PATAGONIA Tour on Motorcycle-03/04 February 2018 Days 13-14

SOUTH AMERICA / PATAGONIA TOUR with MOTORCYCLE
Riding to EL FIN DEL MUNDO between 21 January - 10 February 2018.

Day-13 (03 February 2018) :  El Calafate>>>Puerto Natales (220 km)

We departed from the Hotel after the breakfast around 08:50. The weather is nice and there is no rain. The road 11  took us to Route 40. It is about 30 km to the junction with Route 40.
The good quality asphalt road became steeper after the junction. We climbed nice and curving road up to Co Los Escarchados (818 m). The climbing road is something around 
10 km. After getting to the top, it is very smooth to ride on this flat part of the country. It took approx. 30 minutes and then we came to the junction El Cerrito. 
The temperature is 15 deg C. After having a short break at the junction we followed the gravel road in the south west sense. After the massive gravel road of 65 km we came to the fuel station at Tapi Aike. We filled up our tanks at this station.

The lodge at the side of  the fuel station at Tapi Aike.

We continued our ride up to the border city named Cancha Carrera. This one is the Argentinian town at the border. The adjacent town named Cerro Castillo is on the Chilean side. We left Argentina and crossed the border to Chile. The procedures at the border took another 1,5 hour.

Horses in Argentina before reaching to the Argentinian border with Chile

There is a better quality at the Chilean side. The people at the border processing the entrance works are looking also better. The road pavement is also better on the Chilean side. There was a restaurant/café right after the border building. We all sat there for lunch. 
After the lunch we departed from Cerro Castillo and together with Sadik we arrived at our Hotel in Puerto Natales. We parked our motorcycles in the back yard of the Hotel Cost Australis. It is right at the coast. 

There is a strong wind outside. After a short rest in the room which we shared with Sadik I came out and took some pictures in the small city Puerto Natales. Because of his neck   Sadik wanted to rest in the room . 

Looking to the west from our Hotel.

I walked to the downtown. There is a small but very nice coffee shop. I suggest !!! I tried No.18.

Available coffee types.

One of the shops in Puerto Natales.

Main square of the city.

At 19:30 our group met at the lobby of our Hotel and Christian took us to a restaurant. The restaurant is in walking distance. We walked in 10 minutes. We enjoyed our meal and wine. 
The ambiance was also very different. The restaurant was built out off marine transport containers. They had cut and welded number of containers each other.After the dinner we walked in the town and we ate ice cream together with our guys from UK. Then we returned to the Hotel. I drank two Mojitos in the lobby and then went up to the room in order to sleep.

Day-14 (04 February 2018) :  extra day in Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine (250 km)

Today, after the breakfast we left the Hotel in order to move to another Hotel in the same city. Edelweiss people have done a mistake and they have booked only for one night at the first Hotel. Therefore we will overnight in Altiplanico.

We gave all our luggage to Thomas' van and we departed with our bikes in the direction of the National Park Torres del Paine. Sadik is not riding together with us. He wanted to rest full day in the city. We took the road to Pt. Prat and then went further. Most of the road was unpaved and with dusty gravel. The wind was blowing advantageous during the ride in this direction. The dust was not causing big effect. When we came to the lake on our right hand side we stopped and took some pictures of the awesome view.

Lago del Toro

Lago del Toro

Lago del Toro

Our guides bought the entrance ticket to the National Park and our group entered the park.
Riding in the park is soft and comfortable. The gravel road are OK for riding. We arrived at a point at the north side of the Lake Grey where we parked our motorcycles. Then we walked about 300 meter in order to watch the water fall from the glaciers lake.

Our riding route in the National Park

 It was very windy on this road. Sometimes the was so strong that the people must stop and protect themselves by leaning their body down the ground.

Warning ! Area with strong winds !

There is a waterfall from the upper lake group to the lower one. The wind comes from the mountains in the north and blowing through aisles among the earth shape.

Waterfall from Lago Nordenskjöld to Lago Pehoe

Dead trees in the N.P.

Lago Pehoe

Since the wind became stronger, we cancelled the rest part of our tour. We would go further to Cerro Castillo and had finished our tour from North to Puerto Natales. We used the same route as we had taken this morning. We stopped at a place at the lake and passed the bridge by walking and reached to the restaurant there. I ordered a hamburger and drank a Coke.

After this lunch stop here we continued our ride. At the exit of the N.P. we took a right turn and had got very spectacular and awesome view over the valley and meandering river. I took some pictures of this fantastic view.

Then we departed and took the road back to Puerto Natales. The wind was stronger and it was also causing more dust on the road. Following and overtaking the cars was really difficult in such a dusty environment. But I managed to reach to the Hotel without any damage. But I was fully in dust.

We came to our new Hotel which is Altiplanico Puerto Natales. It is a concept design Hotel. Almost all the building is within the earth. Only the windows are visible from outside.

After a shower and refreshing I went to the lobby and ordered a cold beer to clean my throat. Then we sat to dinner. It was a tasty dinner and nice service.