The Andes
We begin episode 4 of Long Way Up in Santa Cruz, Argentina. There’s 11,000 miles+ to go until LA and the landscape is changing. The duo are steering away from Argentina and toward the Andes. After 10-12 days, things are finally starting to look up and the bikes are working as planned. This allows the duo to meet the locals and get involved in the activities. This includes a pretty spicy dinner which the boys pay the price for later on in the day. In the morning, the duo catch a 9-hour ferry ride. With limited places to charge up the bikes on the road, they aren’t taking any chances given what happened in the past. The ferry crossing is pretty uneventful and eventually they hit the road and start climbing up the endless roads. While the boys are getting to grip with the bikes, elsewhere the rest of the team get creative with their cars. That’s not to say they’re not having fun though – quite the opposite. Filming high up in the mountains, the group agree that Chile is quite the extraordinary country while pelting each other with snowballs. Their travels bring them to some truly breathtaking vistas. With the bikes working perfectly, the focus finally shifts to the landscape. And not a moment too soon – it really is beautiful. Out of Alumine, the duo decide to take advantage of this and increase their mileage. Thanks to the locals they ascend up a switchback and have plenty of juice left over. Ironically, the petrol Harley Davidson filming with them runs out of petrol. This really hammers home how different these two vehicles are. It’s only exacerbated in town when they learn there’s a fuel shortage and a 5 hour+ wait for more. Apparently it’s always like this and with oil on the way out, this is likely to only get worse over time. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though. The car team including Russ break down in the middle of nowhere. After some quick thinking and ingenuity they manage to get back on the road. Only, they’re a long way behind the guys. The hot weather is an absolute game changer for the bikes. Only, they now face their steepest challenge – the desert. Across the barren landscape the group start to drive toward Malargue. With very little places to get a charge, both of them start to grow a bit anxious about the long stretches of nothingness facing them between the towns. This ultimately comes back to bite them as they realize they need to head back to Bardas Blancas to get a good charge on the bikes. After some initial anxiety, Ewan awakens to find the bikes charged up to 99%. This time they start driving up toward the town of Belen. Along the way Charley comments how friendly the Argentinians are as the next step of their journey begins.
The Episode Review
After several episodes of stopping and starting along with lots of anxiety with the bikes, the scenery finally gets a chance to shine. From a gorgeous rainbow backdropped against a thin sliver of rock to the choked deserts, South America is truly a breathtaking country. The scenery here is absolutely show-stopping and the opening 3 episodes make the wait worth it for this. It’s great to see the boys finally able to relax a little and this results in a much more purposeful episode of road tripping. Roll on next week!
