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Ken's Motorcycle Adventures, Esquel (2026)

05/12/2025

On November 27, 2025; we concluded our South America motorcycle trip in Buenos Aires after about two months and just a little over 10,000 miles. It was national holiday in the USA on that day and although we were not with our family to observe the holiday we were thankful for a safe and 99% trouble free (no accident or flat tire) travels.

We were scheduled to drop our motorcycles at Air Cargo Terminal here in Buenos Aires on December 4th, there was enough time to do a side trip up to Iguazu Falls to see the world’s largest waterfall. There we met a deaf man who is a certified guide and he gave Bruce & I good information about the importance of wildlife, ecosystems, and the water resources in the area. We learned a lot and without him we would just see the waterfall with no insight or big picture.

When we returned to Buenos Aires, we were more attentive to preparing our motorcycles. Gave them bath and found out that there were several items that we cannot ship with the motorcycle or we risk them being rejected and stored at the warehouse which may force us to return back here just to remove them to be shipped. So on a safe side some stuff including jump start battery were left behind.

The following process was like this:

- Arrive at the Air Cargo Terminal at 9am
- Print and signed our signature on copied/printed paper
- Rode to the entrance of the warehouse where they registered our plate into the system and input our passport data + photo of our face to get our name tag
- Entered the warehouse and park at designated location
- Rolled our motorcycles onto the pallet
- They tied our motorcycles on the pallet with kickstand up
- We had to remove stuff from our motorcycles and open all “bags”
- Custom’s K9 came and sniffed our motorcycles
- When we are cleared of any illegal stuff custom cancelled our TIP and we signed that paperwork
- We put our “bags” and stuff back on the motorcycle
- They wrapped our motorcycles
- We left the airport on Uber back to our AirBnB arriving after 5pm

I’ve opted to ship my motorcycle to Dulles Airport in the area of Washington DC. Bruce decided to take the cheapest option shipping to Miami and because it’s warm down there. Hehe.

We are currently at Buenos Aires Airport (EZE) awaiting for our flight later tonight. Mine leaves at 10:30pm with connecting flight to BWI arriving at 2:18pm tomorrow afternoon assuming all goes well. Bruce’s depart at 11:40pm(?) directly to Miami.

My motorcycle has been assigned to United Cargo plane and is scheduled to leave Buenos Aires On Dec 6th and if there is no delay(s) it should be in Dulles on the 9th 🤞 Bruce’s motorcycle is assigned to a cargo plane and could be subject to consolidation but hopefully it will get full and be send off quickly.

Last leg of this adventure will be a ride from DC to home in NC! In the cold! 🥶 But I’m good! I’m well equipped for this type of weather! 😉

Oh and many thanks to Javier and Sandra of Dakar Motos!! Great service of international shipping only from Buenos Aires!

23/11/2025

Celebratory dinner Argentinian style!! Yummy!😋

23/11/2025

Rio Gallegos-> Ushuaia: We initially agreed to depart at 7pm because border crossings is scheduled to open at 8am but we end up leaving at 7:30am. When we arrive at the border, there was a long queue it took us a hour to be stamped out of Argentina and into Chile.

Once we were on our way we stopped at COPEC fuel station at Cerro Sombrero we also stopped by Parque Pinguino Rey (National Park of King Penguins). Last time I was there 9 years ago it has made quite a lot of changes since and now there is more penguins.

Arriving at Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world (yes we can debate Puerto William ) we took obligatory photos and I was first to congratulate Bruce to arrived at Ushuaia on his motorcycle.

Then we made our way to Bahia Lapataia where there is end of Ruta 3 sign but they have made it difficult for motorcycle to get past the post to take picture in front of the sign.

22/11/2025

El Calafate -> Rio Gallegos: Last night, I fell asleep at 7:30pm and woke up at 7:15am! I was doggy tired!!

Someone ransacked our motorcycles overnight and took few items from our motorcycles but nothing really worth being upset about for me.. 9 years old camelbak, defective disc brake lock (it makes noise when locked but no noise when not locked), and couple of tie down strap. At least all the valuable things and motorcycle is accounted for..

We headed out to Perito Moreno glacier and checked it out.. it was beautiful.. got most of it on video before I head back to the entrance. My right knee was nagging me from the hiking to Fitz Roy so I was not up to doing much walking today. Bruce explored more..

Ruta 5 that allows us to cut through Argentina without having to take Ruta 40 the whole way.. I inquired about it with few people the last few days. One said it’s good all the way but other three said too many potholes it’s not a good road. We gambled today and it was a good road!! Few potholes but nothing to weave around.

When we got to Rio Gallegos, we stopped by gas station to fill up and then had a meal before getting to our hospejade. The restaurant had robot bring us our foods.

20/11/2025

El Chalten -> El Calafate: We ate dinner at Andres Restaurant near the hostel. The price here was reasonable and cheeseburger/fries was so good!

Didn’t sleep good. I’m on bottom of bunk bed and the guy above of me kept jerking around he was the earthquake of our bed keeping it moving all night. Then the guy on top bunk bed to my right realized he overdressed he woke up and used his cellular phone flashlight to search for a short so he can change from long sleeve shirt/pants to short and went topless. Then the guy on bottom to my left had to sleep with light on using his cellular phone flashlight 🙄 No sleep at all. Freak it. Got up early and went hiking to see Fitz Roy.. it was a 4km hike but that trail is treacherous especially at the end. But to be able to see it on beautiful clear day is priceless. Bucket list ✅‼️

But I’m sore from the hike it was dreadful hopping on my motorcycle.. reservation for hotel in El Calafate so no choice but to force myself onto my motorcycle. We fill up and left. Ride was uneventful other than few photos.

Last photo is from yesterday afternoon when we tried to get a decent photo of the entrance but kept getting vehicles coming I had to move my motorcycle forward, backward, forward, backward, etc until we gave up and carried on.

19/11/2025

Perito Moreno -> El Chalten: I’ve passed few Patagonia Region signs but I’ve not found any that had beautiful background but found one this morning so I stopped to take a photo! Nice sky color with beautiful background!

The first part of the ride to Gobernador Gregores was uneventful except for one gas stop in between as precaution. Saw a truck camper that could be rented and I know few people who might be interested! This was in Argentina so renter should be able to cross over into Argentina without problem! Website information on the truck! Hope your dream can come true! 😉

After Gobernador Gregores, we are expecting ripio (gravel in Spanish) road for approximately 45 miles in between to Tres Lagos.. it is known as Terrible 70.. and has caused quite some accidents to motorcycles. There is a haul service and when I inquired they wanted $205 for both of us. We kept that in mind as an option if it rains or wind is very strong. But today wind was weak and no rain so we pressed on. First part was easy I was starting to think that maybe it was overhyped but when we get to the middle it was pretty rough.. and it gotten worse at the end that when we arrived to the pavement, we were so happy! We are also certainly positive it is our last ripio in South America!!

We have arrived at El Chalten around 7pm and got dorm bed in separate rooms. It’s very cloudy here and hopefully sky clear up tomorrow to see Mt Fitz Roy?? 🤞

18/11/2025

Puerto Rio Tranquilo, Chile -> Perito Moreno Argentina: Not to confuse the city to the glacier. Perito Moreno Glacier is further south from us and we will drop by there in few days. Leaving Rio Tranquilo, it started with 85 miles of gravel and we have been gravelized!! 🤪 Not only did we have to negotiate with some loose gravel, there were some steep grade slope going downhill and uphill as well as few sharp curves with loose gravel. On top of that we also have to deal with strong winds.. The last 20 miles were 65% paved so it was nice getting to Chile border on a decent pavement. It wasn’t busy leaving Chile we were in and out of there in under 20 minutes. Entering Argentina, same thing.. in and out of there in 20 minutes with passport stamped and TIP issued.

Here are few beautiful scenes on the road.. Patagonia is beautiful!! It’s going to get better as we progress south!

18/11/2025

Coyhaique-> Puerto Rio Tranquilo: We slept in a little knowing that it would be raining and our plan was to wait until around 10am before taking off in hope to miss the rain. When 10am came it was still raining but we rolled on. Just as we were getting out of Coyhaique we were caught off guard by strong wind gusts so we were forced to slow down a bit to maintain safe speed while being pushed around. A quick stop along the way to graze Cerro Castillo.. After 20 miles, the sky cleared and sun came out.. whew! We thought it would be a easy ride down to Puerto Rio Tranquilo until we saw the sign “ Fin de Pavimento” and we were little over 50 miles from Puerto Rio Tranquilo! At first it seems to be a good gravel road but as we progressed, it got worse! Some sections they dumped thick loose gravel that they were going to grade but it hasn’t been graded making for difficult traction to stay upright then there were sections where they dumped dirt but it had rained overnight last night it’s muddy and slippery! It would be difficult 20 miles but once we got past that the last 27 miles wasn’t bad.

As soon as we reached Puerto Rio Tranquilo, we found our room and checked in then it was a short walking distance to book a full tour of marble caves. It was interesting and nice tour but to be honest I think it’s overhyped. I was not as impressed or awed it is alright. But that’s just my opinion.

Wrapped up the day with dinner and dessert. Barring catastrophe failure to our motorcycles or serious accidents, it’s going to be our last night in Chile!! Tomorrow we cross into Argentina and we will visit couple of places before making the last stretch to Ushuaia.

17/11/2025

Futaleufu-> Coyhaique: We woke up to chill morning climate. There were slight frost on our motorcycles but it quickly melted away. After breakfast, we hit the road. After 13 miles we hit the gravel but it was hard packed gravel for most part with slight washboards. Once we hit Ruta 7, Carretera Austral, it was good road 95% with good gravel 5% of the way. Road was spectacular and scenic. Very beautiful and now it’s checked off my bucket list.

Note: General Augusto Pinochet ordered the construction of Carretera Austral in 1976 which is now popular destination for all tourists.

Along the way we saw at least 45 motorcycles and they were mostly Chile & Argentina with few Brasil. We also ran into accident scene. One of the motorcyclist was sitting on wrong side of guard rail but appeared disoriented with no blood in sight so hopefully it’s not something serious. I saw his motorcycle lean on guard rail but I didn’t see what Bruce said he saw.. forks appeared damaged. There were like 10+ motorcyclists nearby ready to help with one guy offering ride in his SUV we saw no reason to stick around and moved on. Hopefully nothing too serious for him!

Weather is looking gloomy right now. It’s going to rain overnight until 9ish tomorrow morning but supposed to be raining until 12noon in Puerto Rio Tranquilo where we are hoping to get a boat ride to see Marbles Cave! So we will see!

16/11/2025

Can’t post video and pics at same time so here is a video of how windy it was for us before we took a short break at Esquel.

15/11/2025

Barilocha Arg -> Futaleufu Chile: We deliberate on whether to stop for the day at Esquel Arg or continue. We couldn’t decide on that last night. I am being nagged by left groin/thigh sore. It gets painful sitting on motorcycle for few hours. At first stop, it’s not bad but at second stop after 4 hours on the saddle it’s very stiff and sore! This is affecting my trip.

This morning when we left Bariloche on Ruta 40, it started with winding road going through curves and there were a lot of beautiful yellow flowers on what appears to be a bush of some sort.. great way to start the day along with beautiful mountains on both side and creek or river to our right side before there is a lake on our left. Once we get past the mountain the landscape looks like desert of some sort with sagebrush scattered all over. As we get near Esquel, the wind started to really pick up!! It started to push us around in different directions! And although temperature was at 55F but it was way colder than that! It’s starting to get cold. It’s around 12:30pm when we arrive at Esquel so after a coffee break it was decided that we would press on and get through the border back into Chile. The last 20 minutes was on a hard packed gravel road with horrible washboards! But we reached to the border just fine. Once we are into Chile it’s back on pavement again!! 🙂

The process was a little more than Argentina but still fast enough for us to be in and out in under 30 minutes.

The cabin that we are staying in is nice. We went to have a dinner and I settled on a big Chilean steak meal! 😋

Next few days we are going to ride on gravel road (30%) and then on pavement for about 170 miles to Coyhaique. Then we need to decide how we will proceed as there is potential for rain but suppose to rain all morning and stop at lunch. If it does then it’s a 2 hour ride to next town, Puerto Rio Tranquilo where we will take a boat ride to see Catedral de Marmol. Stay tuned!

15/11/2025

Pucon Chile -> San Carlos de Bariloche Argentina. After a night in Pucon, we decided to cross into Argentina for few reasons. It’s a bit cheaper and our USD would give us some advantage in currency. Ferry situation making it difficult to purchase online ticket using foreign credit card and online reservation is required although we were told that it’s possible to buy ticket as motorcycle rider at the ferry.

When we started our trip, we went the wrong way but we were able to backtrack and lose about 20 miles. Within a hour we arrived to Chile border to do the exit process. It only took us few minutes and we were stamped out. That’s when pavement ended and we continued on to Argentina border and it took us about 30 minutes with few queues in front of us. By the time we are stamped into Argentina, the tour bus arrived and there were a long line of tourists waiting to get stamped in. Thank god! 😂 We continued on gravel road for about 20 minutes but they are now working on paving it so I guess in a year or so anyone passing through that border will see short gravel in the no man land.

As we truck on eating miles towards San Carlos de Bariloche, the wind picked up.. and Google Map GPS had a different plan for us.. it decided to guide us on a 225 miles route of zero gas station!! But cool head and managing our speed, we prevailed by arriving at gas station with just about 20 miles remaining on our tank.

Wrapped up the day with decent cheeseburger & fries + local beer for dinner.

Ken's Motorcycle Adventures

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