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.