Well after taking some time out in Calafate I returned to Puerto Montt the day before the ferry was due to leave. I was expecting to be alone, however it was cool to see that Peadar and Stephen were still hanging around. Just back from Torres del Paine the day before. So the last evening we spent having a drink watching DVD's getting washing done etc before I set off at midnight for the Navimag boat. I swear I had someone looking out for me.. a guardian angel or something, because on my way down to the ferry as I was crossing a junction a car came the wrong way up a one way street with no lights and missed me by seconds.. I am thinking a drunk!! but minor heart attack averted and it was onto the ferry!

I was sharing with two Germans and a Turk, Timo and Radvan. We were settling in having a whiskey when we were approached by one of the crew, Luis. Who fancied a drink also.. so a few more drinks later, Luis is our best mate, and offering to get us Navimag uniforms and hats etc! Now much as I would love to be sailing the South Pacific I think I will pass on a job here. But we did get a tour of below deck and more detail of the mystery death on the boat the trip before, apparently it was a suicide of a stressed, drunk, former porn star from the UK. As i said you meet all kinds on these trips! Strangely enough the bottle of whiskey promised by Luis in return for the Pisco and the Whiskey never materialized.

The journey on the boat itself was rather uneventful. Nobody getting majorly sick, no huge seas, etc,, altogether very tame. But we did pass some fantastic Scenery (shots in the foto album), some Whales, and had some really nice weather.

Elsewhere it was drinking a few beers, chatting with passengers and playing chess between rounds of returning to the galley for second helpings of dinner. We arrived in Puerto Montt on Monday morning early. But of course had a good helping of breakfast before disembarking. When driving down the off ramp I was surprised to see Fabrizio who had ridden over after doing part of the Carretera Austral. So from here we road back to Bariloche. The pass over from Chile across the Andes to Bariloche is fabulous. Lots of great vistas, rugged mountains, and lovely curving twisty roads. Dream to be riding on. But the best blessing of all, was not the warm weather but the fact that there was no more wind! finally I have left the winds of Patagonia behind me! They were an experience I will never forget!

Before getting the bikes up on the trailer back to Buenos Aires. We decided there was no point in driving on the bike, its just a thousand five hundred kilometers of boring farmland, and there was no sense in stressing the final drive bearings any more than I had to.

From Chile

So today I got the bike cleaned (its never been so clean since the day i got it). The shop spent over an hour on it. Then dropped into BMW so awaiting an answer on whether they have a final drive unit in Argentina or if they have to get it in Germany. So this evening was spent looking at the prices of flights etc and planning the next step!

Comments

[Sarah Fenn]

Hey Kevin,
Just heard the news, your dad and Trish are getting married in June. WOW! You, Ian and Michael can be groomsmen.
Hows your biking going? I heard that you reached the end of the world, well excluding the South Pole. You must feel great about that! It would be a brilliant thing to say you had done. Again how can you be surviving on tuna and rice. Do have any idea when you'll be arriving home?
Well whenever it is, I'll see you then.
Love Sarah.

[Kev]

Yeah it was a surprise to me! just found out yesterday. Guess I have to come home now! At the moment looking for flights to Germany and then will see about getting home from there.
Kev