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Saying Goodbye

By Mike Beris - 2009-01-27

We’re falling into a routine of riding hard for five days or so, spending a few days (or more) in a town, resting, then getting back on the road. This past week was one of the "back on the road" weeks. It is difficult to describe the range of emotions I feel as we prepare to get back on the bikes. Samuel and Latitia showed us such love for the week and a half we spent with them in Puerto Natales, Chile, so it was easy to get a little choked up trying to find the words (trying in Spanish, and therefore, in vain) to express how much their kindness meant to me. Despite this, my eagerness to cover some miles was growing. Looking at the big map of South America is kind of depressing, considering the measly amount of kilometers we’ve covered in almost two months. Still, we know we’re doing it the right way: putting the experience and the people above the odometer.

A few highlights from this week:

-We continue to ride in the pampas, a desert-like, windbeaten wasteland where few things can grow except sheep on huge ranches. The lack of color is kind of startling. We had one day of no wind. The rest of the days rivaled our windiest.

-We split our group up for a few days. Daniel rode on his own and Chris, Dan, and I stayed together. Don’t worry, we’re still a team and still friends. It was kind of a preemptive break to allow a little bit of alone time to think and read without us around. We will probably all do this kind of thing for our mental health.

-We met several other bicycle tourists coming from the North. Most of them had stories to tell of the Carraterra Austral, a 1200 kilometer "road" that we’ll get on in about five days and which will take us almost halfway up Chile. It is unpaved, has loose gravel, horrible washboard ripples, and is consistently described as one of the best parts of the continent because of its views. So we’re trying to decrease the weight on our bikes and prepare our cameras for some stunning sights.

-After six days of riding, we pulled into El Calafate, Argentina yesterday. The town only exists for tourists, and so it kind of feels like Disneyland. It’s not a bad thing: I’ll take clean and friendly for a day or two, even if its an artificial clean and friendly. Tomorrow, we may rent a car to see some glaciers. Is that cheating? Heck no! We’ll probably end up pushing it half the way there.

Oh, the other night, we stayed at my Estancia: