Time to close the chapter of our South American journey. As the final stage of this journey has been characterised with altitude sickness and food poisoning, the journey home comes with a small amount of relief. The last week of uncomfortableness does not at all reflect the very fortunate and wonderful experience we have had - and we certainly hope we have been able to share some of this adventure with you through this blog. We would love to thank Patagonia for sharing its grand and powerful landscape and climate, Chile for it´s quietness and familiarity to New Zealand, Argentina for [View Full Entry]

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After nearly three months spent exploring Chile and Argentina, the time came for a complete change of scene. So off to the highlands of Bolivia - bringing a dramatic change in culture, landscapes, and not least altitude. We´re currently in Potosi; at 4060m it is the highest city in the world. Although totally wanting to be excited about this amazing country, our spirits have been humbled by varying degrees of altitude sickness and food poisoning - for the first time in our lives, we´ve been able to afford to eat out three times a day, but one of us has been [View Full Entry]

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A flight north landed us in the wonderful San Pedro de Atacama. Situated at an oasis in the Atacama Desert (the most arid place on earth, San Pedro is blessed with beautiful adobe architecture, the thick mud walls provide a welcome sanctuary from the searing midday sun. Missing the independence our bikes provided, the intrepid explorers hired 3 trusty steeds (we now have a new appreciation for chain lube, XT componentry, brakes...)to join the mad dogs and englishmen and venture out into the desert . Well prepared as always, clutching a litre of water and a packet of salty peanuts for [View Full Entry]

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The arrival into Pucon marked the last section of our biking trip. We wanted this to be fun and most of all a success; we had several aeroplanes to catch and a late arrival to the airport could make things ´poco complicado´(a little complicated). To ensure this, we left behind excess gear, to be picked up at the end of our trip. Being the hi tech, effecient cycling team that we are ... this gear was mostly made up of Aroha´s and Penny´s wardrobe shopping, plus winter woolies that had been useful at 55 degrees south, but now was only useful [View Full Entry]

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I have suffered both triumph and trauma on the journey. Kate and I have been throwing the odd line into a river/lake in the hope of providing some trout for dinner. After some superb site selection, combined with cunning and masterful technique, it was to my great delight that I succeeded in the first and only catch of our short fishing season (contrary to popular belief, I´m not at all competitive). This glorious event also combined to mark as my first ever catch. However not seconds after my triumphant chorus I soon realised the beautiful creature I had whisked out [View Full Entry]

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Catching a ferry across one of the many lakes that are scattered over Chile, we arrived to much longed for pavimento (tarseal); finally a break from corrugated gravel roads! We envisaged smooth rides with thekilometres whistling past our tyres ... but it seemed that Patagonia wished for us never to forget that we are in a powerful landscape, and we were faced with several days of 30-40 knot headwinds, once again testing our morale and inner strength. However, the greater the challenge means the sweeter the reward - fresh food, a comfy bed and hot showers in a Hospedaje (backpackers), that [View Full Entry]

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It appears that Penny was not alone in having a less than perfect spanish tranlation of her name... After 8 weeks of introducing one of our number (I won´t say who) as Kate, we discover that it translates as a ´cocaine based loaf´. To preemptively prevent any further nomenclaturial mishap, there have been a few changes (see above), to some good wholesome spanish names. [View Full Entry]

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All we wanted for christmas was a steamroller, or failing that three mega souped up (well supported) brassieres. This last section of road we found tough; the loosely gravelled corrugations were as large as ocean swells; when you´re in one, you can only see the top of the helmet of the rider in front. joggle joggle joggle. All in all, we were reduced to 30km days, which is quite slow in cycle-touring terms, especially when we met two French chaps who are RUN-touring around South America. They were doing 40+km days! Anyhow Santa obliged, (how he found our tents on the [View Full Entry]

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Hooray - it was great to be back on the bikes and on the road after an excess of town time and panaderia (bakeries). The weather gods again obliged, providing a pretty sundappled treelined road and tailwinds. Aroha and Penelope were fortunate enough to find themselves on a three hour horse trek with the local gendarmerie (bored border patrol in the middle of nowhere). Amazing if not just for the stunning evening views of Cerro Fitzroy across the lake Lago de Desierto. This is the most logistical section of the Carretera Austral - the road being transected by two lakes and [View Full Entry]

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...so what´s at Fitzroy? Why do we need to go there? We arrived whilst it was clagged in, one went straight to the chocolateria, two did a sock stocktake...an hour later as we dragged ourselves away from our pressing engagements, one went off to the latrine and stopped in her tracks, "Good Lord!", another returned to find one lounging in awe in the middle of an empty paddock, "what are you doing out here?", "looking at the view" "What view...Holy Heck!!" The clouds had parted to reveal the formidable peaks of Cerro Fitzroy and Cerro Torre looming high above. Under which [View Full Entry]

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