Futaleufu to Coyhaique

I tell you, I was booking it. There´s nothing like near-solitude, a rough road, and determination to get me to work myself into near-exhaustion for several days. I covered more than 400 kilometers in four days, and even feel that I had time to enjoy it. At only a few points along the route was I feeling weary with the frustrations of an impolite hotel desk clerk in La Junta, the blazing hot sun that day, and the lengthy and merciless construction on the road. After riding past a very calm and amicable middle aged (American?) couple walking along the road, I resolved to have a good time at all costs. The past four days were spectacular, and after a two night stay in Coyhaique I will head out tomorrow for more of the same.

I jotted down notes after or during each day on the road. Here are some of the things I was thinking about:

• I´m in Patagonia, watching the rain spill over the sides of my tent. I will stay dry as long as the tent stakes don´t pull out of the ground. (I did stay dry, because fortunately there were very little winds. The ground was very loamy, in part because of a recent explosion of the volcano at Chaiten. I have, however, woken up with condensation on the inside of my tent, but so far it has not dripped on my sleeping bag.)



• I chatted with the old ladies by the side of the road. They were waiting for the bus in what felt like the middle of nowhere. She was fiddling with my soccer-ball bell as we were talking, which was very cute. I misused the word ´claro´ and came across as either stupid or rude, or both.



• I was protected by a carful of giggling but alarmed ladies as I was riding along. Unbeknownst to me, there was a large dragonfly resting under my right shoulder-blade, and from the tone of their voices and behavior this insect can be dangerous. They came by at just the right time, and I am grateful for it.



• I think I saw two eagles this morning, among the curves where the cows were roaming free. I am not much of a birdwatcher, but the shape of their beaks was very interesting, and they didn´t look like the other birds I have been seeing. I took it as my gift for getting an early start among the mist.



• Felice Compleaños, Mama! I am working hard to get to Coyhaique so I can call you. I am drinking the last of my hot chocolate from Christmas and thinking of you.

• Waterfalls make me sad. Not that I am not delighted to stand beside them, and bask in the freshness of their mist and air. And not that I am not thankful and dependent on their rivers and streams for drinking water, and not that I do not enjoy the many bridges over these streams which provide short bits of pavement between the rocky, bumpy stretches of road. But here, looking at the glaciars on the mountaintops, the waterfalls signal the melting of the glaciars. While the route is spectacularly dotted with views of Andean peaks and several glaciars, and I am impressed that the snow and ice stays while I am baking under the hot sun, I cannot but imagine that at one point not too many years ago, this entire land was covered year-round in ice and snow. It is a bittersweet feeling to gaze at the expanses of barren rock on the mountains, and know that along with the paving of the route will come more melting of these glaciars.



• I was standing at the confluence of two rivers, one great and mighty and a rich turquoise blue, the other much smaller and practically clear. I was washing my hands and face, and wondering at the power of these waters.



• The Patagonian must be the dumbest and least fit for life of all the world´s horseflies. If any predator chose to make it´s home out here, the tamaño would surely be eliminated. They are slow, and not built with a hard shell, and while mostly I just shun them away, at times I dispatch them.
  
• Churrascos are hot dogs, and not very good quality ones at that.

So, that´s certainly a lot of things, and I have tried to edit myself, but there´s a lot of time for ruminations and meditations while riding ten hours each day. I have been meeting other travelers along the way, and have entered at least one town with a market each day, but I am finding that I prefer to camp outside of the towns, and prefer to ride and camp alone for now. There are many more kilometers until the end of the road, and I am enjoying this lifestyle immensely. Onwards!

Bienvenidos a Chile!

I made it to Futaleufu, a small town that is best known internationally as a premier rafting location. I cycled 50km through a wind and sometimes rainstorm yesterday, crossing through the gorgeous Paso Futaleufu amidst hovering clouds and puddles on the road. I cannot reallybegin to express all that I have thought along the way for the past few days, as there has been much happening around me. I rode out of El Bolson in the morning, up the hills to where my first serious dirt road began. 30km later I was in the small village of Cholila, where I camped with the German couple Dirk and Frederika, let the local kids climb around in my tent, and ate a parilla at the Butch Cassidy Parilla. Apparantly, Butch Cassidy lived just outside of Cholila when he was on the run from the Pinkertons, and so I visited his house and went for a swim in the creek nearby. Cholila had the feel of a strategically developed colonial outpost, which I think it sort of is.

The next day I entered the Parque Nacional de los Alerces, the road through which traced the eastern edge of three impressive lakes, was dotted with hitchhiking Argentine backpackers on vacation, and was frequented by vehicles that kicked up an enormous amount of dust. It was scenic and lovely, yes, and I camped at a free campsite by Lago Futaleufquen, but I was glad to leave the park the next day, especially as the 30km road to Trevelin was paved.

Trevelin was a nice town, with a feeling that people actually lived here on their own accord. The guide book describes it as the most Welsh of the cordillera towns, but apart from the tea houses it felt rather working class Angentinian to me. I spent one night at the campsite in town, where I was befriended by a family fromTierra del Fuego, a couple from Rawson, and a man and his two sons from Buenos Aires. January is the time for everybody´s summer vacations, so all these people are on road trips through the lakes region.

And then I left Trevelin for Futaleufu, through the uneventful customs and immigration offices. The campsite here is run by a very friendly couple that is feeding me homemade bread with jam, mate with sugar, and has been entirely welcoming. There is a rodeo today, so I am staying to build up calories and enjoy the sites. This is another quite wonderful place, and I think the next stretch of riding will be tough and far between rest stops for food supplies. La Junta, two days away, and Puyuhuapi, and then Coyhaique are my next goals.

There is certainly much more to tell, but the rodeo is calling me. Hasta la proxima! Here is a short clip of me riding my bike:

See What I am Seeing at Flickr!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aspekt19

Bariloche to El Bolson

I made it to El Bolson yesterday afternoon, in the heat of one of the hottest days in a while around here. I rolled in to to center of town, ate a tub of ice cream, and then walked some ten minutes to a popular camping area just away from the center of town. While I am still camping in El Bolson, it is different from the previous two nights in that I am paying for land, electricity, and shower services, and there is a large town in which to use internet and buy beer and food.

I rode three days from Bariloche, a distance of 125km or something, in legs of 20km, 20km and 85km. I will be here in El Bolson a second night, and tomorow I will head south towards Esquel, and the Paso Futaleufu into Chile. Along the way yesterday and the day before, I met two couples, one from Germany and the other from Switzerland, who are also traveling by bicycle on much the same route as I am going to take. It was certainly nice to have the encouragement that I am not alone in wanting to do this. As Aeolius, Zephyrus and Euroclydon were all conspiring to drive at my face and chest, food, water and company all seemed to arrive just when they were needed.

There was a fair today, as there is here every other day, and on the advice of my cousin Cali I went out and took a bunch of photos. I think I got some good ones. I am setting up a flickr account, and will post here the link to that when I get it set up.

Have I Told You How Much I Love Bicycles?

So, I finally got my bike out of its damaged cardboard cage and, my goodness! I love bikes. I went about three weeks without riding and was beginning to go a bit crazy. I feel that I have made good decisions in waiting until I arrived in Bariloche to start my tour, but I feel a great freedom and relief from being on my bike after so long without it.
It´s quite beautiful here, as those of you who have been here or seen the pictures in travel brochures know, with several grand lakes filling the basins between the mountains at the eastern edge of the Andes. The scenery reminds me of what I was fortunate enough to see in the Italian Alps around Como, and the town, like others in the lakes region here, markets itself as the Switzerland of the Andes. It has a certain chocolate-making elf-village feel to it, where everything is made of designer lumber and glass panels. It is a popular tourist destination, but like most popular tourist destinations it is a lovely place.
I have been staying 18km to the west of town in a hostel called Kahuin, and am about to embark on the first leg of my bike tour to El Bolson and Esquel. There are hostels in each of these towns, which are common destinations for backpackers on their way further south, but I will camp out along the way and take my time. I am heading south before I come back through here in a couple of months.
I went yesterday for a lengthy ride, one of the highlights of which was a visit to a Geology and Paleontology Museum some 15km from the hostel. There, an often winking older gentleman with a thick, silvery moustache displayed his findings from numerous expeditions in Patagonia and elsewhere. The small building was full of impresive gemstones, stuffed birds, dinosaur bones, plant and animal fossils, enormous ammonites, charts and photographs, and other articles like small mammal craniums and sharks teeth. The display was certainly that of an eccentric collector with years of experience.
I purchased another digital camera, so the next post will have pictures, and probobly some Moby Dick references as well. Send me emails anytime! I hope you are all well.

I want to be back in Buenos Aires

I walked too far today. I knew it as I was doing it, that I should hail a taxi at any moment. Just stop. But I kept going, and I am paying for it in poor decision making and weariness.
I am in Neuquen, the capital city of a western province of the same name that is known for it`s recent dinosaur finds (evidence of which is all 80km out of the city in three different directions and I don´t know how I´m going to get there), it`s oil and electricity output, and it´s lakes along the Andes. The city I am in is not, unfortunately, in the mountains, or even very near them, and so I will be taking another bus trip before I unpack my bicycle. I am jealous of my friends with stainless steel couplers on their bikes. These devices allow one to very easily take apart and put one`s bike in a box, because it is only the extensiveness of assembling my bike that is stopping me from having it in the cities. It actually appears to be quite easy to get the bike in a box from one place to another through the bus network, as they run a parallel cargo service that is very cheap.
So, after stressing out for much of the morning and afternoon about whether I was going to ride out of Neuquen, and being annoyed at the poor quality room I have to pass the night in, I was beginning to calm down when I realized that I didn´t have my camera anymore. So I ran back across town to the internet kiosk where I am now and asked around for a little blue box, retraced my footsteps, all to no avail. I realized that I might be insured for something like this, but not before I began to wear myself out again.
The last part of this is the crappy hotel. And it was this last part that was the first part of it all. Because I was heading over to check out another hostel when I realized that I was so distracted I didn´t know where my camera was. There is a hostel in town, and it appears to be quite nice, but I am staying in a cheap hotel because I didn´t do the appropriate research before agreeing to what seemed to be my only choice. Bah.
My impressions of Neuquen? I seem to have come across an inordinate amount of pregnant ladies in the shopping area that makes up the city center. The amount of 2-star hotels gives the place an almost seedy feel to it, even if the people who emerge from the hotels and those in the streets are quite normal seeming. It has a youthful vibe as well, and everybody I have talked to, usually asking for their help in something or other, has been more patient than they have had to be with me as I learn how to not talk like a three year old. Sorry there are no pictures, but that´s just the way it is right now.

There´s no time like the present to begin. I´m a bit surprised with myself for starting this blog, but as I am on an adventure that has been and will continue to be supported by many of my friends and family, I want to return the favors and keep posted about where I am and what I am experiencing.
I am in Buenos Aires for a few days, simultaneously adjusting to living in a hostel in a giant city, being in the sweaty heat, and not speaking the language that most everyone else does. I am getting by in fine style, though, and making plans for my escape to the fresher air of Patagonia. I am staying in the city for the weekend, and then will take my bike (which is still in a box) with me on a bus to Neuquen, where I will assemble it and begin riding around the lake district. Rosario, which was on my itinerary when I left the states, is out of the mix for right now. After being held up a day in Mexico City (where I took this picture), I was rather tired when I got here, and the idea of immediately getting on a bus for five hours was rather unappealing. So, here I stay.