Tierra

So,after:
traveling about four months, in which I touched all four seasons
(I left in the fall, I was here in spring and summer and I will be back in winter).
And after:
about 18,000 miles ( 28000 km),
11 countries crossed ,
2 sets of tires ,4 oil changes, few cop bribes, salmonella, a quasi sinking boat, a couple of pretty bad falls, rain, snow, wind (the strongest ever!), cold, scorching heat, too many aduanas, too much meat,not enough road signs...
Nature ,nature , nature, and more incredible nature,
People, people, people… wonderful people.
Tierra, Madre Tierra…
Now:
I’m on my way back to my favorite home.
But this will not be an end. Infact (as I read written on a pick up on my last ride here):
La Vida eres el camino,no el destino.
That can be read:
Life is the journey, not the arrival.
And the journey keeps going!
In this lag of my journey I had the privilege and the luck to see so much, to smell, to taste, to feel so much, to experience so much, to be challenged in so many ways, to encounter so many wonderful people, even to play on the back of a pick up truck on the streets of Valparaiso for Xmas( thanks to the deligthful Villa Kunterbunt crew), and to do many other bizarre things but ultimately to get to know more about myself.
And this would have not been possible without the love and support of my dears and of many new friends I met along the way.
So, thanks to all of you , and to the Universe.
Amor, Paz y Luz.

Chiloe'

Chiloe' is a very peaceful place...green as a place were it rains almost always and blu as the water that embrace this rolling hills and her rivers and her lakes. A magical island full of intriguing mythological ancient tails grown in misty woods and wild deserted beaches.
People are very nice, although I had hard time on understanding their spanish having all a very thick accent. Smiles are an international language. There are many wooden churches some 300 and more years old and constructed without nails or steel fasteners.
The tide (21 feet!)brings the water line almost a mile from the coast and that is why the old fishermen builded the houses on palafits. And a daily chance to work on their boats!
Xmas is here ( they call it Pasqua here..!?!?) And here it is my version of it.
Happy Holidays from the new baby jesus! ( or is it Santa?)

Ferry Austral

The crowd taking the ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt was certainly a mix of all kind of people.
All kind of languages spoken there and few Italians too, that are also going to Chiloe and maybe I will see again. And of course my brazilian fun new young friends with whom I had a great time, entertaining many on the boat… Italian and brazilian cultures and sense of humor mix very well! But I also had wonderful conversations with many travelers and once again I was pleasantly enjoying the depth of the connections that can happen between people coming from so different backgrounds. And by the exchange of energy that comes from it. This time,among many other wonderful encounters, I got some very deep spiritual positive messages from a chilean truck driver! And once again the 2012 year of the change was mentioned by many and in a very positive way.
And the food was pretty good , and the crew delightful…and … the navigation trought this gorgeous and at times very narrow fiords absolutely amazing!
And it was so good to be able to see this incredible nature without having to freeze my ass and instead going inside on a cozy chair anytime I was getting tired to be exposed to such a powerful harsh nature where the wind was so strong that I had to hold to the rail to walk outside or it would knock me down to the deck. But the air felt clean and renvigorating. And of course condors and seals and otters and dolphins and birds of any kind. And some time we were squeezing and slaloming in places where the rocky sides of the fiords were only 50/60 feet away from us… almost scary! But the Capitan did an excellent job, and without automatic pilot! And he even took a diversion for us to get a very close look to a nice glacier in a cul de sac of a fiord.
Ultimately a great trip! Small cabin, rain and clouds and cold forgiven!
And last evening we even had a great sunset and the sky cleared and the star were amazing and we had a party on the deck and quite a riot of a dancing!
Today I made it to Castro, in the Chiloe' island and I'm enjoying this lovely little place. Tomorrow ( if it's not raining) I'll explore a bit more then Sunday I'll head up north.

Torres del paine

Torres del Paine is a park few miles from Puerto Natales where I am now and where I will take the ferry for Puerto Montt tomorrow. So, after I cooked spaghetti with ragu’ for few of us we had a fun party last night with young nice people from various countries joining us later on. I had tow very nice new friends. Two young guys from brazil that are taking the same ferry tomorrow and with them today I took an day bus ride in the park.
We spent about ten hours inside the park and it was great! The mountains are beautiful and the waterfall in the picture very powerful. But the highlight was the icebergs in the Grey lake…so magical. Blue magical. ( Paine is indio for blue...)
Anyway. Trekkers who went really inside told me how incredible it is…but definitely requiring equipments, time and …physical preparation. They are all very young and full of energy…and they are calling me …abuelito! It’s ok. Tonight I’m invited to eat ( and party!) again!
The weather is good, warm in the day and crisp at night.
Today was presidential election in Chile. Not sure who won but I can hear car horns so someone is celebrating. I’m gathering lots of opinion on the politics and social situation here. Very interesting, and complicated of course.
Looking forward to the ferry ride. 3 days in channels and fiords! And most likely no wifi. Oh well. I still have reading material.

Penguins!

I wanted to go to a Penguineira since ever!
I love penguins! Don't I look like one here?
And here I was! In the middle of thousands of them! Cold cold cold wind but a wonderful sunny day on the Magellan straight, and on Isla Magdalena where there is this protected penguins colony.
I would have stayed all day! The interaction in between this birds families is amazing.
Now they are nesting and digging holes in the ground and preparing the nest. Also fighting on their property...but mostly just screaming at each other beak and sort of clumsy dancing puffing up to scare new squatters away.
So cute! And yet it's a serious surviving business they must do in this harsh enviroment. It's summer now so I can only imagine how bad can winter be in here...
Anyway. I had my chain and sprockets and oil change done in Rio Gallego, in a very nice shop ( SM motors) and I'm now in Punta Arenas( Chile). Then I'll go to Puerto Natales were I will take the ferry to Puerto Montt navigating fro 3 days trough the fiords...can't be bad!
More to come!

Mission Accomplished!

YES! I made it to Ushuaia!
I finally made it to where I wanted to go since long time ago !... ...
With a last minute change in the plan...
I left the bike in Rio Gallego and I took the bus!
A decision very hard to take but that I'm glad I took.
I couldn't face this last 500 km with my physical limitations and with the fierce wind and road conditions I was foreseeing.
And I'm glad I did this. Even the bus ride was pretty rough!
So ...sorry for the full integrity of the trip but I decided at this point better safe than real sorry.
Anyway! I'm here!
And I have so many emotions going on at the same time...
When I opend the champagne bottle that I carried all the way from SF I was shacking and even a bit teary...and I offered some to the Ocean as my toast to all of you that are following this journey and I thanked the Universe that made all of this possible, and of course all of the loving people that helped and supported me. Including Karl, that, as we speak, is sending his bike back to California from Valparaiso. We did a long beautiful and at times hard stretch together and then we took inevitably our detours but still loving each other and we'll celebrate all of this back home some time soon.
Ushuaia is a beautiful town, surrounded by a stunning nature and tomorrow I will explore some of it.
Meanwhile a smile to all from El final del Mundo!
( BTW the date of the blog is wrong....
I arrived in Ushuaia on Sunday, December 6)

Crossing to the Atlantic

The wind finally was gone yesterday so I started going south on Ruta 40 from Bariloche.
I asked around about it, including a couple of tour agencies and the responses about the status of the roads below Perito Moreno were quite concerned...
I decided that I would be deciding on east or south later and I left the nice and cozy Bariloche. Rested and happy. I had lots of dulce de leche and I even had a chance to play drums on a jazz version of Bach's suites! Fun!
The paved road soon become a paved road in construction and I had to take long stretches on dirt realizing then that my right hand is still not happy with the bumpiness...it hurts.
So that, together with the cold, the lenght of the route and some unconfortable feeling of being on a very solitary road made me decide for east...yes I might have missed gorgeous views...but I feel good on my decision.
I could talk at lenght about what this amazing trip is giving to me and it's making me discovering but definetly one is that I need to be aware of my limits and accept them, and make decisions based on the respect of who I am and what I need phisically and emotionally...
And I kept going east(there was nowere to stop really) and I made it all the way to The Ocean! Comodororo Rivadavia. The days are getting longer and there is still light after 9pm. The I found a nice place to stay where, after a nice meal( the only of the day) I slept like a baby... after a long 850km ride(530miles)!
Getting closer to te end of the continent...technically Tierra del Fuego is an island infact and I could stop on Rio Gallegos. But a mith is a mith! So I will take the ferry to the mithical island. Getting closer...