After leaving Valparaiso in the rain and driving the short express route I arrived in Santiago easily and checked into the ChileInn.  The two ladies who run the place insisted my bike would make it through the 3 sets of doors into the courtyard – they were right, even though I bumped the television and scraped the wooden door frames.

Snow on the Pass Near Los Andes, Chile

I called Jaime, a geologist I had met in Ollague and we arranged to meet in Bellavista the arty/bar area where Pablo Neruda had had a house.  We ended up drinking some Chillean ‘craft’ beer from some different parts of Chile and then went over to Bar Republica (on Calle Republica) where while listening 80′s music (with some hipster-types) we consumed a fair number of piscolas (pisco and coke – sweet but surprisingly appealing after one).  We ended the night at about 5am in some giant disco that was completely and utterly packed – somewhat fun.

On a Saturday afternoon walk all over the city I caught a glimpse of the Andes from one of the streets.

Andes from Santiago, Chile

On Sunday morning the Paso Los Libertadores had re-opened after snowfall the day before and I was able to get to it. The 5 km long line of trucks was passed on the bike fairly easily however they were only allowing one direction (not mine) through at a time. It took about 2 hours to get through including the usual procedures (check bike and me out of Chile and into Argentina).  I arrived in San Luis – very cold (it was about 3 degrees at night) and exhausted and stayed at the HI San Luis Hostal in an 18 bed dorm room with two others.

Snowy Paso Libertadores, Chile

I managed to get out of town at 9am to make the long drive across the Argentinian Pampa (grasslands where a lot of the cattle is raised).  It was quite boring and was an 800km driving day.  I drove straight to the garage (and 4 beds) at Dakar Motors where I ran into Justin (from California) and Alyssia (of MotoAdventureGal fame).  I was quite happy to run into her as she had crossed into Mexico just before I had and I was impressed that a woman was doing a long moto trip alone.

On the bridge, Buenos Aires

So I have finally arrived in Buenos Aires, the most southerly point on this trip, and it’s with a mixture of pleasure in the anticipation of returning to see people in Canada and disappointment as if this is really the end of the trip and any real adventures I might have.

Clock near the Retiro station, Buenos AIres

Buenos Aires River

Buenos Aires Pedestrian Bridge

Santiago, Chile	Terracotta Warriers Exhibit, Santiago, Chile	Santiago, Chile	Near Los Andes, Chile
Paso Libertadores, Chile	Paso Libertadores, Chile	Paso Libertadores, Chile	Buenos AIres
Buenos AIres	Buenos AIres	Buenos AIres	Buenos AIres
Buenos AIres	Buenos AIres	Dish gloves

My GPS broke again and won’t connect to my computer so I couldn’t get the GPS tracks, but they were very straightforward.