Punta Arenas - El Chalten

Ok, apologies in advance for the lack of photos. It takes a surprisingly long (and tedious) amount of time to get them uploaded, but I will add as soon as I can. And apologies for the length of this post, its easy to get carried away... Hopefully next time, I can post less, more often!

So, back to this southern adventure. Yes, its all still an adventure. Thats the beauty of this trip, both the form of transport (bicycle) and location (Patagonia) hold so much variety and possibility for unknowns and adventure!

So Kelly and I set off from Punta Arenas for Puerto Natales and it was 250km over 5 days- 3 of which were very windy. But then we had 2 wind-free (or nearly all wind-free) days that really made up for it. I got overly excited the first day without wind, I couldn´t help but sing aloud on my bike- such joy. Along this route, we crossed the pampa and not much else. There were only a few towns on the way which amounted to a place to stop for coffee and a bite.

When we needed a place to pitch our tent, people always helped us out by finding a room for us to settle in, instead. But on one occasion this wasn´t an option (which is more than fine, I wanted to be making the most of the tent I had to lug around on the back of my bike!) and we camped in a rodeo one night and got the lightest of snows as we set up camp. It was a snow equivalent to a sunshower, very light, short and sunny! At the rodeo, which was also under construction, one of the construction workers, Victor, proudly showed off some fresh roadkill- an armadillo. I had no idea they were in South America (to be honest my knowledge of armadillos is quite scant) and it was very strange to see one. And they look exactly like they do in photos, with their weird long, sparse hair. One of the weirdest things so far!

I can´t exclude mention of ´The Ditch´ however. On one particularly windy day, Kelly and I pulled off the road on a particularly long stretch through the pampa for some rest and came across the most amazing ditch. Ever. It was perfectly contoured to our bodies and we sat down for a good half an hour out of the wind and laughed ourselves silly at the thought of how much pleasure we were getting from a ditch. It is this kind of thing that has broken the mood of hardship that you get sometimes, while riding out here. Amazing Ditches, soft ground to put your tent pegs into, warm showers (yes ´agua caliente´ [´hot water´] is used in a sales pitch when trying to sell the merits of accommodation in some towns down here) and a hot drink have all been little saviours that put a smile on our face.

On the Punta Arenas-Puerto Natales route we were also shown more hospitality by the local law enforcement. I rode ahead one day to cook lunch for Kelly and I and I came across a Police check point and explained all I needed was some shelter for my stove to cook some food, but Juan insisted on me using one of their cabins to cook and make myself at home. I accepted with thanks and got lunch ready with great speed in time for Kelly to arrive and eat. On leaving, Juan asked for a photo which we happily agreed to (and we got our own too, I´ll post later). He took his sweet time getting the right shot with us two gringas, as the traffic patiently waited to be ´checked through´. Very funny.

Then we got to Puerto Natales, the end of the (cycled) road for Kelly. We indulged in some great food (wood fired pizza, lemon pannacotta, and the most amazing chocolate mousse cake and brownies from ´Patagonia Dulce´) and got ready for our big hike in Torres del Paine National Park. Kelly fell in love with all the street dogs in Natales, and she was right, they were adoreable. So far, the ones we´ve met have usually been very territorial and protective of the properties they belong to and are thus quite hostile to us passer-bys. But these street dogs were the epitome of good-naturedness and charm. We don´t know how they got by, but you never got a snarl from them, only a contented look on their face as they trotted around town without a care in the world.

So we headed into the popular Torres del Paine and started our 5 day ´W-circuit´through the park which I loved so much- the highlight of the trip so far, narrowly beating out ´The Ditch´. We were surrounded by gorgeous mountains, creamy blue lakes, forest, rivers, ice and even a glacier! If you come near this part of the world, come to Torres. Just spectacular. We were very lucky to have 5 straight days wind-free (except for a bit coming into and out of the valley of the Torres) and we had glorious sunshine and warmth. We would probably have had a much harder trip if it weren´t for this great weather.

We slept a couple of hundred metres from Glacier Grey and saw icebergs float past our tent, dipped our feet in the meltwater for a bit of relief after a long 2 day´s hike to and from the glacier, wandered up the Valle Frances for beautiful sights (only needing our day packs- a welcome relief) and set our alarms for a 5.15am sunrise to see the Torres (hopefully) glow pink- which they didn´t. This however meant we need to be up at 4am to make the hike up to the lookout. Yes, we were tired puppies on that last day and snoozed our way back to Puerto Natales on the bus, happy but tired.

With the hike behind us, we skipped the next stretch to El Calafate by bike and got the bus (Kelly had a plane to catch so we had to fast-track that stretch of the trip) instead. We stayed in a nice hostel overlooking Lago Argentina and sat on the porch for a glass of champers and some baked potatoes (the Lucie-Kelly accompaniment to fine wine!) to celebrate the end of Kelly´s trip- what was a big undertaking for her first overseas trip. Cycling in the Patagonian winds- what a trooper!

We went to the Perito Moreno glacier nearby and were quite impressed by its immensity. Absolutely stunning. Apparently its one of the last glaciers to still be moving. 1.7 metres at the front break off everyday, making the best noise ever. A little like thunder and lightning, you hear it crash after the ice has already fallen a second or two before.

It was in this unassuming cafeteria at the glacier we came across one of the best hot chocolates of the trip so far. I believe Kelly rated this the highest, but my vote is probably with ´Patagonia Dulce´ in Puerto Natales, and this brings me to a new segment called- ´What Lucie thinks of all the chocolate and chocolate-related products in Patagonia´.

Surprisingly, chocolate is the ´in´ thing down here. Several towns have had one, sometimes more (see El Calafate- though they had quantity, rather than quality) chocolate shops. It all started in Ushuaia, got better in Punta Arenas where I (owner of the biggest sweet tooth) was out-sweeted by Chocolatta´s offerings, and came to a climax in Puerto Natales at Patagonia Dulce where we found heaven in their creamy hot chocolates (I was suffering somewhat after a lack of decent hot chocolate in the US, where they prefer artificially sweetened powders and hot water) and gorgeous cakes and tortes. We came to the conclusion after our first visit, however, that a visit to Patagonia Dulce could only be undertaken with the ordering of EITHER a drink OR a dessert, but not BOTH. That was suicide, as we found out on our first visit, but was rectified on our second visit as we just ordered the cake. Safe option indeed.

I will keep you posted of how the next lot stack up, but I now find myself in a position to taste test as many hot chocolates as I can.

This brings me to my last 3 days, from El Calafate to El Chalten on The Duck. Back in the saddle alone, after adios-ing to Kelly, I spent 3 days getting to the launch pad for the Carretera Austral. I met a bunch of cyclists coming from the north which was encouraging, though I couldn´t help but feel jealous of the tail winds they would (and had) experience in the km´s to come. I stopped halfway at the only place in the 220km between towns, and tested their hot chocolate- coming in 3rd after P. Natales and the ´glacier cafeteria´. I don´t know if its a patagonian thing, or a south american thing, but they have a drink here called the ´submarino´ where you get a glass of steamed milk and you get a chunk of chocolate to drop in and melt to become the hot chocolate. While this isn´t exactly the most efficient or delicious way to serve hot choc, it is the most fun!

Back to the riding though... I was feeling good the second day, but the last stretch to El Chalten (an 80km) day, the winds got the better of me and I called it a day 15km short of town and got a lift the rest of the way. It felt like I was cycling into a wind machine and it was harder every 100 metres I went. It was a pity, cos those last 15k´s were so gorgeous, the desert quickly changed to greenery and striking peaks. And that is where I leave you, in El Chalten, resting in my tent as the wind continues to blow, finally able to start reading my Russian novel I brought for this trip especially (its ´Anna Karenina´ by the way, and yes I like it very much so far).

I head off for the infamous crossing to Villa O´Higgins (the start of the Carretera Austral in Chile) on Wednesday and will be somewhere in the quiet south of the Chilean Andes for Christmas, consoling myself with some red wine, dark chocolate, and thinking of all my loved ones, friend and family- but happy to be in such a beautiful part of the world. Merry Christmas all.