9.2.2008
Rio Grande
We have now been on the island of Tierra del Fuego exactly
a
month. Most of that time being spent in a state of motionlessness. If
you know what I mean…
The Russian goes down
From Punta Arenas (our last update), we took a ferry across to Porvenir
and then drove south along the coast. A beautiful stretch of road with
loads of Guanacos jumping fences and great views onto the straits of
Magellan. We spent the night next to lake called Lago Blanco which had
a free camping site, a fisherman's hut and lots of silence. Idyllic
except for the constant rain.
The next day we drove to a small, exciting border crossing which isn't
on
most
maps and doesn't get much traffic. It requires a river
crossing
so is usually restricted to 4x4’s, but hey we’ve
got 2x2
and 3x3! The current was rather strong so my bike we pushed across with
one person on the throttle and the other making sure it didn't fall
over or get pushed by the current. The sidecar I was supposed to push
too but Axel gunned it through the river and it made it over without
me. Alls well (we thought).
That night we slept at Hostel Argentina in Rio Grande with the
intention of heading for Ushuaia the next day. We made it forty
kilometres out of Rio Grande when Axel noticed a major oil leak that
had coated the left back wheel. Axel took of the wheel and the rack to
get to the leak which was from the differential gearbox (the sidecar
wheel is driven). He drained the oil and plops, out came some balls
from the bearing with the oil and the oil itself was all glittery with
iron filings. Yikes not good!!! Axel then took my bike to ride the 40
km back to organise a truck for the sidecar back to Rio Grande. 5 hours
later it arrives from Ushuaia and the poor russian gets winched up and
trucked to R.G. After much deliberation we decided to order the parts
from our DNEPR mechanic Paul Niederrost and try to put the differential
gearbox back together ourselves. A very complicated job with only about
150 bits and bobs to line up. Hmmmm
Ushuaia 2 up
For those who are not familiar with the lingo, '2 up' is motorbike
terminology for 2 people on one bike. This was how we planned to get to
Ushuaia while we waited for the parts to arrive from Switzerland.
Easier said than done...going from our coffin sized box to two shoebox
sized panniers (maybe I exaggerate slightly) was a struggle. However we
managed and with our now overweight Perla Negra we set off for Ushuaia.
Hiking with the Schubis in Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego
We joined forces with the Schuber family to do some day hikes in the
national park just up the road from Ushuaia. Our base camp Rio Pipo was
a grassy
spot next to a river in a velvety green valley walled in by
impressive peaks. Every evening a herd of horses would cross the river
heading for pasture further upstream and a pair of Kingfishers would
dive for fish in the river while we sat by our campfire.
The next day we climbed up one of those impressive peaks to get an
amazing view of Ushuaia and the Beagle Canal. Down the smaller, lesser
known Murray Canal we could even glimpse the Cape of Horns, where land
finally ends and only the 800km Drake passage separates you from the
Antartic.
Beachcombing for Hostel Argentino
Our next hike followed the coastline of Bahia Ensenada on the Beagle
Canal.
We crossed pebbled beaches, grassy coves and windswept lenga
forests. Crossing the beaches was always a rather time-consuming
process as Renee, Max and Emil were collecting broken glass that had
been polished by the waves and sand. Renee had already made two mobiles
for Graciella at Hostel Argentino (as you do when you have 2 weeks
waiting for Axel to fix HIS bike) and this was project number three.
Passage to Cape Town?
We heard it on the grapevine that the Barque Europa, a 3 masted tall
ship, might need crew for its Ushuaia-Antartica-South
Africa
cruise. So
while we were in Ushuaia we went round to check out the possibility of
getting a job on board, an opportunity nobody in their right mind would
pass up on. No definite yes as of yet but what we did get to do was
spend a day on the Europa getting an idea of the duties and
responsibilities of the crew. Such as making up the beds in the cabins,
helping the engineer or....working 27m above the deck in the rigging!!!
Check out www.barkeuropa.com
Aiport and other goodbyes
Our neighbours from FL just so happened to be travelling in Patagonia
at the same time we were in Ushuaia. Theoretically we should have
been
long gone but because of the bike problems our paths crossed in
Ushuaia. Only problem was how to get hold of them? Andrea’s
phone was back in FL and Toni thought we were pesky customers from work
bothering him on his holidays. They spent an evening trawling the bars
after getting our sms but we only managed to get together at the
airport 2 hours before they flew back to BsAs. A short but happy
reunion.
It was a sunny, windless day when we bade farewell to Ushuaia. The
package of spare parts had arrived and we had a 250km ride to Rio
Grande. We left at 11am but only arrived around 9pm taking 10 hours for
what should have been a 3 to 4 hour ride. After Tolhuin (about midway)
the wind picked up dramatically and we were pushed off the road into
the gravel twice and then the bike was even blown over. At that point
we decided to take cover in the ditch and wait out the worst of it. At
7pm it didn’t seem to be getting any better so off we set off
on a hair-raising and strenuous 50km.
So now we are back in Rio Grande with Graciella and Axel has been
spending the last four days putting the differential gearbox back
together. Things are looking good. A test drive and then we should be
off in a northerly direction. Yippee!