I am sitting here in the hotel room on the 25th of March trying to get caught
up with the web site. We are now in Ushuaia, Argentina. We are as
far south as you can drive. Ushuaia is the southern most city in the world.
We are only 580 miles from the peninsula of Antarctica! It is windy and
cold. When riding, the wind is so strong that it can take your tight
fitting helmet and twist it on your head so that you go blind in one eye.
It is like the strongest Santa Ana winds at home, but cold and cutting.
Your eyes freeze, then tear, then burn. But every minute is worth the
enjoyment of seeing this wonderful land! We have passed the 12,000 mile
mark of our trip and that is only traveling south. Initially we thought that
we would travel about 25,000 miles to circle the continent. We now know
that it will, more than likely, be somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000 miles to
see the sights we want to see.

On the 19th of March we head from Puerto Natales for 2 days in the beautiful
"Torres del Paine" area. All I can say is that it is incredible. It
is another "Do before you die" thing. Took over 300 pictures. Every
time you turn your head, there is a scene you want to capture. And if you
do not turn your head, the weather, clouds and sun light will change, and it is
another moment to capture. One evening, at our hotel, we sat and had a
drink, looking out the windows. I got up every 5 minutes to take another
picture of exactly the some thing, because the clouds and lighting had changed
significantly from 5 minutes earlier.
We head towards Torres del Paine on a great cement road,
thinking it had been paved the 100+ miles to the park.
Not!
It only went for about 8 miles, then dirt for the balance of the
trip. |
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Every time we cross a bridge, we think of Simon Thomas
and his accident. |
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Our first sighting of Torres del Paine...... |
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The dirt roads are very good. The winds were
very strong, as you can see from the clouds formed by the peaks....

Everywhere you look, it is a "Post Card" scene.

What a day! Dirt roads and beautiful mountains.
I am a happy guy today.
We left a lot of our items at the hostel in Puerto Natales, so we
were lighter than usual, so riding the bike was a lot of fun. |
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Sandy, Guanacos, Mountains and Dirt Roads...... Life
is good.......
I think the R100GS seemed happy.
It was the perfect GS environment! |
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The beast and "Torres del Paine". |
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The Guanacos are not as skittish as deer. |
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They seem to hang out in herds of about 20 to 30. |
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The GS is slowly turning the same color as the Guanacos! |
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More Flamingos..... |
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No comment.... |
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This is GS country. |
Notice the different colors of the two lakes.
The lake in the background is colored from glacier waters.

When we got to Lago Grey, we wanted to take a 15 mile boat ride to the foot
of another glacier. But we had to wait until the following morning.
There was only one hotel in the area, and it was a five star resort named Lago
Grey. We must suffer. This is the view from the hotel.

Another view from the hotel, which is on the shores of
Lago Grey. The hotel is on the south end of the lake.
Icebergs from the glacier at the north end of the lake (15 miles
away). |
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We sat in the bar and watched the clouds change every 5
minutes. Hey.... Somebody has to drink the Pisco Sours! |
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Five minutes later.

Our diet is merely for subsistence..... |
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Last year I read an article about 8 airplanes from the
United States which circled South America for 30 days. I was very
interested in the article.
Lo and Behold, we ran into their "2006" adventure.
Four airplanes for 30 days flying around South America.
Made for an interesting evening. |
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They were all traveling in pressurized aircraft. I'am
afraid our Cessna Cardinal would not have fit in with this group! |

http://www.airjourney.com/?fuseaction=journeys.detail&id=30 |
On Monday, the 20th of March we arise to
this...... No wind and clear!
We were told that during the prior 3 weeks it had
rained and you could not see the mountains.

The following satellite picture shows the Icebergs
from space.

I know from our prior trip to Alaska, that 15% of an
iceberg is above water and 85% is below the water line. Is the ratio
any different in fresh water?
(Ron Williams...
Do you have a new ratio?) |
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The glacier is 23 miles long. |
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Not missing work, at all....... |
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The deep blue color is amazing.... |
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And it was almost a summer day for down here (between 48
and 52 degrees). |
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One of the crew speared a large chunk of ice and brought
it onboard. Ten minutes later we were served Pisco Sours, with ice
that was 12,000 years old! |
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A pisco sour at 10:00 am.... Do I have a drinking
problem? |
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View of the peaks, on the east side of the lake. If
you go back up to the satellite picture, you can clearly see the shadow
this mountains casts on the lake. |
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On the dirt road heading back to Puerto Natales. Lago
Grey's 5 star hotel was a little too expensive to stay another night. |
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For my pilot friends... What kind of cloud is this?
Very unusual! |
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110 miles of this! Somebody has to ride it!

Twenty miles later, and you can still see the weird
cloud formation! |
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And the roads are all dirt. Loving it! |
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"Torres del Paine"
What a place..........
For "Chile 10" hit the Back button...
For "Chile 12" hit the "Next Button"...


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