December 21, 1999
Day 60 A ride from Estancia La Angostura to Chalten
Camping Ruca Mahuida
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The wind is laughing at us and here we always give a toast to the wind at the end of the day, preferably with beer.
We pack up and load the truck with our gear. Again, this morning there is very little wind.
The decision and arrangements have been made for a ride to Tres Lagos. It just would have been easier to accept if the wind had been blowing like yesterday. We are giving up the continuous ride idea from Santiago to Ushuaia. We both are sad at this, more so for Patrick.
For Rachel, she feels that whatever we cycle of Ruta 40 is an accomplishment. When she cycled solo in NZ and Australia, she had no problem accepting rides or taking buses or trains. She viewed herself a traveler and the bike as one means of transportation. Changing the mode allowed to see more and different experiences.
It's frustrating though to look at this flat road and not be able to cycle into the middle of nowhere.
We arrive at the gas station outside Tres Lagos before noon. We put our bikes and gear back together and go inside to wait for a ride to El Calafate. A collective is expected at 3pm. Not many vehicles with the capacity to give us a ride arrive. But Patrick goes out to ask each one, no luck until just before 3pm.
A minibus arrives. It looks like a tour van, but there are only the driver and his wife/girlfriend. He won't take us for free, Patrick negotiates $60, seems like a lot but on these roads and in this remote location it is a deal we won't pass up.
The bikes our gear and us get squeezed in the van and off we go. Our destination is El Chalten. We decided earlier that either El Calafate or El Chalten would be good. After reading in our guidebook it seems that El Chalten and the Fitzroy Range are too good to pass by.
The ride is eventful. We get handed eggs, drinks, make a mate stop and have several pauses to enjoy the view. As we get closer we have awesome views on the pillars of Cerro Torre and Fitzroy.
El Calafate is a small government town in the old flood plain of a glacier. It has boomed with lots of facilities for hikers and climbers. We get dropped off at the small campground next to Restaurant Ruca Mahuida. We find a small cove amongst Calafate bushes that shield us from the wind.
We walk to town and discover a Yellowstone like store with groceries, postcards, maps and so on. The hot showers are great and we eat at the restaurant later that night.
We crave meat, so far haven't had much of that Argentina. The "asado's en parilla's" haven't looked very appealing to us.
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