• Andean Geotrail Blog (In English)
  
• Fat Cyclist
  
• Our Long Haul Honeymoon
  
• The Andean Geotrail
  
• The Andean Geotrail Blog (In French)
  
• Up In Alaska
  
• Walking the Andes (In French)
  
• Ze Movers (In French)
  

Daniel's Student Journal

By Daniel Lins - 2009-02-01

Here’s an example of an article I wrote for our Reach the World update. You’ll see shorter sentences and easier words…

www.reachtheworld.org

_____

Well, Chris just left for Buenos Aires. That is the capital city in Argentina, and is almost as big as New York City! The problem is that it is 40 hours away, by bus. He is going there to get an "Emergency Passport" at the United States Embassy.

Here’s Why:

Mike, Chris, Dan, and I arrived in El Calafate, Chile together. It was great to spend a few days together as a group again, after being separated for a few days.

El Calafate is very similar to the last city we were in, Puerto Natales. It has only one purpose – to serve the tourists who come to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. There are many hostels, handicraft shops, and even a casino in town.

We had an option of riding a bus, our bicycles, or renting a car to go the glacier. We realized that it would be cheapest to rent the car for the four of us, than it would be to pay for food for the 3 days of cycling to see it.

As we were packing up the rental car, we realized that Chris’s passport and bank card were missing. The might be stolen or simply lost. This put an immediate stop to our plants until we could take care of this emergency. If someone stole his identity, they might be able to take all of our money, and that would put a fast stop to the trip.

This was our first real "challenge" to overcome on the trip. Luckily, we were prepared to deal with it. We had photocopies of all the documents we needed, and all the proper phone numbers we needed to call if this situation happened. We had a quick meeting to decide what to do next, then we sprang into action. Each man had a different job to do. When a person has a job to do, they don’t have as much time to worry.

Dan rode to our latest campsite to search again if it had been lost. Chris filed a police report and called the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, to let them know his passport was missing. Mike researched our options for how Chris could obtain a new passport, and I worked on canceling the bank card so no thieves could use it.

Once we had completed our tasks, we could relax for a while. So we drove out to the glacier Perito Moreno. It was a lot of fun! We met another biker from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and became good friends very quickly. He asked us many questions about uyou students in the United States, because he is a teacher, too. We invited Andres to our campsite, where we shared dinner and stories from the road. Maybe when we reach Brazil, we will see Andres again!

The next day, we said good bye to Andres and went of to sell a tent. We have realized that our tents are too heavy. They are very durable, and are perfect for people who try to climb Mt. Everest. But on the bikes, we need much lighter tents. By carrying too much weight, the bikes can break easily. Do you remember when my wheel broke? If I can get rid of some of my books, and get a lighter tent, maybe my wheel will not break in the future.

Chris and I spent all day trying to find a place to sell the tent for a good price, and to find a way to buy new tents which would suit our needs better. We knew that Mike and Dan like to sleep in tents, while Chris and I often sleep under the stars. It was difficult to find a solution that we could all agree on, and that we could afford. We finally found a shop owner who traded us two small tents for our one large tent.

He was happy to receive our very high quality tent, and we were happy to not be carrying so much weight around. I gave my books to some friends we met in town, and sent my camera and some other gear home in the mail.

The next day, Chris had to leave for Buenos Aires. We were sad to see him go. Especially because we know he does not enjoy cities. He would much rather be in the countryside with us. Mike, Dan, and I are going to ride our bikes to the town of El Chalten, which is very close to another mountain peak similar to the Torres del Paine. We hope that Chris will meet us there by Bus in a few days.

PS – we didn’t actually sell our bikes… just the tent. And we didn’t actually buy a car… we just rented it.