From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

We left San Martin de los Andes following the “Ruta de 7 lagos,” which runs 110 km to Villa La Angostura. It is a very scenic route winding through seven lakes, with breathtaking views across the waters, nestled in a picturesque landscape. Morale was high, despite the thunderstorms all around us on the horizon. We played hide and seek with the rain clouds, waiting for the storms to pass, and barely got rained on.

We camped that night beside Lake Falkner, amidst spectacular landscapes. We had brought some steaks with us to cook, and we grilled them over the campfire. It was a campsite “organisado,” which meant bathrooms, showers, picnic tables, running water and barbeque pits. There was even a little restaurant, but it wasn’t open yet – too early in the season.

The next morning, we headed out to take on the gravel road. It was rocky, and only got worse as we went along. The rainclouds thundered once again and this time we weren’t able to avoid them: we put on our raingear. Happily the sun came out afterwards and we dried off.

As we were going downhill Sébastien pulled quickly ahead. Heather followed his lead.. and that’s when everything changed. Her bike has thinner tires then ours do, and bounces around a little more on the gravel. She lost control of the bike and hit the ground in a cloud of dust. I yelled. Sébastien saw what happened in his rearview mirror and turned around. I left my bike in the middle of the road and rushed over to Heather to see how she was. It didn’t look good: her shoulder seemed dislocated or broken, she had hit her head, and she was in total shock. She tried to get up right away, but I calmed her down and got her to talk to me. I first got her to wiggle her fingers and toes, and to move her wrists, knees, and ankles to make sure that nothing was broken, and then helped her slowly to her feet. It took her quite a while to sit down by the side of the road. Her knee was bleeding, but other than that she seemed alright.

Meanwhile, a car had stopped. Beatriz and Catherine were from  Argentina and spoke English. Right away they offered to help us and to take us to the hospital in Villa La Angostura. The situation was clearly serious, since Heather couldn’t remember anything. Sébastien said that I should  go with Heather. After conferring with our “rescuers,” we decided to hide Heather’s and my bike in the forest and that Sébastien would bike all the way – 30 km, and it was already 6:00 pm.

We unloaded the bikes as fast as we could, so as not to leave them in the woods, and to make sure that we had everything we needed with us. While we were unloading quite a few cars and buses stopped and even took pictures of the accident – which I did not at all appreciate. In the car Heather had a hard time remembering what we had told her five minutes before. She alternated between hysteria and shivering – clearly in a state of shock.

We arrived at the hospital in Villa La Angostura, and Beatriz went to find an emergency nurse. Bad luck for us, it was December 8, a religious holiday (the immaculate conception) and although the hospital wasn’t fully staffed it was still efficient. A nurse came over to Heather, but she doesn’t speak Spanish, so the nurse called over one of her colleagues who spoke English. Heather was very much reassured. She was wheeled into the hospital, with a neck brace. I broke down then, worried that she was seriously injured. Beatriz hugged me and told me that everything would be alright. They gave Heather a full check-up, including x-rays. I gave her helmet to the head nurse who cut the straps. She said that it was unusable now, and that traditionally, the injured party breaks the helmet in two and gives the pieces to the person who came with them. But Heather couldn’t break it, having injured her shoulder. She’ll have to do it later.

In the end, Heather didn’t fare too badly: a strained shoulder muscle, some scrapes and bruises, and a bump on the head. But nothing broken. She didn’t pay anything either, since the hospital was public and free for everyone.

Beatriz and Catherine waited with us at the hospital and then helped us to find a good hotel, a little expensive but quiet so Heather could rest. Sébastien soon arrived in town and we were able to relax a little.

The next day (Wednesday), we decided to rent a car to go back and pick up the bikes who had spent the night in the forest, to pack up all our bags and drive to Bariloche, 80 km away, where we could find cheaper accommodation. We headed back to the site of the accident, strapped the bikes to the roof of the car as best we could, and drove the rest of the way along the “Ruta de 7 lagos,” towards Bariloche, the Argentinean chocolate capital. We’ll stay there a couple of days, to give Heather some time to recover.
The morale of the story?

We realized that even after having biked thousands of kilometers, a accident can happen when you least expect it. It might have been either one of us instead of Heather. We also realized that we weren’t well prepared in case of an emergency. Our first aid kit is buried at the bottom of one of our bags, almost forgotten. The numbers to call in case of emergency were not all together. We’ll have to think of how to organize things better.

And to all those who might be worried about Heather: she’s fine (and so is her bike!). It was more a scare than anything else, and she was lucky. She’s mending now, slowly but surely. Despite her injuries, she was able to get up without too much difficulty the next morning. She was feeling a little down, but her morale is coming back and we (Sébastien and I) are keeping an eye on her, and trying to make her smile as much as possible. Laughter is the best medicine, is it not?

Sara

A word from the injured: Thanks to Sara and Sébastien, and also Beatriz and Catherine, I’m just fine! Like Sara said, some scrapes and bruises, and a bump on the head. A strained shoulder too, but given the fall, it could have been a lot worse. Well, from what Sara tells me about the fall, since I don’t actually remember much. I remember losing control of the bike (I was going too fast down the gravel road) and thinking I was about to crash. And then I remember being in the car, on the way to the hospital. Sara says I must have asked 50 times what happened. Sara and Sébastien have been wonderful, of course, urging me to take it easy, but not for a moment letting me feel bad for myself. And now I get to buy a new helmet!