Rio Grande to Rio Gallegos

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Have now got 7 days of riding under my belt and am now sitting in a funky internet cafe in the town of Rio Gallegos in Argentina.

Rode through Tierra del Fuego listening to Eddie Izzard and Johnny Cash. Not an obvious pairing but they make interesting earfellows.

I have been impressed by how extremely friendly and helpful everyone is despite the fact that my Spanish is really pretty abysmal. My approach to communication is to smile a lot, point, eat anything and say ok. It seems to work reasonably well. I don´t think I have massively offended anyone or done anything illegal yet.

The highlight so far has been staying a night on a sheep farm in the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego. I had hoped to camp in a place called Cullen. However upon arrival in the late afternoon I was informed by two security guards with nice shiny sunglasses and big truncheons that Cullen was "privado". It looked like some kind of natural gas depot. Not wishing to be perceived as a potential threat to the security of Cullen I filled my water bottle and pedalled on. A couple of kilometres later I came across a sign on the main road for a farm (Estancia) and went to ask if I could camp the night. As I cycled down the side road to the farm I went into a beautiful sheltered valley. After a brief interview Paul, the farmer, not only gave me a room for the night but also lots of coffee, homemade bread and jam (both for tea and breakfast the following day). When I did rise at about 8am the following morning I found out that everyone else had been up since 3am gathering sheep and bringing them down into the valley. If the sheep could in some way be incentivised not to stray so far and perhaps not stray at all on weekends thus making sleeping in a possibility I think I might consider sheep farming.

The most challenging thing has been the wind. Before I came here I had read about the winds and the fairly obvious thought that registered in my head was "well it seems pretty windy". It has been extremely windy. At times it has taken me two hours to do 12 km. Legs slowly grinding away in the granny ring whilst my arms are struggling to keep a twisting front wheel with a life of its own straight. At times I have tried to engage the wind in conversation saying things like "Let me through, I have read the Alchemist" I have also tried positive thinking saying to myself "never mind the wind, it really is beautiful here". The bottom line however is it is very, very windy.

Anyway tomorrrow I am going to head off into the wind and go North West for El Calafate. I think it should take me 4 or 5 days to get there. I have stocked up on pasta, tuna, chocolate, dried fruit and bought an extra water flask that looks really cool (it reminds me of the one my Action Man used to have-hopefully no one will dangle me over a staircase on a piece of string, pull all my fingers off before throwing me in a big box under a bed-the universal fate of all Action Men).

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Photos

Tierra del Fuego
Unlike Tooting Bec, parking is not usually a problem in Tierra del Fuego.

Estancia Sara
Camp Malloch Estancia Sara, Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego. The tent is erected and does the business.

All aboard
The ferry service between Tierra del Fuego and mainland Chile provides a seamless multi modal transport and logistics solution. After battling all afternoon with a mighty headwind I was the last aboard I cycled up, got on and the ferry pulled away. Quite dramatic timing.

Baa!
Sheep, being herded.

Farmhouse in Tierra del Fuego
Paul and his daughter, Viviana, outside their beautiful farmhouse.

Hotel at Kimiri Aike
From the outside this hotel looked a bit like something from a Scooby Doo cartoon. However it was a very charming place to stay and hide from the wind for a day. It is run by a very friendly and helpful lady called Olga.

My washing
My washing drying in my room. Thought I would add a non-scenery shot detailing the more humdrum aspects of life on the road (after a couple of hours I plucked up courage and asked Olga if I could put it on the line outside at the back of the hotel).