End of the road, almost the end of my life...

Ten days after my crash entering Argentina, my spleen ruptured. It happened an hour outside of Mendoza in the mountains. Luckily I was with two friends who were able to get me to the hospital- I made it just in time, barely breathing and in tremendous pain- the doctors operated immediately...

Eight days later I was out of the hospital. I went to Santiago and caught the end of the Dakar...

 

Argentina...

I entered Argentina on a dirt road, I knew I had hundreds of miles of dirt ahead of me and wanted to go as fast as was sanely possible, while still taking in the vast landscape...

The dirt was packed down as hard as concrete, so I could move fast, but a gravel section got the best of me before I had time to slow down, and I crashed hard...

I was in a lot of pain in a lot of places, and my bike was pretty beat up, so instead of heading south I decided to cross Argentina to the East coast and the city of Comodoro Rivadavia- where I would be able to go to a hospital if I needed. I taped up the bike and started the painful trek across...

The next morning I felt better, so I continued my journey south along the coast...

The weather got bad as I headed into a storm that lasted all day- rain, high winds and cold...

The next morning the weather broke, and it got beautiful...

Pink flamingos and rainbows...

Then another ferry ride to Tierra Del Fuego-

Then it's south towards Ushuaia, the town at the bottom of South America...

And finally, my goal- Ushuaia. I made it on New Years Eve...

Chile...

I entered Chile high up in the mountains, and then dropped down into the Atacama desert towards Arica. The most extensive desert I've ever experienced...

Even though my fork seal was blown- I couldn't not play in this amazing place...

I rode for days, heading south towards Santiago, it was hot and dry, but always interesting...

And finally Santiago, where Ignacio Rivas at i.m.r. motos worked on my bike...

Good times at my hostel and working out in the park...

When my bike was done I headed south towards Puerto Montt and the start of the Carratera Austral...

It took 3 ferry rides to really get into the amazing riding and scenery...

I decided to cross over to Argentina so I could catch the Famous route 40 south, I had heard about the high winds...

The small border crossing into Argentina- from here it would be a lot of dirt roads...