We started in Argentina in the middle (Buenos Aires) and instead of going down south, like any sane motorcyclist, we went to Brazil (we didn't resist the temptation of the carnival) and from there back to Argentina – Iguazu. We bypassed Paraguay on the right and went through Jujuy to Chile into the Atacama desert.
Summary
Fabruaty - March, 2018
For us, the highlight of Argentina is Patagonia, the Moreno Glacier, El Calafate, Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia and maybe a little Buenos Aires. We started in Iguazu and went north, so maybe we weren’t really in Argentina (although the bumpers felt the same). The Iguazu is divided between Brazil and Argentina and every traveler must visit both sides and say which of the two is better, from a quick survey on the island the ratio is 50%-50% between the lovers of the Brazilian side and the lovers of the Argentinian side (we are Brazilians by the way).
Jujuy, the most remote province in Argentina, winding roads for cyclists in dark green and desert in colors that are out of this world, no matter where you look, you have a National Geographic cover photo and almost no tourists. So Route 9 from Salta to the north is highly recommended (there is a highway that bypasses it, but don’t be tempted), and above all – Highway 52 towards Chile including the 7-color mountain from bright red through copper green to desert yellow, salt lakes that you walk across, a lookout point at an altitude of 4200 meters, and alpacas and llamas all the way.
We passed Chile quickly only in the northern part but the Atacama desert caught us definitely off guard (for us Chile is mountains and snow) and in parts the desert reminded us of the red colors of the Sahara. In the end we settled in Iquique (although we didn’t intent to) definitely a nice city, a significant part of which is duty-free shops.
After almost a month in Argentina and Chile here is what we learned:
>> We really liked the people we met, they have patience, they will take you by the hand anywhere, even if it’s not their way, and they don’t have the concept that there are people who don’t speak Spanish.
>> The amount of bookstores in Buenos Aires is really impressive. For book lovers like us it could be heaven if only it wasn’t in Spanish.
>> A meal will always include dulce de leche (as a sauce, as cookies, as a spread or just on the side).
>> The restaurants are mostly well maintained, however the bathrooms of those restaurants always remind you of a third world, neglected, smelly and not clean (but with a bidet).
>> An Argentinian will always think that he knows how to make the best asado in the world and that their seafood is unrivaled. In order to preserve the dignity of the Argentinians I will not express my personal opinion about their rough meat and tasteless shrimps.
>> Time flows differently here, two hours late is considered punctual.
>> We were not able to crack down on traffic management at the intersections, most of the intersections are without any signage and it is not really clear who has the right of way and when.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
February, 2018
In every city there is a type of store that dominates, pharmacies, video stores, clothes… In Buenos Aires, these are bookstores. You can’t believe it, but every fourth store is a bookstore (unfortunately, everything is in Spanish). Judging by the street where we live, theaters are also at the top. We live on Broadway of Buenos Aires. On each side of our apartment there are dozens (no exaggeration) of theaters.
Buenos Aires is very confusing – on the one hand bookstores, theaters, restaurants full of diners, on the other hand it feels like a third world city, all the sidewalks are broken and if you don’t pay attention you will find yourself on your ass. On every street corner there is a person offering to exchange your dollars, most of the restaurants Pizzerias and people throw dirt on the floor as if we are in Gaza. The amount of police officers reminds of a country at war… In short, the city is confusing but alive, the amount of people on the streets is unbelievable, around the clock, the buildings are reminiscent of European cities like Paris and London.
Iguazu, Argentina
February, 2018
You might think that we, coming from a country that educates from a young age that “every drop is a pity”, will will be more enthusiastic about waterfalls than others who come from countries where it rains all year round and the rivers are the width of the ocean like Argentina or Brazil. Yet, according to the number of people who visited the Iguazu Falls on the exact day that we also happened to be there and according to the fact that they all speak Spanish or Portuguese, it probably cannot be attributed to our origin alone.
The Iguazu waterfalls are two and a half kilometers wide that are located at the meeting of the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The river that the water is coming from (the Parana) does not hint at what is going to happen, it is indeed a wide river but the color of its water is dark brown and it flows slowly so that you would not expect the enormous power of the falls (and we have already mentioned that they are two and a half kilometers wide). How can we explain the power. If you take Tel Aviv (which has an area of 50 square kilometers) and flood it with two meters of water. This is the amount of water that passes through the falls every day on average.
Since the river is the border between Brazil and Argentina, each country has built a magnificent park on its side, and since the waterfalls are so big and powerful there is something to see on both sides – the Argentinian side was more crowded and therefore we liked it less.
OK, so we probably don’t like people, but everything that is announced as one of the wonders of the world or its deputy, immediately attracts an amount of people that the same place cannot carry and the wonder of the world becomes just one endless queue (Disneyland managed to do this without declaring themselves a wonder of the world). So we will continue our modest trip without unnecessary lightning and thunder (the next one would be Machu Picchu).
All for the best..., Chille
March, 2018
Road number 1 in Chile, like every road number 1 in the world, runs along the sea side of the country – on one side the Pacific Ocean and on the other side the Atacama Desert (the driest desert in the world). At a roadblock, about fifty kilometers before the city of Iquique, our motorcycle broke down and refused to start. So here we are stuck in the middle of the desert.
A first examination revealed that the battery cable was disconnected, which raised the suspicion that the battery was drained, an attempt to push start (with Ira pushing on a slight incline) raised echoing laughter from the motorcycle. The workers from the roadblock, came on their own initiative and helped push – this time the motorcycle moved to a slight laugh but still refused to move, after all it weighs about half a ton including equipment and the rider. OK, so we need cables, we thought to ourselves, and tried to stop vehicles on the road. 100%(!!!) of the vehicles we signaled stopped immediately, the fifth vehicle had cables, we tried, no success.
It’s time to start thinking – 3 letters appeared on the control panel that indicated there was a problem, after a quick search we found out that it was the immobilizer. We started checking in Israel (we are members of the “Adventure” group), without results. In the meantime Jose stopped by us on his own initiative, Jose is from Uruguay and lives in Argentina, owns a motorcycle himself. Without a word of English but with a ton of goodwill he spent the next few hours with us (when his wife in the car did not show even a small sign of impatience), he also called his friends who started a network – first of all there is a bikers club in Chile that engaged to help us, and one of them was on the way to us (a distance of 50 km side); we found a garage in the nearest city that takes care of BMWs and the owner came to our aid; a motorcyclist who passed by, stopped and started prying into the innards of the motorcycle; at the same time we called the BMW garage in Argentina where we did the last treatment and Roberto, who speaks English, tried for a long time to find a solution and helped us with a translation into Spanish for passers-by and visitors.
So it went on for a whole day, dozens of people we don’t know and probably won’t meet, searched, called, and came to help us, dozens of vehicles (and they don’t pass there too often) when they saw we were stuck stopped to ask if we needed help… eventually Chris, the mechanic, came with Juan who speaks a little English, and towed us to the garage.
This is where the story was supposed to end, but not really, after a day it became clear that the problem was not simple, after another two days it became clear that the experts brought in did not solve the problem either. To improve communication, Rodrigo, who speaks good English, was called to help with the translation (and he accompanied us all the following days), another day to check with all the nearby BMW garages, he made it clear to us that the problem cannot be solved remotely and that we must bring the car to them (the nearest garage is 1,500 km away). Chris and Juan are two special people, they didn’t give up, they came up with ideas one after the other for a whole week (all of them were disqualified after investigation). So that you don’t feel sorry for us, Iquique is a great city with a nice beach, so while Chris and Juan were sweating in their garage, we were sunbathing by the ocean.. In the end we found a guy who promised he knew how to fix it, but it is 300 km away from us. Chris and Juan were not discouraged, they loaded the motorcycle on the trailer and took us to the guy. That did solve the problem.
We have been riding for many years, but we have never seen such a great readiness to help, five stars for South American people.
HE 
