After a fantastic visit with Rose´s folks and aunt Gwynne in the Bariloche area (hopefully we´ll get some photos posted eventually), we have hit the road south by bicycle, headed for the Carretera Austral in Chilean Patagonia.
Right now we are in Trevelin, Argentina, after surviving the aggressive bus drivers on Route 40. Our trip almost ended early in a gorgeous valley just south of El Bolson, a paradise with ripe, sweet blackberries lining the roadside for miles and miles. Had the rancher accepted our (admittedly lowball) offer for his property, we probably would have settled down there permanently. Unfortunately, the days of buying Patagonian ranches for under $500 US are gone, probably forever.
On day 3, a few hundred kms into our trip, our introduction to ¨ripio¨(Spanish for hellishly washboarded gravel road) began. Frankly it was a bit disturbing, considering the next few thousand kilometers are unpaved. Fortunately the grim gravel led us into the gorgeous granduosity(kind of alliterative, eh?) of Parque Nacional Los Alerces, where Rose got a jump start on her major goal for the trip: learning to love camping in the rain. I, on the other hand, gave up even trying to enjoy wet camping long ago and will be happy to survive with a minimum of new fungal growths on my body. In other news, our butts are in the ¨rawhide¨stage (emphasis on the raw), well on the way to being leathery, which is another primary goal for the trip.
So now it is over into Chile and the legendary Futaleufu and then south, south, south... Internet cafes are few and far between down here so be patient loyal readers...
Ciao,
Ty
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