Dog Blog

Puerto Deseado is a little coastal town located 125km off the main highway south, Ruta 3, on the east coast of Argentina. It has a latitude of 47˚ South so gets quite cold and of coarse windy like most of Argentina. The town itself is situated on the north bank of the Ria Deseado at the mouth of the river. The rivers name is interesting in Spanish in that its called a "Ria" and not a "Rio", in other words, it is a female river. To be completely accurate its not even a river but a tidal estuary taking the form of a river. Long ago it once was a river with water flowing down from the Andes on the other side of the continent but this flow has long since ceased. Now the riverbed is below sea level and the inlet ebbs and floods with the tides quite dramatically; around 6m we were told at certain times of the year. While the geography of Ria Deseado is extremely interesting, the reason we visited the town of Puerto Deseado was to see the marine life. Abundant but seasonal penguin and sea...

After our 3 nights camping in Gaiman, we were up early and ready for a big ride to Comodoro Rivadavia. We had a contact in Comodoro, through our friend Pablo from Buenos Aires, and had advised them that we would be arriving that day. We decided to take a short cut from Gaiman to Ruta 3, the national highway down the east coast of Argentina. This shortcut was about 60km long and probably saved us the same distance again. Unfortunately the road was slow going, it had been a long time since wehad been on gravel and this section was throwing us in the deep end. The road had little traffic and therefore little maintenance to match, but we were able to travel comfortably at 60-70km/hr for the most part. So a little over an hour later we were relieved to find paved road again. The famous Patagonian winds had started by this section of Ruta 3 although they would get worse as we headed south. We had full tanks as we left Gaiman, confident we'd make it to Comodoro without the need to stop. We...

    Nearly 150 years ago a ship load of immigrants from Wales landed in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Their intention was to set up a welsh community with no English influence. In fact they ended up establishing a number of these communities but today, the most notable is a place called Gaiman where there is still a strong Welsh culture and the Welsh language is commonly spoken. Stuarts boss in Australia, Dave, was of proud Welsh decent. So when Stu talked about his upcoming world-wide adventure, Dave mentioned the Welsh history in Argentina so The Pack Track starred the towns of Trelew, Gaiman and Trevelin on Google maps so we'd remember when we eventually reached Argentina. Janell was a little confused about where exactly we were going to see dragons and drink tea, probably because she hadn't been listening to Stu when he was describing the Welsh history of the area. Trelew was the first town encountered as its situated on the main highway Ruta 3. Trelew sounded really Welsh to Jane...

Even travellers need inspiration and motivation from time to time. It can come in a range of forms from a chat with a stranger, to marvelling at nature, to grand designs. Travelling as two (or two and half with our little friend) we often draw on each other for strength during frustrating situations and when we feel weary from simply long days of riding. The Pack Track had been on the road for nearly 11 months by this stage and found inspiration in the form of a young couple living in Puerto Madryn. Puerto Madryn is situated on the east coast of Argentina in the state of Chubut. We were taking Ruta 3 from Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn and the two words that came to mind for this route are flat and windy. The landscape was bland, characterised by a sandy-dirt with little prickly-looking shrubs. Riding at 100km/hr, no faster because of the strong winds, we would look to the horizon for a sign of something different but even 5km from Puerto Madryn the landscape was unchanged with no si...

Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, is home to the tango and it's no wonder when you walk the streets of this romantic city. The Pack Track arrived in Buenos Aires on the 30th of December 2014. What an amazing year 2014 had been and what a fantastic place to say goodbye to the old and bring in the new year. We booked in to Hostal Tercero Del Sur. It was perfect for us at $40 a night. We had a room with en-suite and air conditioning, it was very pet friendly (the staff really loved Weeti) and located on a street lined with restaurants and host to markets on weekends. There was always lots happening! New Years Eve has always been an important event for us in Australia, getting together with as many of our friends as possible. We had one friend in Buenos Aires, Pablo, so we messaged him to see if we could tag along with his plans. Turns out, New Years in Argentina is a bit different to Australia but just as special. Pablo's extended family gathered in the home of his brother-in-l...

Entering Argentina meant returning to a country with a black market exchange rate significantly different to the government official rate. We had learned a lot from our experience with parallel rates in Venezuela so there were no feelings of apprehension this time and we did our research online to find out what we should be getting. At the time, the official rate was ARG$8.5 to US$1. Research online and chatting to travelers indicated a good black market rate was ARG$13.5 to US$1. To be able to change money on the black market you have to have all the US dollars you need before entering the country. Paraguay has banks with ATM's where you can withdraw US dollars but only in lump sums of $300, every time charging a 6% transaction fee, ouch!! We'd also heard something similar about Uruguay which was our Plan B if we had difficulties in Paraguay. We first crossed in to Argentina from the Paraguay border near Asuncion. The Cambio's at the border were all working together and wouldn't ne...

Paraguay is one of the smaller countries in South America.  The capital of Paraguay is Asuncion which is located near the western border of the country. It is a small region but is home to the vast majority of Paraguays population. To the Northwest of Asuncion is a different story however, this region is known as Chaco and is a hot, arid land. In contrast, the eastern portion of Paraguay is full of agricultural lands. The Pack Track entered Paraguay on boxing day with the intention to stop in Asuncion for a couple of days before continuing on to Argentina, specifically Buenos Aires for New Years Eve. From the Brazilian border to Asuncion is around 300km, so comfortably a day's travel. We made a booking at a hostel in Asuncion and left our hotel in Foz do Iguazu at a reasonable 10am. The border crossing at Ciudad del Este was straight forward, a couple of stamps for us, nothing for the bikes or Weeti. We were through in about 15 minutes and back on the road. Our first stop was an AT...

Brazil is a beautiful country with a passionate motorcycle community under the banner of AME-BR. The members of the clubs that make up this community are all extremely friendly and welcoming, regardless of how well you speak Portuguese. We had intended to travel quickly through Brazil on our way south due to the high prices of absolutely everything. But the lovely people in the motoclubs not only made it more affordable with their generosity but made us want to spend more time with them so it took us a little longer to reach Paraguay that anticipated. After we disembarked the riverboat that took us from Manaus to Porto Velho we were keen to hit the road and get as many miles under our belt as possible. Being late however, we weren't able to get too far, but as we always say "every mile ridden today is a mile you don't have to ride tomorrow". We pulled into a reasonably priced hotel (for Brazil) and started unloading the bikes. As we did, another couple riding two-up pulled in for th...

What can you expect from a boat trip in this part of the world? This wasn't our first and was likely not our last. Our experience on the MV Kimbia in Guyana was still fresh in our mind, and if the 5 nights spent in the Brazilian Amazon river system on riverboat Dois Irmaos-I between Manaus and Port Velho was going to be anything like the Kimbia then we were in for 5 days of hell. The river system is the highway of the Amazon. With roads only opened seasonally, and only then to capable offroad vehicles, the river picks up the slack and does a very good job. The Amazon river itself is vast, capable of being navigated by the largest ocean-going ships. It allows trade into and out of Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas in the north of Brazil and nearly 1,000 miles inland, most practical. We sighted many large barges carrying semi-trailers as well as what seemed to be floating warehouses. There are many communities along the riverbanks ranging in size from an isolated house to...

Stuart sat in the back of a taxi travelling four hours across the country, having now spent a total of three months in Venezuela. His hope was that this little adventure would allow The Pack Track to continue their journey exploring more of South America. So where was he going? The city of Bolivar Ciudad, capital of the state of Bolívar. Over 2 months ago we had a brilliant idea, we'd had a lot of faulty electronics (which admittedly were old at the start of our trip and included laptop, camera, GPS and bluetooth comms) and needed a few motorcycle parts which were not easy to obtain in South America. So we decided to place an order online and have it shipped to Venezuela. The plan was sound. International shipping "guaranteed" 3-5 days delivery, we had an address we trusted with our amigo Carlos in El Callao and a plan of how to spend the time constructively while waiting for the delivery to arrive. So why were we still waiting 2 months later? Well, it all started when we first plac...

This is Negrita, or more affectionately known as Weeti... We've known Weeti for a little while now. Our paths first crossed during Skyla's treatment in El Callao when Weeti donated blood to Skyla for an emergency blood transfusion. We were very grateful to Weeti who had herself not had an easy start to life. She was a two year old rescue dog that hds been living with the local vet in El Callao (Alicia) for nearly two years. Weeti was born a street dog. It's a tough life, a constant battle to find food and learn to be 'streetwise' as so many of the drivers in Latin America don't care if they hit dogs. It's heartbreaking to watch and Weeti was a victim of this. As a young pup, Weeti was run over by a truck near the Plaza Bolivar of El Callao, pushed off the road and left to die. A passing driver, Luis Lazar (and friend of Alicia's) grabbed her off the road and took her to Alicia's veterinary shop to see what could be done to save her. Alicia could see that she had a broken hind. ...

Nothing clears the mind like physical activity and spending time with nature. What better for The Pack Track to recover from the recent loss of Skyla than a 6 day 5 night trek in the Gran Sabana, destination Mount Roraima. Mount Roraima is one of the table top mountains, most famous of all due to its relatively easy climb (no equipment required) and proximity to other frequented sites. The table top mountains have been the inspiration for books and movies due to the early belief that the isolation atop of these ancient mountains had species long gone extinct in the rest of the world. The book 'The Lost World' is the most notable of these but more recently the childrens movie 'Up', which we made sure we watched to get excited about what to expect on top! Stu investigated packages for the trek when we were in Santa Elena de Uairen. Most guides take groups of four plus people so if you are travelling alone or as a couple you will likely be grouped with other people to bump the numbers ...