HU Meeting, Day 2

December 12, 2010

Sunday 10:30am Oscar and Nancy led the group on a ride to the local Sea lion sanctuary, then lunch oceanside. The Sea lion colony is one of the largest in the world. Then to the restaurant for a Parillia (parisha) lunch. The restaurant sits perched on the side of the ocean cliff and far from town. I guess this gives them the right to supply far too little food and charge way to much. I was extremely disappointed in this lunch as well as most everyone else. It was a crowning damper on the weekend meeting. We never did go to Luis's home to see his collection of antique bikes that he personally restored. After making such an effort be at this Horizon Unlimited Meeting and to do so little, I can only say that Oscar and Nancy are very nice people, but the meeting was poorly organized and a waste of time, right down to the wrong GPS coordinates for the campsite…. The best part of the weekend was meeting all the riders. They were great! We expect to see a few in Ushuaia and on the road. Gus and Kim headed for Bariloche.

Horizons Unlimited Meeting, Day 1

December 11, 2010

Many of the riders were slow to wake up this morning including me. Gus made breakfast after he got up and everything is good. A number of locals came down on their bikes and we are surprised at the R1200GS and some old K1000Z, G50 BMW and an 1947 AJS, all restored. Very nice. Luis, with the R1200GS and AJC has restored 20 bikes and offered to open his doors  to the group to see them. It was arranged for Sunday. Saturday evening was arranged to go to the cafe next to the campsite. Food was average.

Road to Viedma

December 10, 2010

Rode to Viedma today. The wind is increasing as we drive south. We went through a couple of sand storms as it is picked up from un-vegetated areas. Sometimes the wind would hit us from the side and other times from the back and side. I expected it to come off the ocean, but the wind has been blowing towards the ocean. I also expected to see the ocean as we are riding but very rarely has it been seen. I think because near the ocean are sand dunes which are higher than where the roads are laid. Occasionally, I will check the altitude on the GPS and surprised at how close to sea level, we are. From our second day in Argentina, we have been riding road that very rarely exceed 100 meters above sea level. Even Buenos Aires was 25 to 50 meters above. I am actually getting used to the flatness. It doesn't feel as alien to me as it did on past bike trips. I still prefer mountains and curves and corners. Straight, flat roads are mind numbing.

Navigating the cities has been much easier since receiving the GPS maps of South America from Javier. This has been a blessing and a curse. It has taken the stress away of getting through the cities quickly, but now we don't need to stop and ask locals for directions. This insulates us from the interaction of the local people. The GPS maps also have hotel and fuel way points, so it is easier to find them in the small towns. Again, without the asking the locals. I still like to stop and ask though.

We arrived at the Campsite about 4:30pm and found only 3 bikes here. More came in as we chatting and 11 bikes spent the night. Oscar and Nancy, the hosts, are very nice. Oscar has a 1200 Goldwing and we have chatted about finding parts for it. They are very rare down here. He explained that used motorcycles were only allowed to be imported into Argentina in 1993. None before or after. New Goldwings cost around $38,000us down here and he was surprised when I told him that they cost about $36,000can.

Forecast is for rain on Saturday, but it tried a few times this evening, so Michael, Gus and I chose a cabana on site. More expensive than camping but less than the local hotels. Also has a kitchen, so we went and picked up groceries. When we came back, people ended up here, so Gus and Michael made for stew dinner and 10 people ended up staying for dinner. We supplied the wine too, somehow. Great dinner, good wine and great party. Like normal, I'm first to go to bed.

"We are not in Kansas anymore Toto"

December 8 & 9, 2010

"We are not in Kansas anymore Toto" Gus, Michael and I left Kilca Hostel this morning and it took about 2 hours to get out of Buenos Aires. The suburbs are massive. Finally, open road! They are flat, straight and boring. I am amazed at how flat this land is. Reminds me of the prairies or Kansas, with all of the huge ranches that go for miles. Not too much traffic.

We got into a small town and want something to eat, asked locals, nothing open. We spent an hour looking for an open restaurant and finally gave up and carried on. Stopped for gas, there was a little development of shops and restaurants that surrounded the gas station. Had lunch there and carried on to Villa Gessell. Nice little seaside resort town about 4 hours out of BA. Met Oscar at a gas station and he carried on. Just into town, we saw him and some buddies so we stopped and chatted. One buddy, Peter escorted us and helped to find us a hotel for the evening. Thanks Peter..

 Thursday ride was another nondescript riding day as we drove through flat straight countryside for hours and hours. Yesterday was farms and ranches, today was hay fields and grain fields. Our destination is Monte Hermoso, another seaside tourist town, an hour out of Bahia Blanca. Nice place, nice hotel with nice bar. As we sat sipping on cervesas, Kim, a man from New Zealand, who Gus had met at Dakar Moto 2 days previous showed up. Turns out he road from Dakar Moto to here, saw our bikes in the parking lot behind the hotel, got a room and found us at the restaurant in the square. Introductions done, we are all heading for Viedma, tomorrow.

School continues in Buenos Aires

December 6 & 7, 2010

Back to school. New teacher, new week, new words to learn. Maria, the teacher is very nice and starts us conjugating the ser and astar and hoy verbs. Michael was in his glory watching me struggle. He did great, I was totally lost. My gray matter just couldn't absorb this stuff. My brain was full to the brim and overflowing with Spanish words. Michael's Spanish is leap and bounds better than when we arrived. Me, I can understand more, but struggle speaking.

Gus got to the hostel on Tuesday afternoon and forgot the part I gave him to have Dakar Motos fix. He stripped his bike down, followed the locals, went back to Dakar Moto and picked up the part, was back within an hour. Everyone was surprised at his speed. Dorien and James, schoolmates of ours, met us at our hostel about 8pm and we all went to a nice local restaurant on the corner near us. This was my 3rd time there because they gave me good service, good food at a good price. We came back to the hostel with beer and wine and visited late into the evening, as Wednesday was a national holiday and many things were closed. Michael came to bed around 4am. Silly kid…

Fuerza Bruta

December 5, 2010

Last night we went to this concert type thing called Fuerzo Bruta. Check it out!  It was quite cool, with all of its special effects and tribal music. Sunday, Michael and I got to talk to Dad and Lynda and Julie on Gmail video chat and it was great to see and talk to them. In the evening, a bunch of us from the hostel went down to San Telmo Square to shop, have dinner and watch Tango. The restaurant we went to tried to rip us off and we all noted it so somethings were said. To make a long story short, everyone including the restaurant workers were dissatisfied.

There was also a jazz festival going on there so we got to listen to some great Jazz.

A week in Buenos Aires

All Argentina Pics

November 30 to December 4, 2010

The rest of the week becomes a blur of spanish classes and walking and checking areas out, looking for motorcycle parts and buying groceries for lunches. Gus has gotten over his pickpocketing experience and back on track with us to Viedma. Undetoured from this experience, we follow Gus through the Subway system to another walking street area of the   city to go shopping for new runners, as mine are worn out and falling apart. This evening Gus, and Dorien from class are talking about going to a show near the city central Cemetaria and we invite ourselves along. Meet them at 9pm after taking a different bus and went to get tickets but they were sold out. They went, we went home. Got tickets for Saturday night show. We are looking forward to checking out the old cemetery and area in the light, before the show that starts @ 10pm. Michael says he now understands why Gus likes this city so much. Because every night of the week, there is so much going on, you can choose to do anything you want and have at least 5 choices different choices to your choices. This may be an exaggeration, but there is always something to do. The locals have been friendly and helped us out on the buses, a few times. Weather has been very comfortable this week with temperatures in the 20ºs. We are told this is unseasonably cool, but we are not complaining as  the 34º temperature when we arrived was to hot on the bikes.

 Alto Pelarmo Mall

 They say there are at least 3 protests a day in this square???

Michael and I have been placed in this Spanish class of 6 students, Dorien from Holland, Jason from Minnesota, Patrick from Ireland, Jane from California from Australia and us from you know where and finally, our teacher, Emilia from Buenos Aires. She has been great and taught us a lot. Michael is absorbing this and keeping up to the teaching. Me, I am struggling. It isn't coming as easily to me, but I have learnt more than expected. I am looking forward to review the material this weekend because we have decided to take 2 more days of spanish on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is a national holiday here so school will be closed and we are going to take 3 days to ride to Viedma.

November 29, 2010

Today we start Spanish classes. Took the bus. Ingrid (from Vamos Spanish) gave us great bus directions and we arrived an hour early. They started us out in a beginners class which was good for me. Michael was feeling pretty confident. We met up with Gus at coffee break and he informed us that he was pickpocketted in the subway this morning, loosing travellers cheques, bank cards, credit cards and most importantly, his driver's licence. Very upset, he leaves classes for the day to deal with arrangements to have these replaced. In his violated state, he didn't know if he would be able to ride with us to Viedma for the HU meeting. After classes at 1:30pm, we head for the street Javier told us about for motorcycle shops and find one that sells Givi pannier bags, so that we can order a latch that Michael broke on the road from Potosi to Uyuni. then back to the hostel to study our spanish.

Notice 5 streets in either direction, there are 2 more streets on either side of these with 3 more lanes. Consider the traffic and then consider motorcycles splitting these lanes between cars, taxis and buses...

We are learning that locals have siestas and shops close mid afternoons. Stores reopen later in the day and restaurants reopen after 8pm in the evening and locals like to go out until late (1am) thats why they need their siestas, I guess. We also learn that Buenos Aires has the most extensive Bus system, maybe the best in the world. I can't confirm this, but we were told that Mexico City is studying their bus system and implementing many of the efficiencies. Bus fairs cost about $1.00 to $1.25pesos ($.25-$.30 can) per trip. The fairs in South America are so reasonable that many people use the bus systems extensively, many not owning cars because they aren't needed or aren't affordable. We have seen numerous people on the buses doing deliveries. During the day, you are able to catch buses on the major routes every 3 minutes.

November 28, 2010

Got an invite from Gus to check out San Telmo Market.Talked to Gus in the morning an Gmail video chat and he remembered other things needed doing and was not able to meet us. Michael and I walked about 12 blocks to it anyhow. This area is huge and has hundreds of Antique shops full of everything you can imagine. On the streets were venders selling everything too. The streets were closed and for 20 or 30 blocks vendors lined the sidewalks, including many off streets. Michael and I walked for about 5 or 6 hours. Amazing, and a beautiful clear day. By the time we got back, cervesa was a welcome refreshment.

November 27, 2010

Chatted with the residents this morning, Bob, Jeff and Guido, the owner. Nice guys but got warnings about pick pocketters. reminds us to be very careful. Took the day and just relaxed and caught up on our blogs for most of the day.