Riding to Patagonia

[ducpainter]

I did say free food and lodging, but not where

Enough thread jacking.

I can get in enough trouble here at home. 

[1.21GW]

Puerto Sanchez is a small lakeside village that offers an alternative to the heavily trafficked Río Tranquilo, both of which offer access to the marvelous marble caves of Lake General Carretera.  It is sleepy town with no industry or businesses outside of field work.  The one shop I walked passed seemed perpetually closed.  There was a mineral processing plant which was shut down two decades ago and now sits decaying on the cliff overlooking the bluest lake you've ever seen.  My arrival from Bahía Murta was greeted by heavy winds and empty streets, save for a lone mare that had escaped from her pasture and was grazing on the weeds growing between the cracks of a blighted public basketball court.  

























I arrived in the early afternoon and began asking around in hopes of finding someone to take me by boat to the caves.  Eventually, I met Jose, who runs tours on his boat, "Diablo".  His three-legged dog, Anksa, never leaves his side unless he's on the boat, wherein she will wait patiently on shore until he returns.





Jose told me he was expecting a tour van at 16:00h and if I waited I could join.  So I set up my tent under one of the only trees near the shore and wandered the village for the afternoon.  The tour arrived a bit late and by the time we had our life jackets on and were settled in the boat, whatever maritime authority overseas the lake had put the kaibosh on all tours due to high winds.  So I had to wait out the night and hope the following day brought calmer weather.  I explored the abandoned mining facilities and sat on a cliff looking out over the boldest blue I've ever seen until the sun set.  The view was spectacular: while the west washed the sky with bright oranges and pinks, the east offered up a mountaintop rainbow.  Two vistas dueling for my favor.




















The next day winds were still strong (strong enough to break a tentpole...RIP Nemo Galaxy 2p, you served me well.) but had dropped enough to let the boat out.  The cavernous side of the island is well protected from the wind, so in the end we had a relatively calm tour.  The marble in the caves were formed when calcium from dead mollusks and other primordial creatures was compressed under the weight of an ancient glacier in the region.  The constant churning and crashing of the wind swept lake wore down the soft marble rock in surreal forms and columns.  Other minerals present in the rock make beautiful patterns and texture that are reminiscent of an abstract expressionist painting.  And with the sunlight reflecting the blueness of the water, the caves seem alive under the shimmering light.











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[Mhanis]

Wow...........

Mark

[DarkMonster620]

should have packed my bags and purchase the DR400 . . .

[koko64]

Amazing rock formations, surprisingly angular.

Looks like a good spot to birth a shadow baby.

[GK]

With his writing talent, he’d whip up a date or 400 for sure! 😉😉

[1.21GW]

Been having some long hard days in southern Patagonia.  Seems appropriate to post this cogitation I wrote after some rough riding in Peru and Bolivia.





You sinuous scourges, you that are fat with promise. You dusty paths etched by boot and by hoof into the immovable granite giants of this land. You blue-black strips of macadam stamped with the fists of modern machines into this primordial rock. You, that led with indifference Incan armies and Spanish conquistadors to triumph and to calamity alike. You, that cradled young Che and guided him to epiphany and infamy. Guide me, too, to the bones of your lost civilizations and their lost cities. Show me their secrets. Reveal me your hidden corners where mountain peaks conduct the swirling firmament in silent symphonies of light. Where snow falls on the wooly backs of wild camelids that stare at strange forms motoring passed. Strike fear in me with your dizzying drop-offs. I will ride on. Whelm me in your rocky streams and numb me with your bitter alpine air.  I am yours.  Beat me, you malevolent masters, with impossible distances and ferocious winds. I pick myself up and trundle on. I am your acolyte, your willing slave ready to suffer long hours and lost days in your interminable soup of switchbacks. I will endure your treadmill of torture, your endless rows of ruts and puddles and embedded rocks that pummel my tires like the fury of a thousand fists and wrest control from my weak and weary arms. I am painted in your mud and dust.  I am bathed in your glacial streams.  I am baptized in your faith.  Lead on, you sirens of tomorrow.  I will not yield.  It is forever morning, and the bright day lies before me. Lead on.

[ducpainter]

Havin' any fun?

[1.21GW]

Case in point on the Patagonian wind:

I met a group of travelers all heading south, some on bikes, some in vans.  Two separate couples each had a Mercedes Unimog converted to RVs.  If you're not familiar, Unimogs are German military trucks that people enjoy buying and converting to whatever passion dictates.  They are bigggg.  Here's a pic from the interweb:




So we're crossing the border between Chile and Argentina in heavy winds.  The wife in one of the Unimogs can't get the door open to climb back into the truck.  So her husband has to use all his might to get it open and then helps her up and in.  As he goes around to get in the driver side, she opens the door inadvertently and the wind whips is open with her holding on.  Two witnesses claim she flew 10 feet in the air from the force!  One witness went to help but the wind was so strong he had to crawl on his arms and knees to get to her without being blown over.

I thought 100mph winds on the top of Mt Washington was the worst I've experienced, but Patagonia has usurped that crown.

[ducpainter]

What are the temps like right now?

[1.21GW]

Chile...I mean, errr Chilly.

High single digits C, more or less in the 40s F, maybe 50s on a good day.  Gas attendant told me in the warmest months (Jan-Feb) it reaches about 20-21C, which is near 70F.

Got some light snow or freezing rain or something while riding the other day.  Also, came home at midnight and while the sun had set the sky was still light.  When I woke up at 5a it was already light out.

[ducpainter]

How cold does it get in their winter?

[duccarlos]

How cold does it get in their winter?

Cold

[1.21GW]

Internet tells me Ushuaia has average hi/lo in June of 3/-1C.  I think the surrounding bodies of water prevent those extreme colds you get in, say, the Great Plains states.

[ducpainter]

Internet tells me Ushuaia has average hi/lo in June of 3/-1C.  I think the surrounding bodies of water prevent those extreme colds you get in, say, the Great Plains states.

...and you put it up against Mt. Washington?

Dood...you've already been to the nastiest spot on the planet.

It just took you longer to get to Patagonia.