is a bore , it is something special for the bike traveller . Overlanding bikes of all sorts are plentiful , large , and small , Japanese , European and plenty of South America machines seen nowhere else . The camaraderie is special , a wave here , a nod there , and plenty of help at the border crossing with Chile . In fact , our fourth such crossing in ten days , yet to date the one inducing the most stress .
An official looking man motions us to follow , “ two moto ”, he says , and we follow . Before long we have jumped a queue of some sort and are having our passports stamped out of Argentina . A different story as we reach ‘ aduana ’, the customs officer eagerly snatches the bikes paperwork and cancels it , a permit no longer needed for Argentina . It makes sense , we are leaving the country , albeit for a short period .
A Brazilian rider can ’ t understand why the two ‘ gringos ’ have had their paperwork cancelled when he didn ’ t , it doesn ’ t help the situation which has now somehow become my fault . I shake my head and tell myself , “ this is not my ride ”.
Crossing this tiny section of Chile , unique in that it separates Argentina into two land masses , is another race , against what ? It ’ s definitely a different country , the roads have improved and the road signs proclaiming “ Las Malvinas son Argentinas ”, have disappeared . It ’ s a contentious issue , one that it seems many travellers are blissfully unaware of . Forty years on and Argentina is still bitter about losing a conflict in which they laid claim to the Islas Malvinas , the Falkland Islands .
In recent years successive Argentine governments have placed great emphasis on sovereignty over the small , rocky islands located around 800 kilometres from here , to the point of slogans being applied to public transport , road signs , and even the currency . A world
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