From the End of the Earth!

After our big move to Puerto Natales, we were thrilled to start the final leg of our adventure. Officially no more busses or hitches unless we had a serious malfunction. Only, us, the road, and the end of the earth. Riding out of town, the excitement began immediately. The weather going south was undoubtedly the most sporatic and confusing I´ve ever encountered.

Patagonia Adventures Continued!

Our nice cabin on the day off proved to be even nicer than expected. That night, our Russian friend Timor offered to cook everyone a traditional dish for dinner called borsch. We sat around and feasted on a hot soup of boiled chicken, beets, cabbage, onion, and carrot for hours. To make the night more animated and truly Russian we drank chilled vodka in a very specific order: make a toast, breath out, drink, eat soup, breath in.  It is surprisingly effective to take the edge off the alcohol. To make the night a bit more American we shared a couple craft brews from the area. Excellent evening.

Chile and Patagonia Adventures!

Ending our stay in Mendoza with a good home tasting meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup, the next morning Doug picked up a rental car to help us make up miles. When a four door compact car rolled up to his place, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. Five good sized guys, four bikes, and four sets of touring gear all packed in for a 15 hour ride? Not a problem with creative packing. Maybe we should've skipped the bean dip and beer beforehand though... We put Cody's bike in the trunk and expertly stuffed everything around it, pulling gear out of our panniers to be more space efficient, and had the other three on a bike rack outside. With all of us inside there wasn't a lot of room to spare, but we made the trek just fine by breaking up the drive with hacky sack breaks and food.

New Terrain

Waking up bright and early after our day off, we divided up cooking breakfast, checking the bikes, and buying fuel for our stoves to speed up our departure and avoid the heat. For the first time in Argentina, we had a decent climb which gave us a couple beautiful views over the desert and sparked a debate whether or not it counted for Cody and Ryson's first mountain. Eventually it was decided they could claim it as one since it was steep enough, even if it wasn't super long.

Argentina Part 2– The Long Stretch

After taking a not so restful rest day (since we tried to last until bar time), we spent one more night before rolling out of town. Not realizing that Saturday is even more of a party night than Friday, I slept with my earbuds in to mask the noise of singing, yelling, and even a steady box drum. Overall, I think it's safe to say none of us had our best night's sleep but were still ready to hit the road.

The First Days with Five

What fun would traveling be without a hiccup or two? With Cody and Ryson both in Argentina, all we needed was Ryson's bike to get pushed through. His box had been removed from his plane to lighten the flight and Ryson spent the next two days calling various people trying to get a promise his bike would eventually find its way to us. Thankfully, it all worked out and we were able to roll down the road, five bikers deep. Where we used to be a little group, now we're a force. Trolls are taking over Argentina, slowly but surely.

Christmas, Machu Picchu, and More Adventure Buddies!

Christmas was a bit different this year, but we did our very best to make it as special as possible. Realizing our culinary limitations both in terms of ability and kitchen accessibility, we opted out of a traditional Christmas Eve dinner in favor of American comfort food. Feasting on mac and cheese as well as pancakes, we had just enough energy to check out the downtown scene, but not enough to stay in the square too long. People were widely out and about, but traveling got the best of us and we decided it would be easier just to let Santa show up by calling it a night. And show up he did!