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.