Ñandus, (lesser Rheas) run along the fenceline ahead of us in threes or fours, failing to cross the barbed wire in panic, until we pass them and they gradually realize that they are now running towards the danger instead of away. We are seeing more wildlife here on the dry Argentine side of Patagonia than in the forested Chilean side, (which is a temperate rain forest in northern Chilean Patagonia). Herds of Guanacos sound a whistling whinny at the sight of us; four young Grey Foxes seem to play while crossing the highway; Caracaras, that I’ve been seeing since Mexico, are becoming more numerous again; and we see a Patagonian Hare, (or Cavi), known locally as a Mara, in the Coyle river valley on this dark and dreary morning with almost no wind. We come out to drizzle after a hot lunch with coffee, and the rain persists all afternoon as the temps drop from 13 to 8ºC (55 to 46ºF). The winds change slightly, so we have no tailwind to make the end of day easier. After another welcome stop at a cafe to warm up with hot chocolate and homemade bread and jam, we finish the last rainy 30k on new pavement that is not yet open to traffic. We have cycled 310 km in two days across Patagonian Argentina from the Andes to the Atlantic.

Lombardy Poplars mark a distant estancia (ranch) on the otherwise treeless Patagonian pampa.

Scotsman Neil Ian cycling north from Ushuaia

A condor soars low on the hillside, facing us, fifty meters away. The white collar around his neck is clearly visible, as are the white markings on the tops of his wings as he veers back and forth in the gusty winds. Andean Condors are more common here on the low Patagonian pampa than in the high Andes.  We, too, are dealing with the infamous Patagonian winds today.  Carlos, our hostel manager, cautioned us about high wind warnings when we left this morning.  We’d been hoping for tailwinds to assist us in reaching this town, 165 km away; and we sure did fly with the morning wind, even on a 500m climb up the bluff bordering the Santa Cruz river valley.  Then we turned south into strong crosswinds that almost toppled us over. Julie has more trouble on her “normal” bike than I do with my lower profile recumbent.  I also carry the panniers low and centered which greatly increases stability.  I even seem to benefit from the crosswinds, like a sailboat that sails faster with a sidewind (when reaching).  I estimated today’s winds at 30 to 50 kph; but the stats for Rio Gallegos (150-300 km away) were: wind speed 39, max speed 68 and gusts to 98.

Video thumbnails of Julie battling the crosswind.

Glacier Perito Moreno

At breakfast we met met Stjepan Pavicic’, founder and director of the Patagonia Expedition Race.  He gave us neckbands and a Wenger Swiss Army Knife.  We enjoyed another sunny, windy day following the La Leona river that flows from the huge Lago Viedma into even larger Lago Argentino; where we turn into the wind for the last 32k to this tourist town.  After a day’s rest we visit the main attraction here: Glacier Perito Moreno.  It sometimes blocks and dams up the Brazo Rico arm of the lake until the water level rises high enough to burst through the ice.  From many walkways we look across to a 74m high wall of ice 5 km long.  It comes down 30 km from the Southern Patagonian Icefield, the world’s third-largest reserve of fresh water (after Antarctica and Greenland).

The narrow channel from the Brazo Rico arm of lago Argentino.

Tourists waiting for the glacier to calve. Little chunks break off every few minutes and we witnessed a couple of big ones. Though it moves at a glacial pace, we watched it for over four hours without getting bored.

The road winds along the La Leona River.

Mike (54) from Colorado cycling from Ushuaia to Santiago.

Falco & Marc, German & Swiss cyclists battling headwinds coming north from Ushuaia.

The Finns cycling north took 13 hours, fighting headwinds, to cover the 90 km to El Chaltén.  We flew with tailwinds doing the same 90k in three hours. What a pleasant feeling to be moving so fast on good pavement after cycling on gravel for 750 km on Chile’s Carretera Austral.  Julie’s borrowed tire started to bulge (after 800 km of use) so we put her spare back on.  Thanks again, Shauna.  Then we turned west and southwest, taking 2 1/2 hours to cover the last 21 km.  We are staying at a roadhouse built in 1894; where in 1905 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (and his wife Ethel Place) lodged for a month after robbing a bank in Rio Gallegos.  Was there no posse hot on their trail?

The Phichi is a dwarf armadillo.

La Leona Roadhouse, named for a female Puma that attacked an early explorer here.

“Wake up Guys! You gotta see Fitz Roy”, is how Peter, (from London), rousted us at dawn.  Thanks, Peter.  We had all morning to see it in the changing light, drinking coffee around the campfire before loading our bikes for the boat trip across Lago del Desierto.  Then it was just 37 km on a decent gravel road to El Chaltén, (the newest town in Argentina), founded in 1985 as a base for tourists and to protect Argentina’s claim to a disputed boundary with Chile.  We celebrated over beer and pizza with the other cyclists that night and at a typical Argentine parrilla (barbeque) , the next afternoon.

Monte Fitz Roy, or Chalten (3405m); -2C at dawn from Lago del Desierto.

Fitz Roy towers almost 3000m (10,000') above Lago del Desierto.

7 bikes make the final boat crossing after cycling the Carretera Austral.

Julian fills our water bottles, unfiltered, from a roadside waterfall.

Shauna roasts more veggies than meat for an atypical Argentine parrilla.

We walked our bikes most of the 16k up from Lago O'Higgins on a bad gravel road to the border with Argentina.

Or last day in Chile began…

We are rewarded with this view of Fitz Roy on a nice segment of road through woods.

A primitive 6k trail greets us in Argentina.

Julie tumbled over her bike going down a steeply trenched part of the trail.

We got filthy fording streams & mud.

Here began our treacherous, final steep descent to Lago del Desierto.

Western shore of Lago General Carrera.

Today is spent cycling the western shore of Lago General Carrera, (called Lago Buenos Aires on the Argentine side), largest of the many deep, glacier-carved lakes dotting the Patagonian Andes (roughly south of 39° S latitude). We meet Spanish cyclist Santiago at the hospedaje we are camping at, who is cycling south from Bariloche, and had previously biked with Arnold and Deborah from Seattle. Three Brazilians, who just graduated with geology degrees are also staying here. We stay up late discussing a variety of important topics.   Santiago is an engineer working for the European Commission, which he thinks is doomed to fail.

Lakeside picnic hors d'oeuvre: mermelada y queso en galleta.

We meet Shauna, Julian, and Philip here for lunch on the beach. After spending $8 on a delicious chocolate merengue pie and $20 for a boat trip to the caves of Marmol we realize the need to pinch our pennies before we run out of cash. After finding all the hospedajes full or owners absent in this little tourist town, we camp at one to get the laundry done while the sun still shines.

Another emerald green glacier-fed lake.

We have 98 km of ripio (gravel road) to cycle before the next town. We do make it, barely, after a very bad 20k stretch early in the day when we doubted we would. The gravel was so loose we needed to walk our bikes on level ground, until a watering truck passed and we could peddle before the moistened road evaporated. Two Japanese geologists, and a Brazilian grad student, staying at our hostel are studying nearby volcanoes.

Nature's palette of mixing waters.

Castle-like Cerro Castillo (2675m)

We depart Coyhaique on a perfectly sunny day, with the last pavement we’ll peddle on for two weeks.  Among the cyclists we meet are Swiss honeymooners heading north and Chilean chicas heading south.  By exchanging information we soon learn that the ATM in Cochrane, the provincial capital, accepts only Mastercard and we carry only Visa.

Chilenas Josefina & Isadora and Swiss honeymooners Malice & Tomas.

Isadora, along with Josefina, are cycling the entire Carretera Austral.