A: A tenant.

When I can roll out of bed and into a bakery life is pretty good. There are still a bunch of us staying here but we try to make ourselves useful in different ways. Some help cook, some help neighborhood kids fix their bikes and I help keep the inventory down in the bakery and get the owner set up with a new Skype account on his Blackberry Playbook (which I’d never seen before, had to do in Spanish, with no native support on the device for for Skype and make sure he can get back to it after I leave).

Last night a bunch of us hung out at the house of one of the bakery chefs. Lot’s of wine/beer drinking and empanadas. It’ll be a hard place to leave but the plan is to hit the road in the morning.

I ended up staying 3 nights in Rio Grande so I could watch the Super Bowl Sunday night. That worked out quite nicely. Way to go Giants.

One of the highlights of my entire trip is going to be where I’m staying tonight–the famous Panaderia La Union here in Tolhuin. The owner, Emillo, is incredibly friendly and very generous. He let’s cyclists stay in an extra room with 4 beds for free. If the room is full, which it was when I got here, he’ll let you camp out on the floor of his (heated) gym. There’s a hot shower to use, a full kitchen available and free wifi. There are 7 of us here and a couple have been here for 4 days now.

The problem for me is that he’s too nice. When I got here I ordered a couple cappuccinos. They were on the house. Then I got a bunch of other stuff and they charged me way less than what they normally sold for. I couldn’t even pay for a big bottle of soda. I have a hard time when people give me things so now I feel guilty because I’m already staying here for free–I don’t want a bunch of other free stuff too. I’ll find a way to leave some cash behind.

BTW, the bakery is huge and it’s the best one by far in all of South America. I wish this place was in the southernmost city in the world because it would have been a great place to end my trip in SA. I still have 2 days of riding to Ushuaia but my flight doesn’t leave until the 18th. I have a lot of food and time so I might camp for a few nights at a place I heard about just before the city that’s supposed to be pretty impressive (and free).

The difference between the northern part of Tierra del Fuego and the southern part is incredible. There are forests here! And mountains and rivers! I ran into a couple French cyclists heading north. I love to scare them with tales of the O’Higgins crossing. I only did it because one of them asked how much my bike weighed. I’m so mean.

The GPS still has 2 bars left. Since enabling the battery saver mode it’s lasted 5 days on one set of AA (Eneloop) batteries. I might get a week out of it.

I also don’t care about my stupid upcoming birthday because everyone who guesses my age thinks I’m 30. Lot’s of chocolate and beer–that’s the trick.

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The ride today was like driving through Saskatchewan. In other words… boring. The 40mph wind blowing just a little behind me but mostly to the side helped break up the day. I did run into a stranded cyclist from Austria. The bolt that keep his seat post from moving was loose and he didn’t have anything to tighten it with. You can’t really ride a bike with the seat moving all over the place so he was just sitting on the other side of the road when I rode up. I happen to have 2 adjustable wrenches that did the trick. This guy gets the tough-guy award for the day. He was at least 65 years old to start with. He’s on his way up to Bolivia riding by himself into headwinds that I would find miserable to ride into.

In Rio Grande I heard there was a campground at a place called Club Nautico. The Austrian guy said he stayed there even though it was closed so I figured I’d be able to as well. I rode into town but didn’t know where it was so I headed over to the tourist info office to ask. The (cute) girl working there gave me a map and directions. It wasn’t far and when I got there I pulled into the driveway. The guys working there said they were closed and I couldn’t camp there. I guess everyone else just got there later in the day when no one was around. That’s what I get for being fast. I went back to the cute girl and told her it was closed since she had no clue. She told me a couple places to stay for cheap but they were full. I ended up tracking down Alojamiento Rawson for US $35. It’s waaaay overpriced but so is everything in this town (country). At least there’s wifi and heat in the room.

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For the 5th time I did the Chile/Argentina border crossing. I doubt I’ll beat that record again. That’s almost as many times as I’ve crossed between Canada and the US. OK, not even close but still. No problems at the crossing but I sure wish they didn’t have to stamp my passport every time I exit/enter. Those stamps take up a lot of space.

Getting to Tierra del Fuego means waking up at 6am to catch a 9am ferry. Of course it was raining which make things a bit sucky but the couple mile ride to the terminal in Punta Arenas went fast. I rode with two couples; one German and one French. A dog also ran beside us barking for the last mile and stayed (barking) until the ferry departed. The 2 hour ride was very smooth but very boring. CH$ 5500 to cross–no charge for the bikes.

After gathering up our bikes on the other side I went off ahead to find some lunch in the nearby town of Porvenir and never saw the other cyclists again. The road was unpaved leaving town but fairly decent to ride on. The rain had stopped and the sun made a rare appearance. The hills ended after 40km and then the road flattened out and it was the smoothest dirt road I’ve ridden on in all of Chile. With the wind blowing me along I was in heaven. This lasted about 2 minutes until my back tire went flat. Not sure what left the tiny hole–a nail I think–I had it fixed and was off again in about 5 minutes.

I thought finding a place to camp was going to be a nightmare but luck was on my side. There’s nothing after Porvenir. The ground is barren and aside from the occasional fishing shack along the water, there was zero protection from the wind. There weren’t even a lot of drainage ditches under the road to crawl into. Of course both sides of the road are fenced in so camping options are even more limited. Finally I spotted a clump of trees on the horizon and figured I would just ask the owners if I could camp there.

It turned out that this had become a rest stop of sorts and the only thing there was a small abandoned building and the clump of trees. The building was small (no way inside) and it took about half an hour to get my tent in a good spot so the wind wasn’t pummeling it. The only drawback was that people like crapping out of the wind so the side of the building was basically a toilet and it smelled like ass. Even after my tent was set up people would pull up over by the trees and take a leak.

Note to Chilean Government: your citizens are unable to pee next to the road; you should build rest stops for them or plant more trees so they don’t all pee in the same place and stink it up for the cyclists that have no where else to sleep. If necessary I can explain how to pee standing up even in high winds. I have done this hundreds of times with great success.

The pee station was 18.7km before the junction with Cameron. For the day I rode 58.62 miles with 2205 of climbing. There were a couple smelly little creeks to get water along the way.

The road is killing my GPS. It’s shutting off a lot more these days. While researching something else on it I discovered that it’s possible to bypass some sensor inside by soldering on a new capacitor. I think I’ll just replace it. The thing I was researching was a feature in the settings for the Garmin 60CSx called battery saver. There’s nothing about it in the manual. Well, the setting apparently decreases how often the GPS fetches satellite signals which increases battery life by 30-50%. FML. I’ve been using it in that setting for 3 days now and still have 3/4 bars left. The only drawback is that the accuracy diminishes somewhat but for road navigation it’s perfectly fine. I always thought the setting just turned off the GPS if it detected no movement for a couple minutes.

Today was uneventful but the road was horrible washboard almost the entire way. I did manage to ride from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in one day though. The road is paved now until Ushuaia which means this was the last section of unpaved road I ride in South America. So sad. Rode 47.57 miles. There are a couple little buildings that would make great shelters on this stretch. The 2nd place even had 3 beds with mattresses inside (that I would not ever sleep on).

I’m staying in the tiny border town of San Sebastian, Argentina which is exactly 15km from the town of San Sebastian, Chile along the same road because that makes sense. They have big bottles of beer and hot empanadas in the restaurant/old gas station across from the customs office. They also let people camp in the back behind an amazing fence that blocks all wind! It was also possible to sleep in the waiting room by customs. The room is heated, has a stove and water. I think there’s a shower too. I prefer my tent and baby wipes though.

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And for the big news… I’m going to Europe! Here’s the plan of attack:

I’ll start out in the Netherlands where I’ll visit my friends Karin and Marten who are back home, settled in from their tour. Koga is hopefully going to ship my new frame to their house and I’ll build the bike there. That way I don’t have to pay any bike transport fees leaving South America. I’ll just remove everything I want to keep from the old bike and stick it in a duffel bag.

Next, I’ll hop on a boat/train (not sure) to the UK and see what’s going on there. Then I’ll head over to Ireland and drink Guinness until my liver explodes. After that it’ll be another boat back to France where I’ll start heading across and up to Saint Petersburg, Russia. The rest is on the map but the eventual goal will be Istanbul, Turkey.

I haven’t forgotten about Australia/New Zealand and if things go well maybe someday I’ll head that way too. This just worked out better with the seasons and because my bike frame needed to get replaced. OK technically I could still ride it but I don’t like knowing that my front rack could clamp down on the wheel at any time and send me over the handlebars.

Before I get to Europe I’m planning a stop in Florida to dump some cold weather gear, visit family and friends and eat some greasy chicken wings. If things go well I should be back in Florida on February 19th.

The weather in Patagonia deserves a special mention. I read in a travel guide that you can experience 4 seasons of weather in 5 minutes here. They weren’t kidding. If you are out of the wind and the sun is out it is blazingly hot. The wind is cold so even with the sun you still freeze. The next minute a hail storm could come through and then maybe it’ll rain for a few minutes and clear up again. It’s crazy.

Tomorrow I’m going on a boat tour to see a colony of 60,000 penguins at Isla Magdalena. The tour doesn’t get back until 10pm so no point in rushing out the next morning. The island is in the Strait of Magellan which I rode next to on the way into the city. It was pretty exciting to see it since it marks the end of mainland South America. On Thursday I’ll hop on another ferry for a 2 hour ride across the Strait of Magellan to Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (Great Island of the Land of Fire). Then I continue down to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia.

Camping spots were practically non-existent from Puerto Natales to Villa Tehuelche where I stayed last night. I had to ride 94 miles to get there but the only other place it might have been possible to stay, Morro Chico, was too close. The free camping was right next to the fire station. A bunch of little neighborhood kids stopped by to terrorize me visit. One of them even brought over some berries for me (after crashing into my tent x2, throwing dirt on my pot of rice, knocking down my food pannier, not wiping his runny nose and picking up and investigating everything I had laying on the ground). The wind was strong but for first 60 miles or so it was behind me and I made good time. One gust hit from the side so hard I was in the middle of the road before I could even hit the brakes. Glad no one was behind me.

The scenery today was in a word boring but holy crap was it windy. Most of the time it was from the west (my right side) which meant I had to focus hard on not getting blown out into traffic. It was 64.58 miles with 2129 feet climbing from Villa Tehuelche. A liter of beer and 3 huge hotdogs hit the spot for dinner (OK dinner #1–now it’s snack time).

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The road from the campground at Lago Pehoé to Puerto Natales was more of the same from the day before. Inside the park it was brutal with lot’s of big hills and bad roads. There’s a long flat section just before leaving the park that I would absolutely hate if I were coming in the other way thanks to bad washboard and a relentless headwind.

Outside the park there was lot’s of climbing but great views of the lakes and mountains. Camping was also difficult, and gets progressively harder, except for one place along the only river crossing, maybe 15 km from the park.

At the junction with route 9 the road is paved and with the wind I sailed into Puerto Natales. Finding a place took some effort because most rooms were full and I couldn’t find the tourist office to get directions to a campground. I didn’t want to camp anyway and as luck would have it I found a room at Residencial Bernardita for 10,000 pesos (US $20). I even have a private bathroom and a cooking area right outside my door. Good wifi too. First time I’ve slept in a bed for almost 3 weeks. I’m paid up for 3 nights.

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The road was paved for 18 km leaving Castillo and then it alternated from bad to really bad all day. Riding was tough especially after rounding Lago Sarmiento. That’s where the SW headwinds kicked back in and the road started climbing up and down some very steep hills.

Didn’t have much luck with drivers in the park. Most private cars/trucks slowed down to pass but virtually all of the buses, tour guide vans and park maintenance workers blew right by kicking up huge clouds of dust and coming within a few feet of me on the narrow road. They either don’t realize what they are doing which would make an interesting study to see why so many complete idiots are in the tourist industry or they are taking the opportunity to show their contempt for me as a tourist. Most Chileans seem to like cyclists so I can only assume that workers in the tourist industry just hate tourists and I’m an easy target on the road.

At one point three huge tour buses passed in a row, none of them slowing down or moving over. I caught up to them a short time later at an overlook where they’d stopped to let people off for pictures. I thanked them for the dust bath after greeting them with, “Hey assholes…” They all drove by a while later, this time two slowed down and one buzzed me again and honked for good measure. The guy that honked is the one covering his face in the picture.

Then there’s the entrance fee for the park. As a non-resident of Chile I’m required to pay almost four times as much as locals to get in (US $30 vs. US $8). This just annoys the hell out of me. Why are foreigners having to pay to preserve Torres del Paine? The park is in Chile!!! Have some pride in your national park system! Imagine pulling up to the gate at Yellowstone National Park and seeing a sign that said foreigners have to pay four times as much. As an American I’d be freaking embarrassed.

Saying that, “Well locals pay taxes to maintain the park which is why foreigners are charged more…” is crap. Locals pay almost nothing to maintain the park! I read that the state spends less than US $2 per hectare of protected reserve, for year-round protection and maintenance. The United States spends over $31 per hectare based on the 2006 National Park Service budget. There are three things that I care about in the park: the scenery, the infrastructure and my safety. The scenery costs Chile nothing and based on them not enacting any laws/rules to prevent fires after the big one in 2005, they don’t care if the place burns down anyway. The roads are terrible and there is no infrastructure other than the campgrounds which I had to pay an additional US $16 to stay at. As far as safety I’m pretty much on my own to deal with the tourist-hating locals. Maybe they have someone to clear the trails…so great, one guy with a shovel and a saw. Big deal. Maybe they could use one of the four people collecting my fee at the entrance gate.

The higher fee is nothing more than a way to suck in more tourist dollars to make some politicians and their corporate buddies richer. The money we spend on food, gas, hotels and transportation, and the jobs this creates for Chileans, should be enough.

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Leaving El Calafate, the magical tailwind from the west never really kicked in and when I turned south west it turned into a headwind. I caught up with Stefan on the hill and we ended up riding together for the next few days into Torres del Paine. I finally spotted my first nandu (aka Darwin’s Rhea), it’s a large flightless bird that can run 37 mph. The land is all fenced in and the only option for sleeping out of the wind is to crawl into a drain pipe under the road (and hope it doesn’t rain), or get to a building.

I’d read that the highway maintenance guy working out of the small cluster of buildings in El Cerrito lets people stay in the shed where they store snow equipment/fuel during winter. The guy was there with his son who was quite happy with my gift of sour gummy worms for letting us stay there and providing us with water. Stats: 60 miles and 2945 feet climbing.

The road heading to Tapi Aike sucked. This section was unpaved and it was all bumpy washboard gravel. On top of that I was riding right into a strong 35-40 mph southwesterly wind. Getting to the next stop at Tapi Aike was a challenge but stopping wasn’t really an option since there were basically no places to camp. This area was popular with condors who soared above the hills taking advantage of the updraft. Probably saw about 30 in total that day.

Tapi Aike, a name that I love saying even though I’m probably mispronouncing it, is nothing more than another small cluster of highway maintenance buildings and a gas station with a cafe that sadly had no beer and only sold snack food. Water was available from a stream across the road. We were allowed to set up our tents in a shed which got us out of the wind. The police also share the building and had told me I could camp in the field across the road. I’m glad one of the highway workers came out of the office and said we could stay in the shed. Stats: 41.6 miles with 1624 feet climbing.

From Tapi Aike to the turnoff for Cerro Castillo and the border with Chile, the road was paved. There was still a strong headwind all day but it was a lot easier to ride into on solid ground. The road from the border to Cerro Castillo was unpaved but not in bad shape. No customs check at the border like I mentioned but the wait was long. The town has a cafe and a small but well-stocked store with all kinds of good camping food. The restaurant also had loaves of bread for sale. Since beer was going to be hard to find for a few days I bought a little bottle of rum.

This little trip to Torres del Paine wasn’t planned on my part–I gave into peer pressure a little and figured I’d check it out. I didn’t really have a reason for not wanting to go other than I’m excited about getting to Ushuaia and going through a park that had recently suffered from a massive wildfire wasn’t that appealing. Anyway, I needed to stock up on food since there would be no more towns for a while so I loaded up at the store in Cerro Castillo. Stats: 36 miles with 1168 feet climbing.

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