66) USHUAIA – MAR DEL PLATA – BUENOS AIRES (15 to 21 December 2016)

After 5 days in Ushuaia, it was time to make my way North. I needed to be in Buenos Aires for Christmas. Only 1 article for 6 days and 3,500km, because there is not much to see on the road.Goodbye Ushuaia!Goodbye Tierra del Fuego!The first day was a bit complicated: cold, 1 ferry. And if you look at the map, I had to go to Chile and come back to Argentina a few hours later. This is the 7^th time I cross the Argentina/Chile border, with 2 stamps every time. My French passport is almost full, and I don’t want to use the Australian one because of immigration fees. The other thing is that they often check the bags and importation of fruit or wood is prohibited to avoid contamination. I don’t understand what contamination they are talking about, this is the same land. Nature has no border. And I counted 40 crossing check points along the 4,000km long border…

The first night, back in Argentina, after 500km, I wild camped in a beautiful spot.I had missed these lonely nights:In the morning, I was motivated like never to swallow hundreds of km. I need to keep a pace of 600 a day to be on time. But after 300km, wind got stronger and stronger and turned into a sand storm. I could not see sh*t, and it was dangerous. Impossible to stop because I would not have been able to keep the moto up. So I called it a day at the next city, 150km further, at 50km/h average. Of course, no picture of the storm.The day after, the weather got better, and I made up for it. 878km, between Puerto San Julian and Puerto Madryn, by far my record. 15 hours on the bike, including the breaks.Straight and boring. I have a lot of time to think, sing, pray, write songs, count in Spanish backward, etc… I am busy!I saw this Australian couple on a fully loaded BMW 1150GS, heading South.Atlantic coast lines are wild and beautiful, but I did not spend too much time there:I met local motorbikers. Unlike the Pacific Coast in Chile, the Ruta 40 in Argentina and the Southern Patagonia, there are not too many tourists in the region. People are impressed with the bike, cars overtaking me take pictures and honk… I’m used to it now.Going North, the cities are bigger, and the weather much warmer. I could feel the difference every day!I reached Mar del Plata, the big coastal city (500,000 inhabitants). I am 400km only from Buenos Aires, everything is going by the plan.I stayed 1 day in Mar del Plata. I had the contact of a small mechanics and we did the maintenance together. KLaRa is a beast.And I even had time to enjoy the beach, for the first time since Rio, in August!Walk on the rocks with Colombian Maira. We saw sea lions (or seals?), but did not manage to take pictures.Before the last stage of my trip to Buenos Aires, I visited a bit. Mar del Plata seems to be a great laid back city to live in!And the 21^st of December, I made it to the Capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires. I could not find an inside parking for KLaRa, but 24 hour reception at the hostel is safe enough.After a week camping and cooking, I deserved this, a huge steak and Argentinian red wine. Happiness.I have been moving a lot in the last month, I am going to stay in Buenos Aires and around for a few weeks. Here is what I have done with the motorbike since I left Lima, the 15^th of September: 16,000km in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.And here is a map of my World trip, since I left Australia, in May. 12 countries: