12-9

It is 6pm and the sun is brilliant and the wind is buffeting the tent and throwing stones. Asleep for over three hours after riding with the wind and up a steep 10k climb since 8am this morning. When we turned south on Rt.40 (a gravel road) and presented Bici’s side to the Patagonian winds, we fell off the road – not once, but twice in the distance of a city block. We decided we’d had enough mileage for the day and found a culvert to pitch the tent and climb in.

But what a ride we had this morning! As we ascended out of the valley, views stretched below us of the tourqoise waters of Lago Argentina with a wide meandering river flowing through the huge expansive valley laying wide between the mesa we were climbing and the Andes so very far in the distance. The snow capped, glacier covered mountains stood tall at one end. The sight was incomprehensible, so immense the vista!

 

1. Pushing Bici into the wind 2. Gas station at end of the rainbow 3. Cooking our vittles

We raced guanacos for a distance who were trapped by a fence parralleling the road. They ran with such grace as they held their expressive faces aloft on those long necks. We saw nañdos (rheas) and far in the distance possibly two maras, moving away from the song of our tires. The weather advanced across the arid landscape shedding rain from clouds far off and near us, hunkered close to the soil were little mounds frothing with red flowers stretching over the horizon. A spectacular day!

12-10

On the road by 7:30 hoping to beat the wind. These Patagonian winds are indescribable. I’ve read about them, heard cyclists tell about them, BUT nothing I have ever experienced: desert, seashore, western plains – nothing is as extreme! It took us an hour to pick our way along 4km of ripio (unpaved, rock and dirt surface) between the boldery sections and the marble like sections, the dirt blowing and the WIND from the side, 3/4 from the front, straight on frontal with such velocity that we are blown from one side of the road to the other with gusts. Art works so hard to maintain a straight line where the gravel road is the hardest packed and I just put my head down and pedal. As we tire, it gets dangerous. The wind can so easily blow us over or off track and then the bike runs into piles of rocks or one very big one and we keel over, trying to catch ourselves. We pushed some, stood to catch our breath and stretch our aching muscles some and finally decided to beg for a ride. A saviour and his angelic wife stopped and carried our luggage, Bici and us 30km! One hour instead of four. What a difference.

We were dropped off at the gas station/restaurant (three tables – one room) at Tapi Aiki. At 12:30 we were ready for lunch, but it was closed until 2 pm. So we bedded down outside in the lee of the building, the wind howling just around the corner. Numerous cars stopped to get gas...no deal. The cola I was lusting for was just inside the window. Maybe the attendant won’t notice if I break this large plate glass window and help myself (Art) to a Coke. Oh well, we waited until he opened. He advised us not to try and ride in the strong wind. Two cyclists yesterday had to hitch a ride. OK, we’ll try our luck at thumbing.

Loaded Bic and started out across the drive to the road. Whoa! The wind nearly blew us over as we struggled to push Bici the hundred yards to the hghway. We stood in the wind holding onto Bici who was braced against a sign. The unremitting gale buffeted us unmercifully, shaking the large billboard and us. No ride for an hour. Shivering and shaking we decided to pack it in for the day and camp here. Pushed Bici back down the road about 300 yards into a sheltered pasture not too far from a creek and set up the tent. After camp was up we went back to the gas station and bought drinks to go with our evening meal. While preparing our vittles we discussed our pans for tomorrow. Up early to try and get some miles in before the wind generator starts up in earnest. We will ride as far was we can, then try thumbing again to get us to or near the national park: Torres del Paine.

12-11

1. Leaving Argentina for Chile, again 2. Snuggling into our hostel

 

12-13 We rose early to beat the wind – on the road by 6:30am in a fine mist and a little wind uphill. In less than one hour our legs are heavy and our muscles sore as if we had been ridng all day. By 10-10:30 we were so cold and wet, Art could not feel his fingers. The wind had blown up and was blowing us with fierocity from the side! This was too dangerous – so out with the thumb! A young man working for the oil company installing a 200km pipline piked us up. Pointing to Torres del Paine, he said it was awful: rain, wind and much cold. Could he take us to the further border and we can then ride into Puerto Natales and take tours back into the Torres del Paine park? OK!

He drops us at a gas station and we ride up the few kilometers to the Argentine/Chile border and get our passports stamped out and in. Below us lays a massive plains: Patagonia with all its wind, cold and rain. Down the steep grade we plunge with the drag brake on all the way. The pavement is cement, very wet and slippery. After a short way, Art again began to freeze and we both were shaking, so we stopped in a bus stop: a little enclosed shed, to eat our tuna sanwiches in the protected area. Across the street, parked in the yard of a cute house was an old pick up. Art encouraged me to go and offer money for a ride into town, 16km further. The matriarch of the family would not hear of payment and ordered her son and husband to take us into town.

We are snuggled into a nice hostal, plans are being made to stay in the park for several days. The bike and gear are being readied to bus the remainder of the distance to Punta Arenas and then on to Ushuaia. The winds are much too dangerous for us on the bike: up to 180 kph, we’ve been told. Perhaps we will ride to Tierra del Fuego park in Argentina for a day’s excursion before our flight to New Zealand on December 26. Our time on this continent is drawing to a close after nearly 15 months of travel.

12-14

Yesterday, thanks to great planning by our hostel host, we joined a bus tour group to see the Torres del Paine National Park. We were picked up at 7:30am with the first stop at a cave where a 10,000 year old sloth remains had been found as well as indications of human habitation, too. Another 80km of dirt road (being paved for future generations) we stopped at a “western” sheep town, Cerro Castillo, and were herded into the restaurant and gift shop to spend money. After stopping to watch a group of guanacos with babies, frolick, roll in the dirt and nurse beside the road, we traveled 30km more and entered the park

The road here will never be paved: wash board and gravel. We thank the bike gods that we were given so much rain and wind that we took rides into Puerto Natales and didn’t try to ride into this park! It would have been terrible-winds today are so strong we can barely walk and the constant rain is cold.

Into the park we travel the steep gravel ups and downs to the first attraction: the towers (Paine Massif) as they were revealed and then clouded over again. Quickly snapshots were taken, back on board to a falls, walking a short distance to see one lake empty huge quantities of tourqoise water into another. We traveled to see many lakes, to view Gray Glacier and, of course, eat lunch. The tour returned back to Puerto Natales, but dropped us at the end of Lake Pehoe where we caught a catamaran across to a refugio for two nights stay in the park. We waited in the cold wind for the cat, then finally let board, welcomed us with a warm cup of hot chocolate and coffee.

At the Grand Paine refugio, we were assigned our room shared by six of us (three bunk beds) and shown the bathrooms shared by as many as 70 (3 toilets, 3 sinks, and 3 showers for each mens and womens.) It is a nice modern, clean facility and we found a spot to get warm and have a complimentary pisco sour and watch the wind blow the rain horizontally outside the panoramic windows.

After a good nights sleep and the mass buffet breakfast, we hurried out to try a walk up to the French Valley (park of the famous W – a walk through 3 canyons) while the weather was calm. Over open moraine covered in low flowering bushes and grass; through tunnels of vegetation; splashing through puddles; trails becoming streams; past forests of native Lenga trees being killed off by Chinese Lantern parasitic plants; past cascading waterfalls, sipping the fresh, clear water. Three hours later the weather amazingly was still calm. When we arrived at the foot of the valley, looming above us the towers: the hallmarks of the park. We continued to ascend and hovering in the cradle of rock at the top of the valley hung the glacier Frances with pieces falling and thundering hundreds of feet, some creating avalanches that we watched in absolute awe. What a spectacle to enjoy as we munch our lunch. We turned back before the end of the trail, satisfied and tired.

 

1. Judee VS the sloth 2. Guanacos and Torres del Paine 3. Snapshot 4. Torres del Paine 5. Gray's Lake and Glacier 6. Grand Paine refugio 7. Fresh water to drink 8. River crossing 9. Frances Glacier

 

 

12-15

Today we woke to quiet. NO WIND. NO RAIN. Are we still in Patagonia? A pleasant short walk up the Lago Gray with magnificent views over lakes and up to snowy spires. An exhaultant experience. We caught the 12:30 catamaran back to the other side of Lago Pehoe and then a bus back to Puerto Natales. We debated about packing to ride to Punta Arenas when the rain began. So – tomorrow we will bus.

 

Torres del Paine National Park

 

12-18

Two days ago we left Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas by bus. This was a difficult decision but due to the high winds and cold rainy weather, we have put Bici to rest and will continue our journey by Auto Bus.

Punta Arenas is a large port town located on the Straits of Magellan only 3090km south of Santiago, Chile. It has a few concrete and glass high rise office buildings dotted among the mid-1800’s victorian mansions that have survived the wreaking ball. Outside the city center the residential areas seem to have a hospedaje on nearly every other corner. Our Hospedaje Costanera ($24US) is a warm family house where we cook our meals in the kitchen and eat breafast with the other guests at the dinning room table.

1. Straits of Magellan 2. Downtown Punta Arenas 3. Mansion

 

The morning after our aarrival we checked our email only to find messages from friends saying that our web page was down. Oh no – error 404...and no web page! Quick emails to Gary, our brilliant web master and some thoughts on our part brought us to the conclusion that when our credit cards were stolen and then canelled, the web hosting company had pulled the plug due to lack of payment by the auto pay we had set up. Many anxious hours passed until our thoughts were confirmed, the bill paid, and the web site back up and running. WHEW. Our communication link to family and friends means a lot to us and would have been a big loss. This is also our journal to help us remember our journey.