AT HOME IN BUENOS AIRES

After more than a week in the city, Buenos Aires is starting to feel like home to Leana and me. But let me start at the beginning. Arriving in town after dark the previous night. we were keen to get out in the morning and experience this vibrant place. Buenos Aires is a huge city with a population of over 13 million, and the high density built-up area extends way beyond the microcentro (city centre). We walked down busy malls like Avenida Florida with craft markets and living statues, and marveled at the attractive colonial buildings in the historic city centre around Plaza De Mayo, also the famous theatre and Govt buildings. We dashed across the Av 9 De Julio (possibly the widest boulevard in the world, with its famous central obelisco), and stared at the "Pink Palace" where Evita had enchanted the crowds from the balcony (we subsequently visited her grave in the Ricoleta cemetery where people still leave flowers). In the afternoon we sat down at a pavement cafe, and that's where disaster struck - before we could place our order, Leana's bag disappeared from under the table between her feet (glasses, camera, cash, and bank cards: All gone!). So now, while we wait for the bank to send a new card, we're almost becoming citizens of Buenos Aires. (Fortunately Leana could transfer some money to my "poor" account to keep us alive in the mean time - and my sister also helped out). As I've mentioned however, one could be stuck in worse places than this. Besides all the history, there is a new "skyscraper" section towards the riverfront called Puerto Madera. We also visited the colourful La Boca district (and the Boca Juniors football stadium) where we met some famous people and entertained the crowd by dancing the tango. Besides getting around on the convenient subway system, we also took the regular suburban train out to Tigre on the Parana river delta at the outskirts of the city (and had a picnic on the riverbank). From here we're planning to take the ferry across the Rio De La Plata to Uruguay - but we're still waiting for Leana's new bank card to be delivered (and she's ordered new glasses from an optician around the corner). This whole episode is costing a lot of money - not only the hotel and replacement costs, the brazen thief actually managed to use her credit card a number of times. At least the place is colourful and interesting, with cheap Ugi's pizzas on the corner, and the ever present Parilla's (steak houses). I can also understand why people here need Siesta - they seem to stay up just about the whole night!

PEDALING THE PAMPAS

The plains of central Argentina are generally referred to as the "Pampas", named after the plumed pampa grass (this grass is also infamous all around the world for swallowing golf balls). From Mendoza at the foot of the Andes Leana and I had to cross the Pampas in order to reach Buenos Aires on the East coast of Argentina. Around Mendoza there were still wine estates for a while, but from there on the roadside scenery was mostly cattle ranches and huge maize and soya plantations. Soon after leaving Mendoza the road deteriorated to a narrow strip without shoulder, which could not accommodate two trucks and a bicycle side-by-side. Unfortunately for us the road was rather busy with trucks all the way, which meant that we often had to fly off into the roadside grass - only returning to the black-top once the danger had passed. The rear-view mirror I'd fitted to my bike in Chile turned out to be a necessity, and Leana also invested in this "life-saver" along the way. However, for me there were other problems - certain ageing parts on my bike decided to retire from duty during our crossing of the Pampas. Within 3 days both my rear hub and the front hub caved in - luckily there were OK bike shops in nearby towns where I could buy the necessary spares, but it meant staying in a room for the following day so I could replace the hub. Regarding the road conditions, San Luis province was the exception, with a dual highway and a hard shoulder on one side (sometimes we cycled with the traffic, and sometimes against it). In that province they even had street lights all the way along the road, the paint colour of the poles changing after every 2-dozen or so (in one instance there was still some red paint left over, so they painted a tree). In Pategonian Argentina and in Chile the wind had been predominantly from the West, so we were hoping for that pattern to continue and blow us all the way to Buenos Aires. No such luck! The prevailing breeze was either from the SE or the NE, and most afternoons it was straight into us from the East. No complaints, as there were practically no hills and the Argentinians along the way are very pleasant people. Besides their friendliness there are a number of things which are remarkable about these people, i.e. they ritually suck on a herbal tea called "mate", they sleep for most of the afternoon (siesta - mostly at home where they have special darkening blinds on the windows, but also in parks, etc., see last pic.), and they love to eat barbequed beef (asado). Along the way we camped in public parks, on the porch of a vacant house, in picnic areas, and mostly at petrol stations (which, incidently have barbeque areas - and showers). One Sunday afternoon we pulled into a picnic area along a small river where half the population was grilling meat over fires - and before we could even pitch our tents various parties had arrived with plates of meat for us (and they all wanted their photo's taken with us). Even the vegetarian Leana consumed some meat ("so as not to offend the people, she said"). One non-Argentinian we met was fellow cyclist Nobu from Japan, who camped with us at a petrol station - heading in the opposite direction. We followed the National Ruta 7 almost all the way, but we diverted to Ruta 8 in order to visit the historical town of San Antonio (where Leana and her sisters had been on an Argentine holiday more than 7 years ago). From there we made the dash for the big city, and after a while the narrow road suddenly turned into a highway (we noticed some signs prohibiting cyclists, but they let us pass at the tollgate and we took our chances). So, in the late afternoon of Tuesday the 15th we sped into Buenos Aires on a 12-lane expressway, boosted by a rare tail-wind like two meteorites in our bright Aussie "safety shirts". Remarkably we made it quite a way into this large city before the highway patrol caught up with us, and loaded us into their van (oh yes, football is a major religion in Argentina, and while we were being removed from the highway our driver exhibited a tattoo on his chest - the emblem of his favourite football team). We were released into the regular rush-hour traffic, where we battled the thousands of busses and taxis for another 10 k's until after dark, when we found a nice hotel in the city centre (thanks to Leana). (Please see following report regarding our stay in Buenos Aires). Daily distances cycled since Mendoza have been:- Las Katitas 106 km; Alto Pencosa 99 km; San Luis 20 km (+30 km lift due to broken bike); Villa Mercedes 85 km; Washington 96 km; Laboulaye 128 km; Rufino 71 km; Vedia 119 km; Junin 58 km; Carmen De Areco 126 km; San Antonio DA 66 km; and Buenos Aires 118 km. Total distance cycled in South America since November last year is 5 575 km. Total distance cycled on this trip since leaving Cape Town on 27 March 2007 is 72 062 km.

CROSSING THE ANDES

In order to get from Satiago De Chile to Argentina Leana and I had to cycle across the imposing Andes mountains (also referred to as the Cordillera). Crossing the Andes required some hard pedalling up from Chile - the gradual uphill started soon after we left Santiago, with some big hills closer to the border (one sequence of switchbacks had about 30 bends - each one numbered, but the numbers were increasing as we climbed so we had no idea where it would end!). From Santiago we took the direct highway to the town of Los Andes, and were driven through a 3km long tunnel by the highway authorities. At the top of the mountains there is another tunnel at an altitude of 3 185 m, where we were also taken through by van from the Chilean side (the border is in the middle of the tunnel). In the following 2 days we cycled through a number of shorter but narrow tunnels - the Argentinians obviously aren't as concerned about our safety as they were in Chile. We also passed a number of ski-resorts on our way up and down on both sides (strange to see the deserted hotels, unused ski-lifts, and exposed stony slopes where there is a thick bed of snow in winter). The descent on the Argentinian side of the "Cordillera" is spectacular desert-like scenery, and we also had a good view of Aconcagua (the highest peak in the America´s). The road on the Argentine side was mostly downhill almost all the way to the city of Mendoza where we are now. Mendoza is a pleasant city with wide leafy streets and attractive plaza's, and is also the centre of the Argentine wine region - which reminds me of an over-sized Stellenbosch in SA. We'll rest here for a day or two before heading East across the Pampas in the direction of Buenos Aires. Distances cycled since my previous report from Santiago were:- Los Andes 81 km; Portillo 51 km; Puente Del Inca 40 km; Uspallata 71 km; Potrerellos 58 km; and Mendoza 72 km. Total distance cycled on this journey is 70 970 km. Total in South America so far is 4 483 km.

EXTRA CHILE

When I cycled South from Santiago 2 months ago, the last thing I expected was to be cycling the 1000 odd k´s North again on the Pan Americana, back to Santiago. However, the trip was quite pleasant as it was a nice change to have Leana cycling with me again, and we took it much easier (Leana was worried about her foot injuries, which fortunately didn´t give any trouble on the bike). On the way South I´d put in some long days, mostly camping along the road. Now we moved North along the same road, turning off to towns along the way in the afternoon where we usually booked into the local accommodation. This provided a better insight into how the people live, and most of these towns are quite pretty - usually designed around a picturesque central plaza with trees, band stands, and statues of Heroes. Speaking of heroes, every town in Chile has a street named after Bernardo O´Higgins (the Liberator), Pedro Montt, Manuel Bulnes, and Arturo Pratt (amongst others). In the South there is a lot of German influence, and many of the buildings tend to be constructed from timber with shingles on roofs and external walls. In Puerto Montt we stayed in such a 3-storey leaning timber hostal, and the day before we left we were shaken by an earthquake (fortunately there was no damage, as the wooden buildings are supposed to be fairly earthquake resistant). However, further North in Middle Chile, it was sad to see the extent of the damage caused by the huge earthquake in Feb 2010. In towns such as Chillan, Linares, and Talca we had a hard time finding cheap accommodation as those places tend to be older buldings which were destroyed (reminiscent of Padang in Sumatra where we were about a year ago). However, those earthquake-stricken places are in the famed Chilean winelands, and it is quite a scenic area to cycle through. I´ve taken a liking to the cheese in Chile, and in certain places such as Loncoche and around Temuco we got stuck into some tasty cheese bought at the stalls along the road and in the local markets. Now I´m back in Santiago for the second time in about 2 months (and more than 4000 km later). Leana hasn´t been here before, so on the first day here we wandered around the city taking in the sights. Unfortunately the air is much more hazy now than it was 2 months ago, and one cannot really see the towering mountain (the snow has melted now, anyway). I also got some necessary bike spares and I spent yesterday servicing Old Saartjie. Our intention was to get back on the road tomorrow, but Leana´s computer is buggered and she handed it in for repairs, only to be collected on Monday pm! So, now we´ll hopefully leave here on Tuesday (25th), and head North-East towards the Andes and Argentina. In the mean time we´ll probably still be cruising around the city on the cheap and efficient underground metro rail. Daily distances cycled since my last report were:- Puerto Varas 20 km; Frutillar 44 km; Osorno 69 km; Los Lagos 94 km; Loncoche 86 km; Temuco 88 km; Collipulli 102 km; Los Angeles 77 km; Chillan 113 km; Linares 109 km; Talca 56 km; Curico 73 km; Rancagua 112 km; and Santiago 92 km. Total distance cycled in South America is 4 110 km. Total distance cycled on this trip since leaving Cape Town on 27 March 2007 is 70 597 km.

WINDS OF WRATH ON ROAD TO HELL

When I read this title I wonder if perhaps I’m not exaggerating the experience – but that just shows you how easily one forgets! Previously, cycling South along the Carretera Austral in Chilean Patagonia, I’d had some troubles – mostly relating to rain and cold conditions. Since my last report from Coyhaique however, I’d started to experience some unnervingly strong winds even before crossing the border into Argentina. Fortunately those winds were mostly in my favour as I was moving in an Easterly direction by that time (the wind in Patagonia is mostly from the West, but don’t rely on that as it can change in a minute!). I’d taken the ferry across the wind-whipped Lagos General Carrera to the town of Chile Chico, from where I crossed into Argentina and was blown through the semi-desert scrub Eastwards along the shores of the same lake (now called Lagos Beunos Aires) to the farming town of Perito Moreno. This was the point from where I was to tackle the INFAMOUS ROUTE 40 South. Not unexpectedly my good fortune soon ended, the paved road didn’t last long, and I was now moving Southwards with the wind almost directly side-on. Just keeping the bike on the loose stony surface became an exhausting task, and any form of shelter for setting up camp at night was rather scarce (I camped in ditches along the road, in the storage shed of a government road camp, and behind a rather inadequate thorn bush – providing me with a puncture for my troubles). I also had to carry plenty of water, as most of the rivers indicated on the map were either dry, or far and inaccessible from the road. The loose road surface meant that I had no base from which to resist the wind, and on one particularly exposed stretch I was not only being blown off the road while cycling or pushing the bike, I was also being blown over just standing and trying to hold the bike upright (in my ignorance I used to think that such powerful gusting winds should have a name and be mentioned on TV News – which usually includes a damage report!). After a number of spectacular crashes I was sitting in the dust next to my bike wondering what to do next, when a pickup truck appeared from beyond the horizon and thankfully gave me a lift to where they turned off – after that some hills provided a little protection and I could struggle onwards to the tiny village of Tres Lagos (luckily there was a protected camp site, as well as a shop – I was running out of food due to the lack of “pit-stops” along that isolated route). Enough of the woeful stories, because further South there were more paved roads and I managed to grind my way through Argentinian Patagonia back into the Southern part of Chile. (I stayed over a day in the touristy El Calafate, and on Xmas eve I was camping in the shelter of the petrol station at a hamlet called La Esperanza – and the locals kindly invited me to their Xmas party where I was stuffed full of meat and beer). Back in Chile at the hostel campsite in the town of Puerto Natales, the day after Xmas, I met up with Leana again. She had been stuck there for a couple of weeks and she could still barely walk from the ankle injuries she sustained while on a trek in the nearby Torres Del Paine Nat Park. Although my rough plan was to carry on South to Ushuaia, we went to enquire about the ship back North to Puerto Montt. The Navimag ship “Evangelistas” was leaving on the night of the 27th- I was also looking forward to getting back out of the miserable weather – and when Leana offered to pay for my passage I wasn’t going to refuse! It turned out to be a wonderful 3-day voyage through the maze of fjords and channels, with close views of glaciers and snowy mountain islands (not to mention the good food and rest I got on the ship!). So, more than 4 weeks and 2000 km after heading South into Patagonia, I’m happy to be back in Puerto Montt. Since we´ve arrived this morning it feels incredibly hot and humid – probably in relation to the cold which I´d become accustomed to in Patagonia (I´m looking forward to cycling in shorts/t-shirt/sandals). From here we’ll probably take a more leisurely and slightly different route North than what I did on my way South (hopefully Leana´s feet can hold up to the cycling). Daily distances cycled since my last report from Coyhaique have been:- Cerra Castillo 90 km; Chile Chico 36 km (+ ferry); Perito Moreno (Argentina) 79 km; Unnamed Camp 103 km; Bajo Caracoles 35 km; Las Horquetas 95 km; Lagos Cardiel 96 km; Tres Lagos 68 km (+ lift); Lagos Viedma 56 km; El Calafate 117 km; La Esperanza 167 km; Tami Aike 81 km; and Puerto Natales (Chile) 114 km. Total distance cycled so far in South America is 2 985 km, and total for the trip is 69 454 km.

WELCOME TO PATAGONIA

The city of Puerto Montt is regarded as the gateway to Patagonia (on the Western Chilean side of the South American continent). The Carretera Austral (Route 7) runs South from there for more than a thousand k´s, mostly a gravel road which is linked in places by necessary ferry crossings. Most of the ferries only operate in the short summer season, and as the ferries on the Northern section of Route 7 were not yet running I carried on South to Chiloe Island via an extention of the Pan Americana (Route 5) on which I had been cycling since Santiago. From Quellon in the South of the island I was then able to take a ferry back to the mainland at Chaiten, from where I could cycle South on Route 7. Earlier I´d been informed that there was a daily ferry, but upon arrival in Quellon I discovered that the ferry made the crossing once a week, so I had 2 days to kill (luckily I could stay with local people Mauricio and Sylvia - see previous post). In the early morning the ferry docked at what´s left of Chaiten town in atroceous weather, and I wasn´t at all impressed by this "cold" welcome to mainland Pategonia. A couple of years ago Chaiten Volcano erupted, just about burying the whole town under ash - also making it difficult for the ferry to dock as the new "beach" is closely adjacent to the docking area. Fortunately all residents were evacuated in time, and people seem to be returning to dig their houses out of the ash. Before long I was on a gravel road, sometimes quite good surface but sometimes not so good. As I had expected there is not much flat land around here, so it´s up and down all the time with the occasional bigger mountain pass. After meeting only 1 other cyclist in Chile so far (Jean-Marc from France), I met 4 cyclists moving North on the day of the ferry crossing (Joachim and Sabine from Germany, and Jeff & Rosemary from Australia). The weather hasn´t been wonderful, and I´ve only cycled on one rainless day in the past 2 weeks. On that day I met Marc from Switzerland cycling in the same direction as me, and we camped together for 2 nights (on the 3rd morning he left before me, and has been missing ever since). After suffering the cold on a number of occasions I am now convinced that I´m not properly prepared for the weather, and today I bought a pair of leather boots, as well as waterproofing spray for the boots, my gloves, and rain gear (which have been rather ineffective in the constant freezing rain - and the snow which I´ve run into twice on high ground). Please don´t misunderstand me, I´m not complaining - due to the weather and the topography, this area is absolutely spectacular (I´ve nearly crashed a few times just staring in awe at the magnificent scenery). Now I´ve rested in Coyhaique for 2 days, a fairly big town and capital of this region. Perhaps I´ll stay another day, as every now and then I still suffer the after-effects of the illness I had in Borneo 6 months ago (I´m still losing hair, but a more awkward problem is the joint pains which recur every now and then). Besides that, there´s a New York cyclist staying in the same hospedaje as me - I don´t even know his name yet, so we still need some time to swap war stories. Daily distances cycled since my last report from Temuco have been:- Mafil 136 km; Osorno 126 km; Puerto Varas 94 km; Puerto Montt 26 km; Ancud 98 km; Chonchi 110 km; Quellon 75 km; To Ferry 6 km (plus 4 hr ferry to Chaiten); Villa Santa Lucia 88 km; La Junta 68 km; Puerto Puyuguapi 46 km; Villa Amengual 92 km; El Balseo 106 km; and Coyhaique 49 km. Distance cycled in South America since leaving Santiago is 1 848 km. Total distance cycled since leaving Cape Town at the start of this journey is 68 317 km.

THE LAND OF THE DOG

In Chile, a dog´s life is not necessarily a bad life - there are hordes of dogs around, many of them seem to be packs of strays. Dogs apparently hold a special place in local society, and anybody who harms a dog could find himself in big trouble. I´ve learned to look around a bit, scanning the area for dogs before I set up camp, but before long they usually sniff me out. Initially there´s a bit of barking involved, but as soon as they realise that I´m about to prepare dinner the dogs pretend to be a lot more friendly. After my last report from Temuco I continued on my way South, and when I enquired around at the small town of Mafill regarding a camp site a local man (Juan Ernesto) invited me to camp at his humble home. Of course Juan Ernesto had a dog which he tied up on one side of the yard, leaving me hardly enough space to pitch my tent (and the dog disturbed the whole neighbourhood for most of the night, barking at my tent). I also had dinner with the family that evening, and my attempts to communicate with the help of a dictionary were rather futile as Juan Ernesto turned out to be illiterate. In Chile I also introduce myself as "Ernesto", otherwise the people don´t quite catch my name (as in Mocambique, where I had a sign on my bike advertising this blog - leading some of the Portuguese speaking locals to think that my name was Ernesto Nbike). Further South on Chiloe Island I had to wait for the ferry from Quellon back across to the mainland, and I stayed at the home of the welcoming Sylvia and Mauricio (unfortunately their dog didn´t share that attitude, and had to be tied up before I could leave the house). Sylvia has done cycle touring in the past, so they are keen to accommodate cyclists who have to spend some time in their town, Quellon (contact Mauricio on e-mail morrispet2108@hotmail.com if you don´t mind camping out on the lounge floor). The other night, after a long cold and wet day on the bike, I found refuge in an auto scrap yard, where I shared a breezy shed with the two resident "Junk Yard Dogs". They weren´t at all mean towards me, and probably considered adopting me as one of their own when I let them eat my leftover dinner from the pot. The following morning I awoke to a freezing wet day, with fresh snow low on the surrounding hills. After a few k´s on the road I stopped to eat some peanuts which I had with me, but before I could even help myself to a second handful of peanuts there were 6 dogs in close attention (where did they come from!?). I carried on cycling - dogs in tow - and after about 10 km most of the hounds had called it a day. However, 2 of the dogs managed to stay with me (lagging behind as I sped down the hills, but they obviously knew the road because they kept on going and caught me on the inevitable uphills). Later I sheltered from the rain in a tunnel and decided to reward the dogs by giving them some of the peanuts, but they didn´t want any! (they just wanted to run along with me, it seems). When I was crawling up the subsequent mountain pass I coudn´t feel my hands and feet anymore, and then it started to snow. Those 2 dogs trotted ahead of me through the drifting snow, looking around every now and then to make sure that I was still following. I got the feeling that they may have been angels guiding me through trouble, but then it struck me that they were both pitch black dogs (probably what I deserve, anyway!). Once over the top of the pass the sky cleared for a moment and I could see the town of Coyhaique about 10 k´s away at the foot of a large mountain. I felt rather awkward leaving those 2 dogs like that on the big downhill after they´d run with me for 27 km - but all I could think of was a nice warm room in one of the hospedaje´s in town (and the inevitable wood-burning stove which these places have for heating). Later, in my warm room, I was sitting in bed watching cable TV (just to hear a bit of English for a change). I glanced out of the window and was overcome by a strange feeling when I saw the 2 black dogs sniffing around the supermarket entrance across the road where I´d done my shopping about an hour earlier.