Every day, on our trip, we face the unfamiliar. A rather interesting state of affairs. And, oh my, the unknown, the new, the strange and the foreign draws out those emotions. The full basket of them …. Harry and I gravitate towards different sets of emotions. But, together, believe us, we haul them all out. Almost every day. And now, our trip ends, where it begins. In Montevideo. Our loop of 14,448 kilometers is complete. A week short of 4 months. We have [...]

We are ‘home’-bodies. Frankly! It’s a wonder we ever leave home. So, on this trip, these ‘bodies’ spend masses of time finding comfy wee ‘homes’. And we are quite particular …. We like our bikes off the street. And we crave space. Because those bikes ooze stuff! Harry’s panniers jampack. My paniers burst. Our top bags pop. It’s tools, spares, tyre tubes, bike oil, chain oil, fuel-cells and a compressor. It’s laptops, battery packs, cameras, GPS units, translator, maps and books. It’s rain-suits [...]

This story only needs pictures and a few words. So you'll be spared my ramblings. It is not a short attention span one though, which seems to be in vogue with social media these days, Our route home passes through the Patagonia Steppe, a vast space that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, encompassing the Andes, a desert, and lakes of glacial origin. It is an eclectic mix of topography, coupled with a harsh, unforgiving terrain and climate. Travelling through [...]

After Ushuaia we have no option but to turn north as our bikes are not amphibious. We travel back via the Argentinean side of Patagonia,  home to glaciers, lakes, a desert, and volcanoes. Along the way is Perito Moreno, a massive glacier located in the Los Glacia Perito Moreno National Park . It is one of South America's largest glaciers, part of the Southern Patagonian Icefield, the world's second-largest ice field outside of polar regions.   The deep blue hue is caused [...]

Bahía Inútilor or Useless Bay is a bay in the western part of Tierra del Fuego on the tip of the South American continent.  Located as a body of water in the Strait of Magellan, this bay was named "Useless" in 1827 by Captain Phillip Parker King (an early explorer) because it afforded "neither anchorage nor shelter, nor any other advantage for the navigator"! Turns out this desolate and windswept area, south of nowhere, is home to the only King Penguin colony on the [...]

‘The End of the World’. At the tip of South America sits the southernmost city of the world. They call it, Ushuaia. But we can’t even pronounce it! ??Ushuaia?? And we only get our tongues around it, when we eventually arrive there. It’s ‘Ush-why-ha’! It feels momentous. As we ‘thump, thump, thump’ into there. Our hearts feel too big. And our chests too small. But it’s also bitterly cold, wet and windy. So, it sobers our ‘End of the World’ moment. It’s been [...]

‘Terra del Fuego’ means ‘Land of Fire’. It’s those fragments of land that cling onto the tip of South America. Why, ‘Land of Fire’? Snow caps everything! But that’s what Magellan names it. When he discovers his Strait. His Strait of Magellan that slips through and skips the treacherous Cape Horn. All he sees, on the other side, are little fires. A Land of Fires. Little fires dot the shores. They line the coves. And flicker on the water. Fires kept alive by [...]

On the Southern tip of the South American continent, bound by the Atlantic,  Southern, and Pacific Oceans, lies Patagonia. A diverse region of exceptional natural beauty, split between Argentina and Chile, Patagonia is home to 5 main geographical areas covering glaciers, lakes, rocky fjords, a desert, and an archipelogo.   Over the millennia,  retreating glaciers have made the southern Fjords accessible, representing a testament to their powerful sculpting forces. Valleys carved by ice and flanked by cliffs and mountains have created a complex [...]

Charles Darwin visits Chiloé Island in 1835, on the HMS Beagle. He calls the place ‘a miserable hole’. The climate ‘in winter is detestable, and in summer it’s only a little better’, he says. And he describes it as a place ‘on the borders of Christianity’!?! Darwin, how can we not, but visit Chiloé Island! Here is Chiloe Archipelago; barely tethered to Chile.   It’s an archipelago of islands, 30 kilometres off Chile’s southern coast. So, our bikes and we, board [...]

The Mapuche today, are mostly in Temuco, Santiago and Buenos Aires. Here they seek opportunities for education and work. But the ancestral land of Araucania, in south Chile and Argentina, is the heart of the Mapuche. And it still holds a core community. Slowly it seeps in. Why are the Mapuche different? Then it shakes us! The Mapuche maintain independence for 300 years. It’s a strong, unified military that protects them from the Inca & Spanish Empires. And in the early 17th century [...]