This stage involved challenging riding through snowstorms, rain, wind and lovely sunny weather through the southern section of mainland South America, still sticking to the Andes (or close to the lovely mountain range).

After nearly a whole week during which time we could not cycle due to heavy snowfall (see previous stage 31, Central Patagonia), we eventually left 'Villa la Angostura' on the 15.08.'06 and headed on our way towards the Chilean border. It had cleared up on the day and it was a wonderful ride through one of the thickest blankets of snow which I have ever seen. The Andes are low here but the scenery is fantastic. 

The further up the road we cycled, the more snow lay on the ground. By the time we got to the top of the pass (Samorè), the snow level was over 2 metres!!! The picture (right) sais it all!

The signpost at the Chilean/ Argentinian border crossing at paso Samoré (the signpost is well over 2 metres above the ground)!

Once again (for the third time) we crossed over into Chile....

...and then we enjoyed a wonderful long downhill through the snowy landscape on the Chilean side of the Andes.

19.08.'06 After cycling south for over 250km, we reached the island of Chiloé (Chiles largest island). We cycled down to the capital of the island (Castro) where we had a rest day after a day of riding in pouring rain!! The island receives a lot of rainfall and to be honest, even though it is said to be an interesting island, we did not enjoy it at all! Unfortunately we met too many drunk people on the island and the riding along the busy road in pouring rain was not our thing! To be honest, we were already missing the Andes! Picture: Typical stilt houses in Castro.

20.08.'06: From the island one can clearly see across to mainland Chile with it's towering volcanic cones along the Andean line. 

However, the island of Chiloé often means a lot to cyclists! Why? simply because this is the point where the great 'Pan American' highway ends (or begins). Here at the port in Quellon the road ends at the seaside and one has to take the ferry back to the mainland! Why are our bikes in the back of a pick up? Simple: one does not need to pay the 12 US dollars per bicycle if one loads it onto a passanger car!!! (tour cyclists should take note of this!!). The owner himself told us we should do it!

And so off we went back to the mainland, back to the Andes! The ferry ride was spectacular and reminded me much of the Lofoten islands in Norway. The fjords carved out by huge glaciers! It was a slow 4 hour trip with one car, and 3 passangers!!! So where does this ferry take passangers (only twice a week)? Well, no other place than the majestic and one of the worlds most spectacular roads built straight past towering, hanging glaciers, huge waterfalls, fjords and through thick jungle-like forests, it is the "CARRETERA AUSTRAL" (the road leading south). It was Pinochet's dream of having a road through the whole country...it is still being built but it comes to an abrupt end where the massive southern Patagonian icefield blocks the way for any road further south. From there onwards one needs to cross over into Argentina to reach Chile's southern cities of Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas (if one wants to take any land route).

The 'CARRETERA AUSTRAL', a cyclists dream!!!! This road winds south for 1000km! It is a 1000km action packed road, mostly dirtroad! Very little traffic and little tourist infrastructure! Just what most tour cyclists want!!! Along the road one can pitch the tent nearly anywhere, there are so many wild places reminding me of Alaska!

22.08.'06: The 'Carretera Austral', an awesome road to cycle along!!! The views, the mountains, glaciers....just incredible!!

29.08.'06: Cerro Castillo (castle mountain) , another natural wonder along the route!

Standing below the towering needles of Cerro Castillo, after looking up at possible climbing routes!

...and the Carretera Austral continues up some 'wild' valleys! So where should we pitch the tent tonight? It´s all yours! the road is yours! heaven on earth for a cyclist! (that is, when the icy Patagonian wind blowing over the Andes does not hit you or when it does not snow or rain). Cyclists either end up loving the route or hating it! It depends on the weather. We ended up loving it!!! (just look at the sky)

29.08.'06: The 'Carretera Austral' then passes close by the massive 'Volcan Hudson' which erupted a few years ago, depositing it's ash over the countryside. The eruption caused the river to flow away from it's main riverbed and the river ended up flowing through a forest. In the picture one can see the destroyed forest due to the water flowing through it.

31.08.'06: Camping next to 'Lago General Carrera'.

It took us more than 2 days to cycle around the bottom end of this spectacular lake (the second largest in all of South America). We eventually left the 'Carretera Austral' and cycled on to the Chilean/ Argentinian border. It was our only option to get around the southern Patagonian Icefield. The largest single icefield outside the polar regions.

01.09.'06: Gabriel looking across 'Lago General Carrera' near Chile Chico close to the Chilean/ Argentinian border. The going around the bottom section of the lake was slow and hard due to the many steep gradients along the route (a constant up and down for 130km). A few kilometres further on we reached the great 'pampas' of Argentina.

04.09.'06: After a rest day in a little town called 'Perito Moreno' in which we bought supplies for 6 days, we headed out into the vast, relatively flat plain through southern Patagonia. It was going to be a 650 kilometre journey through what is called the 'pampas', nothing but grass and sand, no towns, no people, nothing!! picture: the road can be seen until it disappears way back on the horizon! This is the place of 'HORROR' and 'DREAD' for cyclists getting hit by extremely strong winds! If the wind hits you hard, it is game over with cycling and you can hold it out in a ditch for a couple of days! We were lucky (on this stretch) and did not get too much of it (only 2 days).

I once travelled this stretch (route 40, in southern Patagonia) by bus which only operates in summer, many years ago and as is the case with most bus travellers along this route, I found this the most boring place to go through. However on a bicycle it is all so very different: Ever observed wild geese or flamingoes flying south over your head? hundreds of them! ever observed grey foxes in the evening light crossing the road after a catch? the Ñandus (Lesser Rhea, large birds which look like ostriches, just smaller) running across the pampas in front of you? Or herds of guanacos (similar to llamas but wild). On a bike it is just so different, so much more relaxed and more exciting that we actually loved the ride through the pampas, it was really not that bad!

Pampas, pampas, pampas...as far as the eye can see, nothing but pampas! We usually cycled from early morning until it got dark. The best part of the day being sunset. the colours are just amazing around this time of the day! It was necessary to cycle long distances while there was no wind!

Through the pampas one passes driveways leading off to far away 'estancias' (farms). Some of these driveways (gravel tracks) leading up to the farmhouse are 90 kilometres in length. Most of the farms have gone bankrupt and nothing much remains except for some things reminding of farming here in the past! 

After the nearly 7 day ride through the pampas we reached the touristic town of 'El Calafate'. Why do tourists come here? Mainly because of the spectacular 'Parque Nat. los Glaciares'. A fantastic national park with great jagged peaks and glaciers. We decided to cycle out to the 'Perito Moreno' glacier (a 160km detour) and got hit by terrible head-wind on the way out (cycling at 8km per hour!). We reached the glacier just as it got dark and pitched the tent in the woods. The following day (13.09.'06) we took time to 'check out' the massive 'Perito Moreno' glacier. It had grown again, (one of the few growing glaciers in the world), crossing the lake and reaching the peninsula, blocking off the left side of the lake (like a dam wall). Once the water builds up too much pressure, it will 'blow away' the ice with a huge explosion. This is expected to happen soon again! This year!

right: Gabriel standing in front of the massive 'Perito Moreno' glacier.  The glacier comes down 30km from the interior 13000 square kilometre icefield 'Campo de hielo sur'. The glacier pushes it's massive front right across the lake (60 metres in height above the water, up to 120 metres deep below the water surface)! It is a natural wonder and to watch the ice break off into the water with a crack and a bang is even more spectacular!  

13.09.'06 We cycled back to 'El Calafate', leaving the beautiful glacier behind us and letting the strong wind push us along the road. It pushed us along the flat road at such a speed that we did 50km in 90 minutes! Wonderful!

A day later we were back in the 'pampas'. Our aim was to cycle around an Andean ridge and plateau called 'Meseta Vizcachas'. It meant that we had a good 110km ride into the wind. First the snow hit us from the side, stinging our face as a patagonian storm passed us, then on the second day (15.09.'06), the wind was so strong that we cycled 20 kilometres and gave up. An old abandoned bus in the middle of nowhere protected us from the wind. We held it out for 2 days and had a vote what we should do (5 pieces of paper with 5 ideas each). The voting ended up being a good idea (we had similar ideas about the situation): first option was to turn back into the wind for 20km, then catch a south westerly wind down towards Rio Gallegos. (the option of catching a lift after cycling through all of Patagonia was completely out of the question!). To turn back was a good idea but we had to leave out the beautiful 'Torres del Paine' National Park in Chile. So we turned back and caught the tailwind for 100km until the wind died down. We pitched the tent after 144km. The following day however (18.09.'06) a southerly wind picked up bringing snowfall and very cold weather. So we cycled the 90km down to Rio Gallegos with only a few 3 minute stops to get our cold fingers moving again and to sip some tea. Rio Gallegos was a welcome relief after the day of bad weather. It was time to enjoy our own home-made pizza and wine until 1 am!

We had reached Argentina's southern most city on mainland America. We then headed for 'Tierra del Fuego'. For previous stage see: Central Argentina (stage 31), for next stage see: 'Tierra del Fuego' (stage 33)