International Motorcyclists Tour Club

Touring South America

By Bud Lahitte

I know some members of the IMTC are interested in motorcycling in South America, so I offer my experiences. 

Highway 3 going South through mid Patagonia

In 2000 I rode solo on a standard Honda CB750 from Bahia Blanca, near Buenos Aires, South through Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego, West along the Strait of Magellan into Chile, North through the West Coast fjords (partly on a ferry) to Santiago, then East across the Andes at their highest point, through the pampas and back to Bahia Blanca, where I was born. Deeelightful.

These are the points I imagine would be of interest

Best time of year

Argentina and Chile are roughly the same distance from the Equator as the United States, only flip-flopped. February is peak Summer, and Buenos Aires is hot and muggy, so Spring and Fall are ideal for touring throughout, except Tierra del Fuego. There, getting close to the cape, January or February are best because they are the warmest months. Ushuaia, the farthest city South, is only 600 miles from Antarctica. Probably worse than the cold is the constant wind that blows East, over the Andes and across Patagonia, or so I am told. I had almost no wind in February.

Type of Motorcycle

This depends on whether you want to tour, as I did, or be on a "expedition" (excellent choice of words by Jim Kentish).

In the "expedition" category, a most post popular attraction for motorcyclists visiting Argentina is to travel the length of the country on Highway 40. Scenic and challenging, Highway 40 mostly runs along the eastern foothills of the Andes and therefore has a great variety of views. But Highway 40 has few hotels or gas stations and is mostly unpaved i.e. ripio. A dictionary translation of ripio is rip-rap or gravel interspersed with fist sized rocks. I don't remember meeting any motorcyclists, including Argentines, who had ridden on ripio and not fallen over at least once. And the wind really blows, coming down the East side of the Andes. However, trying to be objective, I am the only foreign motorcyclist I met who did not challenge himself on the ripio. Most ripio riders were on dirt bikes, 250 to 600 cc's.

For touring, I did my 6,000 mile circle all on good, mostly 2 lane, paved roads with adequate hotels and gas stations. These roads are in the main straight and flat, and that is one of the reasons foreign motorcyclists choose Highway 40, it's more exciting. Any street or touring bike would be fine on these roads.

As for motorcycle repair shops, there are plenty scattered around the country, mostly for japanese bikes. There are very few BMW bikes around and therefore few shops for BM's and Harley shops are only found in Buenos Aires.

Argentine friends showing me the ground-hugging growth at the southern end of Patagonia

Shipping, renting or buying

I know of no rental shops in Argentina. Within the last few years I heard of a tour company that arranged to rent Yamaha dirt bikes in Santiago, Chile. Each riders deposit equalled the price of the bike.

Buying a new bike is probably impractical because the taxes added to the base price of the bike equal about 100%. I don't know how much one would lose when one went to sell the bike. I met a couple of Europeans who bought used dirt bikes when they arrived and they were not too concerned with how much they could sell the bikes for when they left the country. They were happy with the decision.

For shipping, the usual air and sea lines go to Buenos Aires and Santiago. I sent my bike by ship; that took a month. Plus it was lost in transit for three weeks.

I met two Americans who sent their dirt bikes by air, via Fed-Ex, and were delighted. Very easy, no crating, competitive price and great service. I also know of another Californian who sent his touring bike, crated, by boat to Chile. An agent had through Customs when he arrived and the owner was pleased. I understand the Chilean government is more welcoming to tourists.

A tip: motorcycle thievery in Buenos Aires is horrific. So make sure your shipping company keeps your bike in their warehouse - their insurance and their responsibility - until you arrive.

Customs

As I said earlier, Customs in Chile is supposedly more welcoming than Argentina. You can keep a bike in Argentina six to nine months, depending on which agent you talked to. A cousin of mine, unfamiliar with getting bikes through Customs, insisted on helping me. Disaster. Finally, when we had hired an agent whose title was pronounced "Hestor" (but probably written 'Jestor') and he got us through lickety-split. So, I am recommending hiring a shipping agent (jestor?) and avoiding my cousins.

The ferry boat that carried motorcycle and me through the Chilean fjords for 4 days. It also carried a truck load of horses, another of sheep, about 60 paying passengers and six subsidised Indians going to market

Roads & Routes

As previously mentioned, the paved roads are good to very good. Going South from Buenos Aires on the Atlantic coast there is only one paved road, Highway 3. North through Chile, the main road is Highway 5. To avoid ripio in Chile, and to see the fjords, I took the ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt (the ferry company is Navimag and may be contacted on Santiago 203 5030, Puerto Natales 41 1421 or Puerto Montt 25 3754).

In central Chile and northern Argentina there are numerous paved roads in multiple directions. Crossing the Andes between Santiago and Mendoza there is a tunnel at, I believe, about 12,000 feet.

 limbing back over the Andes, Chile to Argentina. Soon this road went past the base of Mt. Acanlagua, 6,960m (22,800 ft) at its peak and the tallest in the Americas

Excellent maps of regions and the whole country are available at ESSO and Shell gas stations throughout both countries. There is also the national auto club, Automovil Club Argentino located at Avenida del Liberador 1825, 1425 Buenos Aires.

Dangers

Well, there is Suicide by Steak (there is more about in the Food section), but I experienced none. I hear there is a high probability of having your motorcycle stolen if you leave it out in the city of Buenos Aires (and I hear there are pickpockets too).

Hotels

There are hotels throughout the country and a few motels. I stayed in two and three star hotels in the $40 to $60 range. I did not find chains of hotels such as Best Western, where I could book forward to one in each town. So, I used the Lonely Planet travel guide books and either called ahead or just pulled into town and took my chances.

In Buenos Aires, a capital city of some 12 million inhabitants, they have all the luxury hotels with commensurate prices. Speaking of prices, I found the cost of traveling about the same as the United States.

The Moreno Glacier in the Eastern (Argentine) foothills of the Andes

Food

Ninety-some percent of Argentines are descended from European ancestors, so the food is a mix of Italian, Spanish, French etc. Delicious. But, they are rightfully famous for their beef steaks. Every step of the process is aimed at perfection. The cattle are bred to be excellent beef animals, then they are raised on the lush grasses of the Pampas. After butchering, the meat is 'aged to perfection'. Finally, almost always, the beef is barbecued over a natural wood fire and richly marinated. The national dish is steak with two fried eggs on top and french fried potatoes on the side.

Highlights

Here are some places you might like to choose to visit, some of which I have not visited yet. Starting in the North and working South :

 

Iguazu Falls, at the Brazilian border	The Colonial districts around Salta
Mendoza wine country	Buenos Aires
Pampas cattle & the gaucho country	The Lake District in the Andes
Whales, penguins, sealions along the Atlantic coast	National Parks with glaciers and Torres del Pine
Tierra del Fuego and the 'end of the Earth'

My Personal Highlights

• The cafeteria dining room on the top deck of the ferry. After a meal, sitting at long tables, extended conversations with people from all parts of the world, while watching the fjord country go by.

• Argentines view a motorcyclist they same way they see a soccer hero. They blink their headlights, wave, want to talk, hear what you are doing. I enjoyed being a celebrity.

• I like open space, so I enjoyed the flat, treeless expense of southern Patagonia.

• Watching the Moreno Glacier calve every twenty minutes - like watching a 20 storey building collapse into the lake.

• Tierra del Fuego, the Strait of Magellan and the towns thereabouts really felt to me like one of the worlds' outposts. I appreciated just hanging out with the travellers that chose to visit that corner of the globe.

The view on the right as you go North through Chile; lakes, cornfields and a row of volcanoes almost 200 miles long

If any one has any questions, I would enjoy communicating with you via E-mail: Bud Lahitte