so thats the 3rd batch of photos and the new entry. please let me know what you think. thanks much for reading and looking. eeek ive been on the computer for almost 4 hours so now im done and going to get some food. chao chao!
zach
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
photo post #3
so thats the 3rd batch of photos and the new entry. please let me know what you think. thanks much for reading and looking. eeek ive been on the computer for almost 4 hours so now im done and going to get some food. chao chao!
zach
long entry
hello hello. glad to report we are alive and well here in el calafate. glad to be back in civilization after 11 straight days of camping and riding. we left puerto natales i think on the 21st of february and we arrived in el calafate yesterday, the 3rd of march. on this past leg of the trip, we surpassed 1000 km on our bikes. we need 1600 km to equal 1000 miles.
ok so let me begin by breaking down this leg day by day. bear with me on this. feel free to take breaks as you work through this particularly long entry :P
first day we left natales the wind was blowing pretty good. i lost my rear fender somewhere in natales. bummer haha. we rode out of town with a strong side and head wind and ended up camping near a lake about 50 km out. apparently, in chile, the law states that no one can own the shore of a lake, or the ocean, so we were free to camp there. we were able to see the peaks of some of the mountains as we drew closer to the park. that night we made the sausage sandwiches again.
the next morning we left under sunny skies, the day was going great. then maybe about 2 hours out, after some great vistas of the torres, it clouded over and we got caught in an hour long downpour. i was soaked, and at the end of a super long climb, was feeling pretty miserable. at the top it cleared up and we were able to dry out. the view of lago del toro was amazing. the truest of turquoises i have ever seen. we rolled maybe about 40 km that day, about 8 km from the park entrance, and camped on an estancia near rio serrano. we bought cordero, and cooked it over a fire that night. the views of the torres were amazing.
the next day we only had 8 km to the park entrance, but the side wind was atrocious. during the 8 km we had to ride we all fell about 5 or 6 times. it took us much longer than expected to get there. we paid 15,000 pesos and entered the park. once inside, we bought groceries from a small posada and headed out for lago grey, where we would hike 3 km to a free camping site near rio pingo. that wasn´t to happen. we only got about 1 km down the road before we decided to hunker down for a few hours to see if the wind would die. we measured the wind at 75 km/h, but it was probably much stronger as we could barely stay upright. the wind didnt die down and before we knew it, it was too late to make it to lago grey. we camped behind some trees, illegally haha. oh well, no one knew. the following day we decided we were making it to lago grey no matter what.
we rolled out, the wind wasnt bad. we only had 18 km to ride that day and we were making great time. a motorcyclist passed us down the way a little ways out. and while we were stopped, grabbing a quick snack, discussing how the wind wasnt very bad, the motorcyclists were returning. they stopped and told us up the way a short ways there was a canyon with incredibly strong winds. they couldnt make it up. haha we thought, whatever, we´ll just walk our bikes if necessary. no problem at all! yeah right. we didnt know what we were in for. a short ways down the road we hit fierce winds. gravel in our faces, it was tierra del fuego all over again, except 10x worse. we had to get off our bikes. i stopped to see where jacob and thomas were. thomas had lost a raincover in the wind and he was running after it. i started giggling to myself when all of a sudden a super strong gust came up and blew me off balance. i ended up falling backwards over my trailer, cutting my elbow and laying sprawled out in the middle of the road. we measured the wind that stretch and we hit 100.7 km/h! wow i never thought i´d be out pushing my bike through wind that strong, but that was nothing! the next portion of the road put the first to shame. we could only walk 10 feet before we had to stop and brace for a strong gust. eventually the wind slowed a bit and we wondered if that was it. was that the canyon the motorcyclists were telling us about? nope. up ahead we saw a hill and we started up it. it wasnt long before the wind was gusting and we could barely stand upright without getting blown over. about halfway up we measured the wind and we hit 122.7 km/h! incredible! equivalent to something like 75 mph. i almost fell over several times. eventually a car pulled over and he drove super slow so we could follow him up over the top without the wind. really nice people. in my opinion that is the only way we could have made it up without getting blown off the top. on the other side we thanked them, and rolled down to hotel grey where we took some coffee, cerveza baguales, and some food. it was great to be sitting inside, out of the wind. after that we rolled 1 km to the ranger station and we were up at camp pingo in 30 minutes. the river was a cloudy turquoise. good times there. the following morning there was little wind. the mosquitoes were out in full force and jacob was bitten about 16 times. thomas and i escaped unscathed. i guess they don´t like how i taste.
that day we were leaving lago grey and the pingo river to head across the park to lago pehoe. we would have a slight tailwind so that was nice. we returned to the posada for more groceries then headed out for the lago. really nice views of the torres. every km we rode, the view was different. we took lots of photos, and enjoyed the sunny weather. we stopped at hotel explora, which thomas says is one of the top ten places to see in the world. super expensive with amazing views, we found out it was equivalent to $5000 US, for 4 days of touring, eating, and lodging, everything covered. the ride that day was incredibly hilly. most days within the park i was struggling to make it up the hills. the roads were pretty bad. potholed and bumpy, surprisingly our trailers held up the entire time in the park. camping at lago pehoe was great. 4000 pesos for a campsite, firewood, and hot showers, which was amazing. we had so much dirt and dust and gravel in our hair from the day before. it was good to take a shower. the following day we would ride up to las torres. which was a campground to the east of the cuernos.
that day began sunny and cloud free, but quickly progressed to overcast and drab. the views were amazing and we got very close to the mountains. that day was very hilly and again i was struggling off and on all day. eventually we got to the campsite and just in the nick of time because the rain started falling. we got the tent up just in time. we were the only ones outside in the rain that night, cooking potatoes over the fire until 11 pm. we ate fried potatoes, asparagus, and for dessert we ate fruit cocktail. it was a great time, and we made the most of a bad situation. it ended up raining all night until 9 am when the sun came out and we climbed out into the morning to let our stuff dry out. that day we would be riding to laguna azul to camp for one last night within the park and then head out for cerro castillo.
while we were leaving, the view of los cuernos was obscured by clouds, which is unfortunate, but right after riding out, the clouds filled the valley and dropped rain. luckily we managed to evade the rain all day. that day riding to laguna azul was enjoyable. at the end it was a long climb to a steep descent to the campsite at laguna azul. im sure the views would have been spectacular of los cuernos, but they didnt show through the clouds. we drank beer and calafate liqueur that night while eating ramen and minestrone soup.
we rode out for cerro castillo that day. it was approximately 60 kilometers to the pueblo. halfway there we met a couple from switzerland and for motivation we learned of a bakery/pizzeria there. that was good enough for me. it spurred me on until the end. near the end there was also a paved section of road about 15 km long, which was great since we´d been on less than ideal gravel roads since leaving out of natales. i felt great that day on my bike, which is something that hadn´t been true for some time. all throughout our rides through the park i was struggling. it was good to be feeling good again. at cerro castillo we camped at a expensive hotel named los pioneros for 3000 pesos. the next day we´d be crossing the border into argentina to make a run for calafate. we were shooting for a 2 day crossing, but had enough provisions for 4.
that day we crossed the border, and encountered pavement 7 km out. it was great. with the wind at our back we were able to ride at 35 - 40 km/h for a good portion of the day. that day i felt great again. we rode about 75 km that day, which up until that point was the most in one day. we also surpassed 1000 km! great accomplishment for both of us. we have a photo commemorating the milestone. the road returned to gravel again and we ended up stopping to camp in a low gravel pit for the night. that night we enjoyed a traditional dish from jacobs homeland of holland. sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, sasusage (sub hot dogs for sausage) and raisins. it was quite good. perfect to cap the day off. more fruit cocktail for dessert. the next day was quite eventful.
to begin we met a french couple, traveling by bicycle for a year all over the world with their small son and next we encountered a german couple, traveling since october from lima, peru. they told us of 2 more groups of cyclists. a lone japanese cyclist, who simply waved when we passed, and a couple from switzerland. we talked for a bit, and progress that day was slow until we made it through the other cyclists. that day the landscape changed. our goal was cerrito, 55 km away. once there we figured we would have about 50 km into calafate, but that wasnt the case. the maps are not very good down here and once we got back onto pavement, realized we had 92 km to go. i was hoping to be in calafate in one more day. we would have to push hard to do so. and i was ready. for dinner we ate spaghetti alfredo and took peaches for dessert. we had 85 km to ride into calafate. it would be a long day.
we awoke early, at 745 to try and get on the road before the winds picked up. after chowing down on a breakfast of cream of chicken soup, mashed potatoes, and green beans, we left camp at about 945 with calafate on our minds. the morning was hard. it was cold, and we were all stiff. we took breaks at 20 km. after the first break we had a hard going until we reached a super long 8 km descent and that pepped all of us up until we reached calafate. we could see lago argentino and calafate was near on the southern shore. we pushed hard from that point on and we made it to calafate by 330. amazing! it felt great to reach our destination. we found a hostel, took showers, went out for pizza and some brew (as is customary) and relaxed at the hostel.
today we are doing laundry, writing in our blogs, posting photos, taking care of business. tonight im not sure. probably find a place to have a beer and listen to some good tunes and maybe chat it up with some ladies. tomorrow we might head to perito moreno, by bus, not by cycling haha. perito moreno is an amazing glacier about 80 km from here. it costs $60 argentinian pesos for entry and there is no camping within the park. after that we part ways with jacob and we head out for el chalten and mount fitz roy where we´ll begin riding up the carretera austral. thats pretty much it. youre all up to date. congratulations if you read all of it and thank you for reading! i´ll post photos in a minute, so stay tuned for that! there should be some good shots! hope everyone on the homefront is doing well, we´ll be in touch! chao!
zach
ok so let me begin by breaking down this leg day by day. bear with me on this. feel free to take breaks as you work through this particularly long entry :P
first day we left natales the wind was blowing pretty good. i lost my rear fender somewhere in natales. bummer haha. we rode out of town with a strong side and head wind and ended up camping near a lake about 50 km out. apparently, in chile, the law states that no one can own the shore of a lake, or the ocean, so we were free to camp there. we were able to see the peaks of some of the mountains as we drew closer to the park. that night we made the sausage sandwiches again.
the next morning we left under sunny skies, the day was going great. then maybe about 2 hours out, after some great vistas of the torres, it clouded over and we got caught in an hour long downpour. i was soaked, and at the end of a super long climb, was feeling pretty miserable. at the top it cleared up and we were able to dry out. the view of lago del toro was amazing. the truest of turquoises i have ever seen. we rolled maybe about 40 km that day, about 8 km from the park entrance, and camped on an estancia near rio serrano. we bought cordero, and cooked it over a fire that night. the views of the torres were amazing.
the next day we only had 8 km to the park entrance, but the side wind was atrocious. during the 8 km we had to ride we all fell about 5 or 6 times. it took us much longer than expected to get there. we paid 15,000 pesos and entered the park. once inside, we bought groceries from a small posada and headed out for lago grey, where we would hike 3 km to a free camping site near rio pingo. that wasn´t to happen. we only got about 1 km down the road before we decided to hunker down for a few hours to see if the wind would die. we measured the wind at 75 km/h, but it was probably much stronger as we could barely stay upright. the wind didnt die down and before we knew it, it was too late to make it to lago grey. we camped behind some trees, illegally haha. oh well, no one knew. the following day we decided we were making it to lago grey no matter what.
we rolled out, the wind wasnt bad. we only had 18 km to ride that day and we were making great time. a motorcyclist passed us down the way a little ways out. and while we were stopped, grabbing a quick snack, discussing how the wind wasnt very bad, the motorcyclists were returning. they stopped and told us up the way a short ways there was a canyon with incredibly strong winds. they couldnt make it up. haha we thought, whatever, we´ll just walk our bikes if necessary. no problem at all! yeah right. we didnt know what we were in for. a short ways down the road we hit fierce winds. gravel in our faces, it was tierra del fuego all over again, except 10x worse. we had to get off our bikes. i stopped to see where jacob and thomas were. thomas had lost a raincover in the wind and he was running after it. i started giggling to myself when all of a sudden a super strong gust came up and blew me off balance. i ended up falling backwards over my trailer, cutting my elbow and laying sprawled out in the middle of the road. we measured the wind that stretch and we hit 100.7 km/h! wow i never thought i´d be out pushing my bike through wind that strong, but that was nothing! the next portion of the road put the first to shame. we could only walk 10 feet before we had to stop and brace for a strong gust. eventually the wind slowed a bit and we wondered if that was it. was that the canyon the motorcyclists were telling us about? nope. up ahead we saw a hill and we started up it. it wasnt long before the wind was gusting and we could barely stand upright without getting blown over. about halfway up we measured the wind and we hit 122.7 km/h! incredible! equivalent to something like 75 mph. i almost fell over several times. eventually a car pulled over and he drove super slow so we could follow him up over the top without the wind. really nice people. in my opinion that is the only way we could have made it up without getting blown off the top. on the other side we thanked them, and rolled down to hotel grey where we took some coffee, cerveza baguales, and some food. it was great to be sitting inside, out of the wind. after that we rolled 1 km to the ranger station and we were up at camp pingo in 30 minutes. the river was a cloudy turquoise. good times there. the following morning there was little wind. the mosquitoes were out in full force and jacob was bitten about 16 times. thomas and i escaped unscathed. i guess they don´t like how i taste.
that day we were leaving lago grey and the pingo river to head across the park to lago pehoe. we would have a slight tailwind so that was nice. we returned to the posada for more groceries then headed out for the lago. really nice views of the torres. every km we rode, the view was different. we took lots of photos, and enjoyed the sunny weather. we stopped at hotel explora, which thomas says is one of the top ten places to see in the world. super expensive with amazing views, we found out it was equivalent to $5000 US, for 4 days of touring, eating, and lodging, everything covered. the ride that day was incredibly hilly. most days within the park i was struggling to make it up the hills. the roads were pretty bad. potholed and bumpy, surprisingly our trailers held up the entire time in the park. camping at lago pehoe was great. 4000 pesos for a campsite, firewood, and hot showers, which was amazing. we had so much dirt and dust and gravel in our hair from the day before. it was good to take a shower. the following day we would ride up to las torres. which was a campground to the east of the cuernos.
that day began sunny and cloud free, but quickly progressed to overcast and drab. the views were amazing and we got very close to the mountains. that day was very hilly and again i was struggling off and on all day. eventually we got to the campsite and just in the nick of time because the rain started falling. we got the tent up just in time. we were the only ones outside in the rain that night, cooking potatoes over the fire until 11 pm. we ate fried potatoes, asparagus, and for dessert we ate fruit cocktail. it was a great time, and we made the most of a bad situation. it ended up raining all night until 9 am when the sun came out and we climbed out into the morning to let our stuff dry out. that day we would be riding to laguna azul to camp for one last night within the park and then head out for cerro castillo.
while we were leaving, the view of los cuernos was obscured by clouds, which is unfortunate, but right after riding out, the clouds filled the valley and dropped rain. luckily we managed to evade the rain all day. that day riding to laguna azul was enjoyable. at the end it was a long climb to a steep descent to the campsite at laguna azul. im sure the views would have been spectacular of los cuernos, but they didnt show through the clouds. we drank beer and calafate liqueur that night while eating ramen and minestrone soup.
we rode out for cerro castillo that day. it was approximately 60 kilometers to the pueblo. halfway there we met a couple from switzerland and for motivation we learned of a bakery/pizzeria there. that was good enough for me. it spurred me on until the end. near the end there was also a paved section of road about 15 km long, which was great since we´d been on less than ideal gravel roads since leaving out of natales. i felt great that day on my bike, which is something that hadn´t been true for some time. all throughout our rides through the park i was struggling. it was good to be feeling good again. at cerro castillo we camped at a expensive hotel named los pioneros for 3000 pesos. the next day we´d be crossing the border into argentina to make a run for calafate. we were shooting for a 2 day crossing, but had enough provisions for 4.
that day we crossed the border, and encountered pavement 7 km out. it was great. with the wind at our back we were able to ride at 35 - 40 km/h for a good portion of the day. that day i felt great again. we rode about 75 km that day, which up until that point was the most in one day. we also surpassed 1000 km! great accomplishment for both of us. we have a photo commemorating the milestone. the road returned to gravel again and we ended up stopping to camp in a low gravel pit for the night. that night we enjoyed a traditional dish from jacobs homeland of holland. sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, sasusage (sub hot dogs for sausage) and raisins. it was quite good. perfect to cap the day off. more fruit cocktail for dessert. the next day was quite eventful.
to begin we met a french couple, traveling by bicycle for a year all over the world with their small son and next we encountered a german couple, traveling since october from lima, peru. they told us of 2 more groups of cyclists. a lone japanese cyclist, who simply waved when we passed, and a couple from switzerland. we talked for a bit, and progress that day was slow until we made it through the other cyclists. that day the landscape changed. our goal was cerrito, 55 km away. once there we figured we would have about 50 km into calafate, but that wasnt the case. the maps are not very good down here and once we got back onto pavement, realized we had 92 km to go. i was hoping to be in calafate in one more day. we would have to push hard to do so. and i was ready. for dinner we ate spaghetti alfredo and took peaches for dessert. we had 85 km to ride into calafate. it would be a long day.
we awoke early, at 745 to try and get on the road before the winds picked up. after chowing down on a breakfast of cream of chicken soup, mashed potatoes, and green beans, we left camp at about 945 with calafate on our minds. the morning was hard. it was cold, and we were all stiff. we took breaks at 20 km. after the first break we had a hard going until we reached a super long 8 km descent and that pepped all of us up until we reached calafate. we could see lago argentino and calafate was near on the southern shore. we pushed hard from that point on and we made it to calafate by 330. amazing! it felt great to reach our destination. we found a hostel, took showers, went out for pizza and some brew (as is customary) and relaxed at the hostel.
today we are doing laundry, writing in our blogs, posting photos, taking care of business. tonight im not sure. probably find a place to have a beer and listen to some good tunes and maybe chat it up with some ladies. tomorrow we might head to perito moreno, by bus, not by cycling haha. perito moreno is an amazing glacier about 80 km from here. it costs $60 argentinian pesos for entry and there is no camping within the park. after that we part ways with jacob and we head out for el chalten and mount fitz roy where we´ll begin riding up the carretera austral. thats pretty much it. youre all up to date. congratulations if you read all of it and thank you for reading! i´ll post photos in a minute, so stay tuned for that! there should be some good shots! hope everyone on the homefront is doing well, we´ll be in touch! chao!
zach
Friday, February 20, 2009
video blog 2
so here we go with video blog numero dos. sorry for the bad lighting, but i think i look a tad bit better in this video compared to the last haha. let´s see, i guess that´s it. hope you enjoy the new blog entry, the photos, and this video! until next time, chao!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
puerto natales
Hello hello! We are once again in Puerto Natales! Just arrived yesterday. Took us 4 days to ride about 250 km. Not sure what that is in miles, but in total we´ve gone about 650 km. Let´s see. I think we left off in Punta Arenas. We were originally planning on heading out of Arenas on Saturday but we partied a little bit too hard friday night with our hostel friends from the UK and the US. We ended up relaxing all of saturday and had a great evening that night chatting and enjoying our time there. Sunday morning finally rolled around and we left the hostel at about 1130. We left Punta Arenas for good at 1230 and to our great surprise enjoyed virtually no wind. We pushed it hard that day and ended up riding about 70 km where we camped in the mountains near Monte Gallina. My left knee had started hurting, somewhere along the way I think I tweaked it. Thomas´ right knee has been killing him almost all of the trip, I think the cold weather doesn´t help much with that. Just as we got the tent up, the rain really started coming down.
The next morning was the same. Wet, soggy, and cold. We rolled for 15 km before meeting two cyclists on the road headed for Punta Arenas. The rain had let up but both of our knees were hurting. They told us there was a villa about 14 km down the road, so we decided to shoot for that, get some food and rest. While there we had some drinks and sandwiches and by chance another cyclist was just rolling in headed our direction. It was Jacob, a cyclist from Holland we met when he was headed south to Ushuaia and we were 3 days out heading north. As it turns out, he took a bus from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas and he had just left that day. It was exciting to see him again and also exciting to finally meet another cyclist headed our direction. He was planning on staying in Villa Tehuelches for the night while we decided to head out and ride while the wind was dying down. It was a nice ride as the day was ending, we squeezed in another 20 km.
The following morning we were packing our stuff when Jacob rolled by so we packed up quickly and headed out as a group of 3. That day the wind was bad and it was a major effort to keep pushing. You still have to pedal hard on downhill portions, otherwise the wind stops you. It´s really like riding uphill all day long. At that point, we had about 25 km until me arrived in Morro Chico. That was our first goal of the day. It took us about 2 hours but we finally got there and took some lunch at a local restaurant. After that Jacob headed out ahead us and we caught up later on while Jacob was chatting with a German cyclist heading south. He told us there was a nice hotel about 25 km from where we were and so that became our next goal. Again we rolled out in a 3 person group. The wind was atrocious but we formed a pace line and that was really exciting as all of us would take turns at the front We worked hard but it was not bad fighting the wind in this manner. Eventually we stopped to take photos and eat something. The winds gradually became less and less and the ride down to the hotel was quite enjoyable. I love riding at that time of the day. Early to late evening in the late day sun. We saw a sign that told us we were only 66 km from Puerto Natales! I couldn´t believe it. Once to the hotel we took a triple room, took showers, ate food, and drank beer. The owners were super nice and the same hotel had been handed down several generations since 1929.
The following morning we had breakfast, the owner took photos of us, and we headed out on the road for the final leg into Natales. The wind was not as bad as the previous day and for most of the day I felt pretty decent. It wasn´t until the afternoon that I started feeling tired. I think it was the previous days ride finally catching up with me. We stopped for a food break and sat down for a short time before making the final push into Natales. It was such a good feeling to have finally made it to town. The fatigue really almost disappears as soon as you see your destination. We arrived in town a little bit after 4 pm and by 5 pm we had a nice room and were up the street at our favorite pizzeria ( La Mesita Grande: http://www.mesitagrande.cl/ ) eating wood fired, brick oven pizzas and drinking local microbrew. Really, you cannot ask for anything better.
Today we´re here in the town, relaxing, checking emails, writing new entries in our blogs, and trying to upload photos and videos. Sometime within the next few days we´ll be heading out of Puerto Natales to head to Torres del Paine, an extremely beautiful Parque Nacional. Most people agree it takes a full week to explore and appreciate all it has to offer. That´s our next goal. Not sure when we´ll head out for that, but we´ll keep you posted. Hope this has been informative! That´s all I´ve got for now. I´ll try to upload some photos sometime today or maybe tomorrow as well as a few videos. Hope everyone is well, and thanks for reading the blog! Chao!
Zach
The next morning was the same. Wet, soggy, and cold. We rolled for 15 km before meeting two cyclists on the road headed for Punta Arenas. The rain had let up but both of our knees were hurting. They told us there was a villa about 14 km down the road, so we decided to shoot for that, get some food and rest. While there we had some drinks and sandwiches and by chance another cyclist was just rolling in headed our direction. It was Jacob, a cyclist from Holland we met when he was headed south to Ushuaia and we were 3 days out heading north. As it turns out, he took a bus from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas and he had just left that day. It was exciting to see him again and also exciting to finally meet another cyclist headed our direction. He was planning on staying in Villa Tehuelches for the night while we decided to head out and ride while the wind was dying down. It was a nice ride as the day was ending, we squeezed in another 20 km.
The following morning we were packing our stuff when Jacob rolled by so we packed up quickly and headed out as a group of 3. That day the wind was bad and it was a major effort to keep pushing. You still have to pedal hard on downhill portions, otherwise the wind stops you. It´s really like riding uphill all day long. At that point, we had about 25 km until me arrived in Morro Chico. That was our first goal of the day. It took us about 2 hours but we finally got there and took some lunch at a local restaurant. After that Jacob headed out ahead us and we caught up later on while Jacob was chatting with a German cyclist heading south. He told us there was a nice hotel about 25 km from where we were and so that became our next goal. Again we rolled out in a 3 person group. The wind was atrocious but we formed a pace line and that was really exciting as all of us would take turns at the front We worked hard but it was not bad fighting the wind in this manner. Eventually we stopped to take photos and eat something. The winds gradually became less and less and the ride down to the hotel was quite enjoyable. I love riding at that time of the day. Early to late evening in the late day sun. We saw a sign that told us we were only 66 km from Puerto Natales! I couldn´t believe it. Once to the hotel we took a triple room, took showers, ate food, and drank beer. The owners were super nice and the same hotel had been handed down several generations since 1929.
The following morning we had breakfast, the owner took photos of us, and we headed out on the road for the final leg into Natales. The wind was not as bad as the previous day and for most of the day I felt pretty decent. It wasn´t until the afternoon that I started feeling tired. I think it was the previous days ride finally catching up with me. We stopped for a food break and sat down for a short time before making the final push into Natales. It was such a good feeling to have finally made it to town. The fatigue really almost disappears as soon as you see your destination. We arrived in town a little bit after 4 pm and by 5 pm we had a nice room and were up the street at our favorite pizzeria ( La Mesita Grande: http://www.mesitagrande.cl/ ) eating wood fired, brick oven pizzas and drinking local microbrew. Really, you cannot ask for anything better.
Today we´re here in the town, relaxing, checking emails, writing new entries in our blogs, and trying to upload photos and videos. Sometime within the next few days we´ll be heading out of Puerto Natales to head to Torres del Paine, an extremely beautiful Parque Nacional. Most people agree it takes a full week to explore and appreciate all it has to offer. That´s our next goal. Not sure when we´ll head out for that, but we´ll keep you posted. Hope this has been informative! That´s all I´ve got for now. I´ll try to upload some photos sometime today or maybe tomorrow as well as a few videos. Hope everyone is well, and thanks for reading the blog! Chao!
Zach
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Ok so here´s a little video blog action for you all. Sorry for the way i look. I look horrible but it provides a little bit more insight on what we´ve been doing. I´ve got photos here and another video of porpoises we saw while crossing from Porvenir to Punta Arenas last night. I´ll see if i cant get that up as well. I´ve also got a ton of photos to sort through. I´ll post a few so hold up here and i´ll have it all set :]
Punta Arenas
hello! we´re here in Punta Arenas on Thursday, February 12th! We arrived yesterday evening at approx 8 pm from Porvenir. So let me back up and explain our situation after leaving Rio Grande. We headed out from Rio Grande last week sometime. We had a tough time the first day because of high winds but were able to make it 16 km from the Argentinian border. The following day we headed out to cross the border but were met with fierce headwinds once crossing the Argentinian portion. It was 15 km to the Chilean border crossing and that took us 3 hours due to extremely high winds and the lack of paved roads. We made it eventually, were able to take our food as well. We decided to wait it out there to see if the winds would die down. They did and we rolled out just before nightfall. That was such an amazing night. The sunset and golden hues cast upon the plains was breathtaking. Really excited we rolled about 20 more km that night then camped out and ate delicious grilled sausage and cheese sandwiches on Arab bread. The next few days would be a test. We awoke the next day to high winds. Our barometer told us we had gusts up to 70 km and probably much higher than that. We sat it out that day and decided to try for it at night again. We waited until just before nightfall and then rolled out and were making good time as the winds were lessened. It was good until we realized that the slight breeze had turned into a strong headwind and we made only 25 km that night before calling it a night and we put down camp just after 130 am. We awoke the next morning to strong winds and a view of the ocean. It was amazing yet disappointing at the same time. The winds were strong and due to our close proximity to the ocean knew that we would be dealing with them no matter what time of day it was. It was just 100 km to Porvenir. We decided to head out a little after midday and we began rolling. We soon realized that we would have to ride 33 km a day in order to reach Porvenir without running out of food, which is not much at all but when you´ve got 50 mph winds in your face, you exert a lot of effort only to ride a short distance. Sometimes it was like getting punched in the chest while riding. It would stop you dead in your tracks and progress was incredibly slow. We finally said to heck with it and decided to opt out for a ride into Porvenir. We lucked out and hitched a ride with a fisherman named Omar who had lived in Porvenir his entire life. We were in Porvenir in a little over an hour. I was ecstatic to be in Porvenir and out of the harsh winds. We stayed at a lovely hostel and slept in beds. Porvenir was pretty bland. Not much to see. A true fishing village. We stayed one night. Our situation was complicated by a lack of banks in Porvenir. The only bank in town accepted only mastercard. We both have visa so it was impossible to take money out. We had some issues buying tickets for the ferry ride but it worked out ok. And that takes us up until today. We arrived here in Punta Arenas last night, paid for a cheap but decent hostel, took showers, and ate at a fine dining restaurant last night named La Marmita. Today we´re working on doing some laundry, posting photos, new blogs, and emailing people. Tomorrow we´re gonna see about taking some photos around Punta Arenas, buying groceries, and visiting a brewery here! The next day we leave for Puerto Natales and we´re hoping for less wind? It is probably just wishful thinking. Anyways we´re both happy that SPOT has come through for us finally. Hopefully it will be working regularly now! So thats that for now. I´ll try posting a video and some photos up on here in just a bit so check back for that and if they don´t show up then hang tight and maybe within the next week I can get it working. Chao for now. Byebye...
Zach
Zach
Friday, February 6, 2009
rio grande
so this past monday we left on our bikes from ushuaia at 10 am. our first challenge would be crossing the Darwin Mountains. it was both beautiful and arduous but somehow we managed to get over them. it was a great moment when we reached the top and were able to cruise down the other side. we were on our bikes 6.5 hours that day and met another cyclist from san francisco. the second day we would be attempting to get to tolhuin which was about 35 km from where we were camping. due to rain and cold weather our day was cut short but made better by clear weather and a stop at a famous organic bakery in tolhuin named la union panaderia. we left the city and camped approx 8 km outside of it. 3rd day we rode about 49 km and encountered another cyclist, this time from holland. our time on our bikes was made more difficult by the presence of a head wind and it really slowed us down. we managed to make it to the ocean and we camped in view of the atlantic ocean. yesterday we had to make it 50 km to rio grande. we decided we would do it no matter how long it took. it was my best day by far. a little warmer but more enjoyable. we made it in 3 hours. our best time yet. we encountered two cyclists. one from venice, italy named fabio, and another from germany. now we´re here in rio grande. we spent last night and tonight will be our last. tomorrow we´ll try and make it as far north as we can andj hopefully arrive in san sebastian (the chilean border crossing) in two days. after that we´ll head west and attempt to make it to porvenir in 3 days, hop on the ferry and spend a day in punta arenas. we´ll see how this next leg goes. it´ll probably be close to a week before i can post again. hopefully this was informative.
a heads up on why people arent receiving spot messages: apparently the service is highly unreliable the further south we travel so hopefully as we move more north the spot messages we´re sending every night will finally be received. until next time. chao.
zach
a heads up on why people arent receiving spot messages: apparently the service is highly unreliable the further south we travel so hopefully as we move more north the spot messages we´re sending every night will finally be received. until next time. chao.
zach
Sunday, February 1, 2009
ushuaia
so we´re finally down here in ushuaia! couldnt believe it when we rolled into the town on the bus. took us 9 days to do it but we finally did it. the mountains and views from some parts of the town are absolutely breathtaking. they have 3 ski areas here and i was surprised to see that several of the mountain peaks surrounding the city had a light dusting of snow from last night, it is summer here after all. yesterday we opened our bike boxes. to be honest i was scared because we´ve carried them so far, on the plane from seattle to miami to bogota to santiago. on buses and taxis and in our arms through the streets, but everything turned out ok and we were both riding our bikes around town by the late evening. the town is a true alpine town. very reminscent of photos i´ve seen of swiss mountain villages. the architecture appears to be very similiar as well. the hostel we´re staying at is very rustic and homey. i like it. the argentinian exchange rate is not very good and most of the touristy towns tend to be much more expensive. but today we bought groceries and food enough for 4 days of riding without access to a town or restaurant. we´ll be bugging out of ushuaia tomorrow morning and heading over our first mountain pass right off the bat. i wonder how tomorrow will go since we havent been practicing and ive never been good at climbing hills on my bike. im excited to get out on the road. hanging out, waiting i think has been tougher. i wonder how it will be riding for 5 hours everyday. what will i think about? where will my mind be? will i be able to take time to look at everything around me? i guess we´ll have to wait and see. seems like we´ve been here longer than 11 days but thats it. its the first day of february so thats means we´ve got about 3.5 months to get to machu picchu. it will be exciting. we´re at the end of the world. unsure of when i´ll be able to post again. its about 240 km to rio grande from here and thats what we´re pushing for in about 4 days. hope everyone is doing well on the home front. guess i´ll talk later. take care.
zach
zach
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