One more jump

March 6, 2024

After spending about 1.5 weeks in El Chaltén hiking our legs off, we decided it was time. Time to make our way to Ushuaia. No more stops. A direct route. Leaving some Patagonia highlights to be discovered later, together with Jaap's sister and her family, who will start their trip here next week already. We are so excited to see them! 

In between El Chaltén and "el fin del mundo" lies a vast plain of nothing. And one final climb. We flew over it like condors in the wind. We'll miss them. Afterward, we arrived at the eternal Argentinian pampas again. Long stretches of grassy, levelled terrain. With armadillos, guanacos (camelid related to the llama) and ñandus (South American ostrich) bringing some life to the fields.

Navigating through the barren lands reminds us of playing a game of Tetris. Looking carefully at the wind, we strategically pick the right time and distance to ride. Short days. Long days. Early mornings. Late afternoons. The wind dictates. We listen. Sometimes we just have to sit down and wait till it passes. We learned our lesson when it comes to wind.

We pass by many "refugios" and abandoned houses, that provide shelter in the highly exposed terrain. One of which the famous pink house. Inside we find thousands of names and drawings of cyclists who passed through here over the last few decades. Some of whom we met along the way too. A little piece of cycling history. We are part of it now. Feels good!

A few days later we arrived at the east shores of the continent. We crossed the Argentina-Chile border for the seventh time. The Atlantic Ocean now in sight. One more jump to go. We are almost there. Only 400km left. Ushuaia is just around the corner.

Route: El Chaltén - La Leona - Esperanza - Rio Gallegos (ARG) - Cerro Sombrero (CHIL)