It's mid-February, time to leave Patagonia and leave the cold and wind behind us. But first our tires are still waiting for us in Puerto Montt. They urgently need to be changed, as we have almost no tread left on them. But when we arrive at the garage, there are no tires. They have been ordered, but there are delivery bottlenecks. Jaime puts us off until the next day and says that the tires will definitely be included in the next delivery. We make an appointment for the next day at 11am. So far so good. Well rested and with a South American flair, we tell Jaime that we won't arrive until around 12 noon. No sooner said than done! We arrive at noon. No Jaime, no tires! Today the tires have to be fitted to our motorcycles, because our host Paty can only accommodate us for one more night. Jaime comes around the corner and doesn't look happy. OOOOh, that doesn't bode well. The tires weren't there, but the second and last delivery for today is at 3 pm. He says the tires will definitely be there at 3 pm. Ok, let's wait and pass the time. And indeed! At 3 p.m. Jaime arrives beaming with the tires. Phew, well done again!

Waiting
Wandas tires are on their way

DONE!
Tires are fitted. Yes!

PatY our host
Thank you for the hospitality


Volcano Osorno, Chile
Today we will cross the border into Argentina for what feels like the 1000th time. It's hot, the sun is beating down and we're driving through the no man's land between Chile and Argentina. The landscape is covered in ash, the trees have no leaves. It looks dead, gray and desolate. A volcano erupted there some time ago. Suddenly a long column stretches out in front of us. What's going on here? A sign indicates that the Argentinian border crossing is 1 km away. Oh dear. Standing in a column for 1 km under the blazing sun? We're not going to do that. We pass the column on the right until we reach the very front, where we already see the Argentinian customs officer standing in front of the barrier. He's not happy that we've cheated our way in and says in Spanish: "Where are you coming from in the convoy? Go back there"! Definitely not, we're going to collapse! We pull out our worst Spanish and tell him: "We're from Switzerland! He looks at us: "no hablan español"?, we say: "no"! He issues us two tickets for the border, opens the barrier and waves us past. The driver behind us swears.... ups... well, he has air conditioning ;-). Ooooooh what we see there doesn't make us happy at all. Hundreds of cars and even more people queue up in a huge line at the counters... Three hours later we have all our stamps and papers. Sweaty, hungry and tired, we set off in search of a place to sleep. Unbelievably, the border town is celebrating some kind of festival and the roads through the center are closed. We are desperately looking for a way around, driving back and forth, almost out of gas. But it doesn't look any better at the petrol stations - a huge queue! Just get out of there. We step on the gas, find the road out of the chaos and end up at Lago Nahuel Huapi!

Menschenkolonne
drei Stunden anstehen

Lago Nahuel Huapi
Enjoying time together
TENT INSTALLED
food boils, hungry!!!


We've heard about the "hippie town" of El Bolsón and want to pay it a visit. We pitch our tent by the river and help our hosts cut down a tree and get the branches out of the water. And we bake bread on an open fire for the first time!






We leave the province of Río Negro and drive north to the province of Neuquén. This is the last province that still belongs to Patagonia. We drive via Dina Huapi on beautiful gravel roads through national parks to Villa Meliquina. A small town that is apparently still under construction. We end up here with Marion and Eduardo. Marion is Dutch and they own the B&B Hollondaisa, but the room is already occupied and so we are left standing on the street. But we don't let them turn us away so quickly and Eduardo seems to be interested in us and the motorcycles. He finds out that we have a tent and sleeping bags in our luggage and invites us to camp in their garden. No sooner said than done, we set up our tent and kitchen. After dinner, we share a fine bottle of wine with our hosts and spend an amusing evening. Thank you Marion and Eduardo for your lovely hospitality!
The next day we drive via San Martin de los Andes on a beautiful route to Aluminé. We search in vain for accommodation at the petrol station... Everything is far too expensive and it's too late to find somewhere to pitch our tent. Then an abuela comes towards us with a basket full of home-made delicacies that she wants to sell us. But we don't need sweets, we need a place to stay. She introduces herself as Tita and immediately makes a phone call. She asks us to follow her because a friend has a cheap place to stay. No sooner said than done, we follow Tita. She introduces us to Dorian and Oracio, who have a room on the upper floor. Tita has saved us and we are overjoyed when Dorian tells us that her friend is cooking and we can order dinner directly and she will even deliver it! Oh wow, we've been looked after by angels.

San MArtin de los Andes

View from our room
Aluminé
We spontaneously decide to add a few more days and visit Ruca Choroy. This place was settled by Mapuche Indians and has ancient pine trees and a beautiful lake. And Stefan has discovered a workshop opposite where he is building himself a new chain grinder as his was lost somewhere along the way.

Ruca Choroy



Hospital
Herbal medicine is used here
On the second day we found out that we were staying with the priest and his wife. We sort of spent the night in the church, well, it was the same building ;-). And the chain grinder was also assembled. Carlos and Augustin enjoyed Stefan's creativity so much that they invited us to their home for pizza in the evening. Thanks guys!
Gracias A Dorian y Oracio
That's their church
Gracias A Carlos y Augustin
Between Chos Malal and Malargüe, we still have about 100 km of gravel road ahead of us. Part of the official Ruta 40, the asphalt road ends at exactly 5 pm. We decide to drive the 100 km and are optimistic that we will reach Malargüe today, which is about 180 km away.

Find Stefan!





The paved road is reached in daylight. Now it's another 80 km to the Motoposada. We enjoy the drive at sunset. The last rays of sun kiss us beautifully.
Once we arrive in Malargüe "Motoposada Parador 40 Mendoza", we pitch our tent and Leonardo prepares a delicious dinner of "gniocchi".
Muchas gracias Leonardo!
We had wonderful adventures in Patagonia. We reached the end of the world, battled the wind and weather for two months and are now very proud of ourselves! It was a wonderful, challenging and brilliant experience! Adios hermosa Patagonia! Now it's time for some warmth. We will visit a friend near Cordoba and leave Argentina for the last time via the Paso de Agua Negra to Chile. The Atacama Desert is already waiting. Hasta luego!