With no other solution in mind we picked up a pack of ground pepper from a corner store. We opened the radiator cap and put in half a bag of ground pepper in both of our KLRs. Started her up and hoped for the best. We rode out to north point of the Pennisula and found a abundance of wildlife. The main attraction was the sea lions frolicking in the low tide. We then rode off to see another pinguine colony. When you see a pinguine for some reason it puts a smile on your face. Finally, we rode off to take a look at where the Elephant Seals were. Unfortunately, they were all gone for the season.
From all this riding around, the pepper circulated its way through our bikes cooling system. It apparently found the small pin hole leaks we had and either stopped or slowed down the leak. Colin´s radiator no longer seems to leak, where as mine has a very slow leak now as apposed to the spray it had going on before. Who would of thought PEPPER would of temporarily fixed a hole in a radiator.
I would highly recommend to anyone to visit the Pennisula if you are ever in Argentina as it is a spectular site to see. The wildlife here is amazingly beautiful and seems to be abundant. The dirtroads are well maintained and are just as dusty as every dirt road in Argentina so be prepared to clean your visor a few times.
From the Pennisula Valdes we had enough confidence in the pepper to hold the leak that we decided to continue North to a small town called Sierra Grande. We were 35 Kms from town and my bike decided to run completely out of gas. For some reason I ended up running out of gas 60 kms before I usually do. With the sun setting we decided to tie a rope from Colins bike to my crash bar. We headed down Ruta 3 at 80 kmh tied together with semis and cars passing us. We crested the last hill where we could then see Sr Grande. As soon as that happened Colins bike decided to run out of gas as well. We coasted down the hill stopping 200 m before the gas station. Ten seconds after untieing our bikes a police car drove by. Phewph. We pushed our bikes to the gas station which provided us with some much needed excersise. For some reason Colins bike gets much better fuel milage than mine. Anyways, nothing to impressive in this small town.
From Sr. Grande we finally finished off Ruta 3 and continued down highway 22 to a city called Neuquen. Before entering this city the highway is a one lane road in either direction full of cars and semis. It is a free for all when ever there is a gap there are cars passing in the opposite lane. Everyone seems to be jockying for a spot and racing towards the city. Definitely a different riding experience to be joining in along with the cars racing down the highway. This was a much larger place than I anticipated. I saw my first Walmart in South America here! Population here is approximately 250,000 people. We planned to find a permanent fix here for our radiators, however, the radiator repair shops are closed on Saturdays, Just our luck....Hope the pepper holds...The smell of antifreeze is getting to me.
