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1st
November 2008
I can´t
believe that we are finally here. It was certainly a challenge just getting
to Ushuaia, with Kelly on the phone to her mum as she was going through
customs at Gatwick trying to get the website up and running again as it had
crashed the night before.
After a 40
odd hour journey we finally began our desent down through the clouds and
crossed the wind swept Beagle channel with a double rainbow underneath us,
which we took for a good omen. Unfortunately, one of our bags didn´t make
it with us on the plane to Ushuaia, and so we decided to wait for the next
plane to land from Buenos Aires, Dave was particularly worried as it was
the bag that had all our spare parts and tools in that he had collected
over the past year.
In the
meantime, we unpacked the bikes at the airport and put them together, much
to the amusement of people waiting to check in. Thankfully a few hours
later our bag did arrive in one piece and we were able to cycle out of the
airport and promptly booked into a hostel to try and get some sleep – at
that point, neither of us knew who we were or where we were!
The next day
was spent getting everything ready for our departure the following day,
getting gas and fuel, checking the bikes over and generally finding our
feet and walking around Ushuaia.
It was hard
to say whether we were excited or just plain afraid about what we were
about to embark upon, and on the 1st November, in light snow we
said goodbye to the people in La
Posta hostel. With unbelievable bad luck and only a 1km
out of the hostel, Dave´s front pannier fell off. It turned out that his
right pannier rack had completely been sheared off and was utterly broken.
(check out the photo gallery). Dave tried to fix it with spares, but it was
no use and we felt utterly helpless, we could have understood it if it was
six months down the line, but after 1km? We didn’t know whether to laugh or
cry. Instead, we set off in search for a welder open on a Saturday.
As luck
would have it, we eventually found one who did a very good job on it and
even took the time to paint it for us. And so it was, with trepidation, we
again set off from Ushuaia. The scenery was absolutely spectacular. Snow
capped mountains soared above us and we took the hills slowing feeling the
weight of our bikes and panniers (we are going to reassess again what we
are carrying!) we cycled up through our first mountain pass as thick snow
began to fall on the ground.
They say
that in Patagonia there are four seasons
in one day and we have certainly found that to be true, having experienced,
sun, rain, wind, snow and hail in the space of a few hours.
Finally we
camped next to a river on a naval outpost, pleased with completing over
70km on our first day, especially having left in the afternoon.
Day 2 was a
dream, cycling upon smooth tarmac roads and through pristine forests with
crystal clear streams meandering through land where glaciers had once
forged their way through. Towards the afternoon we met the wind and
eventually had to seek refuge. Again with about 70km under the tyres we
were pleased with the progress we had made and so set up camp next to a
stream, where Dave was able to try out our water pump for the first time.
It was a stunning spot and in the evening the wind died down creating a
pleasent view over the plains.
9th
November
We are now
in Puerto Natales after having cycled all through the Island of Tierra Del
Fuego. What an experience the last week has
been.
Through Tierra Del Fuego the going was pretty tough work,
cycling against vicious head winds and on gravel, it was certainly the
baptism of fire that we were expecting. However the experience has been
amazing, we have been amazed at people’s hospitality, staying in an
estancia one night, and being treated to the most amazing lamb I have ever
eaten in my life and learning about how people live so remotely down here!
We have seen condors, guanacos, nandus (rhea?), flamingos, ostriches and
even a pampa fox.
The scenery
has been spectacular, pampas as far as the eye can see. We have been lucky
with camping, staying in the Argentinean border crossing waiting room one
night – with stove, heater and sink (luxury!), and making use of the
refugios (huts with a fire, table and steel bunk bed frames) that we have
found along the way to protect us from the wind. We are also getting to know ditches
pretty well, which serve as cycling break spots out of the wind.
Unfortunately
we had a pretty horrendous night in the tent on our way towards Punta Arenas, we had
to set up our tent in over 100km per hour winds and hoped that the wind and
rain would die down over night. It turned into the worst ever camping
experience that either of us have ever experience, with our camp spot
turning into a wind funnel. Needless
to say that both of us were very scared and were making contingency plans
if our tent didn’t stand up to the wind. Thankfully we made it through the
night, but with extreme cold and little food left we decided to take up an
offer of a lift to Puerto Natales where we have treated ourselves to a
hostel (Hostel
Chorrillos, great place!) taking stock, fixing the bikes and restocking
up on food and water for the next six days and sampling a little of the
wine!
We are
heading off tomorrow towards Torres del Paine via Esperanza and then onto Perito
Moreno Glacier, both of which I have dreamed of visiting.
Not looking
forward to the outlook, rain, high winds and cold temperatures-yikes! The
locals here are confused about the weather as we are, although the wind is
expected, the rain, snow, hail and cold temperatures are not for this time
of the year! Oh well, it all adds to the adventure. Will keep you posted!
Latest News 28th November 2008
Check out our latest photos http://gallery.cyclingnomads.com/#4.0
Check out our video blogs in
right hand column
I
can’t believe that Dave and I have finally made it to Coyhaique! A date had
been set months ago and we didn’t know whether we would be able to cycle
fast enough to arrive for the 27th November, in time to see a
few of Dave’s old friends from his Chile Raleigh International Expedition
days.
We
are currently enjoying spending time with Tim, Magda, Tom and Nicole,
resting in their house with the most spectacular views. I am looking out
onto rolling hills covered in forest with snow capped mountains behind and
appreciating how green the countryside is around this part of Chile as it
is in stark contrast to the past week or so of cycling.
Although
not even a month, it feels like we have now been a long time on the road
and we are now beginning to get into the rhythm of camp life, each with our
own chores. We both put up the tent, I sort the inside of the tent out and
all the pannier bags whilst Dave cooks up a delicious dinner!
Neither
of us can believe how much has happened in the past few weeks, it has
certainly been an incredible adventure of highs, lows and meeting
fascinating people.
Due
to the road systems, travelling through this part of Patagonia
means that travellers are constantly criss-crossing from Chile to Argentina,
and so it was that we left Puerto Natales in Chile to cross back into Argentina
where we saw our first Explore group at the border crossing. We were
treated to a day of rain and muddy gravel roads, so after about 70kms the
bikes had clogged up with mud and refused to go any further. We were damp
and somewhat cold so we decided to stop to ask whether we could pitch our
tent in a barn of an enormous working Estancia (sheep farm) called Cancha
Carrerra. Never in our lives have we been treated to such incredible
hospitality, nor felt like we had stepped back in time.
We
stepped into the old kitchen building to be greeted by the smell of bread
cooking and vast quantities of dough being rolled out onto a long aged
wooden table, a hundred year old arga (a number 6) stood as the heart of
the kitchen, I have never seen one so big before. We were introduced to Luis, the full time
chef for over 40 workers and the “tecer jefe” (third boss). He sat us down
in a further workers dinning room, and we felt like we had stepped back in
time to the pioneering days! Luis gave us copious amounts of bread, coffee,
soup and lamb pasta urging us to eat as much as we wanted and then proudly
showed us all the bread that he makes for the workers. Eventually, the
administrator of the Estancia said that all the barns were full as it was
sheep sheering season and the seasonal workers were using them all, but we
could have access to an old caravan. It was perfect as it was dry!
After
being shown our sleeping accommodation for the night we were asked to come
back to the kitchen for afternoon tea with the workers and then to return
in the evening for dinner. Neither of us could believe the hospitality we
were shown. That afternoon and evening we were fortunate enough to be shown
how to make “torta fritas” fried bread rolls, we chatted to many of the
workers, became friends with two carpenters and found out all about life on
a 50,000 hectare
Estancia with over 35,000 sheep and the various roles that each man carried
out. We were even lucky enough to meet the owner of the Estancia, Juan
Carlos Morrison, a JR (Dallas) look-a-like. Refusing any money for the
food/shelter, the only thing that we could offer was our washing up
services and have promised to send photos and keep in touch with Luis and
the carpenters. It was a unique and special experience that Dave and I will
treasure.
From
Tapi Aike we took a short cut over gravel roads to get to El Calafate, the
weather improved dramatically and again we were in awe of our surroundings
and pleased that we were on our bikes, soaking up the dramatic snow-capped
mountain scenery and watching the lambs frolicking. Naturally, this is
Patagonia and nearing the end of our day, the wind picked up out of
nowhere, we were cycling at 5km per hour, then 4km, then 3km, eventually
neither of us could stay upright on our bikes and pedal forward. We sought
shelter for quite a while and eventually decided to push on, again the wind
didn’t relent and, without exaggerating, it was impossible to even push the
bikes as they kept being ripped out of our hands and ending up on the
floor. We later learned that the wind got up to 120km per hour. Thankfully
our saviours came in the form of Raul and Jorge who helped to organise for
us to stay in an half built building and allowed us a night out of the
wind.
The
following day, we could only cover about 60km due to the wind but enjoyed
an 8km downhill stretch with majestic views of turquoise lakes nestled in
the valley below. By lunchtime, we sought shelter in the entrance of an
abandoned restaurant and made a delicious noodle soup, whilst chatting to
the road workers. Again they urged us to pitch the tent by their mobile
unit for the night and stay to have afternoon tea and a chat with them. At 8pm Dave and I had just settled
down to sleep for the night when they again knocked on the tent and invited
us to dinner! Not only have we enjoyed meeting the local people, but they
have relished meeting us too and learning all about us and our country. I think
that that is the beauty in travelling by bike, as it seems to be a great
ice-breaker and talking point!
Eventually
we made it to El Calafate where we enjoyed a rest afternoon and attended a
local “horse taming” fiesta. The following day we visited Perito Moreo
Glacier with Lisa and Stephen, an English couple we enjoyed spending time
with. The glacier was something that I had been looking forward to seeing
and it certainly didn’t disappoint. At roughly 2.5 miles wide, 60 metres tall and
about 30km long it was certainly a spectacular sight, in which photographs
cannot capture either its beauty or vastness. The varying hues of blue and
semi-transparent colours changed with the light. We were lucky enough to see parts of the
glacier crashing into the water, creating enormous waves and the resonating
sound was incredibly loud. We sat and marvelled at it for a long time in
awe that it moves up to 2
meters a day and how it stopped abruptly into the
lake. On our return journey back to town, we realised that what we had
thought were boats in the lake were in fact ice bergs travelling down from
the glacier!
From
El Calafate we managed to cycle our furthest so far, 127km, and for me it
was one of the most amazing cycling days I have experienced. The weather
changed from wearing duffle coats the previous day to 37 degrees! T-shirts
and shorts came out and we both had grins on our faces as we cycled past
turquoise lakes, desert type scenery and milky blue rivers. We also met
some other cyclists (teamturkey.wordpress.com). Both of us, with smiles on
our faces really connected with the nature around us and didn’t want to
stop that day! Eventually we found a perfect camp spot overlooking the
prominent and sharp granite summit of the Fitz Roy mountain and Viedma
Glacier, one of 300 in
the area. We speculated what the planet would have looked like covered in
glaciers over 18,000 years ago.
We
had intended to cycle the whole of the Carreterra Austral, however with
only one boat a week crossing Villa O’Higgins (which we had just missed),
and a deadline to get to Coyhaique to meet with friends we decided to miss
Chalten and Fitz Roy and cycle up Ruta 40 – notorious for being quite hard
going…needless to say that it didn’t disappoint!
We
had stocked up with 6 days worth of food and rivers were shown on the map
with a few Estancias along the way and both of us were a little
apprehensive as to what the route would hold for us. It was certainly tough
and unyielding with rough gravel roads, pampas all around with little
protection from the wind, but our main concern was with the water. The
rivers that had been shown had already dried up and so we had to take to
flagging down camper vans to ask for top ups of water when we ran out. The
experience made us wonder how the indigenous people lived off these lands
for thousands of years – something we will now look up!
The
vastness and openness of the pampas was incredible and at times we felt
very small in the hot, dusty and windy landscape. We really appreciated the
times when tourist vehicles stopped for a chat. On a day when we felt a
little demoralised, we were overjoyed when Giel and Mieka, a couple from Holland stopped by
the road and asked us in for coffee, a chat and some biscuits. Such simple
things raised our spirits immensely for the rest of the day and we are
eternally grateful!
Surprisingly,
we made great progress, covering between 70-90 odd kms a day and were
thrilled to see many armadillos, nandus and even a rare white guanaco up
close. Again we were treated to the most amazing hospitality by local road
workers who put us up, let us use their hot showers, and fed us tea,
dinner, breakfast and even gave us packed lunches to take with us the
following day!
Ruta
40 certainly toughened us up, but unfortunately just before Baja Caracoles
I suffered with the beginnings of a kidney infection, with sickness and a
bad stomach, and ended up in a hospital outpost for the night on a drip,
antibiotics and various injections.
After
6 days on Ruta 40, Baja Caracoles had planned to be our rest day town with
a visit out to the 9,350 year old hand cave paintings, but with me sick,
Dave unimpressed with town, being unable to buy any food (after knocking on
all the doors of the houses, and coming back with an overpriced half loaf
of bread and a packet of hot dogs) and the nurse insisting that I have a
few days rest in the town of Perito Moreno (where there was a hospital in
case I got a little worse), we again succumb to a lift, but had the
pleasant return of making a new friend, Alejandro, whom we look forward to
keeping in touch with.
After
a day or two of rest, we decided to cycle ever northwards and Dave and I
have thoroughly enjoyed being back in Chile via Chile Chico and
Puerto Ibanez. The micro climates here are incredibly diverse – we are now appreciative
of seeing trees, rivers, lakes and waterfalls. The whole area is lush,
green and mountainous. Reminiscent of the Swiss Alps with purple and pink
lupins lining the roads and cows happily munching the grass. Now we will
take hills any day over wind and at each turn we keep stopping to take
photos of scenery. For now though we are enjoying a few days rest in
Coyhaique and looking forward to a Friday night celebration!
Overall
we are still really enjoying the start of our adventure, we are upbeat, getting
along very well and getting stronger each day. We are learning to take the
rough with the smooth and each day we are thankful for something that we
have seen or experienced. We are enjoying getting back to basics, finding a
place to shelter, looking at water supplies and taking pleasure in the
chats and hospitality of the people we have met along the way, realising
how important human contact is in these two vast countries.
On
Sunday we will leave our friends here and head maybe a four day cycle to Futaleufu
to stay with some farmer friends of Dave’s and find out how they and the
town has faired since the Chaiten volcano erupted.
Thank
you all for all the forum, email and guestbook messages, we have really
enjoyed reading them! To answer a few questions:
What are we eating?
Breakfast
is usually porridge or bread and dulce de leche (condensed milk).
Lunch
is either soup and bread, noodles or a ham and cheese sandwiches.
Dinner
– various forms of pasta and bean stews, the more carbs the better and with
chorizo for extra taste.
Eating
lots of snacks in between.
Kelly
is now eating just as much as Dave, if not more and has now turned into a
full meat eater, much to Dave’s amazement. We now fight over the bits of
chorizo in the food! Steaks have been enjoyed when we have treated
ourselves!
Are you saddle sore?
Dave
– no! He has a little more padding!
Kelly
– Yes!
The fastest we have clocked:
Dave
75km per hour, although his speedo registered 73km per hour – I am much
more sensible!
Most cycled in one day:
127km
Least:
15km
when Kelly was sick
What type of places have you
stayed in?
A
caravan, an old deserted building, a ½ built house.
In
our tent on pampas, beside a lake, beside the road, in hospital, on farms,
on road worker camps, anywhere that is protected from the wind!
In
Argentina/Chile it is legal to wild camp as long as you are well away from
the road and hidden from view, only problem is in the pampas you can see
for miles and miles in all directions!
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