was a breeze.To sum up how friendly the people of Brazil are, the customs
officer who dealt with my papers had a conversation with me about my trip, told
me life is good in Brazil and suggested I get a job there and stay.Never have I come across that, border guards encouraging
you to stay in their country.
So then back
in Argentina for the third time in this trip and I really wanted to get all the
way back to Corrientes and see some friends for the weekend.I also wanted to visit the Ibera del Estero,
a huge wetland area literally overrun by giant guinea pigs the size of dogs.They are really called Capybara, but if you
google them you’ll see what I mean.I
thought it would be surreal to see that, but it was all a bit too far this time.Instead I set my sights on Posadas, a city a little
nearer and was very lucky to have a very last minute couchsurf request accepted
by Julia, which turned out to be a good but short trip.Posadas is a small city up the Rio Parana
from Corrientes and is the capital of Misiones province.Its very close to Paraguay, which you can see
on the other side of the river and there is an international bridge connecting
Corrientes to the Paraguayan city of Encarnacion.
Misiones, its kinda green here
While I was in
Posadas I visited the Yacreta Dam project after several people suggested I see
it.I didn’t really know what to expect
and as it was 100km away it wasn’t exactly on my doorstep.But it’s a free tour and I’ve not seen inside
a dam before so I thought why not.It
was worth a visit, but a strange experience all the same as there were only 2
others on my tour, so more staff than visitors.It was really professionally organised and a lot has been spent on it.There is a presentation then a
guide shows you around and finally you get driven in a coach around the dam and
then actually inside to see the turbines.The last part is so vast it feels as though you are on the Death Star.The tour was all very positive but it felt
like they were not telling the whole story.I found out later that the tour is a public relations ploy and that the project is hands down one of the worse engineering disasters ever and was called a “monument
to corruption” by the Argentine President of all people.Someone definitely didn’t do their homework - its taken more than 20 years to build, gone 5 times over budget and only
produces 60% of the estimated energy.Its suffered from delays, disputes, corruption, caused 50,000 people to
lose their homes and environmental impact assessments were not completed before
beginning so several species are now extinction. Upon reflection the only positive thing I can see
from it all was the guided tour itself.
During the tour they let you play with power lines
Touring the "Death Star", look in the bottom left - its so large the workers use bikes to get around
Anyway probably
enough about dams…Posadas itself is great.I could see myself staying there a long time, trouble is I didn’t have
time so I only stayed at Julia’s one full day.Despite this Julia still managed to show me and Giovanni (another
couchsurfer) around and introduced me to Chipa, cheesy bread from the area and
we drank a lot of Terere, which is mate with fruit juice and I’m seriously
addicted to it, no really, can’t stop.We
went out to along the riverside costanera both nights.If you didn’t know this already, all Argentines
of all ages in every city love to hang out at their costinera.They walk, run, eat, meet friends, party, the
lot here.Its a real social place, we just
don’t have the same in England, maybe because we call it a promenade but most likely because of the weather.The costinera in Posadas is new and has city beaches
too and I really liked the atmosphere here,
so relaxed, but perhaps the strangest thing was the number of toads that hop around
all over the place.Big ugly buggers
too.I took a load of photos of them as
they bounced about at night.So Posadas, yet another place I liked, and the fact that not many tourists visit means I could see a city
that just gets on with its own life.I
was reluctant to leave so quickly, but if I am ever to make it to Patagonia I
need to get my act together.
At the costanera with Julia, Chipa y Terere
Night time shots of the costanera
With Julia and Giovanni
Finally a part of the world where my bike is not considered small
The countryside near Yacreta, where Gauchos still roam
Leaving on the 22nd, the journey to Foz do Iguaçu along Br-277 is long, 650km long, which is the
furthest I have ever covered in a day.Seeing as I average no more than 80km/h without factoring in rests it
was always going to be a long day.To
add to this there are over 7 toll stops along the way, which is
ridiculous.All these delays are nothing
compared to the accident that closed the road.There were tailbacks several kms, but being on the bike I could cut
through all the stationary traffic and get to the front.The only other person I saw doing this was a
French guy travelling on a pushbike, crazy bastard!The accident was bad, the worst I have ever seen
and involved a cement lorry, another lorry carrying a shipping container and a
coach.The cement truck had completely disintegrated
as though it had exploded and there was cement covering the verge, trees,
everything really.I was going to take
pictures, but it didn’t feel right so I slowly rode past holding my breath as
there was a lot of cement dust in the air.I later googled the accident and found out 3 people died so am glad I
didn’t take pictures.I’ve posted some
from the news agencies below, if only to show how horrific it was.
In total it
took me 10hrs to get to Foz, its some distance for the bike – to get a picture its the same distance
as London to Edinburgh.I stayed at Iguassu Motorcycle Hostel,
a new hostel for motorbike travellers run by Adriano and Rodolfo.It’s a small relaxed place and as the two guys
running it have other jobs, they just leave you the keys to the house and let
you get on with it.The only other
guests staying there were Tom and Rachel from England.They had arrived from Paraguay in a Combi
van, which they had bought there.Was
nice to hear a real English accent for once, all good until I realised how
messed up mine is now.Since January
2008 I have only been in England 2 years and that was while I managed the
hostel in Oxford, where I hardly met English people.Tom and Rachel were a great couple to be
around, and had some stories of their own to tell of their trips.They also run a charity in Malawi called Building Malawi http://www.buildingmalawi.com and are always interested to hear from anyone who might want to help them.
Hitting 10,000km en-route
One of the many Tolls, a ridiculous 7 in total
Strange Parana Pine Trees
Adriano, Rodolfo, Rachel and Tom
Toucan eats my boots. A sentence I never thought I would ever say
The final Acai dish of Brasil, best one of my time there
Hairy trip mm's away from crashing crossing back into Brazil.
It may be a
travelling crime to not go to Iguazu Falls, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.But in my defense I have
been there before, and saw both Argentine and Brazilian sides and took the boat trips so that is more
than most do.How I really used my time
in Foz was to actually prepare for the next leg of my trip.I needed equipment suitable for Patagonia. I already had most things but I needed to buy some real motorbike boots,
a new rear tyre and equally important, an MP3 player to replace my stolen Iphone
(still sad about that).The place to do
all this is Paraguay.
Foz do Iguaçu is right
on the other side of the bridge to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay.Everyday thousands of people from Brasil and
Argentina (some travellingthousnds of miles) cross to buy every imaginable item to
smuggle tax free back into their countries.The flow of people is so great that you can just walk,drive, or take a motorbike taxi across, buy
what you want and then go back.Unofficially
no passport checks, which is just as well as I forgot to bring mine when I went, and prayed
that I wouldn’t get checked.I was a bit
worried I would be stopped as my bike has a Chile number plate on the front of the
bike.The only country in S.America that
makes bikes do this and it makes it stick out a mile.I was supposed to takethe plate off, but I forgot
to do this as well!
Not to worry
though, the Brazilian border control have an impossible task, so rather than
checking every person and vehicle individually they resort to doing spot checks.This means many people cross several times a
day, play with the law of averages and hope not to get stopped.When I finally went across, there are not enough adjectives to describe
the experience, basically anything goes.I had been warned so many times from people not to go and definitely not
to take my bike across as I will either be killed by the traffic, have my bike
stolen, get mugged or some kind of combination of all this involving
death.Needless to say I choose to take my
bike and found it was not as bad as they said, although riding with the
suicidal motorbike taxis was a bit dicey.
Queuing to go into Paraguay
Negotiating the narrow moto-taxi lanes
Crossing the bridge into Paraguay
Rodolfo from
the hostel kindly offered to come with me and came on the back of my bike.Having Rodolfo helping was brilliant as I
don’t think I would have ever found all that I wanted so easily.I bought my boots for $200, a tyre for $50
and an MP3 for $25.Hopefully they will
all be worthy investments. While there, I
was offered to buy so many random things from the mundane to the scary, included
guns and even a Tazer in fully working mode.I know this as the guy thrust it in my face as he set it off.
I think I am allowed that look on my face, thanks to the Tazer being set off right in front of me
I also saw so
many ingenious ways to smuggle, such hiding on bodies, ditching boxes of
electronics and putting them in large boxes labelled with low price items, and people
putting expensive tyres on old cars and rubbing mud on them to look old.I also saw the other extreme with scores of people
who didn’t try to hide anything at all.This included groups of women who filled plastic bags full of obvious taxable
items and then walk across the international bridge really testing their
luck.My personal favourite of all though
was a guy crossing the bridge on a small scooter whilst holding a large TV
across his lap.
Preparing their goods to cross the bridge.
I’m glad
Rodolfo came as he also recorded the video for me as we crossed the
bridge back into Brasil.I will admit
it’s a bit hairy and you can hear him tell me to be careful all the time.Watching it back I’m glad I didn’t attempt my
usual one hand riding holding the camera.Was all great fun, so much so I went back the next day on my own to buy some
US$ to sell in Argentina at a small profit and of course the obligatory pair of
fake sunglasses.