Sounds even drier than Aus. As always we look forward to your blog and this one I think was one of the best. I've just asked for a second cup of tea to quench my thirst!
Yay cycling Great to hear that you are feeling so well (I've just read the last blog) --I was thinking several posts ago that it all sounded very very tough! I bet you're grateful for the fully enclosed hub gears on all these dirt roads! Big hugs, Helena
Thanks for the trip Hi Claire and Dave Just love reading and seeing where you have been on your travels - you make it come quite alive. Hope you get over the altitude sickness and continue a great trip. Cheers Margie
That blockade I guess I'd be the only one of your readers who wished that the bus had smashed right through the teachers' blockade (with no injuries of course). What right do these people have to stop others enjoying their right to a peaceful holiday. Maybe Argentine teachers have to actually work for a living???
A bit warmer than down south Hello again, you two travellers, its sounds a bit warmer where you are than where you were at Christmas, what an amazing continent South America seems to be ! You tell us so much about the peoples, the culture and the land itself, it is making geography, ( my favourite subject after English) really come to life. I do envy you being able to do this, keep on with the good work, all my love, Mum x
love your story Love the fascinating story you make out of 'mere' travel. Your story has a rich passion about people and their place, justice and injustice, real history, poverty and richness, glory and pain, joy and problems, solitude and the press of cities ... What joy for you Claire that Erin can be with you.
Don
Victory to the Teachers I guess police are also the same evertywhere.Give them an anoymous uniform,deadly weapons and a working class struggle to supress and they are like pigs with their noses in a trough!!!
The struggle for justice is a global one.
Claire and Dave your epic adventure is getting me thinking about exercise aremarkable event in itself. Its been wonderful to follow you on your tour.Erin and Claire both look so well.
Apart from the order of Zhukov 2nd class I hope to be able to award the Leon Trosky order of exercise when we meet again.
your friend bob
Missing you Hello there in the southern end of the Americas.
This travel with Erin sounds like a huge difference, but certainly a welcome one. Good to see you head up north to Bolivia as well. Take care with the visa as they sometimes want Australians to pay for the service.
Take care,
Now you know why I like Coach holidays ! Hello, you two, glad you went some way by bus, what did you do with your bikes, ? trail the behind or tie them on top?
Now you know what it feels like to go on a coach holiday, but nothing can beat my trip from Brissie to Melbourne=29 hours non stop.
Am going to Croatia the same way soon. keep pedalling, love Mum
Same the world over... I guess teachers are over-worked and under-paid the world over?! Just had to have my little gripe about that! Your trip is bringing back many happy memories of my time in South America. Isn't Iguassu awesome? Bariloche was beautiful too, and you can't pass up free chocolate! At least you two earned yours!!!Keep having fun!
sounds like it was worth missing the Party for ! Hi, my two wanderers, You seem to be going from strength to strength on this trip of yours, and reading your adventures makes me think it was worth missing my Birthday Party for ! We all drank a toast to you and wished you well on the next leg of your trip, luv Mum XX
Heigh-ho for the beard and the cards! Hi Dave and Claire,
It seems impossible but the blog just gets more and more enthralling. Arm-chair travelling for us at its best. So glad that the card-playing with family experience got you more beer Dave and look forward to doing a Beard comparison with Graham and Francis. Love from Graham and Monique
Chile It's sounding like this leg of the journey is quite hard going in places. I'm glad you're finding the occasional oasis of rest amongst the days of hard riding. By the way, who is that beard-face you've picked up along the way and what's happened to Dave?
Love, Mark and Becky
WOW It's been ages since I looked at your blogs and I am awe struck. Great to see you are having such a great time. Nick and Kerry are over there now and they have just set up their blog. We all miss you. Cheers daver
Back from Egypt thanks for the travel commentry - the photos are awesome. Just got back from Egypt - what a country - to sail down the Nile was the most wonderful experience - would not have been hard to get dressed up as Cleopatra - somebody peel me a grape !! The temples and pyramids are fantastic - felt as though I had been there for a month. Will be going back in 2009 for a bit longer. Hope your trip is still going well - hope to see you when you get back. love M
You are da man, or at least da photog I just got back and am sick for Chile. Am looking at your pix, wow!
So good.
YOu caught the character of that damn vulcan!
What a Christmas and New Year What spectacular photos of Mt Fitzroy and the story of this Patagonian journey shows the stark reality of the hardships such a harsh environment offers. So much beauty dotted amongst an impossible landscape. Your rewards are very well earned and the true grit and sense of spirit you each possess is truly amazing. But then you are each there by choice and so many people are there is such an environment purely by accident of birth. I thought Dave was looking quite buff and muscular and Claire, you look wonderfully fit and athletic. It was nice to see you sitting on the jetty waiting for the boat together .....and resting. Take care and love you both. Jules
US$130 from El Calafate to El Chalten That's how much it cost me by private car (why? well that's another story) the windscreen was cracked, I couldn't open my door, the driver spoke No English At All and the dust was dreadful but but I still think it was worth it! And what will happen to the charm of El Chalten when it is bitumen all the way? Another El Calafate? Fantastic reading your adventures - makes me want to go back and do it all again.
Patagonia About the only thing I know about Patagonia is that it's part of the Antarctic continent which may go some way to explain why it's so inhospitable. Your journey through it sounds like a constant struggle against nature and although there are some definite highlights to the trip I was wondering; how do you keep your spirits up? After many days in near freezing, wind buffeting conditions how does it feel to carry on?
Another thing I was wondering is how to get cash out there. Are you relying on what you've taken with you or are there autobanks where you are able to draw more out? Have you ever run out of cash at any point?
Brrrrrr looks awfully windy Hi, you two, what little devils you both are for punishment, I thought this was going to be a holiday! Your Father hated the wnd you must take after him, but he never met anything like you two are experiencing.
Here we are complaing about a great wind here last week and yet it was nothing like yours. Glad you are getting a rest for a few days, look after each other, love mum xxxx
Happy Belated New Year! Hi Claire and Dave, It is always great to hear from you. I'm sure you will never forget the Christmas and the New Year's Day in Patagonia. We will keep praying for your safeness and good fortune. Love, Shoji and Junko
You're crazy!! Dave, I hardly recognised you with all that hair on your face but Claire, If I were you, I would be jealous as at least Dave would have a warm face when the wind threatens to blow you away!
Seriously though I admire your courage but think you are crazy. I will satisfy my desire to see that part of the world through your blogs and stick to warmer climates myself.
Keep pushing on, you will have some wonderful memories at the end of it all. Sheila
In July 2006, having packed up our homes and jobs, sold the children and robbed the bank, we left Australia for a year-long cycling and hiking (and mountain climbing) adventure, mostly in South America, via Cuba. Since then, we've been plotting how to do this again. Until it comes off we've made the most of what opportunities have come our way for smaller trips.... full info
Pat & Pete
non-member comment
Sounds even drier than Aus.
As always we look forward to your blog and this one I think was one of the best. I've just asked for a second cup of tea to quench my thirst!