Forwards brave bikers

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique
January 26th 2015

Published: January 28th 2015

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yamwonsen

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Dry beef curry in the hostel in El Calafate

After Torres de Paine everything is rather bleak, the ever present Patagonian nothingness is ever-present as we drive to El Calafate, 80 km of really bad ripio and some ditto highway we’re in El Calafate , me yet again.New mates and a new hostel.

They receive us like royalty, Bele’en the woman in charge is so nice as to fall in love with her.

Lucky for me( and her) I already have found one to be in love with.

Anyway how lovely she is the beds are a bit too short, for a man of my size but Itake of the mattress and but the actually bed hardware against the wall, now I’m sorted and actually the bed serves as a good coat hanger.

Rather a nice dinner later with lamb agnelotti and some plonk it’s bed time.

Werner and Alejandro are off to see the glacier and I’m free to do anything, which in my case is to do fcuk all and read a book. I don’t even sit on the bike, my backside needs a rest..

next day it’s time for El Chalte’n home of the famous Fitz Roy mountain headwind for 80

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Guanaco caught on on of the millions of kms of barbed wire the runs along each side of the road

km going there and a sometimes brutal ripio road getting to the ”Desert lake”.

One attraction along the road si a dead dessicated guanaco hanging fro a barbed wire fence!

You can spot the glaciers all over he place, and a nice river as well.

Chalte’n is the hiker’s paradise according to the signs in the village

Once that being done down to the petrol station and wait for your turn in the queue, intercourse YPF.

Next stop is Tres Lagos a one horse town in the middle of nowhere, the only redeeming feature is a petrol station, it’s really a dismal dump. We have a crummy over priced meal in the joint of a local queen bitch.

The next day is a long one up to Perito Moreno 354 km + another 180 km of which 80 km is ripio.

Really the only fun part of that trip is when I have to stop in the middle of the road to avoid running over two Patagonian fox cubs, they stand in the middle of the road looking very foxy.

I turn of my engine and sit there watching them for a

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while as I slowly pull my camera/ phone/ general slave driver out my pocket.

I get a bad, but though a pic of one of them, they’re difficult to spot as their colours blend in really well with the background.

Gob. Gregores with it’s petrol stain gives us an unique possibility to get some fuel and, lo and behold, no queues.

Alejandor is out there hustling wanting to get some Argie black market pesos for ready dollars.

He does succeed and we get some much needed pesos.

We go to the restaurant where I had dinner the other night, and they recognize me and service is prompt.

We get a gift of smoked Vicuna meat, compliments of the management, there’s one flip side to being well known..

Mssrs Garmin says 354, 7 km to go.

4 hours of shitty Patagonian landscape and the bloody howling wind that changes direction when ever, in 10 m it can do a 180 degree change

When we reach Perito Moreno I’ve passed monkey bum by a long shot but there’s nowhere else to stop.

Well you can stop anywhere, but out there