My trip to South America began in San Francisco, where I caught a plane on American Ailines to Santiago, Chile, with a change of planes at Dallas/Fort Worth.
After crossing through customs in Santiago, I boarded a Ladeco plane to Punta Arenas, a city of 110,000 people in the far south of Chile, on the Straight of Magellen near the Cape of Good Horn. I never made it to the Cape, but there was a bicycle excursion about 25 kilometers in that direction, taking me as far south as I went on this trip.
The next destination was Tierra del Fuego, where Herve and I biked around for a few days, including an overnight in the small port town of Porvenir. Then Cale arrived from San Francisco and we rented a car and drove northward for 16 hours to reach the Mount Fitz Roy portion of Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina, where we trekked for three days and spent one night in the settlement of El Chalten.
On the way back to Punta Arenas to meet up with Marc, who was flying in from San Francisco, Cale dropped Herve and I off at Chile's Torres del Paine National Park . We met back up with Cale and Marc on the trail within Torres del Paine, where we trekked for about six days total.
After this we all went back to Punta Arenas and I said goodby to Herve (who returned to Paris before beginning another adventure at Reunion Island) and Cale and Marc (who flew to the town of Futalefu to embark on a river rafting adventure). On December 23, I flew to the Falkland Islands, where I stayed in the town of Stanley and at Estancia Farm.
After one last pit stop in Punta Arenas, I said goodbye to my friends at Hospedaje Internacional and took a bus to Coyhaique, a city of some 40,000 persons located some 20 hours north of Punta Arenas via roads in Argentina. From Coyhaique I began a solo bike ride southward through the settlement of Tranquilo and the town of Cochrane until I reached Villa O'Higgins, the town at the end of the road.
Andres, Guillermo and I then took horses over the Andes and into Argentina, arriving near the Tucu Tucu Estancia (ranch), and getting a ride with a rancher to San Julian, a town on the Atlantic coast fronting a bay used by Magellan as a rest stop during the first circumnavigation of the globe. We took a 2:00 AM bus from there to the oil town of Comodoro Rivadavia, where we spent several hours exploring the city before we caught another bus for a marathon ride to Neuquen, Andres and Guille's hometown.
The night we arrived in Neuquen, I was off on another bus ("business class" this time) for the 17 hour ride to Buenos Aires, where I spent four days, with a one-night excursion to Montevideo, before returning to Neuquen for a few days. Then I took a bus to the town of Esquel (via Barriloche), where I rode immediately to the Welsh milltown of Trevelin. The next day I rode into Chile to the town of Futalefu, where I spent a few days before rafting down the Fu river with the bike on the support van, riding with the brother-sister team of Francesca and John George Martin from Concepcion, to the Camino Austral and the town of Santa Lucia, camping roadside just south of the town.
Over the next few days I rode southward back to the town of Coihaique, with stopovers in the towns of ___ and Puerto Puyuhuapi (where I hung out with Fernando, Rodrigo, and Renee, also from Concepcion). Then I was off to the airport of Balmeceda, where I caught a plane to the city of Calama in the north of the country. At the Calama airport I caught a quick "transfer" bus to the town of San Pedro de Atacama, where I spent the night before my incredible four day journey into the Altiplano (via the towns of Tocanao and Socaire) and through the Atacama (where I visited the town of Peine before returning, by bus, back to San Pedro).
After one more night in San Pedro, I took an overnight bus to Calama, then from Calama to the ritzy seaside resort of La Serena, where I immidiately transfered to a bus into the town of Vicunia. From there I got on the bike again and rode through the Elqui Valley (where grapes are grown and harvested for Pisco, the national liquor of Chile) toward the 15,000 ft. + Paso Agua Negra at the frontier with Argentina. I never made it to the frontier, however, after being stricken by a stomach illness which forced me to "hole up" under a tree for 24 hours and head back down to La Serena, where I caught another bus, this time to the working class seaside resort of Los Vilos, where I spent two days before catching a bus to Santiago, where I stayed for two weeks, with a side trip to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, before returning to San Francisco on March 1.
After crossing through customs in Santiago, I boarded a Ladeco plane to Punta Arenas, a city of 110,000 people in the far south of Chile, on the Straight of Magellen near the Cape of Good Horn. I never made it to the Cape, but there was a bicycle excursion about 25 kilometers in that direction, taking me as far south as I went on this trip.
The next destination was Tierra del Fuego, where Herve and I biked around for a few days, including an overnight in the small port town of Porvenir. Then Cale arrived from San Francisco and we rented a car and drove northward for 16 hours to reach the Mount Fitz Roy portion of Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina, where we trekked for three days and spent one night in the settlement of El Chalten.
On the way back to Punta Arenas to meet up with Marc, who was flying in from San Francisco, Cale dropped Herve and I off at Chile's Torres del Paine National Park . We met back up with Cale and Marc on the trail within Torres del Paine, where we trekked for about six days total.
After this we all went back to Punta Arenas and I said goodby to Herve (who returned to Paris before beginning another adventure at Reunion Island) and Cale and Marc (who flew to the town of Futalefu to embark on a river rafting adventure). On December 23, I flew to the Falkland Islands, where I stayed in the town of Stanley and at Estancia Farm.
After one last pit stop in Punta Arenas, I said goodbye to my friends at Hospedaje Internacional and took a bus to Coyhaique, a city of some 40,000 persons located some 20 hours north of Punta Arenas via roads in Argentina. From Coyhaique I began a solo bike ride southward through the settlement of Tranquilo and the town of Cochrane until I reached Villa O'Higgins, the town at the end of the road.
Andres, Guillermo and I then took horses over the Andes and into Argentina, arriving near the Tucu Tucu Estancia (ranch), and getting a ride with a rancher to San Julian, a town on the Atlantic coast fronting a bay used by Magellan as a rest stop during the first circumnavigation of the globe. We took a 2:00 AM bus from there to the oil town of Comodoro Rivadavia, where we spent several hours exploring the city before we caught another bus for a marathon ride to Neuquen, Andres and Guille's hometown.
The night we arrived in Neuquen, I was off on another bus ("business class" this time) for the 17 hour ride to Buenos Aires, where I spent four days, with a one-night excursion to Montevideo, before returning to Neuquen for a few days. Then I took a bus to the town of Esquel (via Barriloche), where I rode immediately to the Welsh milltown of Trevelin. The next day I rode into Chile to the town of Futalefu, where I spent a few days before rafting down the Fu river with the bike on the support van, riding with the brother-sister team of Francesca and John George Martin from Concepcion, to the Camino Austral and the town of Santa Lucia, camping roadside just south of the town.
Over the next few days I rode southward back to the town of Coihaique, with stopovers in the towns of ___ and Puerto Puyuhuapi (where I hung out with Fernando, Rodrigo, and Renee, also from Concepcion). Then I was off to the airport of Balmeceda, where I caught a plane to the city of Calama in the north of the country. At the Calama airport I caught a quick "transfer" bus to the town of San Pedro de Atacama, where I spent the night before my incredible four day journey into the Altiplano (via the towns of Tocanao and Socaire) and through the Atacama (where I visited the town of Peine before returning, by bus, back to San Pedro).
After one more night in San Pedro, I took an overnight bus to Calama, then from Calama to the ritzy seaside resort of La Serena, where I immidiately transfered to a bus into the town of Vicunia. From there I got on the bike again and rode through the Elqui Valley (where grapes are grown and harvested for Pisco, the national liquor of Chile) toward the 15,000 ft. + Paso Agua Negra at the frontier with Argentina. I never made it to the frontier, however, after being stricken by a stomach illness which forced me to "hole up" under a tree for 24 hours and head back down to La Serena, where I caught another bus, this time to the working class seaside resort of Los Vilos, where I spent two days before catching a bus to Santiago, where I stayed for two weeks, with a side trip to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, before returning to San Francisco on March 1.
