South America 360 Expeditions

Ushuaia, Argentina to Foz do Iguacu, Brasil

One quarter (¼) of the 360 journey is complete!

Justin reports

After some relaxation and recuperation time in Ushuaia, and deeply needed visitations to the local Irish pubs, you know they’re everywhere! We were ready to ride North, from el Fin del Mundo onwards, we headed to the ferry to cross the most dangerous waters, the Magellan Straight, for the second time in 3 days.

Bob and Donna thought they would bypass the ferry ride and take their own boat, unfortunately they were not able to find any oars, so they opted out and joined the boat that we were on.

While waiting in the same ferry line, a huge semi-truck pulled up beside Ted and blessed him with the, Oh so holy Wiser Bud, that poured some virtual refreshing goodness on him. We were all a bit jealous, that we were not chosen as Ted was, especially Ray, he needed a hug.

Back on the land and away we go, heading to Cerro Sombrero for a second visit, and then onwards north.

Everyone thinks that the roads in Patagonia, such as the famous Ruta 40 and the Ruta 3 on the East side of Argentina are long, straight, boring and flat, but they are not all like that at all, some are long, straight, boring, with rolling hilly sections!

Here I took a quick stretch break, photo break/ breathe in the air break, with sisters, Clara and Rachel, who climbed a precariously dangerous mountain and did the jump of joy.

We had a grueling, exhausting and patience testing 868 km, 12 hour day that day. Thank goodness there was perfect weather, calm, sunny and hot. We were all relaxed and smiling and ready to EXPLODE near the end, and primed to hit the pub for some highly needed rehydration. Penguin excursions, and a tour around the Valdez Peninsula was to be had the next day.

A view out the window from the hotel onto the very scenic Puerto Madryn. The full moon was out that night and lit up the skies and waters and made for some great photo ops for those who chose to take them.

Also that day, the Adventure Van was taken in to get a good needed cleaning, inside and out. The car wash was an interesting place that I quickly found out about. I found it by chance, and it turned out to be a group of young people that were living a clean life, void of drink and smoke, praying to higher powers, and passing on the message to other young people. One of them told me that he used to steal, smoke and drink, but now he had found the real reasons for living a good life and does none of those things anymore. Good on ’em!

Waking up early to a beautiful sunrise that morning for the long journey North, with one overnight stop, and into the wonderful city of Buenos Aires.

Some very long days they were to get into BA, long hours, more straight roads, dizzying and hypnotizing. Welcome to BA! One of the buildings had a huge light mural of Eva Marie on the side. You know her…Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.

We all went out for a great group dinner the next night in Buenos Aires. It was a fun time with a tango show and traditional music being played for our entertainment. What a great looking bunch of dirty, dusty adventure moto tour people.

Also happening on first arrival into BA, late in the evening, Clara and Rachel hit the hospital to have a second x ray and opinion on her bothersome left wrist. It thankfully turns out that there is no bone fracture or damage, just soft tissue damage. The doctor said a couple more weeks of healing should do the trick, seeing as she had almost ripped off her thumb in the crash, he continued.

Heading out of BA and into Chajari, it started raining, major raining, major, major rain! As in, the sky opened up and dropped buckets of water. Bucket after bucket for hours. And that’s not all, just minutes from the hotel a local moron of a driver tries to pass our riders on the right side. He made it past Ted, then hit some water, started to hydroplane, tapped his brakes, and, Game Over! Spun out in front of Ray, so close as for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel, spinning across the meridian and then flipping multiple times and landing on its roof. The news said 5 people were in the car, and not injured!

It was great news to hear that evening, we all thought they were gone.

Continuing the next day, we had more straight roads, but it was dry and quick. We took a quick pit stop, saw some old crashed cars at the local police station, Bob was analyzing and applying his forensic skills of the whys, whens and hows of it all, to figure out the ifs, buts and whos of it.

At last the final fuel stop before crossing the border into Brasil, in the muddy red Brasilian fuel station parking lot, just kilometers before crossing the border.

Olá, e bem-vindo ao brasil! Translation – Hello, and welcome to Brasil! In Português, now we all have to switch from Spanglish to Portugeslish, thank goodness all of our group has a good handle on that language, no problem, what could go wrong.

The whole group hit Foz do Iguacu water falls, on the Argentinian side as well as the Brazilian side. Of course Argentina says theirs is better, and the same on the Brazilian side, make up your own mind, and enjoy both of them, which we all did, and took plenty of pics and video. There are 257 falls in this area, and they are truly amazing. The thunderous roar as the water hits the ground is almost breathtaking, (Hi Robin!) and empowering.

Oh, just one more thing. Just to let all ya’ll, as Donna says, know that we are not alone or unprotected on this major journey. The Mega Support Tour Van had back up that day in Puerto San Julian, Argentina, and continues to have back up to this day, military fighter jet style!

More to come…