6 Months on the Road

I am in Buenos Aires, Argentina my final destination on the trip.

You can find other trip statistics blog posts here: https://transcendenttravel.wordpress.com/category/statistics/

Items discarded

Motor Oil, Rags, WD 40, basically stuff I cannot ship with the bike or take on the plane.

Items purchased

Suitcase to get home with – I can’t ship personal items with the bike.

Problem with the bike

I have had no issues since getting the bike fixed in Las Vegas (30/7/15).

Distance Traveled

Kilometers on the clock: 71,046 km – the final reading (31,384 miles)

Kilometers ridden: 71,046 – 20,538 = 50508 or an average of 274 km per day.

Month 1: 401 km/day average – 32,969km – 401km/day for the month

Month 2: 319km/day average – 39,889km – 223km/day for the month

Month 3: 305km/day average – 49,110km – 297km/day for the month

Month 4: 290km/day average – 54,801km – 210km/day for the month

Month 5: 273km/day average – 62,319km – 250km/day for the month

Month 6: 274km/day average – 71,046km – 290km/day for the month

Days away: 184

Budget Allocation

Accommodation $61.85/$40 (I chose my hotel in Buenos Aires to fit the remaining budget, so it went up a bit)

Food  $30.87/$40 (including tips – not that you tip in South America)

Activities $17.18/$20

Fuel $16.15/$20

Other $28.25/$20

I am spending $154.30/$140 AUD per day.  That is the final amount for the trip, $14.30 over budget due to using hotels exclusively in Latin America, vising Tierra del Fuego (super expensive) and then choosing let loose a bit with more expensive hotels at the end of the trip.

Thoughts on Chile and Argentina…

On my first afternoon on Chile, after leaving the desert and entering Calama, I was a little shocked when I saw that the traffic was behaving well, obeying speed limits and generally following road rules.  The other thing that got me was the abundance of new cars this was something I had not expected.

You know you are in a country with a high standard of living when:

• You recognize the 5 star hotel chains
• There is a innate feeling of safety when walking on the street
• You see billboards
• The petrol stations have a mini mart
• There are global brand fast food chains
• Everything is expensive

In Argentina when friends greet, they kiss on the cheek.  All of them, men greeting women, women greeting women and men greeting men.  They are friendly people here.

People rave about the Salted Steak in Argentina, with good reason.  I have had some fantastic steaks.  The best one so far was actually at an Argentine Parilla restaurant in Chile.

Tierra del Fuego was a fantastic place to visit.  The out of the way places are difficult to get to because they are – I hate to say it – out of the way.  Having been to the Artic Circle and then to Ushuaia, I am not certain I need to remote locations such as these again.

Along Route 40 and Route 3 in Argentina there were hundreds of drivers flashing their lights and waving.  The overland motorcyclist is very common along these routes because they are the only 2 in and out of Southern Argentina.

There are more thoughts about the actual travel and the trip, but I am saving those for my last blog post…