Santiago , Mendoza , San Rafael , Chos Malal ,San martin de Las Andes, San Carlos de Bariloche18 01 12

Santiago 

Bob and I having a few beers outside our Hotel in the old part of town . I had the Bike serviced in Santiago and Dave got his Visa for Argentina . Santiago is a nice open city of approx 4.7mil , but just a city like them all .  

Just leaving for Mendoza (approx 360kms)

The best thing about leaving for Mendoza was the road over to Mendoza .

It was a fantastic day  with beautiful views over the Mountain pass (approx 2,500mts)

Not far out of Santiago a monument for the Spanish getting kicked out of Santiago 

Dave 

The road to the Border of Argentina 

Beautiful Views and weather , until we go to the other side then it all turned to crap . Long flat roads with no views and it was about 40degs c ( I just about cooked )

Half way through this mountain is the official border . There is a tunnel about 2kms long 

The other side and into Argentina 

Beautiful Argentina 

More Beers in Mendoza after a long day in the saddle 

Mendoza is a very pretty city ( 1 mil people), it a shame that it is in the middle of nowhere and so bloody hot , hence the beers 

After a night in Mendoza it was off to San Rafael to see Bobs friends John and Annette . They are a couple of Poms that have moved to Argentina for the good life . They bought  a little farm and are growing Grapes ,Plums , Walnuts . A great couple doing what they dreamed of doing , good on them Ah 

Bob, John ,Annette

Below the Farm house , they also have 5 dogs , ducks , chickens 

Next we went on to Chos Malal (approx 550kms) 

There was about a 75kms of very loose dusty gravel roads , it gave the boys and the BMWs a lot of grief , the Tiger just loves it 

Dave and I waiting for Terry and Bob at a beautiful lake .

Below back on the Tarmac , we were all relieved and very dusty . It was a real shitty road and maybe a prelude for things to come 

Leaving Chos Malal , its just a small farming town , just before leaving  Terry gets a puncher . So it was a late start to San Martin de Andes (approx 460kms)

More big long roads heading to San Martin de Andes 

Same as above

Arriving in San Martin de Andes 

A very , very pretty ski town on a lake , we could have easily stayed there for a few days 

Our Hostel in San Martin , it was about the cheapest we have had ,so far in Chile and Argentina ( Its not cheap here, like we have been used to  ) 

Above and below San Martin de Andes 

Leaving San Martin we ride the Famous Circuito Chico the Seven Lake Road Ride to San Carlos de Bariloche  

The ride was just out of this world , again perfect weather , temp and fantastic views 

More Lakes than you can throw a stick at 

About half way to Bariloche , we started to get into the Volcanic Ash that was and still is being thrown out by a Volcano in Chile,  called Puyehue . In places it was about half to a meter thick and made riding very treacherous , but being the great adventurers we are ,we pulled through (yeah right )

All the snow on the Mountains in the back ground is gray from  the  ash 

A Tiger shot , with all the Ash  

At times with cars coming head on you could hardly see your hand in front of your face 

More Lake shots , its very hazy in the back ground from the  Ash 

Below Notice all the Ash , the white is Ash 

Dave with his Lady Diane pose

Above  buildings and trees  covered in Ash 

Ash covered roads, trees and us by the time we got to San Carlos Bariloche . We also had approx 40kms of road works which even made the dust from the ash  worse , with all the traffic  

I had to covered my mouth to try and stop breathing in so much  ash . It was bloody hard on the Eyes 

The ride through to San Carlos Barloche, was just one of those rides that you will never forget 

I have traveled 19,500kms  ,

 The Tiger idled for 2 days after the service and now it will not  idle at all , its worse than before . A real pain in da butt