In Patagonia

We arrived in San Martin de los Andes yesterday, and it is nice. Ski-mtn. bike town, totally tourism supported. Good baked goods, excellent meat. Those things are really important for us.

Crossing the pass was hard- rough road, steep grades, lots of road construction. Still, we made it over, and we missed almost all the rain. Gorgeous views of Volcan Lanin, tallest peak in Patagonia, groves of wild monkey-puzzle trees, beautiful clear rivers full of trout. Even had a tailwind pushing us down into Argentina. We covered 10km in 20 minutes, incredible, the same distance took us hours the day before.

I´m a bit tired now, did a solo ride up on some dirt roads in the nearby national park this morning, and the hills kind of kicked my ass. There is so much to write about, so many cool pics to share, but I´m just not motivated. Maybe this evening.

We have been hanging out and chatting with the guys from www.ridingthespine.com. They have taken 3 years to ride down here from Alaska, riding as much singletrack and backroads as possible. In Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, etc. the backroads are amazingly poor for riding, but somehow they´ve done it, and remain somewhat sane. I admire their effort, as much as I´m glad we aren´t doing the same.

I never thought I´d go to Patagonia. But here we are, cold but happy, having a great time. I´m excited that we have more than a month to go. Too bad the computer is so slow, I can´t get it to upload pics, but once again, maybe tonight.