Catch up...

Northwest Argentina has been a great ride. Since rolling down off Paso Agua Negra, Russ and I have cycled through some incredible scenery, camped in some strange spots and eaten many hundreds of ice creams. Chocolate con Almendra is my favorite flavour now...



Some of the highlights of the last few weeks were (in no kind of cronological order):
Camping in a field and drinking homebrew mead
Cactus strewn deserts
Sergio teaching us how to make an asado in Las Flores
Camping in the plazas of little villages
Panchos (hotdogs)
Push starting a broken down German motorbiker with horrible moles on her back
Quilmes beer
Christoph - a preposterous Frenchman
Huge wide views with mountains in the distance
Sandstone formations between Cafayate and Salta
Buying knifes
Screeching parakeets
Stars
Mountain pass between Villa Union and Nonogasta
Milenesa (steak, egg and tomato sandwich)
Condors
Meeting a family who gave us heaps of ice cold water in Pituil
Spending the night by the velodrome in Belén and watching a race through the town.
Watching a cycle race for 5 year olds. There was a false start and they all burst into tears...

Back on my own again, I left Salta acompanied by a marching police band and some men dressed in big hats on horseback. You think I could make this stuff up?! Between Salta and Jujuy the scenery is very lush. A world away from the semi-desert of the last few weeks. At one stage I wound my way through some forested hills that seemed almost like rainforest... Checked into a very sparse "Residential" in Jujuy. Cheaper than a hostal and will serve as penance for the debauchery of my last night in Salta (my second visit to a nightclub on the trip).

In other news... I am still not an uncle but my sister is 2 days overdue and enormous (saw her bump on a skype video call).

La Serena to Las Flores: Paso Agua Negra

Kitted out with a bike called "Scorpion" and some supermarket camping kit, Russ joined me on this fantastic cycling adventure. We shaked a bit in Santiago and then bussed to La Serena and set off to cross the Andes. You can see some of Russ' photos here.

The first stop was Vicuña. We'd cycled up a gentle slope all day and reached this pleasant little town. The campsite we found offered a pool, kitchen and ripe grapes for the princely sum of three pounds fifty. We chilled out.

The high mountains surrounding us grew closer the next day. Soon we found ourselves winding our way up a tight valley, almost a canyon. By the side of the road there were some stone shacks. We suspected these were used by goat hearders as there was a fair amount of goat excrement about. Russ got out his kite and I built a fire. We slept under the brightest set of stars I have ever seen.

The next day we continued on up the valley with dramatic scenery around us. In the afternoon we passed a "campamiento" and I enquired if we could buy bread. We were given a large roll free. Later, at another campamiento where some roadworkers stayed, I asked if we could camp. The man said no. There was a couple of beds we could have in an old shed. The room was plastered with posters of semi-clad women. Then, as I got out my stove on the front porch, the kind gent called us over and invited us for dinner too. Barbequed beef and empanadas. In the courtyard there was a fountain with a plastic barbie doll on the top. The water squirted out of her nipples. Quite a water feature. One suspects that these lads don't see too many girls up this way.

Passing the stunning, if not origionally named, La Laguna, we anticipated reaching the top of the pass. However, the tough gravel road, incline and fatigue got the better of us and we camped at around 4500m. We had just enough energy to wolf down some pasta and flake out. In the night I noted the temerature drop to -3C, not so cold really.

We woke. Both of us feeling well and with no signs of altitude sickness. After scoffing the remainder of our bread and jam and brewing tea with the last tea bags, we put in the last 10km to the summit.

We celebrated reaching the 4780m pass with some photos. Then we enjoyed 100km of free-wheeling downhill.


On our way down we stopped to make some rice for lunch. We were joined by a french cyclist, Christof, who looked as if he were a scubadiver. His cycling outfit consisted of a lot of black lycra. He sat down with us and told us the story of his life, his cycling and rather more about his recent sexual conquests than you would expect from a stranger.

Our freewheel ride continued on a tar road and we headed across a huge plain surrounded by mountian ranges. Then we arrived in Las Flores.

I asked Sergio if there was a campsite and he said we could camp in his garden for 2 pounds. Then he invited us to drink mate. After a bit of a chat he decided to show us how to make an asado, the classic argentinian barbeque. We bought a mountain of meat and local wine and he showed us the tradditional method to get the fire going. The wood is placed on top of the grill and as the embers fall through they are pushed under the meat and sausages. We ate, drank, chatted and it felt like a wonderful welcome back to Argentina.

This post relates to my bike trip in South America in 2010.

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San Martin to Pucon

I was hoping to find a guide to climb Volcan Lanin in Junin de los Andes but everything was shut between 1pm and 5pm. I arrived at 1.10pm and I didn't want to waste that much of the day there as it was a fairly grim spot. I did however stop at a roadside cafe and have a platefull of empanadas which are a great snack food for cycling.

Then I pushed on as far as the Chilean border for my 5th border crossing. Along the way the road returned to probably the worst quality gravel road so far. However it was hard to be distracted because I was cycling through amazing forests of Monkey Puzzle trees and Volcan Lanin was looming larger as I pressed on. As this was a national park there were heaps of signs everywhere saying NO CAMPING so I was keen to find a very discrete spot to camp. It grew darker and still I didn't find anywhere and then the forests disappeared to an area of low bushes. When I reached the border at dusk there was a campsite and I stayed there. As I turned up a Mapuche man had a grill going with a few sausages left on it. He sold me one in a sandwich and then I pitched my tent in the dark and slept.

The next morning I felt a bit lathargic and had some unpleasant bowel movements. Nevertheless, I pressed on. It was one of the hottest days so far. In fact rather too hot for cycling as I am not used to the heat yet. I stopped for a long lunch at a roadside cafe. Then continued along a road that is in the process of being paved. Whilst this process goes on it is in terrible condition with perilous loose gravel and sand. By the time I reached Cararrehue it was about the hottest time of day and I was exhausted and thirsty. I bought a litre of fizzy orange in a shop and colapsed on my back on the concrete and poured it down my throat. Despite only being halfway through the afternoon I decided to camp there. I asked a kid if there was a campsite and he said he would take me. I set about following him and asked how much the campsite cost. He said 500 pesos which is about 60p and much less than any campsite I have ever been to. Well, he just led me to the football pitch, near the river and asked for his 500. I had to laugh at that and paid up and camped in a really nice spot. Still feeling a bit iffy I just ate bread and jam for supper and read a little of my book before sleeping.

Today, I made a relaxing cycle to Pucón being constantly overtaken by racing cyclists. As I reached Pucón I saw many runners too. "Wow," I thought, "What a sporty town!" Then I saw a poster: Domingo Iron Man de Pucón. I'd love to stay and watch but not sure I can justify staying here for another 4 days. So, I am installed in a campsite here and I have just registered for a guided trip up Volcan Villarrica tomorrow. Should be fun. Watch this space!!!

Entre Lagos to San Martin de los Andes

From Entre Lagos it was back on a paved and winding road that led to the Argentine border. It also led through a fantastic national park. I camped with Chris (he's just toured Route 66 in the USA and now finds himself down here...) in a great little meadow off the road behind some trees. The next day we set off up the never-ending hairpins until...er...they ended. Then, in the pouring rain, we shot down to Argentina, past the gorgeous Lago Espejo (mirror lake) and on to Villa Angostura. A nice enough little touristy town. Rain treated my tent to a well needed shower (to remove bird excrement) and I had a shower too.

In the morning I waved adios to Chris and set of up Ruta 234 (camino de los siete lagos) and set about counting the lakes. It was a hot sunny blue sky day and the scenery was out of this world. Only, sorry folks, I had no camera to record it. Nevertheless, I will try to describe instead. Basically you've got a gravel road, then on one or both sides a lake of deep blue water. Behind that you have either forested mountains with rocky outcrops poking out above, or higher more distant snowcapped peaks. When there is no lake beside the road you have raging rivers with big cascading rapids, or forests with unusual native trees that I don't recognise.

I reached a campsite beside a lake and popped in to buy bread, pepsi and biscuits. The man said to me:
"There is a big party by the lake tonight, man," and then with a conspirational wink ",there'll be muchas chicas..."
So, well, basically I was persuaded and spent the night drinking a couple of beers on the lakeside beach, playing guitars, eating bbq'ed cow bits, and watching the view, and the sunset.

Today the road was equally impressive but was soon paved all the way to SMdlA. When you hit the crest of the last pass it is a thrilling ride down to the town. The best moment for me was rounding a turn to see the full length of Lago Lacar and at one end San Martin.

I took in the town, interneted a bit, got a sandwich, bought a new camera, and was about to leave town when I passed "Bike Hostal" a hostal full of bits of bicycles and with a workshop at my disposal. The owner invited me in and we sat in the garden drinking mate. Oh well Junin tomorrow.

El Calafate to El Chalten

After listening to a folk band in the campsite bar, and sampling (yet more) litres of Quilmes, our trusty pedal-powered hero woke fairly late and drank several cups of coffee and ate lots of toast and alfajor (yummy chocolate/ducle leche things). He then spent what seemed like an eternity trying to reorganise his panniers to be a) more convienient for commonly used items and b) with more weight at the front of the bike (who shall henceforth be known as Foxy Lady). Neither of these objectives were achieved and so the mission was abandoned in favour of cycling.
Weather was nice but reasonably windy. Lunch was ducle de leche and bananas on crackers and some turron.

Soon after Lago Argentina had slid behind a hill I came across a house in the middle of knowhere with "Bar" written on it. I headed in chased my barking dogs and it turned out to be a campsite too. So I gave in and ordered some food. On asking what he had on offer I was offered some piddling sandwiches and cakes, and then he offered a plate of beef steak. My eyes lit up and no more communication was required. Then dead cow was served with grated carrot and tomato and washed down by a black beer called Antares.

The next day was the sunniest and least windy day I have had yet so much so that my jacket stayed off all day and my arms got a touch of sunburn. I put in 120km to reach El Chalten just as it was getting dark. The whole day I was heading closer and closer to the mind boggling peaks of Mount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. I installed myself at the campsite and got a pizza. Disappointment ensued as I was unable to manage the entire pizza. The first time such a fate has befallen me. I think my stomach is getting smaller. Either that or it is the enormous quantity of cheese they use here.

Today the weather is much the same: balmy. I walked up to the Laguna Torre which is an excellent viewpoint for Cerro Torre, a crazily steep and magestic tower. I wore shorts (but long sleeves because of sun burned arms) and carried a very light pack with water, biscuits and not much else. Quite a relaxing walk through delightful countryside. I may have to stay here some time as my timing for the ferry to Villa O´Higgins is a little muddled. In fact I still can´t work out if it goes on Fridays or Saturdays such is the quality of the infomation. Well, tomorrow I plan to hike to the Mount Fitz Roy viewpoint and then we´ll see. If I miss the Friday/Saturday ferry there is one on Tuesday (or maybe its Wednesday). All a little confusing.

Raphael and Bettina

Met a great cycling couple from Switzerland at the campsite. They have cycled from Ecuador and were kind enough to answer some of my daft questions. Here is a mini interview with them I recorded. Listen to find out a great tip to get more from your cycling tour and to find out how fast dogs run.




Also I spent the day checking out the amazing Perito Moreno Glacier.

Torres del Paine to El Calafate

Took a rest day at Hosteria des Torres campsite which consisted of reading, eating and composing hillarious poems. Then built giant bonfire to cook my pasta with peas and salami and warm my weary body.

Yesterday I took to the road on my bike again and it feels good. There was a section of gravel road that was the worst yet but I had a tailwind so pressed on racking up a good 120kms or so. Then when I was packing up my tent this morning a guacho (kind of a cowboy) rode up to have a chinwag and stare into the distance looking menacing. I patted his horse which look round and stared at me as if to say, "Do I look like the kind of horse who gets patted. Do me a favour..."

Then I breakfasted on crackers and peanut butter and rode 100kms into a head wind. On the way I got back to the paved road, finished all the crackers and ran out of water. I then had to try out the "Dave Technique" taught to me by the guy I met cycling the other way.

Step 1: Stand by side of the road with an empty water bottle and point to it.
Step 2: Hope someone stops.
Step 3: Repeat Steps 1 and 2 as necessary.

It worked pretty well. I got 300ml the first car and then as I was cycling along later someone rolled down the window and threw a 1 litre bottle at me. I think they´d been phoned up by the first car. How cool is that. Now I have a "support team".

Things went steadily up hill (literally) with the headwind continuing, and then steadily downhill (in both respects). My back tyre has seen better days and gave me another puncture. I patched the puncture but then split the valve somehow and had to change the tube. I was just looking forward to hitting the headwind when a bus offered me a free ride to El Calafate. How could I refuse! It would have taken me another day I think as it was 66kms to go when he picked me up.

Here in El Calafate I have been on a spending spree buying a new camera, a new tyre and now spending a fortune in the internet cafe. Tomorrow I will go check out the Perito Moreno Glacier (probably by bus) and maybe have another rest day too as I have just spotted that there is a Folk Music concert on in town.

Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales

A few miles out of Punta Arenas I crossed paths with Dave (note the machete) who has cycled here from Seatle and is nearly at the end of his journey.

Yesterday was the day of things breaking. This began in the morning when my plastic spork decided it would rather be a uselessly small fork and spoon instead. Then the button on my trousers broke and just as I was looking for a place to put the tent up I got my first puncture.

Puerto Natales is beautiful. It is set on the water with mountains all around. I´m looking forward to scenery becoming more dramatic and also to spending a week or so hiking in Torres del Paine national park. Right, I´m off to explore

Rio Grande to Punta Arenas

Phil and Joyce

The northern half of Tierra del Fuego is flat and windy. I headed out of Rio Grande and put in a longish day to reach San Sebastian, which is the border with Chile. Went through fine and then passed a sign reading "Fin de Pavmiento". From there on it was a case of eyes down and look at gravel. But there is a knack to riding on this stuff and soon enough I was looking around enjoying the scenery again. The scenery consists of miles and miles of nothing apart from the odd sheep or llama. At the Chilean version of San Sebastian 15km further on I grabbed a steak sandwich in an american dinner style place and changed over to chilean pesos you get about 6,540,000,000 to the pound (possibly) so your mental arithmetic needs to be sharp. Then I camped in the absolute middle of nowhere.

Woke up and there was a tail wind! Wolfed down some dulce de leche (a bit like condensed milk) sarnies and hit the gravel. 50 clicks later passed Phil and Joyce a cycling couple from Bath who have come from Peru a similar route to the one I am planning and gave me pleanty of useful tips and info. Ta! They told me of a campsite by the beach between 40 and 45kms from Povenir. So I nailed it to there and got a little campfire going with heaps of dried out sea-weed and drift wood. I love cooking on an open fire, it saves fuel and after I´ve finished cooking I have a nice cheery blaze to eat by. Only trouble was that the tide came in and the sea was very noisy with crashing waves that woke me up a few times. Today the going was tough as the road was washboard gravel tracks with several undulating hills and the head wind had reappeared. Took me 6 hours to cover 40km. Then I arrived in Porvenir (bit of a ghost town) and waited for the ferry to take me to Punta Arenas. I´m now safely installed in the Backpacker´s Paradise for 2 nights to get a bit of rest before heading up to Puerto Natales and then Torres del Paine (which I am very very excited about) where I´m hoping to do a bit of trekking in the mountains.

Equipment is all doing well. Especially the bike, she is a grafter. The sleeping bag is very warm. Tent´s ok but not really been tested by a soaking yet but does fine in the wind. Trangia for cooking is great and I found "alcohol industrial" easily in the supermarcado. Its usually easy enough to build a fire instead anyway. Panniers all do what they are supposed to, I like the Crosso´s for the twist closing but prefer the clamps on the Revolutions.

Ushuaia to Rio Grande

My lazing about in Buenos Aires is behind me now and the adventure has begun!!!

Arrived in Ushuaia and put the bike together and headed off into town to buy food and fuel. There is a sign saying "Ushuaia: fin del monde principio del todo". Then I wound on up into the mountains in, shall we say, not too bad weather. It sleeted a bit but generally the wind wasn´t too bad and nor was the temerature. In fact going up hill it got a bit hot. My first campsite was in the snow near the top of Paso Garibaldi surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains (all about Ben Nevis sort of size). It was very chilly so I just dived into the tent and got some soup and pasta on the go. had a cup of tea and hit the sack. It was a cold and windy night, I would estimate -2C or so, but inside my lovely warm sleeping bag it was toasty! Next I summited the pass and free wheeled for about 10kms the other side past a gorgeous lake.

Then the scenery started to flatten out a bit. All the truck drivers, motorbikes and some cars wave or beep their horns to cheer me along which is great fun. Tolhuin consisted of a petrol station. So I bought a chocolate bar and a fizzy drink and carried on. Later I found a great free camping area with loads of Argentinians on thier hols. I set up the tent and bits of ice and snow fell out, but in sunshine it dried out instantly. Then I got a fire up and running and cooked some pasta and some tea and then just chilled out by the fire with a book. Doesn´t get dark till quite late here so I am usually in bed before dark and get up after sunrise.

Today was more of a slog because the wind has picked up. I fought a headwind all the way but its flat and featureless. Just the occassional llama. Arrived in Rio Grande and checked into the Hostel Agentina. Looking forward to a shower and a decent feed. Hoping to make it to Torres del Paine for my birthday (think that´ll make a good pressie).

Don´t foget there are more pictures on flickr.

El Raton

Ok so I asked Roberto to teach me a song in Spanish and he´s started me off on this song called "El Raton" -the mouse. I practised it a few times and he told me, "Don´t be timid and sing like a man". The "hechale semila.." bit is very fast and dificult but I love the "chacucha cucucuchacucha"!

Chords are Am C7 B7 E7

Mi gato se esta quejando
Que no puede vacilar
Si donde quiera que se mete
Su gata lo va buscar
Esto si es serio mi amigo
Oye! oye que lio!
Que lio se va formar

Cuando mi gatito sepa
Cuando mi gatito sepa
Es tan simple la razon

De cualquier malla
Sale un raton. Oye!

Hechale semilla a esa maraca pa´ que suene
chacucha cucucuchacucha!!


Here are the Fania All Stars performing it in Africa featuring a Santana guitar solo.

Carlos, Tango and the Bandoneon

Met up with Carlos Viggiano today. This guy is a bandoneon teacher and I asked him questions about Tango and the bandoneon. In fact I recorded a 20 minute interview with him in Spanish. Quite daunting stuff but I think it will be easier next time. In the audio clip he is playing Decarisimo by Astor Piazzolla. He told me some interesting things about how the bandoneon was invented in Holland as a portable replacement for the church organ. As if to demonstrate this he picks it up and plays a few bars of "organ music". Throughout the interview we dunk bread in strong coffee. He is an expressive guy and gets his point across with drawings, a few chords on the bandoneon or with gesticulation but generally speaks slow enough for me to catch the drift. He seems to me a bit like an Italian. More about this at a later date I think. But it was pretty cool. Unfortunately I could not have a bash at playing the thing because it is too precious and my hands are probably too weak. Shame.

First recordings and face stuffing

Last night I stayed up drinking with the guys in the hostal. I think it was really beneficial for my Spanish and its great to chat to interesting people too. One Columbian guy got his guitar out and played a couple of songs. I´d like to learn a song in Spanish as an ice breaker for when you get passed a guitar. I will have to get someone to teach me.
Other than that there was a girl from Ushuaia who says the snowboarding is excellent there all year round, but I´ll probably miss out on that. This morning I was nursing a smallish hangover but took the recorder into town and went and bought my flight ticket. Its a strange system. I had reserved a seat online but you can´t pay online so to be honest there wasn´t much point. Hope I don´t get stung too much on the excess luggage.

The folk stage near Obolisco continued today with a lady in a swooshy red dress. Her dancing and dress were more attension grabbing than her singing but the band were decent. Piano accordian, violin, guitar, bass and percussion (well, a man banging a box with a pair of maracas strapped to his leg). I recorded one song, stayed and listened to another one and then went off for the flight ticket. On the way back I took in Florida again and the band from a few days ago were back. They are called El Metodo. This time without the clarinet player. I recorded a couple of songs. I got their email address so will send them some questions too. They played quite a few tango tunes this time but also a couple of jazz clasics.

Back at the hostel some of the guys had bought some facturas, which means pastries. I tried churro (a deep fried donut thing) and alfajor (a chocolate and dulce leche sugar rush) but my favourite was vigilante. Yum. Also learnt that croissants are called media luna - half moon. Makes sense, no? They say I can´t leave Argentina without having tried an asado which is a barbeque. Every part of the cow is eaten apparently and (please keep that "apparently" in mind) red meat is supposed to be good for healthy sperm. Not sure if bicycle saddles are...

Ok, this is the folky chica.

And El Metodo

A few more days in Buenos Aires

I´ve decided to stay here a few days longer to rest up the foot some more (its heaps better though), and soak up a bit more sunshine before heading to Ushuaia. I´ve not been too active the last couple of days but I did try mate for the first time. Mate is the national drink of Argentina. Its a kind of tea but tastes a bit like coffee. Its odd but not in a bad way and bitter but not unpleasantly so. The most interesting aspect is that it is drunk with a metal straw which has a filter at the bottom and is called a bombilla. The drink is popular with all ages and is a sociable activity. There is an etiquette that goes along with it, a bit like handing round a spliff I suppose. Also a really cool thing happened this morning for breakfast. The hostal receptionist baked an apple crumble!

Day Three. Went to visit the Museo del Tango which is in the famous Cafe Tortoni. Was mostly a load of old tat really. Some faded photos, Carlos Gardel´s hat, some old record covers and manuscripts. The cool thing was that a tango group were practising at the back. They were rehearsing a particularly dramatic passage from the end of a tune and the pianist (a guy in early twenties with a tasteful afro and goatee) was argueing with the singer (a cross between Pavorotti and Hulk Hogan, sorry folks, no photo!). I stood listening for a while, whilst pretending to look at the exhibits, and then sat down to rest the foot. At this point they began to play the whole tune through, rather than practise sections. Its powerful, seductive, sophisticated stuff this tango. Do you know it origionated in brothels and was the favouite music of thugs and gangsters? I guess a lot of good music has started off with an underclass (blues, hip-hop, jazz). The leggy style of dancing today is quite an evolution because to begin with it was only danced by men. The band I watched are what is known as an orquesta tipica and are formed of piano, double bass, two bandeons and two violins. Oh and Hulkavotti.

Also caught a few more street musicians today (Day Four!) including a folk group. There was a blonde lady with a bowler hat and a piano accordian and a clarinetist with a black moustache and a beret. They made a bit of a racket but not entirely unpleasant. Then I saw a small man (or possibly a child) playing Guns and Roses and Joe Saturani riffs. Not for me.

Back at the same place as before on Florida street I found another group doing some really dancable tunes. I guess they have a caribbean or ska influence. Anyway I managed to video a little bit this time (got to start taking the audio recorder with me).

A guy comes over whenever your sat down somewhere (on the metro, or at a cafe) and puts something in front of you (a pair of sissors, a pen, a book, a torch, a screwdriver) then in a few minutes he comes and picks it up. The idea is you have become so attached to it you want to buy it. Also a kid came up to me with some juggling balls. I thought he was trying to sell them to me so just said "No gracias" but he shaked his head and then started to do the most half-hearted juggling you can imagine. I asked him "Quieres dinero?", he nodded, but I decided to say "Lo siento, no."

I´m going to fly to Ushauia on Saturday I think. It´ll be a damn site more comfy than 36 hours on a bus (which only goes as far as Rio Gallegos) and as the bike is already packed up it makes sense. Hope there is a bike shop there but if not I should be able to assemble the thing.

Day Two

Pretty cool day today. Went out to the Boca area where there are some attractive multi coloured buildings. Then caught a bunch of street musicians on the main tourist drag. They did a pretty cool rendition of "Minor Swing". Then had a few beers in Plaza Dorrego and watched people dancing the Tango.

Day One: Buenos Aires

Despite all the horror stories I have read, flying with a bike seemed to go fairly smoothly. The box has a few knocks and I havn´t opened it yet, but its a hardy bike it´ll be ok. Not really decided the best way to get to Tierra del Fuego. Bus or plane.
Buenos Aires is a lovely city with many tree lined streets with the Jacarandas in blossom at the moment a vibrant purple. Had a bit of a look round today but foot is still a bit sore. Saw the presidential palace, a giant pink building, the parliment building and the phalic Obolisco. Also, Plaza San Martin was nice with lots of people sunbathing, kids playing football. There is a big statue of San Martin on his horse and loads of weird and wonderful trees with enormous roots.