End of the Road, Sort of...

This very morning, Rose and I rolled into Villa O´higgins, the very end of the Carretera Austral! Since Cochrane, we have ridden through some gorgeous country, finally saw some huemules (the endangered Andean deer whose existence we were beginning to think was actually just a myth), and (most recently) endured two straight days of cold rain. My improvised new rear wheel, while strongly oval in shape, has been performing admirably (Question: What do you get when you cross a 34 spoke hub and a 38 hole rim?).

Our accommodations have been interesting the last few nights, both of which we were fortunate to find shelter from the endless deluge. First rainy night found us bunked in the Chilean military´s extra cabin in Puerto Yungay (population 3, plus 5 military folks). The highlight of that night, aside from the wood cookstove, was my two round bout with a giant Patagonian mouse, who woke us up in his attempt to drag our entire cheese supply off to his lair. Round one went to the mouse, but I scored a TKO in round two when I whacked him off the table with a nalgene bottle, after which we didn´t hear another peep. Rainy night two found us bunked in a friendly campesino´s smokehouse, complete with hunks of smoking vacuno (beef to you gringos). We started a lovely fire and dried out, but the damn place kept filling up with smoke, funny that... However, the owner had us in to gather round his wood cookstove for coffee, eggs and bread in the evening, then coffee and frybread in the morning. The sleeping quarters were also populated by three dogs a couple dozen chickens, and a spirited white cat named, get this, ¨gato blanco¨.

Anyhow, the sun is shining now and we just polished off a lunch of salmon empanadas, aaahhhh. Though the road has ended, the journey continues. Tomorrow we ferry across a lake and cross to Argentina, hiking and biking across the border to El Chalten (of FitzRoy and Cerro Torre fame). Then the road continues, southward of course. We may even continue rolling al the way to Tierra del Fuego, making use of our newly leathery butts.

Best wishes to all. Que le vaya bien.

Ty