The last few weeks in southern Chile and Argentina have shown us that winter is fast approaching: lots of rain and often very frosty, humid nights.
We managed to temporarily paper over the cracks of the problem by adding a fleecy blanket to our sleeping bags, and jumping on a bus to Argentina where it rains less than in Chile.
But, we have to face it: we’re not fast enough to keep ahead of the seasons and where we’re planning to go, Bolivia-bound, it will be extremely cold at night for the next four to five months. Even during the height of summer, the high passes (over 3000 metres) can get snow.
We don’t want to give the impression that we’re bailing out on South America because we dislike anything about it other than the weather. We have loved our time here and have met some great people while on the road. We’ll definitely miss meeting them in random places along the route.
Given the havoc that the cold damp night air was playing with Peli’s asthma, we’ve decided to head to the USA where the climate will be more forgiving. It’s best to avoid the asthma triggers when in the …
Our beloved Exped DownMat 7 Pump DLX has started to spit feathers out the deflation valve.
Highlights: Chocolate, Crema de Mani ice cream, Le Tandem, lakes, ash and volcanoes.
I was searching for a hat which would keep the rain, sun and wind off my head and out of my eyes as I walk or cycle about. But finding one that didn’t mean I had to change my wardrobe was difficult
Highlights: Very cold rain, well-deserved tarmac, long rides, Casa de Ciclistas, message in the sand from the French tandem, free camping and a warm bed.
Cochrane, Puerto Tranquilo, Villa Cerro Castillo, Coyhaique – 220km (Total 1343Km cycled
Highlights: Very rough ‘corrugated’ ripio, great weather, tailwinds, beautiful long climb and descent, no broken spokes, hitting tarmac again, and mislaying – then finding – another pannier!
Day 79-80 : 27-28 March 2012 – Leaving Cochrane
Within a few hundred metres we were back on the ripio and toiling our way up some extremely steep hills out of Cochrane. When the terrain allowed us to lift our eyes away from the tricky gravel we enjoyed fabulous views over the river Chacabuco and the surrounding peaks with their little glaciars (well, they would be considered little in Europe). The weather forecast promised days of good weather and it did not lie. At points it was a bit too hot to climb these steep stony roads. Though as soon the sun dived behind the mountains the temperature dropped fast.
I was looking back down into the valley from which we’d just risen and spotted the French tandem descending the other side, struggling like us with the ripio, wobbling all over the place, stopping and starting, trying the left side then the right side of the road. They manage to stay on the bike, …
Villa o’Higgins, Puerto Yungay, Cochrane – 220km (Total 1016Km cycled
Highlights: Stunning views, tough hills, our first 1000km, hot water and hospitality from Manuel from the ferry.
Day 71-72 : 19 March 2012 – 20 March 2012 – We are famous :)
We got up nice and early and expected to leave nice and early but the comfy facilities at El Mosco and the company of other cycle tourers made it hard to get going. We packed our bikes and, as always when spotting a bit of free space in our panniers, we went food shopping. Peli just went into the shop to get some Dulce del Leche, but I heard a squeak from her and out she came with bags of lovely fresh fruit and veggies: juicy plums, shiny apples, red peppers and avocados. The shop had just got a new delivery, pretty good timing for us, since the region is in the middle of a strike and we are at the end of the road.
Packed and ready, we set out to ride the Carretera Austral north. We had heard that it would be nasty in places, some of the worst roads down here south, but compared to what we rode …
Puerto Natales, El Calafate, El Chalten, Villa o’Higgins – 85km (Total 790Km cycled)
Highlights : The fork finally arrived, we met some great people who kept us sane while waiting, rough off-road, hilly and tough single-track, rainstorms, beautiful and stunning wilderness, hanging glaciers, boats that actually appeared!
Day 45-63: 22nd February – 11 March 2012 – good things come to those who wait!
The fork finally arrived! If we hadn’t had a great team in the UK (Basecamp Mum and Basecamp Sister – thank you!) to help us out, I really wonder if the fork, and our other goodies, would ever have reached us in remote Puerto Natales.
We spent four weeks at Camping Josmar 2, saw many people arrive, head off to trek in the park and then return to the campsite to greet us with, “Are you two still here?!”. I stopped counting how many times we told our story. I’m sure that we’ve passed into travellers’ folklore by now.
It was a day of great relief when the DHL Special Delivery man finally handed over our parcel and Peli signed on the dotted line. Over the next few days, the fork and the bike were put together and test-ridden. …
We knew that shipping stuff to South America was surrounded by horror stores: parcels lost, returned to sender, and the inevitable long wait. We prepared ourselves for a long wait, but we were stunned by the utter incompetence demonstrated by a company which – we’d naively imagined – would have the experience and know-how to deliver our parcel without hiccup.
Following an accident in the wind in the Torres del Paine we needed to send a new fork, along with other bits and pieces, from Lancashire, UK to Patagonia, Chile. We considered using Parcelforce, but having heard bad tales about them (there’s a theme emerging here), and having seen DHL offices in Chile, we plumped for the latter. We thought they’d understand how logistics in Chile work as far as addresses, customs, etc were concerned.
From the outset, we tried to make sure we did everything correctly, and followed DHL’s instructions to the letter. ‘Basecamp’, AKA Peli’s mum, phoned DHL a few times to check how the process would work: what paperwork was required; how long it would take; whether the address would be OK.
Since we would be out and about doing touristy things while waiting, we hoped, we …
Puerto Natales, 0km (Total 705Km cycled)
Highlights: Sunny, no wind, steak, lentil stew, waiting, more lentil stew, more waiting, cake swapping and finding out that our tent is a godsend and pancakes.
Day 33-45: 11th – 22nd February 2012 – Idling
We’re stuck here in Puerto Natales while waiting for my new fork to arrive. After many days of hard slogging, we feel rather guilty just sitting back and relaxing for day after day. In fact, it’s getting rather boring. So, here are some reflections while we’re sitting on our bottoms, in no particular order.
We’d looked into going on one of the touristy guided tours, but most of them would take us up to Torres del PAINe again and cost a rather a lot of money.
The Law of Sod: since we go back from the park we have had brilliant cycling weather, with next to no wind and wall to wall blue sunny skies. Can you credit it?
While here, we’ve tried to make sure that the address to which the forks are addressed is as secure and guaranteed as possible. We’ll hopefully have more luck with Chile. We did hear that sending mail to Argentina can be something of a nightmare: …
Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales 8km (Total 705Km cycled)
Highlights: Rain, snow, hail, wind, stunning views of Los Cuernos in Torres del Paine, Peli’s pannier plays hide and seek and a flying overtake by my red pannier.
Day 28 and 29: 5, 6th February 2012 – Rest days
We had a day extra in Puerto Natales to book a bus to Torres del Paine National Park and stock up on food for the next leg too El Calafate in Argentina. We are planning to spend one or two days in the park and the ride over to Argentina. In all this next part would take 7-8 days so we got food for ten days this time as we learned our lesson on Tierra del Fuego. We’re not running out of food again!
We hunted down some more spare spokes since I have already used my spares. The first bicycle shop had nothing that fitted but pointed us toward “El Rey de la Bicicleta” which is an old-fashioned LBS. The friendly old chap who runs it could have been a racer in some bygone year. The spokes he had were either too long or too short so he carefully set about creating some …
Porvenir, Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales 30th Jan – 4th Feb 2012. 60Km (Total 690Km cycled)
Highlights: Steak, wind, broken spokes, veggie curry, cake and meeting other cycle tourers.
Day 22,23,24 and 25: 31th Jan. to the 2nd Feb. 2012 – Goodbye Tierra del Fuego.
We had two days off in the little town of Porvenir. But, since WiFi wasn’t working in the town at all and there wasn’t much to Porvenir in terms of amenities, we decided to jump on the boat to Punta Arenas. We arrived rather too early at the tiny port only to find that the restaurant we’d planned to wait at was shut. Undeterred, we set about cooking up a storm on our trusty Trangia, and were soon eating some hot rice. While waiting to embark we met an American couple, Christi and Tauru, who were cycling almost same route north as us and who who enthusiastically forced biscuits on us (we like them). They are both legally blind and riding a tandem with a trailer. They’re a very inspiring couple who entertained us with tales of their ride from Ushuaia. They’d taken the same Bella Vista route as us, so we had fun comparing notes. Their excellent website www.twoblindtoride.org …
We may not have used this tent for long, but with one week on Exmoor and two weeks in Tierra del Fuego, it’s already been through quite a lot of what nature is able to throw at it weather-wise.
We set about choosing a new tent carefully, as we wanted to invest in something really excellent which would serve us well for many years to come. After reading many reviews and after a lot of head scratching we decided that we’d go the route of the Hilleberg, much-loved by cycle tourers. Choosing which model of Hilleberg was the bigger challenge. Since we were planning to drag it around the world with us, it had to be many things: reasonably light, very durable (which the Hillebergs are famous for) and big enough camp out in for a few days and accommodate me – at 6’4″ (194cm) – and the great array of stuff we like to take with us.
Our old Blacks Octane 3, which we christened Sweaty Betty, did us proud around New Zealand, Denmark and the UK. It was simply too small for the two of us, despite being marketed as a three-person tent, and its ventilation system could …
