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!

Riding Through Peru!!!

Leaving Ayacucho was not quite as smooth as we had hoped. As soon as we were all packed, Kai realized his debit card was missing which meant he suddenly had a to do list of canceling and ordering a new one. Really not the end of the world, but when you've sat on a bus for 36 hours and the time finally comes to get leaving again, sitting in the hotel room is not an ideal way to spend the morning.

The Journey to Peru

Leaving Cuenca, I was caught in a bit of a debate. I could bike all the way to Loja and potentially have Kai and Jon waiting for me, or I could try to hitch and save some time and energy. Opting for a bit of both, I rode about 60 miles and found a truck to bring me the rest of the way. Grabbing a hostal near the bus terminal, I waited for my friends and picked up a couple treats to make their arrival more fun, including a new holiday themed bike towel. There may not be snow this year, but there will be Christmas.

Ben's Solo Adventures

For the first time in over 2 months, I was left alone. Sure we'd spent an occasional day or afternoon apart, but this time Jon and Kai were headed a different direction for over a week. Crazy to think this should be our longest time apart over a 6 month span. Probably a good thing to finally have the opportunity to miss one another.

South America!

Our last few days in Panama City were almost like we were just students again. We woke up, ate breakfast, headed to class, combined learning with joking around, scrounged up a cheap lunch, did some sort of hike or activity, went home for dinner, completed our homework, and went to bed. Jonathan even had a migraine one morning so I got to re-live him skipping class, even if it was a legitimate excuse. Since Jon felt so miserable, I took it upon myself to relax for the both of us by investing in a roll of cookies, carton of milk, and settled into my book.

Adventures in Panama City

Leaving David, we put in some decent miles and ended up sleeping behind the police station of a small town. That night, we looked at the rest of the map and realized we could either dramatically draw out the next few days before catching a flight on November 23rd, or we could make a huge push for Panama City and try to find something fun to do. Opting for the latter, I decided to make the push official and see if I could pull off a century ride (100 miles). Believe it or not, Kai and Jon were not as convinced 100 miles in Panamanian humidity was a good idea, so the next morning I took off alone.

Costa Rica and Panama

Waking up to an early morning filled with oats and chai tea, we were ready to seize the day. Cruising to the nearest town on the coast called Jaco, we stopped in a coffee shop to indulge in some WiFi and feel like less than super dirty travelers in desperate need of laundry. Jon went off to find a bike shop to see if he could find a way to remove a grinding sound, and by the time he was back we were all in a similar mood. Entranced by the calm beach life, word of a 3 day mountain bike race leaving in the morning, and the possibility of an air conditioned room, we decided to stay for the night. Fully relaxed, we kept VH1 playing old songs in the background all night, thoroughly entertained by the strangeness of early music videos.

Turtle Saviors

Back on the road, we kept rolling until a couple people made the worst mistake in the world--looked friendly and waved. Needing a place to stay, we circled back and once again got a yard to camp in. These peoples were way easier to understand and incredible hosts. A perfect combo of Spanish and English, curious but still gave us our space, and super helpful offering chairs, water, a place for our bikes, and even coffee that the man got specially roasted in the morning with tortillas and cream, as well as a local crisp pastry. Energized, we were able to ride all day to a town called Samara. The road there was literally a roller coaster, both in terms of hills and emotion. Every time we started a downhill we thought was the final push to the ocean, we'd round a corner and climb right back up. Nevertheless, before it was too late in the day, allowing time for a swim, walk on the beach, nap/reading time in the hammocks, and dinner. Besides a palm branch and coconut falling and scaring me half to death, it was a wonderful stay.

Steep Climbs and Beautiful Views

Leaving our little piece of paradise at Greensurf was a little bittersweet, especially when we remembered there wasn't any breakfast food left in our panniers besides coffee and a couple tortillas which we gratefully ate on the beach. Fully caffeinated, we took advantage of the first store we saw. However, the selection was incredibly limited so breakfast turned into Oreos and off brand Doritos.

A couple hours down the road, riding got tough. A combination of small dinner, a smaller breakfast, 100 degrees by 10:30 in the morning, a strong headwind, and a continuous, gradual uphill all attributed to us feeling amazingly crappy. Low on energy, we took some breaks in the shade and popped electrolyte tablets, but the steady climb in the sun was relentless. Not sure when we would have another chance, we took advantage of the next store we found. This time, our nutritious snack consisted of donuts and coke. Funny how when you fill your body with only sugar how quickly it burns through. Luckily we had all downhill to the next town and rolled into a little restaurant, so hungry thoughts weren't operating quite right in our heads.

Nicaragua Bound!

Sometimes stumbling upon adventure is just as wonderful as planning it. After a couple days of relaxation at Lake Atitlan, we were ready to get moving again. Our morning couldn't have been much better, complete with a thick stack of pancakes and reading an email from a Luther student who has become inspired enough from our trip to study abroad in Costa Rica. Probably could have chosen better people to follow, but right on buddy.

Hello from Guatemala!

Hello from Guatemala!

The morning we left Mexico, we were all pretty intimidated by the looks of the mountains. We'd biked over long hills before, but the steep and rigid peaks of Guatemala looked like a whole different monster. Ready to tackle the day, we sucked it up and started to ride. Luckily, we weren't too focused on the road in front of us because we barely noticed the building to turn in our Mexican travelers visa and get the departing stamp in our passport. No signs on the road. It felt weird to be riding past Mexico but not officially in Guatemala either. Just one calm man hanging out on a lazy Sunday morning watching the third Harry Potter.

One Month In

Sometimes your body tells you when you need a break. Knees start to hurt or there's just an overwhelming lack of general energy. This time, however, we took a rest day I didn't realize we needed. We'd been building our miles up steadily and feeling strong but riding that much takes a physical toll, especially when we're still pretty new to the whole process.

Fighting Fires and Finding the "Garden of Eden"

One of the many great things about bikes is they allow your body to become slowly acclimatized to your surroundings. You can only travel so quickly and so far at once meaning, as the air gets warmer or there's less oxygen while going up mountains, the change is gradual and essentially pleasant. Unless of course you bypass the biking for a bit and take a bus.

Pyramids, Birthday Tequila, and Mexican Wrestling

My how days fly by the further you go south! After our kind breakfast in San Juan with the mountain biking friend, the three of us decided to try out a new part of our adventure with the bus station. You might be like us and think "busses? How hard can that be? People use buses everyday!" However, what we needed to focus more on was taking a bus with bikes. We were able to buy three tickets, but the storage underneath was far too small so we ended up waiting another 4 hours for a larger one to Pachuca. Since it was already late, we quickly settled for a little restaurant called "buen comida" since it had to be good food! Lucky for us, they didn't lie and we were so hungry we ordered an extra round of quesadillas.