From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

As we left El Chalten under a clear blue sky, we finally understood why it is such a tourist attraction! Mount Fitz Roy and the surrounding ranges were spectacular! It had snowed the night before and all the mountains around the town were covered in a beautiful light dusting of snow.

Heather wasn't with us this time, she had some more knee problems. In the first couple of kilometers we took a lot of pictures with the mountains in the background. The wind pushed us along for 90 wonderful kilometers at almost 30 km/h, and we joined up with the mythic Ruta 40. Then we turned practically 180°... and faced the wind head on. It took us 3 hours to cover the next 30 km. It was a good day overall – more than 120 km in total! Only a little ways from the mountains, we found ourselves again the Andean steppe, similar to the north of Argentina and even a little like the Altiplano. The third day we got up at 5:45 in order to leave as early as possible before the wind, since we had to go east to get to El Calafate. It worked out really well: barely any wind against us, but as soon as we arrived it picked up.

We're in high tourist season right now. Almost all the accommodations are full, and the prices have soared, often unreasonably. The first day after biking 110 km, we stopped at an estancia in the middle of nowhere that offered a campground of sorts: hard packed earth, dusty, but sheltered from the wind by a high fence. The only service they offered was a hot shower. They wanted US$10 per person (€7.20), worth almost three pounds of really good steak here, good enough to actually melt in your mouth! We tried negotiating a little but the owner wasn't interested, claiming that she had really high overhead costs. Later we remembered the great campgrounds we stayed at in Alaska and Canada that must have the same costs and offered more services (wi-fi, laundry) for less. This is just one example of what we've experienced recently: the high volume of tourists distorts the relationships we might have with the local population, especially on the well-trodden paths... Luckily, traveling by bike means that we are able to get off the main routes every once in a while!

It was the same story yesterday going to see the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the few glaciers in the world that is still advancing. As foreigners we had to pay about US$20 to get into the park. Argentineans have to pay US$6.50, and it is free for students and residents of El Calafate. Honestly sometimes we feel like cash cows! That being said, the glacier really was very impressive. We managed to avoid most of the tourists by renting a car with Heather, Rebekka, Urban and Denis, and we arrived there at sunrise. We breakfasted facing the glacier – magnificent! The face of the glacier is 5 km wide and 60m high. It advances 2m per day and so frequently whole sheets of ice detach from the glacier and fall into Lake Argentino with a thunderous crash. We stayed and watched for hours.

Sara's new rim on her back wheel has already given up the ghost, after only 730 km! It was so badly installed that it only lasted 3 weeks. It was unduly stressing the chain, no doubt the source of all the problems that we've been having. So we changed the rim here in El Calafate, and it seems to have been properly done. We definitely put a little pressure on the employees of the bike shop! We've got our fingers crossed that it makes it all the way to Ushuaia!

Sébastie