La Tour D'Argent Esquel

... kennen, ich klammere mich am Velo fest (oder klammert es sich an mich?) und wir versuchen, auf der Strasse zu bleiben. Patagonische Velofahrer- Regel: immer wenn Du muede wirst, hast Du Gegenwind...
Ich bin jetzt 3 Wochen unterwegs, Zeit fuer eine kurze Zwischenbilanz. Das Reisen mit dem Velo gefaellt mir, es ist anstrengend, aber fuer mich perfekt, das richtige Tempo, meine Seele kommt so gut mit. Koerperlich geht ...

... miss heaping portions of turkey and stuffing. Alas.

Today, I´m headed north for a few hours to El Bolsón. From what I hear, El Bolsón is a beautiful little town with a decidedly hippy vibe (apparently swarms of them migrated there in the 70s) and some good day-hike and trekking options nearby. Might just chill there for a week and a half before making the final sprint to Santiago. We´ll see.

Hope everyone had a fine Thanksgiving!

Hasta luego,
Dan

... one problem... no cars are passing us... average 1 car per hour... most of them construction workers.... 3 hrs later some nice Chileans pick us up and we arrive in La Junta... on the craziest road... so bumpy... i imagine they ...

... meals every evening which you could join if you wanted for around 3 to 4 pounds each. We had a patagonian stew one night which was very tasty. El Bolson is described as a 'hippy town', really laid back with home brewed beer and home made jams. The town is surrounded by mountains and we did a lot of walking. The first day we visited the Indian Head, a rock that looks like a head followed by a waterfall. It was not a particularly great walk but a good way to ...

... the horizon. Less than 15 minutes later they are pulled over and have one of the bikes partly torn apart. We stop to offer our assistance. One of the motorcycles will not start. These folks needed help and Mike and I set about eliminating the possibilities, we checked the fuses all is good,we pulled one spark plug and fired the bike there is spark. The Brazilian explains in his best Portuguese he ran out of gas so we then ...

... for our guests. A word about those horseflies: these things are as big as bees, and the bees down here are no joke either. They span the first knuckle of your finger at least. And make a nasty, bloody, mess when you swat them. They look rescued from some primeval jungle when all bugs were this size, and no birds had yet evolved to eat them. A primitive, ancient, navigation system of some kind allows them to track you for miles ...

... a shower and wash some clothes. Harvey is on the internet, reading the Wall Street Journal and New York Times and is full of the latest news of financial fraud. The real world creeps in! Tomorrow, we leave for Villa Angostura. For our comments on Hosteria El Aura at Lago Verde Wilderness Resort, please read the hotels entry at the end of the Lake District Journal. Our photos from today! http://www.margieswebgallery.com/galler ies/argentina/Day11%2012-13-08/

... bug protection. · A must do is the boat and hike excursion to El Abuelo. Reserve the boat ride in advance! We did this through El Aura/Lago Verde Wilderness Resort. They will have the tickets ready for you and if there are any scheduling changes, they will handle that for you. If you are not staying at El Aura, be sure to check with the boat company a few days before to make sure that it is still going as ...

... the wetter Chilian side of the Andes than in Argentina. Growth is extremely slow (0.8 - 1.2mm a year), so it takes a century for the tree's girth to gain 1cm in diameter." And now you know one of the reasons for coming to this park - we had to come here - I love trees! From the parking lot, we walk over a pasarela or suspension bridge, right out of an Indiana Jones movie. We walk along a meandering tree lined path next to the Rio Arrayanes ...

... villages long distances apart. El Bolson will be a big town appearing out of no-where with a population of 20,000. That will be our last big town as we proceed further south into the northern section of Los Alerces National Park. Anna has told us that there are two possible routes: one passes through Esquel and has more paved kilometers but a longer distance than the other alternative that is a more direct route on a gravel road passing near ...