There were also beautiful tourist sites
that shouldn’t be missed.
La Cueva de Los Manos is a good
example. This historic site is in a
beautiful canyon, amongst extremely
dry surroundings. At its heart runs a
small river providing water to a green
biodiversity full of trees and birds.
On the edge of the canyon where
hundreds, if not thousands, of paint-
ed hands, some almost 10,000 years
old.
The Ruta 40 is littered with sites;
the Fitz Roy, The Hippie town of El
Boslon and its stunning hikes along
the Rio Azul, the National Park of
Alerces, the popular road of the 7
Lakes, the town of Bariloche howev-
er, the most remarkable site was the
Perito Moreno glacier.
At 24 kilometres long this glacier
can be as deep as 700 metres, the ice
takes more than 400 years to travel
from the top of the mountains to the
fjords where it ends. During the day,
ice blocks as high as 70 metres can
be seen falling. The glacier can also
be heard ever moving, as much as 2
metres per day, creating crevasses
that echo through the valley.
With crampons I was fortunate to
walk atop this powerful display of
TRAVERSE 26
nature, an enjoyable couple of hours
topped with a whisky on ice straight
from the glacier. The drink was
reward for my trip so far. I felt proud
that I started in the middle of the jun-
gle to reach a world of ice, only with a
motorcycle and all by myself.
Ushuaia and the “Tierra Del Fuego”
was my next step. I already knew that
the end of the world was nothing I’d
consider extraordinary, but it did rep-
resent the accomplishment of travel-
ling that far and successfully braving
the elements of Patagonia.
Many things challenge the rider in
Patagonia; road conditions, the cold,