On my way towards Chos Malal, I once camped in a dried out riverbed and it turned out that I literally was going to sleep on a field of fossils! The fact that one of my biggest hobbies as a kid was to collect minerals and fossils made me very excited about this discovery! The following morning, I walked upstreams and found plenty of fossils of ammonites (same class as today’s octopus/squid) and shells. Argentina, and in particular Patagonia, is very famous for fossils. I’ve seen many spots on the map denoting petrified forests, and this is also an area where many dinosaur fossils have been found. An owner of one of the estancias I stayed at showed me a petrified crocodile that he had found on his property, along with some stones that could be dinosaur eggs.

That same morning, a couple from Holland who were travelling in a 4WD Toyota Land Cruiser (70 Series) stopped next to the road. They were old bikers, and very kind, so they refilled my water supplies and gave me bread, yoghurt, cheese and even a cold beer when I finally arrived at the camping in Chos Malal later the same day. Their car was impressive and equipped with many smart solutions due to several Sahara expeditions made by the former owner. It had an integrated tent with beds on the roof, solar panels, compressor, custom designed bumper that also worked as an extra 110 liter water tank etc.

I got invited to a goat dinner by some locals that I met on the street in Chos Malal. Goat is a local speciality in this area, but I was not a big fan of it, especially not the pungent testicles that they insisted me to try :-) I met another cyclist at the camping (Lorenzo from Basque Country). He had been on the road for 13 years with only two 6 month breaks!

At a hostel in a small town called Buta Ranquil the owner told me that there was no problem if I wanted to use the kitchen. I preferred not to, and here you can se why – haha!

The landscape has been very barren and arid with mountains and extinct volcanoes shaped by weather and wind, and there has not been many animals to see but surprisingly many roadkills: snakes, birds, tarantulas, amardillos, foxes and dogs. Even though the scenery could be described as rather monotonous, it still has many parts that are beautiful.

By the end of the calm week I got taken by surprise when the road turned into a valley and one hour later I was in the middle of a sandstorm. One gust was so bad that it felt like someone threw a bucket of sand right in my face! I didn’t take any photos from this for obvious reasons. The next day was completely calm and again this continued for one week.

When I got to Malargüe I made some cultural sightseeing like visiting its famous planetarium, going to the museum and on top of that cinema. From here, I had 400 km left to Mendoza. I went via San Rafael, because the gravel road (Ruta 40) had washboard all over the place so I decided that it would not be worth it just to have 50 km less or so. When I entered San Rafael, I got a flat on both my tires at the same time, caused by a plant which releases several pieces with thorns. These pieces have the same construction as caltrops, these things that are used to cause flats on vehicles because they always have one nail pointing upward no matter how you place them. Irritating but a bit ironic, I got the same kind of double flat when I left San Rafael! If I just rolled my wheel 1 m next to the road, I would have 10 of these sitting in the tire – horrible…

I entered Mendoza on a road parallel to the highway referred to as “camino del vino”. Along this tree lined avenue, several bodegas (wineries) were located. I stopped at one of them, Cabrini, and they had free wine tasting! This bodega was started by Italian immigrants, now run by the 4th generation. The first generation included a priest who was a friend of the Vatican, and since then Cabrini produces the church wine here in Argentina. Moreover, the pope decided to celebrate the millennium with their wine.

Mendoza is a big city and my intention was to take some days off the bike here. But, I happened to have a friend who recently moved to Pichilemu in Chile, 3 hours south of the capital Santiago, so I decided to go visit her instead. I took a bus that got me close to the border and left the bike at a hostel. Then I hitchhiked with some road workers to the other side of a tunnel, and from there I hitchhiked with an Argentinian couple to the border. They were going to Santiago, but unfortunately the guy had brought the wrong passport with him so they had to turn back and me enter by foot, which required some extra papers to be filled in. At the other side, I tried hitchhiking with truck drivers but they weren’t keen on picking me up at all. Instead a big van stopped, and offered me to put up a foldable sun chair in the open space in the back. I gladly accepted the offer, and later managed to sleep (!) through the steep switchbacks leading down to the valley while somehow successfully keeping the balance.

Pichilemu is famous for its surfing, which is actully considered to be one of the world’s best, and many professional big-wave competitions are held here during the winter when the waves can reach 15 m. I rented equipment two days at the central beach, but after the tsunami, the seabed is completely messed up so the waves were not so good. The water was cold as well so I needed both wetsuit, boots and a hood. I’ve felt a couple of minor aftershocks from the earthquake but the people here seem to be very accustomed!

Tomorrow morning it’s time to go back to Argentina. South Americas highest mountain, Aconcagua (6962 m), is located very near the border and where I have the bike. The season is over, but I still think you’re allowed to do some short treks just to get a glimpse of this tall beast!

I’ve been staying at a lovely hostel called La Bolsa. This place has small attics where they let friends and long-term guests stay, so I got my own little room and the fact that I was not able to stand upright didn’t matter. The owner’s husband is also a cyclist so I got a very good price in the end! There is even a sweet dog called Morocha here and we sometimes go for a stroll around the city which she appreciates a lot! I’ve met tons of nice people and seen many coming and going and even coming back. At the end of each week we’ve been making Argentinian asado (meat on the grill). I’ve been eating and drinking a lot of good food and wine and gained some extra kilos, but they will probably soon disappear when I start biking!

Lars (the Swedish cyclist) was here in Bariloche when I got here and stayed for 3 weeks but has now returned to Sweden. The German couple Anna & Peter stayed at the hostel as well and it was great fun to have a reunion all four of us! The English guys Jenny & Jason who I started on the Carretera Austral with arrived a few days ago as well!

I guess many of you have heard about the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile just north of Concepción in the end of February. I didn’t wake up but some other guys at the hostel did, and it was apparently shaking! Juan, the Spanish guy that I travelled with earlier, was at that moment in Pelluhue and managed to escape to a nearby mountain. Shortly after that, the tsunami hit the village and his bike and all the equipment disappeared. I really hope he will solve it somehow and eventually reach Alaska!

As I mentioned in the last post I was waiting for a visit from home. My dad and his wife Kickan arrived 2 weeks ago and it was so fun to see them! We rented a car and travelled around Bariloche, and we also went to Puerto Varas, Puerto Montt and Chiloé in Chile. We were only in the south so we didn’t see any of the consequences from the earthquake though.

I was also lucky to see the world’s smallest deer in Chiloé – a Pudú!

I’m leaving Bariloche today and will continue cycling north through the Seven Lakes District. The plan is then to follow Ruta 40 towards Mendoza. I’m very eager to get up on the bike again so I better start packing my stuff and not end up like this Chilean road worker :-)

Hasta luego amigos!

The rain was pouring down the second day and I got completely wet. Luckily, I met a friendly immigration police at the border and we drank some mate while my clothes were drying in front of the fire. I crossed Lago del Desierto by boat in the afternoon and camped at the other side of the lake to wait for Jenny & Jason, who decided to do one day of trekking before leaving.

From Lago del Desierto, there is a path/road through the forrest to cross the border to Chile and down to Lago O’Higgins, where another boat takes people to Villa O’Higgins three times per week. We had heard many things about this route from other cyclists before getting here. The other guys arrived the following morning and we started to push the bikes. This turned out to be tough! On the first part, the path was sometimes almost a meter deep and only half a meter wide, so the bags did not fit and had to be carried separately. Moreover, the path was steep and muddy and we had to cross some streams – quite hard but still fun!

We camped at a small lake called Laguna Larga after 7 km. This lake turned out to offer excellent fishing for rainbow trout! The water was transparent, and to give you an hint of how much fish there was, I was able to spot 3 big trouts 5-10 m from the shore at the same time – amazing! We also practised some “fry-fishing”, catching fish while cooking fish :-)

It was raining when we woke up the following day so the path became very slippery, but we finally reached the border and entered Chile after two hours of pushing, lifting, swearing, falling and helping each other.

From the border, we had about 15 km on a “gravel”/stone road down to Lago O’Higgins and a placed called Candelario Mancilla, where we had planned to take the boat the same day. The sandy mud literally ate my brake pads and I had to change them during the descent! When we got down to the lake and the Chilean border post, the guy told us that the boat was cancelled due to strong winds. The only family living here offered a campground, basic rooms and even meals. I had extra food with me, but other cyclists and trekkers were very grateful of this service because the boat did not arrive in two days! I got to know some interesting people during this time, and one of them were Thomas Laussermair. He is biking on a recumbent from Alaska to Ushuaia and climbing all the highest peaks of each country on the way. He is doing all this in ONE YEAR – strong guy!

The damn expensive boat ($80 – 2.5 hours) took us to Villa O’Higgins, the start of a 1240 km mostly unpaved road known as Carretera Austral. It is famous among cyclists due to very few cars and spectacular nature. We spent the night at a nice hostel in Villa O’Higgins and started cycling the following afternoon. The road was beautiful and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, transparent rivers, waterfalls and dense forests!

We were also very lucky to encounter the endangered Andean deer species Huemul, which currently only has about 2,000 animals in Argentina and Chile. We got very close and got some nice shots!

So far, I had barely felt anything in my knee but by the end of the second day the problem was back again! Truly sad about this, I realized that I had to stop cycling and head to a nice place for recovery and to see a competent doctor. I made a pro/con analysis of the situation and decided to head to Bariloche in Argentina.

I managed to hitch-hike to Coyhaique the following morning. That was a crazy 8 hour pickup drive, but also a nice spanish lesson thanks to the extremely talkative driver. In Coyhaique, I had to stay for 3 days to await another 8 hour ride that would take me to the Argentinian border. Both of these two rides went the same way I originally had planned. Apart from it’s beauty, Carretera Austral is also famous for rain, humidity and really bad gravel. It was raining 24 hours per day, each day I was there, and I’ve heard that the conditions have been extreme this summer. I also met a German cyclist when I got to Bariloche who had rain for the one whole month he spent there. These things lightens the sadness of not doing it by bike, but what I’m most sad about is that I didn’t catch that monster salmon waiting for me somewhere on the route…

I’m now in Bariloche, Argentinas popular ski- and tourist destination! There’s plenty to do here, but unfortunately almost the same prices as in Sweden, with wine being the only exception! The first thing I did when I got here was to see a good doctor. He found out that I don’t have a problem with the ligaments, as the doctors in El Chaltén and El Calafate said! Instead, it’s the ITB tendon as I suspected. Fortunately, it is just an inflammation but it can take time to heal. My dad and his wife Kickan will come and visit me here in the beginning of March, so this will hopefully give me enough time to recover. From now on, my vacation in the vacation will be a mix of: local anti-inflammatory plasters, ice, tiger balm, stretching, some gym, plenty of food, plenty of wine, a great hostel, party and nice company! Not that bad after all :-)

With plenty of rest and good food, I felt ready for a few days of trekking in the UNESCO-listed national park Torres del Paine. The park consists of spectacular mountains rising up to 3000 meters over the Patagonian steppe, beautiful valleys, glaciers and turquoise lakes and rivers. This rather unusual mountain massif consists of both black sedimentary rock and granite, which is harder and have created tall “towers” after tens of thousands of years of glacial erosion.

The most common route to walk is referred to as the “W”, which passes through three valleys. I followed this path until the third day, where I instead of going up to the Grey glacier went south to camp in the wild and also get a better overview of the mountains. I didn’t see any animals except for birds, but the flora was very impressive with several species of orchids represented. I will let the photos speak for themselves =)

Yesterday, I celebrated the New Year here in Puerto Natales and will continue cycling towards El Calafate in Argentina from the 3rd and onwards together with a spanish cyclist Juan who I met yesterday in one of the bars.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!!

Since the last update, I’ve been struggling in strong winds, met several other cyclists (with tailwind!), caught Chilean trout, eaten nice food and managed to have a bottle of wine last for 11 meals.

The first day after leaving Punta Arenas, we arrived to a park at Seno Otway that hosted a colony of Magellanic penguins. Very curious and interesting animals!

On the second day, we had some strong side winds reaching up to 50 km/h. It was tough to keep the balance, but at the same time a bit funny! We thought that it would be better to start early the day after and got up at 04.30. No wind! But 10 minutes later, just after the sunrise, the wind started again. However, the wind was not too bad and we managed to push 90 km in 6.5 hours.

We were all very tired the following day, and the wind was yet again strong and did not seem to abate. Moreover, Anna’s hand got swollen for some reason, and then she walked into a metal edge with her head. Peter was sunburnt on his ears. And I had started to feel a bit too stressed at the muscle under my right knee. Finally, we saw that a screw was missing on the trailer, great! But eventually, we came to a beautiful forrest looking like a savanna next to Rio Rubens. We put up the tents and went fishing. I caught a nice trout of around 1.5 kg’s, which we cooked on a bonfire – and the day which didn’t start good ended very nice.

We are now in Puerto Natales, the jump-off point to the famous national park Torres del Paine. I will spend Christmas here and rest for at least 4 days. I also think that I will give myself a Christmas gift – massage! Perhaps also a sauna, that would be nice. Today we will go to the supermarket and buy lots of food for the 24th, I’ve got such cravings for meatballs! Maybe Ms. Orange could send me a goodie bag with the leftovers ;-)

By the way, nice parking: