Broke down in Coyaique

We have spent three of our least finest days in this town. Our experience here has been summarized by sickness and laze. The first night we went through a small tunnel to our beds in a poorly ventilated room that had been recently painted. This room aka headache city had low ceilings. We rose in the morning to throbbing heads and on top of that Chris and Robin both smashed their heads on the way out of the room. This was not a good place so we had Pete Logan find us a better place. We moved from headache city right over to the swamp pit. For the last three days we have all been sick. We have been couped up in a room with snowy screened tv and a lot of blankets we have sweated out gallons of sickness, spentquick adrenaline filled minutes in the bathroom, watched countless movies and commiserated. But now we are better. Glad to have left that room and the smells that lingered behind we will hopefully spend a few days enjoying this town now with our good friend Pete

A Nice Little break Before Mr.farrell Cracked his wheel yes the sun was shinin.

Coyhaique... with a little help

Hello everyone back in the US of A!
The three bandits have arrived in the bustling city of Coyhaique, Chile, home of the famous Peter Logan. A lot has happened on the way to getting here so let me catch you up. The day after Robin posted in La Junta was our most epic day yet (and hopefully the most for the trip)
We left that day after repairing my pannier and organizing food and fuel and stuff a little after noon and hit the open road. The weather was decent and we were rolling through some pretty scenic temperate rainforest and nothing was breaking. Everything was great. At about 3 we stopped in for a massive lunch in the town of Puyuahape filled with chicken, soup and a bunch of cake. We hung out there until about 4:30 with the intention of hitting the road for about another 20-25 km. Since the lanscape was so sheer and wet it was not really feasible to set up camp so we were gunning for this hospedaje we saw on the map. We rolled in around 6 or so feeling good and asked the man how much he wanted for one of the cabins he had. This old turd burgler wanted $280 and wouldn´t budge on any alternative option. Worse, the next spot was 50 km away. So we left.
What we didn´t know was that half of the ride was over the biggest pass any of us had ever gone up. We climbed for over an hour straight. Robin places the climb at two Ascutneys. Then it started raining...hard. Then, eventually, it got dark. We were riding until about 11 when we decided to finally give up and settle down in the stone dust for the night in some near hypothermic conditions. Fortunately before we pulled out the tent we flagged down this big rig who told us of a cabin 3 km up the road. Even cooler was the fact that he slowed down and led us with his flashers on so that we wouldn´t get lost. That guy was an absolute hero.
The cabin was $30 had it´s own woodstove, 3 beds and a hot shower.
Two days ago, we got up in the cabin and hit the road for our first sunny day. It was unbelieveable country. About 10 km in I realized, like an idiot I had left my wallet and passport but was able to hitch back and forth no problem. 20 km later my rim cracked beyond repair. We were screwed but the day was beautiful and no one was hurt so we were happy. Within a half hour this big truck with an empty bed and room for four more in the cab pulled over and drove us all the way here, over 100 km.
The people on the road here are unlike anyone in the US. Everyone is friendly and willing to help. We frequently get the excited horn honk/double fist pump from people as the drive by.
Gotta run. Sorry for the lack of pictures we forgot to bring our camera stuff.
We´ll be here for about a week!
Chris

Breakin´ down but still movin´ on

Today was the best day of the trip thus far! After arctic weather in Northern Patagonia, we started to move further south on the Caraterra Austral. Last nght we stayed in a little town in Patagonia, Chile, called Santa Lucia, which contained almost nothing in it at all except for a few wild awful looking dawgs. The interesting thing about this town was the fact that there was a weird house in the middle of it that allows bikers and wanderers like ourselves to camp for free. So we just set up the big tent right in the middle of town where everyone was walking. It would be like if some hippies set up a tent in the middle of Corey Tabor Park in Plainfield and acted like it was fine.

The weather has been really tough. Temps have not been out of the 50s and the wind has been howling so hard that it has been hard to move some days. Today however, was a different story. We jumped out of town and took off the long sleaves and jackets, and rolled south with the sun on our faces and the wind at our backs. What a day it was. It was all going perfectly well until about 1 kilometer left when Chris hit a pot hole and his panier broke right off his rack. It looks though, after a trip to the `fraterria´, (the chilaean harware strore) he will be ok. He got it all fixed up. This has been the theme thus far. We have constantly been breaking things. Our bikes have been holding up very well on the rough roads but the pnaiers and luggage has all taken a rough full beating. Each of us has broken almost every piece of gear we brought down here. This land is beautiful and rugged. It is packed with friendly people, emerald green rivers, enormous mountains and good food. We are happy, healthy, fed, and having the time of our lives.
Hope all freinds and loved ones are well all over the country.

The Southern Highway or Just About

It is hard to tell just what is in store for us on this very special bike trip. Probably the last news you heard from us was that we were all set up and ready to go. We left Sheldanny and the rest of the Israeli community and headed off to the bus station. We tied up and loaded our bikes and headed from Bariloche to Esquel. Not too bad after 12 games of cribbage and five hours on an extremely comfortable bus we freighted down our bikes and rode off to find some camping. We set up shop then went down to The town of Esquel for a big Beef and Rock chicken dinner. Simple easy and nice.

But the next day the cold rains of summer fell upon us and the first break we got we rode. We hammered along the pavement for the first 35 kms and then we hit dirt roads. This was all expected and is why we chose mountain style bike. A bit more rugged and a bit more slow. We traveled through the hills into Chile. We saw another bike tourer kind of smirk as he passed us and I think he knew what we know a bit earlier. We just got soaked the rest of the day. Remisnicent of the summer of New Hampshires past 50 degrees and windy. I told Robin if this is to continue He can meet me on the Argentine coast where it is 95. By the time we got to the Border I am not so sure he did not want to join me. One of his panniers had broken off his rack was disconnected on one side and he had no feeling in his feet.

He was trying to shake the blood back in to his feet in the border crossing that they sent us back outside ¨for it was not a bathroom for cleaning¨ We cleared the borders and headed in to the little mountain town of Futaleflu. There we found shelter with a nice man by the name of Gregorio who heated our shoes above the fire while cooking us a meal. Chris and Robin told him that there was hunger in our bellies the size of tigers: He told us he could kill that tiger and did. We slept like babies, warm and dry:

Today we have been all over this town to the bike store to the laundy mat back and forth and back again in a town no bigger than the inside of the racetrack. But tommorow with the help of a good meal from gregorio we will ride tres caball€ros. perfecto

Dos Colorados y Un Gigante

Hello from Bariloche! We arrived two days ago and have found a lot of success getting out trip organized. It seems as though it was a great choice to pick this town as a jump off point. The first day that we were here we found a number of bike shops and the second one that we came to had soime pretty good prices on some Trek Mountain bikes that will work great for our trip. Most importantly, they had a 22" frame for Ray. Even better, the owner of the shop set us up with a great route, complete with maps and plenty of information. Tomorrow we head down to Esquel to start heading south down the Careterra Austral. Things a shaping up great. We should be riding in two days.

We were also fortunate to find a great hostel without any trouble. We are staying in five star accomodations at the Sheldany Resort in downtown Bariloche. We have been treated royally as the only non-israeli folks in the place. We have been getting some looks as we shut the door to our one double-bed room, but we´re having a good old time here.

Although Ray couldn´t find any success winning his bike at the casino Robin made enough to warrant the purchase of some botallas termicas ($8 water bottles) which we are all extremely proud of and excited for.