The wind, more wind, constantly the wind...

Leaving Rio Grande on that very windy day late in the afternoon was the right decision. The winds had decreased enough for us to have a rough but manageable ride. From 100 Kms/hour wind in the morning, we had decreased to about 40 Kms/hour. Crossing the island of Tierra del Fuego and then taking a ferry to the mainland north is an odd thing: you have to cross the border twice, once into Chile and then back to Argentinia as the island is split between the two countries due to a dispute over the land that the Pope (!!!!) ended up settling to avoid a war. That day, we would have enough time to do one border crossing 70 Kms north of Rio Grande, stay a last night in Chile, take the ferry the next morning and cross back into Argentina. Strange process but there is only one road that takes you north so we had no choice but to do the border crossing formalities twice.

Finally covering some miles towards Buenos Aires
We crossed the border without any problem, now used to all the paperwork we have to fill on both sides. The lines were a little longer that day as it was Saturday but nothing too bad. We then rode our last 120 Kms on gravel road as the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego has no paved road. There were a lot of trucks, whose dust we were eating, but the road was pretty good. Right after sunset, we arrived in a little hotel in Cerro Sombrero, happy that we had made is so far despite the wind. It was the only little town on the Chilean side that had lodging. The owner was very friendly, sharing wine and Fernet, a very bitter local alcohol with us. Another guy was there and we had dinner with him: he was Argentinian and was cycling through the whole country for one year, stopping and visiting each national park. This had been a very challenging day for him with the cold wind constantly blowing so hard: he could not stay on his bicycle and walked the entire 25 Kms he was able to do. And we thought we had it rough on the motorcycle!

The next morning, we were on the ferry: it was nice to ride the only portion of paved road that gets you right to the ferry boat. It is kind of funny: you drive and suddenly the road finishes on the dock of the ferry: we were lucky to roll right into it as they had started the engines a few minutes ago. They had removed the security cord just to let us in and we had barely parked the bikes that the ferry had already left for its 20 minute sail. A short and smooth sail over the most narrow portion of the Magellan Strait. Once on the other side, we rode to the border crossing and again were in Argentina, this time with no return to Chile anticipated. We were driving north on Ruta 3, the Patagonian east coastal road, that would take us all the way to Buenos Aires on pavement.

The wind had picked up again as we were riding through the big spaces of Patagonia. Always coming from the West, it was really hurting all the muscles on our left side: we had to constantly ride at and angle, resisting to the wind in order to keep the bike straight. At least, it was not changing directions and remained pretty constant in its strength. The challenge was the big trucks and buses on the other side as they would create a mini depression that was sucking us towards them as they were blocking the wind for a few seconds. We had to adjust all the time and it was no easy ride. At least, it was getting warmer each day which we had hopped for. But the ride was pretty boring, the road straight and the wind always here. We stopped usually at a gas station to have lunch and it turned out that it made Caroline sleepy in the afternoon so we had to stop for her to take short naps. A 15 minute lie down on the side of the road worked wonders: she could again ride for hours after that! The inclined ground was actually pretty comfortable when you kept your helmet on to sleep.

A delicious afternoon tea tradition in Patagonia
Our days were all about riding now that we had left Tierra del Fuego. They were long, tiring and pretty boring where we get up and ride until lunch, then stop at a gas station, the only thing we would encounter every 200 Kms. The afternoon, we would ride some more and stop for a nap if needed, until it was getting late enough to find a place to spend the night. There was not much entertainment and since we had to deal with the wind all the time, we could not even listen to music as it was making way too much noise for us to listen to anything. We rode all the time with earplugs which probably saved us from having hearing problems after four days of riding in windy Patagonia. At the end of the third day, we finished the day riding along the coast, and saw a beautiful sunset which made the clouds so colorful over the ocean.

One day, we finally had some entertainment as we stopped at a gas station to refill. We met a Brasilian rider who was doing the same journey as we were but the other way round: he was going now to Ushuaia first (we told him it was cold!) to work his way back up all the way to Alaska. He was two weeks into his trip and so enthusiastic about it. For us, it was good to meet other people as crazy as we were. But he ended up not being the main attraction at this gas station. As were were talking to him, two baby Guanacos came towards us. These animals look like a cross over between a deer and a lama and we had seen them all over the pampa as we had been riding through Patagonia. Usually, when they heard our bikes, they would start running away and jump gracefully over high fences or for the more stupid ones, cross the road right in front of us. We had never seen one from super close, let alone touch one. Well, these two little guys were not shy. They came towards us, licking our hands, smelling us. We could even pet them, they did not mind. We played with them for a while, other people also coming to take pictures or pet them. We were surprised to see how thick and soft their fur was, probably to protect them against the cold and the wind. It was a very fun and unexpected break at a Patagonian gas station in the middle of nowhere.

Finally, at the end of day four, we arrived in Gaiman, where we had a very touristy activity planned. In the 1865, a lot of Welsh (du Pays de Galles) came to Patagonia and tried to farm the land. It was a huge difference from the green and humid lands they came from and they almost died from hunger in the dry Patagonia, unable to grow things here. The local Indians helped them and the settlement survived: to these days, their culture is alive in this isolated part of Patagonia. In this Welsh villages, where today one third of the 5,000 inhabitants are still pure Welsh and have an odd accent when speaking Spanish, we were about to enjoy their most famous tradition: tea time! At first, Chad was not too excited about it but he wanted to please Caroline and the break from a long day riding was welcomed. However, when we both saw the two huge plates of pastry coming along with the big teapot with a crocheted cover, we were equally enthusiastic about it. All this for just the two of us? An hour and a half and three tea pots later, we had eaten it all: the home made bread and jelly, the traditional Torta Negra, a heavy Welsh fruit cake, and the deliciously amazing pastries like vanilla cram pie, chocolate and cream cake, apple and lemon pie, red fruit jelly... They were all so good and since we were in this old fashioned tea house, with old fashioned wooden furniture, beautiful plates, pots and tea cups, we felt very civilized about eating like ogres. We had to skip dinner that night though:)