Unexpected return

I had crossed into Chile two days earlier but was back in Argentina - I love Argentina but it was not in my plans to return so soon. However, I decided to backtrack a week of riding to return to El Bolson to retrieve my mountain bike tires from a shop that I had donated. My sister, Susan, bought me a new pair of Schwalbe 700c touring tires to replace my very tired Schwalbes that I was riding since Galveston, Texas. Shortly after mounting them in Bariloche I noticed a slight wobble to my front wheel but thought little of it figuring the tire bead was not set. 130km later in El Bolson I made sure the bead was set. Riding out of El Bolson the wobble was still there but I shortly was on dirt roads and everything was wobbling . . . when I next hit pavement (days later) the wobble was a whump whump . . . remounted the tires again and checked my rims but the Mavic A719's are running as true as the day I built them . . . shitttttttttt. Well it had to wait until my next stop in Futuleufu, Chile for the thorough examination. When I removed the front tire Matt noticed a section of tire threads that appeared to have separated for about six inches along the inside of the tire. Of the 1000 tires I have probably bought in my lifetime of cycling I get my first defective tire before starting down the Austral Highway - a place noted for its lack of services and remoteness. . . I glued a double boot into the tire made from some belt material (won't stretch) scavenged from an auto shop and hoped for the best - sorry no pics because i was annoyed and doing it in the dark. The next day I ended up going white water rafting and was too busy having a blast to think about the tire until that night around the campfire . . . I had some rough riding coming up and did not feel comfortable without solid backups. I was hemming and hawing about the delay but a tire failure will mean a far longer delay down the line and it seemed inevitable. The next morning, while everyone else slept, I was putting my rod together to wave at the fish and consider my situation. I noticed a guy with a dead battery trying to push his car and offered to help because if I waited too long I may have to perform CPR instead. He was grateful and offered me a ride to El Bolson on his way to Bariloche then Santiago - he was willing to wait an hour while I got my stuff together and ditched it in a barn at the rafting outfitters - so i figured this is a sign and I should go get my old mtn bike tires back in Argentina . . . provided they were still there, of course. My ride was a middle aged engineer from Santiago and we passed a pleasant few hours talking fly fishing then politics and economic development. He inadvertently amused me with his commentary on Argentina. For instance they are crazy drivers - prompted by someone passing another vehicle on a bridge which is illegal for obvious reasons. However, you did have a long long clear view of the road ahead . . . then again this is from a nation that stops at railroad crossings to look both ways three times in the middle of the Atacama Desert where you can see 10 km for 360 degrees. He also though the idea of local police was incredibly inefficient versus Chile's single national police force - whose motto is "patria y orden" . . . I did not even begin to explain the various levels of police in the United States but I prefer "protect and serve". A few hours later he dropped me in El Bolson as he cued up at the gas station to wait for hours to get gas . . . provided they did not run out of course. I swung by the bike shop in case the owner was working on Sunday, as many bike shop owners do, and sure enough he was there and gladly passed my tires back and inquired as to how my rear hub was spinning and Matt's new wheel. I returned to a familiar hostel and passed a chill night eating and writing. I caught a bus in the morning to Esquel then had to wait 6 hours for the evening bus to Futuleufu, Chile finally arriving at 9pm to camp and leave the next moring. Two days travel time lost but I would catch up to Matt Kelly in Coyhaique. I was really impressed with the responsiveness of Wallingford Bike Parts (www.wallbike.com) that I purchased the tires from - they offered to ship me a new tire in Chile but the problem was where to get it? I was only five days from the logical place and the tire would not arrive in 5 days and given weather restraints I have to keep moving - the next logical place is Punta Arenas but give favorable Patagonian winds that is within spitting distance of Ushuaia.However, I did discover another place in the universe with spiedies out side of Binghamton - Esquel, Argentina.

Diarios de Bicicleta

Juan Pablo Docampo and I rode together on the Seven Lakes Loop one day in the drizzle and he is excellent company. Juan Pablo is a documentary film maker living in Buenos Aires and this is his first bike tour. Personally, I think around 2:03 is some brilliant work.

Parque Nacional Los Alerces

Matt Kelly (www.pedalpanam.com) and I met up in El Bolson, got our bikes a little tlc courtesy of Totem Bikes, drank some micro brews, shopped and packed up to get a nice 1pm start on the day. The afternoon was sunny and beautiful with a stiff tailwind as we headed to Alerces National Park and more dirt roads without fear of nukes - though Argentina has 2 nuclear power plants with a 3rd projected to be completed in September of this year.
Clouds started to build in the evening as we turned off onto the dirt road heading towards Alerces National Park. The road was a terrible soft gravel and we camped beside a stream off the road - I camped without my tent banking on the rain holding off for the next 12 hours.
I got lucky and the drizzle did not start until the next morning

while I pedaled through the small town of Cholila behind some gauchos moving a few cattle with their pit bull.
Parque Nacional Los Alerces is a gorgeous park of lakes, rivers, and glaciated mountains. The rains were heavy at times in the afternoon but never continuous and relented in the late afternoon to camp and go fishing. The park is named after the immense Alerces tree that grows there - the Alerces is the second oldest living organism on the planet with some specimens reaching 3000 years of age and many in the 1000 year old range. They made for great protection from the drizzle and shade from the sun the next day. The oldest living organism is the Bristlecone Pine reaching ages of 5000 years old.
I had no luck fishing but I saw fish . . . fishing an unfamiliar big river feels like a crap shoot. Occasionally fish surfaced all over the river but none seemed interested in what I had to offer during the evening and following morning that I fished . . . I guess I can take heart that no one else seemed to be catching fish but I am used to catching fish. I reminded myself that it took 50-60 days of fishing in my area of the Susquehanna River to become familiar with the habits of the local residents before I could consistently hook them and I am still working on it . . . or maybe I just suck at fishing.
Anyhow it was a good morning to capture images.
and fantastic afternoon for riding.
I caught up with Matt in the small town of Trevelin hanging out in the park with Santiago an Argentinian cyclist from Buenos Aires who he had met while camping the previous night. I camped 10 kilometers away to fish on the Rio Arrayanes.
We set up camp in the municipal campground with 3 other cyclists - Peter(Park City, Utah), Evan(Seattle, WA) and Robin(Edinburgh, Scotland) - we had met along the way and had an asado until turning in at 1am or so.
Santiago was a great asadero and we will be looking him up in Buenos Aires in a month and half or so to do some more grilling.
Santiago headed north with all the food we could not take into Chile and five of us headed out of Trevelin towards Chile in dribs and drabs sure to see each other again in the near future.
I am excited to be crossing over to Chile and ride the Austral Highway for 1000km of dirt road past glaciers, rivers, and fjords to Villa O'Higgins where we will cross back into Argentina by ferry and a 20+km hike a bike - but I am going to miss Argentina. I will miss the asado, the beat up Peugeots, great conversation, the people with their open enthusiasm for my trip, and travel in general - but I will be back in another 1000 km.
We headed out of Trevelin on a back route to the border that a gracious bike shop owner shared with us and then we signed his cyclist guest book.
The border crossing over the Andes was simple and beautiful with minimal climbing and an actual descent to the checkpoints along the Rio Futaleufu - though the road on the Argentinian side was a rough washboard of loose gravel that became smooth pavement in Chile - but revealed a serious bulge and wobble in my new front tire . . .

Malcolm X

May 19, 1925 - February 21, 1965

Ossie Davis' eulogy

Lago Puelo

Lago Puelo is a turquoise jewel surrounded by mountains near the Chilean border with plenty of hiking and fishing opportunities. The town of Lago Puelo is only a short distance away so shopping for food was simple. The campground was set in the trees with a black berry bushes, plum trees, and cherry trees - the trees were taking a bit of a beating from people collecting fruit.Lago Puelo was entirely Argentinians on vacation camping by the lake, swimming by day and grilling at night - we did the same. We felt less like tourists and more like vacationers. Tourism can be tiring always moving from one site to the next making sure you see everything to be seen. A vacation is about relaxation. Consequently, we did not see any tourists and were somewhat of a novelty for the park.Argentina is the first Latin American country where I have regularly seen nationals in r.v.'s - the owner of this especially nice Ford 350 diesel with matching cab over camper offered to sell it to Matt for $40,000 - vehicles are expensive here.Susan, Matt and I rented kayaks one day to go out on the lake and I took out my fly rod for the first time.
A couple rivers flowed into the lake with a variety of trout and Atlantic Salmon - it took me a little bit to get back into casting my fly rod and figure out what was going to work . . . Green wooly buggers - everyone likes a green woolly bugger including this Atlantic Salmon that I caught in the river.
Susan and Matt went out for some long day hikes around the lake in the mountains
and one day made it to the Chilean border but no one was there to stamp their passports . . .Camping by the lake was the perfect way to relax and visit over long mornings of coffee and mate.
After four days of enjoying the monotony of endless natural beauty we returned to El Bolson to check out the local hops festival and sample micro brews. The next day Susan and Matt headed north towards Mendoza while I stayed in El Bolson to repair my free hub and wait for Matt Kelly before heading south on the final leg of the trip.
I have a hard time believing I am almost done with maybe 1500 miles to go.

Road to El Bolson

Route 40 from Bariloche to El Bolson was a spectacular 130km of sunshiny cruising through the mountains and around many lakes.Many other cars were on the road enjoying the drive, at one point two Lamborghinis, a Porsche, and BMW screamed past me like it was the Indy 500. But most cars were more typical Argentinian. . .families on vacation.

Hiking around Bariloche

While I took care of business Susan and Matt actually got out to enjoy the mountains surrounding Bariloche . . . I really am a lousy tourist sometimes and Bariloche is famous for a reason.

San Carlos de Bariloche Stencils

I have always enjoyed counter cultural protest/punk graffiti/stencils and have amassed a fairly extensive collection on this trip. Typically, college towns offer the best selection ostensibly because the enlightened atmosphere of academia.
However, Bariloche does not have an overwhelming university presence . . . but it did have a number of wanted Nazi's including Erich Priebke who headed a German School and Adolph Eichmann who lived openly in Bariloche for years. Anyhow, let us not forget the influence of money. Ironically, nothing raises consciousness like a little conspicuous consumption. Punk can be a privileged perspective - especially if you going shopping at Hot Topic, the Goth Gap (same corporation owns both), but that is not punk - simply fashion. To be a punk requires some discipline of perspective that you seldom have the leisure for if you are trying to find your next meal.Bariloche is an international tourist destination in a beautiful setting with year around attractions including one of South America's largest ski areas so money and consumption abounds - from the sidewalk cafes



to the alpine slide
















with lift accessto an overlook of Lago Nahuel Huapi where we watched the world's slowest regatta. Initially we could not tell if they were moving in the light wind until a beer later we noticed that their positions had changed.The presence of money can make for some creative expression regardless of functionalityPart of the protest is in response to the nature of development that favors economies of scale - in contrast to San Martin with strict zoning ordinances preserving vernacular architecture - you see lots of little houses next to big hotels waiting for the right offer.Walking neighborhoods you can catch a glimpse of the original architecture of the German/Swiss settlers but the homes are falling to pale imitation to satisfy the increasing demands of tourists . . . looking for authenticity.
However, despite the commonality of the English language and lots of savvy marketing mistakes are made. . . (thank you Matt for the photo!)this is a store for children "up to age 8".I took advantage of Bariloche's abundant services to take care of much needed business like: put on new tires, reattach things falling off the bike, find a bike shop for a new cassette and chain, buy decent chain lube, dry my tent, sleeping bag, pad etc, buy more zip ties (got enough 'til the end now), repair the disintegrating webbing harness that holds my Jandd bags on, wash clothes, buy thread to repair clothes, clean my stove again, sort through gear to lighten my load, including boxes and boxes of flies, repair my shoes again - the list was long and Bariloche was the perfect place to get everything done.Susan, Matt, and I walked around the city and grilled while they got their feet under them after traveling (including a 20 hour drive from Buenos Aires). Also Matt and Natt came into town to say hello. And Bariloche was one of the few places where we were guaranteed to catch the Super BowlSitting in a bar with other English speakers drinking good microbrews, and some even watched the game - but most just chatted until the ads came on.