I’m starting to enjoy “slumming it” like most other cyclists we meet; after verifying that, indeed, we cannot get cash in Cochrane. That’s how I cycled my first time around. Until now, on this trip, we’ve been living high on the hog, not worried about running out of money. We pooled all our emergency cash (some hidden in the seatpost) and after buying three days worth of food for the last, remote section of the Carretera Austral; think we have enough to make it to Argentina. We’ll be in trouble if the finicky ATM in El Chaltén is out of cash, though many businesses will accept Visa. We meet another Spanish cyclist in our campground, Gari; who will team up with Santiago. Though both are Spaniards, Gari calls himself Basque and Santiago is Catalan, from Barcelona. We heard about the Chilean earthquake that struck 1,000 km north of here today and briefly saw TV images, but didn’t realize the full extent of the damage. Not until several days later, after other cyclists mentioned that worried family members had contacted their embassies, did it occur to us that not updating this blog for our week in the wilderness might cause some to worry.

The Rio Baker will be dammed here to produce hydroelectricity.

A well-organized opposition has little chance with Chile's new, pro-business president.

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