Today would be a bad for for a boat ride on the Strait of Magellan. The winds are fierce and it’s possible they’ll cancel the trip anyway. Regardless I’m not really big on crashing around on huge waves for the 4 hour ride there and back so I’m staying put. There’s also a King penguin colony on Tierra del Fuego that I might be able to see in a couple days. Tomorrow I’ll cross the strait and continue on.

And for the big news… I’m going to Europe! Here’s the plan of attack:

I’ll start out in the Netherlands where I’ll visit my friends Karin and Marten who are back home, settled in from their tour. Koga is hopefully going to ship my new frame to their house and I’ll build the bike there. That way I don’t have to pay any bike transport fees leaving South America. I’ll just remove everything I want to keep from the old bike and stick it in a duffel bag.

Next, I’ll hop on a boat/train (not sure) to the UK and see what’s going on there. Then I’ll head over to Ireland and drink Guinness until my liver explodes. After that it’ll be another boat back to France where I’ll start heading across and up to Saint Petersburg, Russia. The rest is on the map but the eventual goal will be Istanbul, Turkey.

I haven’t forgotten about Australia/New Zealand and if things go well maybe someday I’ll head that way too. This just worked out better with the seasons and because my bike frame needed to get replaced. OK technically I could still ride it but I don’t like knowing that my front rack could clamp down on the wheel at any time and send me over the handlebars.

Before I get to Europe I’m planning a stop in Florida to dump some cold weather gear, visit family and friends and eat some greasy chicken wings. If things go well I should be back in Florida on February 19th.

The weather in Patagonia deserves a special mention. I read in a travel guide that you can experience 4 seasons of weather in 5 minutes here. They weren’t kidding. If you are out of the wind and the sun is out it is blazingly hot. The wind is cold so even with the sun you still freeze. The next minute a hail storm could come through and then maybe it’ll rain for a few minutes and clear up again. It’s crazy.

01/30 Crazy wind today but I managed to make it into Punta Arenas without incident. The popular spot for camping in town is Hospedaje Independencia. The campground is basically just the front yard although it’s off the street and behind a house so it’s private enough. The shower was amazing especially after getting hit by a hail storm today. It was 2,500 pesos a night. I’ll stay here 3 nights.

Tomorrow I’m going on a boat tour to see a colony of 60,000 penguins at Isla Magdalena. The tour doesn’t get back until 10pm so no point in rushing out the next morning. The island is in the Strait of Magellan which I rode next to on the way into the city. It was pretty exciting to see it since it marks the end of mainland South America. On Thursday I’ll hop on another ferry for a 2 hour ride across the Strait of Magellan to Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (Great Island of the Land of Fire). Then I continue down to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia.

Camping spots were practically non-existent from Puerto Natales to Villa Tehuelche where I stayed last night. I had to ride 94 miles to get there but the only other place it might have been possible to stay, Morro Chico, was too close. The free camping was right next to the fire station. A bunch of little neighborhood kids stopped by to terrorize me visit. One of them even brought over some berries for me (after crashing into my tent x2, throwing dirt on my pot of rice, knocking down my food pannier, not wiping his runny nose and picking up and investigating everything I had laying on the ground). The wind was strong but for first 60 miles or so it was behind me and I made good time. One gust hit from the side so hard I was in the middle of the road before I could even hit the brakes. Glad no one was behind me.

The scenery today was in a word boring but holy crap was it windy. Most of the time it was from the west (my right side) which meant I had to focus hard on not getting blown out into traffic. It was 64.58 miles with 2129 feet climbing from Villa Tehuelche. A liter of beer and 3 huge hotdogs hit the spot for dinner (OK dinner #1–now it’s snack time).

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01/25 My morning started out with a visit from a friendly fox. He hung out for a bit while I took some pictures. Had a few sprinkles and clouds obscured the mountains but it was still a good day for riding.

The road from the campground at Lago Pehoé to Puerto Natales was more of the same from the day before. Inside the park it was brutal with lot’s of big hills and bad roads. There’s a long flat section just before leaving the park that I would absolutely hate if I were coming in the other way thanks to bad washboard and a relentless headwind.

Outside the park there was lot’s of climbing but great views of the lakes and mountains. Camping was also difficult, and gets progressively harder, except for one place along the only river crossing, maybe 15 km from the park.

At the junction with route 9 the road is paved and with the wind I sailed into Puerto Natales. Finding a place took some effort because most rooms were full and I couldn’t find the tourist office to get directions to a campground. I didn’t want to camp anyway and as luck would have it I found a room at Residencial Bernardita for 10,000 pesos (US $20). I even have a private bathroom and a cooking area right outside my door. Good wifi too. First time I’ve slept in a bed for almost 3 weeks. I’m paid up for 3 nights.

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01/24 The main attraction of Torres del Paine is Cordillera del Paine, a small but spectacular group of mountains, the highlight being the famous three Towers of Paine. They are huge granite blocks shaped by the forces of glacial ice. The road into the park offered some great views of the range but I didn’t head further in which meant I couldn’t see all three towers. It was still a pretty nice ride and even though the recent fires did a number on the place, the lakes and mountains still offer plenty of scenic viewing.

The road was paved for 18 km leaving Castillo and then it alternated from bad to really bad all day. Riding was tough especially after rounding Lago Sarmiento. That’s where the SW headwinds kicked back in and the road started climbing up and down some very steep hills.

Didn’t have much luck with drivers in the park. Most private cars/trucks slowed down to pass but virtually all of the buses, tour guide vans and park maintenance workers blew right by kicking up huge clouds of dust and coming within a few feet of me on the narrow road. They either don’t realize what they are doing which would make an interesting study to see why so many complete idiots are in the tourist industry or they are taking the opportunity to show their contempt for me as a tourist. Most Chileans seem to like cyclists so I can only assume that workers in the tourist industry just hate tourists and I’m an easy target on the road.

At one point three huge tour buses passed in a row, none of them slowing down or moving over. I caught up to them a short time later at an overlook where they’d stopped to let people off for pictures. I thanked them for the dust bath after greeting them with, “Hey assholes…” They all drove by a while later, this time two slowed down and one buzzed me again and honked for good measure. The guy that honked is the one covering his face in the picture.

Then there’s the entrance fee for the park. As a non-resident of Chile I’m required to pay almost four times as much as locals to get in (US $30 vs. US $8). This just annoys the hell out of me. Why are foreigners having to pay to preserve Torres del Paine? The park is in Chile!!! Have some pride in your national park system! Imagine pulling up to the gate at Yellowstone National Park and seeing a sign that said foreigners have to pay four times as much. As an American I’d be freaking embarrassed.

Saying that, “Well locals pay taxes to maintain the park which is why foreigners are charged more…” is crap. Locals pay almost nothing to maintain the park! I read that the state spends less than US $2 per hectare of protected reserve, for year-round protection and maintenance. The United States spends over $31 per hectare based on the 2006 National Park Service budget. There are three things that I care about in the park: the scenery, the infrastructure and my safety. The scenery costs Chile nothing and based on them not enacting any laws/rules to prevent fires after the big one in 2005, they don’t care if the place burns down anyway. The roads are terrible and there is no infrastructure other than the campgrounds which I had to pay an additional US $16 to stay at. As far as safety I’m pretty much on my own to deal with the tourist-hating locals. Maybe they have someone to clear the trails…so great, one guy with a shovel and a saw. Big deal. Maybe they could use one of the four people collecting my fee at the entrance gate.

The higher fee is nothing more than a way to suck in more tourist dollars to make some politicians and their corporate buddies richer. The money we spend on food, gas, hotels and transportation, and the jobs this creates for Chileans, should be enough.

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01/23 Hello again Chile. This makes the 4th time I’ve crossed the border between Chile/Argentina and it was also once again time to play hide the salami in preparation for the Chile border crossing. At risk were some raisins and new bottle of honey. Much to my surprise however, there was no customs check. I was stamped in and walked right back outside to my bike. I assumed there would be a place to check my bags down the road but there was nothing. The huge slab of cheese I ate for lunch was tasty but unnecessary since I could have just ridden into Chile with it. It was late in the day and the wind was howling so I found a spot behind a wind-break next to the tiny bus terminal.

Leaving El Calafate, the magical tailwind from the west never really kicked in and when I turned south west it turned into a headwind. I caught up with Stefan on the hill and we ended up riding together for the next few days into Torres del Paine. I finally spotted my first nandu (aka Darwin’s Rhea), it’s a large flightless bird that can run 37 mph. The land is all fenced in and the only option for sleeping out of the wind is to crawl into a drain pipe under the road (and hope it doesn’t rain), or get to a building.

I’d read that the highway maintenance guy working out of the small cluster of buildings in El Cerrito lets people stay in the shed where they store snow equipment/fuel during winter. The guy was there with his son who was quite happy with my gift of sour gummy worms for letting us stay there and providing us with water. Stats: 60 miles and 2945 feet climbing.

The road heading to Tapi Aike sucked. This section was unpaved and it was all bumpy washboard gravel. On top of that I was riding right into a strong 35-40 mph southwesterly wind. Getting to the next stop at Tapi Aike was a challenge but stopping wasn’t really an option since there were basically no places to camp. This area was popular with condors who soared above the hills taking advantage of the updraft. Probably saw about 30 in total that day.

Tapi Aike, a name that I love saying even though I’m probably mispronouncing it, is nothing more than another small cluster of highway maintenance buildings and a gas station with a cafe that sadly had no beer and only sold snack food. Water was available from a stream across the road. We were allowed to set up our tents in a shed which got us out of the wind. The police also share the building and had told me I could camp in the field across the road. I’m glad one of the highway workers came out of the office and said we could stay in the shed. Stats: 41.6 miles with 1624 feet climbing.

From Tapi Aike to the turnoff for Cerro Castillo and the border with Chile, the road was paved. There was still a strong headwind all day but it was a lot easier to ride into on solid ground. The road from the border to Cerro Castillo was unpaved but not in bad shape. No customs check at the border like I mentioned but the wait was long. The town has a cafe and a small but well-stocked store with all kinds of good camping food. The restaurant also had loaves of bread for sale. Since beer was going to be hard to find for a few days I bought a little bottle of rum.

This little trip to Torres del Paine wasn’t planned on my part–I gave into peer pressure a little and figured I’d check it out. I didn’t really have a reason for not wanting to go other than I’m excited about getting to Ushuaia and going through a park that had recently suffered from a massive wildfire wasn’t that appealing. Anyway, I needed to stock up on food since there would be no more towns for a while so I loaded up at the store in Cerro Castillo. Stats: 36 miles with 1168 feet climbing.

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