PowerCycle

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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Today 7 intrepid bicycle tourists set off in a rented car to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park. The ride took about an hour and a half and was uneventful given that none of us, including the driver, has been behind the wheel for some time.

Entering the park, we paid the 100 pesos and continued down a windy mountain road to the parking area. We got there at 8:30am which is an hour before the tour buses arrive. This turned out to be a good thing because the buses brought with them hoards of people.

The glacier was freaking incredible. The cracking noises as the ice sheet slowly advances into the water sounds like gunshots. Then, if you are very lucky, you might get to see a block of ice calving off the glacier and falling into the water, making a huge splash and causing everyone to ooh and aww. Jordi, our driver for the day, saw a huge block beginning to tip over and yelled out in time for me to see it as well. It was pretty amazing.

The glacier itself is 19 miles long and is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. It averages about 240 feet above the water and has a total ice depth of 558 feet. The icefield is the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water. Perito Moreno Glacier is one of three glaciers in Patagonia known to have advanced, compared to several hundred others in retreat. The Patagonian glaciers are receding at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world thanks to man-made global warming.

01/18 When I rolled over the 24,873 mile mark today I hit a pretty big milestone–the circumference of the Earth at the Equator. Nothing exciting happened but it’s kind of cool to think I’ve ridden a bicycle around the entire planet (metaphorically).

Leaving El Chalten I was treated to some great views of the Fitz Roy Range looking back toward town. A famous Italian mountain climber described it well: “It’s the most spectacular geologic convulsion that the terrestrial surface has thrown toward the sky”. It certainly is very impressive. The mountainous terrain changes to pampa heading south so there wasn’t too much to look at except a cool little armadillo.

I took advantage of the pavement and a tailwind to knock out 69 miles (1289 feet climbing). My stop for the night was Hotel de Campo La Leona. It’s a roadhouse next to the Rio Leona that dates back to 1894. Some famous guests included Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid and his wife. A bad ass bandit named Asensio Brunel also spent some time in the area. He was famous for riding his horse with no saddle, dressing in puma furs and eating only raw horse meat (yum!).

The place was expensive at AR$ 40 for camping. I had to pass on buying a can of beer. They were charging US $3.95 for it. Camping options along the road are limited. Both sides are fenced in and there are very few places to take shelter from the wind. No dry riverbeds like up north. A lot of cyclists, priced out of campgrounds, end up sleeping in the drainage pipes that run under road. This is arguably one of the most popular bicycle touring areas in the world–you would think they would provide some free shelters so people aren’t having to sleep under the road like trolls.

El Calafate was another 67 miles (2147 feet climbing). Traffic was brutal on the 2 lane road from the junction to here. Turns out this town is just as bad as El Chalten; it’s just bigger but it too exists solely as an expensive base camp for tourists and it is absolutely crawling with them. The ATM works which was good news. Maybe there is only one gas station because the line was horribly long. I’m camping at El Ovejero. A guy I ran into a couple weeks ago, Matt from Canada, is also here.

On the road today a guy stopped me and asked about my trip. He started off with “I hate the f’ing United States!” but warmed up after getting that off his chest. He gave me a flag of Argentina so I’ll have to find a place to show that off for a bit. I also met Cathy and John from the UK and Samuel and Simone from Switzerland on the road.

The plan is to shop for a hat tomorrow (that doesn’t say El Calfate on it), eat a lot of chocolate, get some food/gas and then get tickets to see the glacier on Friday.

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