Blogs

Oh by the way, did we mention we have finished our bike ride? Yep, we rode the last bit from Bariloche, Argentina to Puerto Montt, Chile. After over two and half years and pedaling over 22,000 Kilometers (almost 14,000 miles) we have reached a place we consider a final ending point of our north-to-south journey.

After spending a wonderful month in Bariloche, Argentina cycling unloaded, hiking, Randy working remotely and Nancy drawing and exhibiting her work, we headed out for out final trip bike trip but not our final adventure.

We celebrated the end of this trip and the beginning of the new year in a tiny campground in southern Chile and rode to the end of our trip. On January 1st, 2009 we rode our loaded metal steeds to Puerto Montt, Chile and retired our bikes to a closet for a couple of weeks.

We were told by many people that if we came all this way in South America we could not miss the dynamic sights in southern Patagonia, Torres Del Paine National Park and the still-growing Perito Moreno Glacier. So as the good travelers we are, we took a vacation from our bike ride and headed the very bottom of South America, to Punta Arenas, the southernmost city on the continent of South America. But we went by plane this time. Read more · Lee más →: Torres del Paine and the Perito Moreno Glacier

We've been hiking the last several days in far southern Patagonia, and visited the amazing Perito Moreno Glacier.

I've just updated the website to a new version of drupal, so please let me know if you have any problems with the site or there's anything I've messed up.

Thanks,
-Randy

PS - We have a flight to Florida on Wednesday!

Click here for our favorite pictures from this section.
We took an incredible bike-and-boat tour from Argentina to Chile. The "Andean Lakes Crossing" combined boat rides through two majestic thickly forested national parks, hiking, and biking touring. We started from Bariloche, Argentina and ended up in Puerto Montt, Chile.

We emptied out the apartment we had been renting in Bariloche, Argentina and loaded our bikes with the gear that had been spread out all over the apartment for the last month. My bike was heavier then usual because I had purchased some new clothes and art supplies but some how it fit, especially because I offloaded some of the art supplies to Randy. We left at 6:00 in the morning, pedaled 20 quiet kilometers to the boat dock at Llao Llao (pronounced Zhao-Zhao in Argentina). After loading our bikes on to the front of the giant catamaran and purchasing a nice cup of cappuccino we settled down for first of three boat rides. The first was across Lago Nahuel Huapi which was surrounded by huge mountains and we reached Puerto Blest after a couple of hours. Read more · Lee más →: Biking and Boating the "Andean Lakes Crossing" into Chile

Even though we are taking a break in Bariloche, Argentina for a month, we are not staying still. One of my dreams for years has to been to ride my bike through the incredibly beautiful Patagonian Seven Lakes, or Siete Lagos district. This past weekend, this dream came through. The plan was take a bus to San Martin de Lost Andes and pedal back along the way we had come to La Angostura along a road that was paved for half paved and half dirt.

We loaded our bikes on a bus departing at 7:00 pm from Bariloche and got to San Martin de los Andes 11:00. We had no trouble loading our two bikes into the back compartment of the bus as they fit perfectly standing up and we didn't even have to take off the wheels. Not all bus service in Argentina will take bikes but after a few phone calls we found out that Albus would take two bikes on each trip. The bus company Aribus was great all the ways: courteous, efficient, clean new buses, safe and best of all, they took our bikes with no fuss. Being able to put our bikes on a bus and travel short or long distances has been one of the nicest parts of traveling in Latin America. No boxes, no fussing, just load and go. Read more · Lee más →: Biking the Seven Lakes (Siete Lagos) District in Patagonia

We are in Bariloche, in Patagonia in southern Argentina. We have rented an apartment for a month and will enjoy a gorgeous place with fine weather. As winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, we will be exploring the lakes district which is surrounded by snow-capped mountains and spring weather. Please let me know if you are sufficiently jealous.

We rode from Salta, Argentina, a jazzy city in Northern Argentina, through the Canyon of the Shells (Quebrada de Las Conchas or Quebrada de Cafayate) an impressive multi-colored landscape with interesting geological and cultural history. As my friend, Linda, described It is like Moab, Utah but with more pizazz. The landscape was inspiring as we traveled down the las Conchas Ravine and colorful sedimentary mountains towered over us. I was gleeful to be riding. Amazed at that we where riding this region in Northern Argentina. How lucky can we be? Read more · Lee más →: Greetings from Patagonia!

Our pictures for Bolivia are up on flickr - Here's the slideshow of Bolivia and here's the slideshow of the Salar de Uyuni. Also, all our route maps and elevation profiles are updated.

Since we've been in Argentina for weeks, I guess it's time that I wrote a little something to wrap up our time in Bolivia!

We had a delightful time in Bolivia, despite the fact that we were lazy and only rode the bikes two fairly easy days (from the Peruvian border to La Paz). After that we took a bus to Uyuni, a tour of the Salar de Uyuni, and then a train to the border at Villazon. (We did get back on the bikes to ride to where we currently are in northern Argentina, in Salta).

Something is always going on politically in Bolivia, and our time there was no exception. You've probably heard about the tension between Bolivia (and Venezuela) and the U.S., and just before we arrived the US Ambassador was asked to leave the country because he was accused of instigating demonstrations in favor of breaking up the country. The current president, Evo Morales, is a campesino (he started his career growing coca!) and is clearly a populist leftist, and has lots of challenges ahead of him. Read more · Lee más →: Bolivia Wrapup

If you want to ride the length of South America, you don't have to do it self-supported! We ran into a group, Bike Dreams out of Holland riding from Quito, Ecuador to Ushuaia at the tip of Argentina. They are fully supported and having a grand time. For just 8,900 Euros (about $11,400 right now) you could do the entire ride without having to carry gear. It sounds like a pretty good deal. They also do Paris to Dakar.