New Blog for new trip...

Hi,
I'm off round the world again, and as of todays date I'm in Colombia again!

You can keep up with me here...
http://backtobroke.blogspot.com/

thanks a million
Oisin

Appendices: Trip Roll-up

This is a trip fact sheet just in case anyone is interested, or planning to ride a similar route to mine. On top of that at the bottom I've put a few answers to questions that I'm pretty sure you'll ask yourself if your getting ready to do something like this. All told theres about 140 blogs posted, just click the months to see the expanded view on the right hand side. Ride Safely!

Pictures from the various countries are here, all the folders are public.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Oisin.m.Hughes

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Appendice 1 Trip Stats

Total Km: 54000km, 33750 miles
Trip duration: 163 days

Bike used: BMW 1150 GS adventurer 2003 (AKA Sam Gamgee)

Most miles in 1 day: 803 miles, in canada

Number of motorcycle services:5

Anchorage, Calgary, Phoenix, Quito, San Tiago

Tire changes: 5

2 sets of knobblies, 1 tourance, 2 road tires (Anchorage, Calgary, phoenix, Quito, Calive Olivetti)

Countries I rode the motorbike through: (15 total)

Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Niceragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

Number of Shags: 0

How many tanks of gas or how many times to visit petrol station: 270 Approx.

I filled up about every 200km, the range on the BMW is about 340km, on normal road, much less on gravel or sand.

Punctures: 0
===============================================

Appendice 2

Answers to questions you get asked quite a bit....

Best Feeling of accomplishment

Completing the Dalton Highway, 515 miles from Fairbanks to Prudhoe bay alaska

http://30000mileson2wheels.blogspot.com/2008/08/iron-ass-slays-dalton-highway.html

Worst day

Getting Robbed in Oaxaco

http://30000mileson2wheels.blogspot.com/2008/09/run-for-hillssore-blowsand-misty.html

Most painful day
Crashing the bike in Mexico, thought I broke my left leg when I skidded on a wet road with Diesel on the surface.

http://30000mileson2wheels.blogspot.com/2008/09/up-and-downs.html

Best day

Getting to Hungry horse in Montana

http://30000mileson2wheels.blogspot.com/2008/08/hungry-horse-bye-bye-canada-hello.html

Best place

Bonnieville Salt flats

http://30000mileson2wheels.blogspot.com/2008/08/im-on-utah-salt-flats-for-gods-sake-0.html

Best Country

Peru, it started only ok, but Nazca, macchu picchu, lake titticaca, deserts, beaches.... great spot over all.

Worst Country

Honduras or El Salvador, really a toss up between dog shit and cat shit, terrible terrible places.

Maddest thing that happened

Getting arrested in Taxco, or run in with Colombian banditos south of Medillion

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Appendice 3

Travel advice for some of the countries I went through at the time I went through (largely ignored!) Key thing to remember, is that even though a country is dangerous you can get through safely as long as you dont do anything stupid!.... bottom line.... listening to advice isnt always a good thing!

Mexico

There have been a high number of drug related assassinations in 2008 so far, particularly in the northern border and Pacific states. Seven people were killed and 130 injured when grenades were let off at Independence Day celebrations in Morelia, Michoacán on 15 September, most likely by members of a drugs gang. Foreign visitors and residents have been among the victims in the border region, including the cities of Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Nogales, Reynosa and Maramoros, but there is no evidence to suggest that they have been targeted because of their nationality.

El Salvador

There are very high levels of violent crime throughout the country, including robberies, assaults and car-jackings. You should take your personal security seriously and be aware of your surroundings at all times. You should avoid obvious displays of wealth. All foreign nationals are subject to the risk of kidnapping. It is safer to withdraw money from ATMs in shopping centres or change money in hotels or banks and it is wise not to withdraw too much money at any one time. If you are the victim of a robbery you should not resist.

Bolivia

There have been reports of European nationals being attacked, robbed, sexually assaulted and threatened with murder. Some foreign tourists have been murdered. There is a continued risk of further attacks. You should remain extremely vigilant and cautious about your surroundings whilst travelling around Bolivia, especially on arrival in the country. Take the usual commonsense precautions with your valuables and travel documents.

Colombia

The Department of Foreign Affairs advises against all non-essential travel to Colombia, with the exception of Bogota, Cartagena and the holiday islands of the San Andrés archipelago. You should be aware that the security situation in Colombia is constantly changing and that you could be at serious risk in all parts of the country. If it is essential for you to travel, you should make arrangements for your security throughout your visit. There is a serious risk of kidnapping and crime throughout most parts of the country

Ecuador

Recent tensions between Ecuador and Colombia have resulted in a build-up of troops along their common border. Although most analysts do not forecast any actual military conflict, the Department advises against travel to the border region.
You are advised to be alert, avoid demonstrations and public gatherings, watch the news and keep in touch with events. Street demonstrations, protests and strikes are commonplace in Ecuador, and occasionally turn violent.
===========================================

Appendice 4Gear Used for the trip

Bike: BMW 1150 GS Adventurer, 2003.

Helmet: Arai Motocross

Enduro Suit and Boots: BMW Mottorad Rallyee 2 pro, also used an exterior rain proof suit.

Other Gear: Touratech panniers, BMW backbox (lost on the dalton highway), 2 water proof hold all bags and a lot of bungee cords. MotoGp Tank bag. Garmin Zumo GPS. Puncture repair kits, assorted tools, Electric tire pump, leads, flexes. About 8 T shirts, 6 pairs of socks, 6 pairs of jocks. 1 rain coat, 1 leather jacket, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of cargo pants, 1 pair of tracksuit bottom. Mr Fluffykins. 4 buffs. 1 pair of runners. A journal, Lonely planet for each country (bought and dumped as entered and left each country) Tent, sleeping bag, pegs and assorted camping gear (All dumped in Panama). Deet, insect bite cream, moisturiser, baby wipes, tootbrush, tooth paste, shampoo, shower gel, vitamin tablets, cord,

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Appendice 5 Border Crossings

Border Crossings (21) (Hardest Bolded below)

Canada (import bike from Ireland)

Canada-USA (Cross from Canada into the USA on the Alkan Highway)

USA-Canada (Same as above in reverse, coming back down from prudhoe bay)

Canada-USA (Cross just south of calgary into Montana)

USA-Mexico (Tuscon Arizona)

Mexico-Guatemala (Just south of San cristobal de la casas on the way to Quetzeltenango)

Guatemala-El salvador (South of Antigua on the way to Santa Ana in El Salvador)

El-Salvador - Honduras (Main border crossing on the way to Chouleteca in Honduras)

Honduras-Niceragua (Heading from Chouleteca to Grenada on the pan american highway)

Niceragua-Costa Rica (Border crossing on the PAN AM)

Costa-Rica - Panama (Used border crossing 60 miles north of Pan Am, much quieter)

Panama - Colombia (Flew bike from panama city to bogota wit Girag air freight)

Colombia - Ecuador (Border crossing just south of pompayon)

Ecuador - Peru (Boder crossing on the PAN AM)

Peru - Boliva (Border crossing on lake titicaca)

Boliva-Chile (Boder crossing between Uyuni and Ollangue)

Chile-Argentina (Border crossing near Bariloche)

Argentina- Chile (South of Rio Gallegos on Ruta 3)

Chile- Argentina (In Terra del fuego, north of Rio Grande)

Argentina- Chile (Above in reverse)

Chile-Argentina (Above in reverse)

============================================

Appendice 6Countries - Cities - towns

Date City Country
12-Jul-2008 Toronto-Canada

13-Jul-2008 Toronto-Canada
14-Jul-2008 Toronto-Canada
15-Jul-2008 Cornwall-Canada
16-Jul-2008 Riviere du loup-Canada
17-Jul-2008 Muncton-Canada
18-Jul-2008 Sydney-Canada
19-Jul-2008 Baddeck-Canada
20-Jul-2008 New Glasgow-Canada
21-Jul-2008 Riviere du loup-Canada
22-Jul-2008 Arnpoir-Canada
23-Jul-2008 Saute Ste Marie-Canada
24-Jul-2008 Thunder Bay-Canada
25-Jul-2008 Dryden-Canada
26-Jul-2008 Brandon-Canada
27-Jul-2008 Moose Jaw-Canada
28-Jul-2008 Canmore-Canada
29-Jul-2008 Hinton-Canada
30-Jul-2008 Fort St John-Canada
31-Jul-2008 Fort Nelson-Canada
1-Aug-2008 Whitehorse-Canada
2-Aug-2008 Tok-USA
3-Aug-2008 Anchorage-USA
4-Aug-2008 Anchorage-USA
5-Aug-2008 Anchorage-USA
6-Aug-2008 Fairbanks-USA
7-Aug-2008 Deadhorse-USA
8-Aug-2008 Fairbanks-USA
9-Aug-2008 Valdez-USA
10-Aug-2008 Valdez-USA
11-Aug-2008 Valdez-USA
12-Aug-2008 Tok-USA
13-Aug-2008 Dawson city-Canada
14-Aug-2008 Whitehorse-Canada
15-Aug-2008 Coal River-Canada
16-Aug-2008 Fort St John-Canada
17-Aug-2008 Hinton-Canada
18-Aug-2008 Canmore-Canada
19-Aug-2008 Black Diamond-Canada
20-Aug-2008 Hungry Horse-USA
21-Aug-2008 Helena-USA
22-Aug-2008 Ennis-USA
23-Aug-2008 Red Lodge-USA
24-Aug-2008 Trementon-USA
25-Aug-2008 Wendover-USA
26-Aug-2008 Wendover-USA
27-Aug-2008 Panguitch-USA
28-Aug-2008 Panguitch-USA
29-Aug-2008 Kanab-USA
30-Aug-2008 Flagstaff-USA
31-Aug-2008 Williams-USA
1-Sep-2008 Phoenix-USA
2-Sep-2008 Phoenix-USA
3-Sep-2008 Phoenix-USA
4-Sep-2008 Tucson-USA
5-Sep-2008 Hermosillo-Mexico
6-Sep-2008 Guaymos-Mexico
7-Sep-2008 Navojoa-Mexico
8-Sep-2008 Mazatlan-Mexico
9-Sep-2008 Manzanillo-Mexico
10-Sep-2008 Guadaljara-Mexico
11-Sep-2008 Morelia-Mexico
12-Sep-2008 Taxco-Mexico
13-Sep-2008 Taxco-Mexico
14-Sep-2008 Taxco-Mexico
15-Sep-2008 Taxco-Mexico
16-Sep-2008 Taxco-Mexico
17-Sep-2008 Oaxaca-Mexico
18-Sep-2008 San Cristobal de las casas Mexico
19-Sep-2008 San Cristobal de las casas-Mexico
20-Sep-2008 Quetzeltenango-Guatemala
21-Sep-2008 Quetzeltenango-Guatemala
22-Sep-2008 Quetzeltenango-Guatemala
23-Sep-2008 Quetzeltenango-Guatemala
24-Sep-2008 Antigua-Guatemala

25-Sep-2008 Santa Ana-El salvador
26-Sep-2008 Choluteca-Hondura
27-Sep-2008 Grenada-Niceragua
28-Sep-2008 Grenada-Niceragua
29-Sep-2008 Lake Arenal-Costa Rica
30-Sep-2008 San isidro-Costa Rica
1-Oct-2008 Panama City-Panama
2-Oct-2008 Panama City-Panama

3-Oct-2008 Panama City-Panama

4-Oct-2008 Panama City-Panama

5-Oct-2008 Bogota-Colombia

6-Oct-2008 Bogota-Colombia

7-Oct-2008 San gil-Colombia

8-Oct-2008 AquaChica-Colombia

9-Oct-2008 Cartegena-Colombia

10-Oct-2008 Cartegena-Colombia

11-Oct-2008 Caucasia-Colombia

12-Oct-2008 Manzales-Colombia

13-Oct-2008 Pompayon- Colombia

14-Oct-2008 Pasto-Colombia

15-Oct-2008 Pasto-Colombia
16-Oct-2008 Quito-Ecuador
17-Oct-2008 Quito-Ecuador
18-Oct-2008 Banos-Ecuador
19-Oct-2008 Banos-Ecuador
20-Oct-2008 Banos-Ecuador
21-Oct-2008 Cuenca-Ecuador
22-Oct-2008 Mancora-Peru
23-Oct-2008 Pacasmayo-Peru
24-Oct-2008 Pacasmay-Peru
25-Oct-2008 Huanchaco-Peru
26-Oct-2008 Chincha-Peru
27-Oct-2008 Nazca-Peru
28-Oct-2008 Cuzco-Peru
29-Oct-2008 Cuzco-Peru
30-Oct-2008 Cuzco-Peru
31-Oct-2008 Cuzco-Peru
1-Nov-2008 Puno-Peru
2-Nov-2008 Puno-Peru
3-Nov-2008 Oruro-Bolivia
4-Nov-2008 Potosi-Boliva
5-Nov-2008 Uyuni-Bolivia

6-Nov-2008 Uyuni-Bolivia

7-Nov-2008 Ollangue Chile

8-Nov-2008 San Pedro de Atacama Chile

9-Nov-2008 San Pedro de Atacama Chile
10-Nov-2008 Tal Tal Chile

11-Nov-2008 Tal Tal Chile

12-Nov-2008 La Serena Chile
13-Nov-2008 Santiago Chile

14-Nov-2008 Santiago Chile
15-Nov-2008 Santiago Chile
16-Nov-2008 Santiago Chile
17-Nov-2008 Santiago Chile
18-Nov-2008 Santiago Chile
19-Nov-2008 Santiago Chile
20-Nov-2008 Santiago Chile
21-Nov-2008 Valparaiso Chile
22-Nov-2008 Valparaiso Chile
23-Nov-2008 Chillan Chile
24-Nov-2008 Castro-Chile
25-Nov-2008 Castro-Chile
26-Nov-2008 Puerto Varas Chile
27-Nov-2008 Puerto Varas Chile
28-Nov-2008 Puerto Varas Chile
29-Nov-2008 Bariloche Argentina
30-Nov-2008 San Jose de San Martin Argentina
1-Dec-2008 Perito Moreno Argentina

2-Dec-2008 Rio Gallegos Argentina
3-Dec-2008 Rio Grande Argentina
4-Dec-2008 Ushuaia Argentina
5-Dec-2008 Ushuaia Argentina
6-Dec-2008 Ushuaia Argentina
7-Dec-2008 Puerto Julian Argentina
8-Dec-2008 Puerto Madryn
9-Dec-2008 Bahia Blanca
10-Dec-2008 (2 days missing!, cant figure out where i was, journal got whipped!)
11-Dec-2008 (2 days missing!, cant figure out where i was, journal got whipped!)
12-Dec-2008 Buenos Aires Argentina (Stayed till the 19th)

Ushuaia.........last blog...short and sweet.

I finally made it.....Im in Ushuaia.

It was a 230km run this morning from Rio Grande. It felt so weird the whole way.....I kept replaying Brothers in Arms by Dire straits on my ipod.... it seemed to fit the mood.

For some reason best known to God.... as you reach Ushuaia you leave the flat lands behind and all of the sudden the worlds turns all mountainy and lakey (2 made up words!)

I got to the end of the Ruta 3, which merged with the Ruta 40 in Rio Gallegos..... I parked up the bike and looked at the sign. This sign is one of the biggest draws for the worlds list ticker travellers...of which Im a member I guess otherwise I wouldnt be here.

I waited till everyone left and sat up against one of the tree stumps and stared blankly at the sign. The sun shone and the trees shook in the gale that was blowing into my back. I tried to take it all in... tried to remember the places I'd been, how many days and miles I'd travelled, how many times I'd nearly been killed on the road, the different conditions, the different landscapes....

From here the route I'll take will bring me to Buenos Aires on the 15th and back to Ireland on the 21st......

Anyway I'm done. Anyone can do it... all you have to say it that you will.....so get your rucksack and strap it to the back of your bike.......and just ride. Thanks to everyone for the comments and mails of support along the way.... and thanks to Helmar, Jim, Geoff and Rafeal my riding buddies in north america, you guys rule.

The end.



Ps... quick poem I love by W H Auden....


If I Could Tell You

Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.

W.H. Auden

300km short!...tomorrows another day

Today was pretty frustrating...!..suffice to say I didnt make it Ushuaia. The amount of border crossings was always going to make it difficult... assuming no problems I had to cross from Argentina To Chile, then from Chile back into Argentina to get to Ushuaia, stamping in and out of each country.
When I got to the first border it was closed!... turns out for the first time in 30 years the argentinian PM and the Chile PM were meeting to shake hands!..and guess where they were doing it... at my feckin border crossing!. It meant having to wait from 10:30 to 2:30, by which time a huge Queue had built up making the crossing even slower. It took away any chance of making Ushuaia today...... still..... theres always tomorrow!

Even though the sun shone brilliantly all day... the wind was just appauling....so bad i nearly kicked the bucket. I was overtaking a truck, with another truck a good distance up the road on the other side...sort of manoever you would do 20 times a day...even in the wind it wouldnt normally be a problem.

As I passed the truck on the left side and was coming round to go back into my lane...the wind picked up a massive gale and I couldnt get myself back into the right lane with the other truck coming right for me with the air horn blaring.

There was nothing else i could do but put the bike into the ditch on the left. Normally putting the bike in the ditch would be followed pretty quickly by a ride in an ambulance but the ditch on the gravel roads is a gravel hollow (lots of spare gravel knocking around!)...... acting purely on instinct I just rode the bike down the ditch...at about 90kmph....scooted along the bottom of the ditch... gunned the bike down to 3rd gear and steered it back up onto the road...even taking the time to indicate back onto the road....and started driving.

About a mile up the road I pulled over...kicked down the sidestand....took off the helmet, glasses and gloves....and as the realisation of what had just happened came to me it was all I could do to not throw up.

I made it to the magellen straights and took the ferry over to Terra del fuego... the seas were so high it would scare the bejaysus out of you. Black and white porpoises followed the ferry over... I've never been so close to so much violent water in my life. If you fell in.... you wouldnt last a minute. The ferry was rocking about so much that the bike fell over....nice.

The Island of terra del fuego is unbelievably flat and you can see forever. With the delay at the border earlier in the day, combined with the fact that the entire chilean side of the Island is all gravel roads it was late in the evening by the time I made it to Rio grande. The whole way into the town the sun was setting on my right side...as you'd expect if your driving due south...it would have been a very special moment if mother nature didnt have my head in a vice grips with the wind. Im going to hang out here for tonight and then push on to ushuaia tomorrow....only 300km left to do.

Today was just a fight.... even though the pictures look lovely.... they belie the fact that the wind was so bad. The whole day was just a struggle to maintain anything even approaching proper road position and at times I was pushed 10 feet over on the road in just a couple of metres. If the wind can do that to a fat bastard like myself driving a 250kg BMW I'd hate to think what it would do to people driving lighter machines who were a little less rotund!

Anyway...tomorrow is the last burn....

One weird moment apart from the near death experience...when I got to the ferry it was exactly 50,000km since I started the journey...which was my back of the envelope calculation of how many km the whole trip would take....

Anyway.... 13 hours on the road today.... 15 hours yesterday..... Im beat!..... looking forward to the end tomorrow....

Over and out

Oisin

THE RIDE OF THE ROHIRRIM

This part of the world has one of the most unchanging flat landscapes anywhere, so almost every photo I took is identical!. Its all just flat, barren pampas. The landscape never changes, the road seldom changes...the only thing that really changes is the sky.

As I was just about to go to sleep last night I read the following passage from the return of the king, the third part of the lord of the rings.... it explains a bit of why today went the way it did!

The passage is in Italics below....

But at the same moment there was a flash, as if lightning had sprung from the earth beneath the city. For a searing second it stood dazzling far off in black and white, its topmost tower like a glittering needle and then the darkness closed again there came rolling over the fields a great boom.

At that sound the bent shape of the king sprang suddenly erect. Tall and proud he seemed again, and rising in this stirrups he cried in a loud voice, more clear than any there had ever heard a mortal man acheive before

Arise arise, riders of theoden

fell deeds... awake... fire and slaughter
spear shall be shaken, shield shall be splintered
a sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now...ride now! ride to Gondor!

With that he seized a great horn from Guthlaf his banner bearer and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder. And Straaightaway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains....

ride now.... ride now... ride to Gondor!

Suddenly the king cried to snowmane and the white horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house but he was ever before them. Fey he seemed or the battle fury of his fathers ran like a new fire in his veins and we has bourne of the valar then the world was young.

His golden sheild was uncovered and lo it shone like an image of the sun and the grass flamed into green and darkness was removed and the hordes of mordor wailed and terror took them and they ran and died and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And the all the host of rohan burst into song and they sang as they slew for the joy of battle was on them...and the sound of their songs was fair and terrible and came even to the city.

Anyway.... I love that exceprt...!.....

I ended up doing 1100km today..... untold amounts of it on gravel...... the rest of it on asphalt. I left this morning at 5am....and didnt get here to Rio Gallegos till 8:30pm. I completed all 2000km of the ruta 40.....

the only answer one expects from a fellow biker upon telling them that you did this is as follows..... "here is my wife... please pleasure yourself with her"...thats the sort of street cred you get!

I burst 3 blisters on my arse before I got into the shower.... only to discover Ive no clean jocks and am now going comando!....

Apart from the length of todays ride...the wind was just terrible. .... no way really to describe it.... apart from to say it was beyond belief. For a guy the best way to describe it would be to imagine you were lying in bed....asleep.... and your next door neighbour came into the bedroom and kicked you straight into the bollix with a pair of hob nail boots..... simple as that...except prolong the paing for 15hours....

If you a girl...obviously the above doesent sound so bad...so just imagine someone pulled your top lip up over your head till it was touching your shoulder blades....

The only way to deal with it is to lean....and you end up taking a position on the bike to compensate which is about as ergonomically friendly as someone tying a 9inch cavity block from your left nut.

Anyway...Ive never been so tired...Im off to bed....

I'll be in Ushuaia tomorrow.....cant wait for the parade.....

I send a note to the owner of the website..... "9-birds-for-those-who-complete-the-ruta40.com", same guy who'll be organising the parade for me in Ushuaia....

Told him the women I want are as follows

1) Brittney in the red latex suit

2) Kylie in the gold hot pants

3) Kyle in the white outfit from the nah na nah song... (saving you a maith there!)

4) Sharon stone minus the ice pick...and also minus the cacks

5) Yer one from the club orange add with the nice arse

6) My secondery school female Irish teacher (wearing the tarten mini)

7) Yer one from porkies who they called lassie (same outfit)

8) Yer one who worked in the cafe in Taxco in Mexico.... with the white trousers

9) Nell McCafferty... I know shes a lesser...but just want to see if she can resist 240lbs of jedi meat!

I know it'll all come true

Oisin

The 40 strikes back!

Many years after being here, Charles Darwin said of this area of patagonia in his memoirs of the Beagle voyages..... "why is it that this place so haunts my dreams and every waking hour"........it really is great, a pity that the roads are so bad!

433km today with over 420km of it on gravel, muck, shite, sand...... throw in a hefty helping of brutal wind and driving rain and you'll get an idea of what sort of afternoon I had. On the upside the landscape is just unbelievable and I saw some Emu's and road runners..... Emu's are fast!....road runners....well I dont have to tell you. I would say that in total i saw less than 4 trucks or cars out on the road today. The only time I came in contact with people is in the tiny towns to get some gas.

Im in a town called perito moreno. It also happens to the be the first town on the last page of all my maps!!.... If you can imagine I left Ireland with over 20 different maps of all the different countries, and to be on the last page of the last map feels pretty good!..... not as good as a good shag mind...but we take what little pleasures we can get.

Most of the shop shelves here are empty or half stocked at best, a combination of low demand with a sparsely populated countryside...but most of all the really really shite infrastructure.
None of the restaurants have Menus, the lady just rhymes off what they have....and you say...si!..with a finger in the air!.... then its on to drinks.....and you really hope you recognise something she says! For breakfast here....its bread, jam and tea or Coffee (last 3 days!). The internet is obviously here but its 56k modem stuff.....which gmail wont even run on!...surprised that this is working...

My mother had 2 words for tea or coffee that was either too strong (Moonlach)...or too week (Sulach). If you have coffee here...you get Moonlach... if you have tea you get Sulach. Ive been opting for Sulach..... the ruta 40 is no place for a dose of heartburn!

I left this morning at about 8am and after 5km the gravel kicked in. I was apprenhensive about the road, not overly nervous or afraid.... more just a pain in my hole that Id sooooo much gravel ahead, about 1800km.

Every gravel road has lines...... lines you say oisin?... yes thats right.... lines!

(going over some old ground here....apologies if its old news!)

A line is a place you can drive your motorbike on!(duh!) What happens is the accumulation of traffic moves gravel around the place on the road and over time tracks appear. Most roads have 3, one of the left, middle and right of the road and every car or truck follows these tracks. The tracks only dissapper either when you come to bridges, which are everywhere!....or when 2 trucks meet and have to pull over to let each other by.

So as long as you have a line, you can go along at a good clip, the problem is keeping your line. The line sometimes just runs out into the ditch, or the wind constantly pushes you across the road making it really difficult to keep a line. If you go out of a line you have to cross what may be a gravel build up of 10 inches or more which is easily enough to make your front wheel wash out and put you on your arse. Note falling on gravel and rocks is much more risky than on sand.... everytime you go down your gonna lose some meat!

The rules of the game are simple......

1) If you use the breaks.... you are pretty much gauranteed to come off...so you have to break with the engine...ie pop her down a gear.....and only go up a gear when the bike goes over 4000rpm

2) If you go too slow you'll definitely come off...anything under 50kmph and your pissing against the wind..... anything over 90kmph and you'll kill yourself if you come off....

3) If you drive in the wrong gear and the engine idles, chugs or free wheels...your pretty much gauranteed to fall off...the engine has to be hauling ass the whole time...3500 to 4000rpm.

4) If you tightly grip the handle bars and dont stay loose, you wont be able to compensate as the bikes rolls around on the gravel and you'll end up overcompensating, ie pulling her back to hard...and back to the problem which you just blazed through.....so loosey goosey is the name of the game.... its good to wobble.... it should feel like your riding a jet ski when on this junk

5) Accellerate is your only way out of any problem...ie hit the obstacle hard and burst your way through it....the bike wants to go straight...so more gas.....will give it the best chance of doing this

6) If its raining its impossible to see your line...and your pretty much fucked...so better to just stop

7)No matter what happens...even if the bike is moving around like a hard boiled sweet in a grannys gob....dont break or stop accelerating.... haul ass till you get a face full of gravel.

So as your driving along you constantly have conversations with yourself....an excerpt below....

"Keep the line Ois, Keep the line.....nice one...nice one........Keep the line.......going pretty good here....nice one....fuck! me line....wheres it gone........fuck it..fuck it...fuck it........there it is....nice one.... get back on it ...get back on it... nice one....too slow fat boy...too slow...move it ..move it...move it.....
(bike wobbling as front wheel in deeper gravel) ....fuuuuuuuccccccccccckkkkkkkkkk......... hold it .....no stay loose....stay loose.....(rode through it)....nice one ya big ride ya!...nice one..... stay loose ...stay loose....(quick song)...the loose...the loose....the loose is on fire...we dont need the loose so let the mother fucker burn...... bollix....the line the line the line...cmon ya fat fuck...stay on line......nice .... nice....fuck off wind...fuck off wind...fuck off wind...accelerate ya big fuckin cardigan...gowan....gowan....ah there it is..... very nice....very nice..... ah jaysus theres a bridge coming......uh oh...lines gone...lines gone..fuck off wind fuck off wind fuck off wind......(instinct says slow down!!!!)...mind says.....put the hammer down now!!....(acellerate and burst through the accumulation)............yeeee hawww....... made another one!.....nice one back on the line.....

(Rinse and repeat every 2 minutes for 8 hours solid!)

Anyway all of the above should go to show that driving on this stuff is absolutely exhausting. If you ever meet anyone who says they enjoy it...you should check the back seat of their car for bicycle saddles.

Tomorrow I going to try and make it to a town called Calafate.....its a favorite stopping over point for folks heading to torres del paine and the puerto moreno glacier. Its over 600km away...and all but 60km of its crappy road...and it will take me through some of the least travelled and most sparsely populated areas in the world!.. so tomorrow will be a bastard!

May the force be with you.

Oisin

Ruta Diablo

Ok in the middle of nowhere on the Ruta 40 so back to using 56k modems!..... nothing like a bit of old to make you appreciate the new!.... good oul days me bollix.

The 4 things you consistently hear about argentina is that 1) the women are gorgeous, 2) the steaks are unbelievable, and 3) Its dear as fuck! and 4) its patagonia area is great

So to give an early answer to some of the questions "what are the women like in Argentina?".... well the answer is....its very like the relationship I have with the average Robin Red Breast(its a bird!)... namely.... they´re lovely to look at, I cant understand a word they´re saying(either), they fly away if you get too close to them........ and finally they've no knockers!.

The Argentinians in general so far are a very friendly bunch..... mad into the rugby! The place is really expensive though.... about 6 dollars a beer(local swill), compared with an average I'd say of 1 dollar a beer in the rest of south america.

531km on the Ruta Diablo today and still around to tell the tale, tomorrow wont be so easy. Leaving Bariloche the weather and views were beyond belief, I´ve never seen anything like it, I had a couple of "yep this is the best I´ve ever seen moments"...but I holstered my weapon till Im down in Ushuaia. The thing that really makes this area stand out for me is that its all in bloom. The average ditch here has more flowers growing in it than the chelsea flower show. It all smells similar to something between vanilla and honeydew and it rolls up under the helmet.... man you could drive forever in this place!

As I drove further and further on the ruta 40 lakes and mountains were gradually replaced with rolling hills as you start to arrive on the Argentinian side of the Andean Foothills...... and get this!...just like Alaska and the yukon... there is absolutely nobody here!! I drove the last 100km today without seeing a single car!! Most of the tourist traffic takes a right into Chile at a town called Esquel and heads south on the Caretera Austral in chile and then hooks back into Argentina later on, thus bypassing some of the shittier windswept sections of Ruta 40.

The road was ok today, actually only about 80 miles or so was gravel, the rest being the brittneyesqe asphalt. I had a mad experience while whoreing through the countryside. The wind was about 70kmph or so (how i know that will become apparent!) but I noticed when I rounded a bend the noise of the bike seemed to get a lot louder, almost like the bike was chokeing itself only noiser. It took me a while to figure it out... it was the wind. What had happened was that the wind was now a tail wind and when the speed of the bike matched the speed of the wind the only sound was the engine of the motorbike..... eerie stuff.... one of those you'd have to be there moments!, but it was really cool easing on and off the throttle to match the bike up with the speed of the wind and listening to the change in how you hear the sound coming from the bike.

On the road I passed a good few what I think were Guachos herding one of the biggest sheep herds Ive ever seen. The noise of them was deadly!


When I got to gobnorado (not making the name up) on the Ruta 40 I asked the service guy was there any nice hotels in the town... he replied Mas o menos, which means more or less in english. Well let me tell you... there was a whole lot of menos and not a whole pile of mas...Man its slow here, and the hotel is ming.

The town is just unbelievably quiet, all you can hear is the odd bird chirping, and the noise your feet make in the gravel seems unbelievably loud compared to the surroundings. Everywhere is closed, I guess the whole place is doing the whole siesta thing. As I walked around wondering if everyone had been kidnapped the only thing I encountered was a chicken!, but by 6pm things had livened up a bit. I wondered if they were off having a secret meeting to decide how they were going to cook the gringo!.....

Its absolutely teeming down with rain, thunder and lightning outside, thats patagonia for you.... the weather changes like a whores bastard, but I cant complain, the last 2 days have just been amazing so Im due some hardship.......still trying to figure out if I'll burn over to the caretera austral to catch a glacier or 2.....

The barren patch continues.... those sheep today looked mighty worried!

Shake and bake
Oisin