Yep. We did it. We drank out of a river in a foreign country. Sorry mom and health department, it just wasn´t that big of a risk. In fact, four days later, we are just fine. And the water…well, it was really, really, really good. Maybe the only time in my life that I can dive into a clear, green, slow moving river and open my mouth. (Or fill up the water bottles again and again.)

So we had a little bit of a kerfluffle between Esquel and Trevelin (more about that later) and had a few days to spend in the Parque de Los Alerces. Two days of riding brought us to the Rio Verde, and although we only planned on spending one night on it´s glorious bank, we stayed for three.

I´ve never been to a river that was more amenable for mellow swimming. It wasn´t cold, it wasn´t hot, it was just right. There was almost no current close to shore, and a mild one a few feet off shore, but not bad. Children were free to cross the whole expanse of river in inflatable boats to play on the other side. And it wasn´t a particularly skinny river. It was just very, very tranquilo. And so was I. There was also plenty of shade, and an interesting cast of hippie backpackers (full of suggestions for where we should visit), families, and fishermen to watch should I possibly get bored. And lots of fish swimming. The bank dropped dramatically enough that you could dive in about 3 feet off shore.

And did I mention that you could drink out of it? This was confirmed, not only by the signs saying “The water IS potable, but take care of it!”, but also by the two American girls from Bellingham, WA, who were volunteering in the park for the summer.

What an incredible, incredible place.

Bike Stuff
Custom Vanilla Touring bike (Elicia)
couplers, disc brakes, 26″ wheels (Elicia)
Tubus front and rear racks (Elicia)
26″ transerv tires (Elicia)
26″ mtb tires (Elicia)
Pedals that are both platform and SPD (Elicia)
Bontrager Privateer w/drops, discs on front, V-brakes on rear, time/look pedals and cleats (Andy)
26″ slick tires (Andy)
26″ mtb tires (Andy)

Things to carry things in
Backpacks
Arkel small front bags (both of us)
Ortlieb waterproof classic rear bags (Elicia)
Arkel large rear bags (Andy)
Vaude handlebar bag (Elicia)
Topeak Handlebar bag (Andy)

Gear type stuff
A really good helmet
2 small cable locks
a bike computer, very basic
front and rear lights (used them once so far)

Sleeping
down sleeping bags
thermarests
thermarest chairs (awesome, awesome, awesome)
homemade lightweight sleeping bag liners
Orion tent, rainfly, and groundcloth

Water
Ketadyne hiker water filter
Sweetwater viral drops
Emergency water purification tablets
3 one liter bottles each
3 liter camelbak (Andy)
2 liter camelback (Elicia)
plus a rotation of plastic bottles as needed

Stoves
MSR Whisperlight international (runs on unleaded fuel!!! Awesome!!!)
4 fuel bottles
a bag of things to fix the stove with
1 cartridge type stove
1 fuel cartridge
2 windscreens

Cooking
little cutting board (best thing EVER)
small knife
vegetable peeler
spork
big spoon
fork
folding spatula (almost useless)
scrubbie
2 liter pot
1.5 liter pot
fry pan
lid for pot
2 coffee mugs (Portland style)
bag of spices: cumin, curry, salt, pepper, ginger, and whatever else seems good
bottle of cooking oil,soy sauce

Clothes and stuff for Elicia
(not complete-do you really want to know how many bras I brought? If so, ask.)
4 chamois
2 jerseys
armwarmers
knee warmers
tights
thin wool long sleeve shirt
1 pair of town pants
1 wool town tee-shirt
super cute wrap dress
3 pairs of bike socks
1 pair thick wool socks
1 pair sandals
1 pair hiking shoes
1 pair biking shoes
swim suit
Sarong
thermal zip jacket
wool gloves
down jacket
fingerless gloves
full finger gloves for biking
2 wool hats
rain pants
rain jacket
booties

Random crap
plug for sink
clothesline
sun lotion
books
guidebooks
journals
mini-water color set
first aid kit w/ antibiotics, anti-diarrheal meds, tums, ibuprofen, band aids, Brave Soldier ointment, alcohol wipes, etc.
Zip lock bags (hard to find, and we never seem to have quite enough)
pens
buttons and blinky lights to give away to nice people we meet
camp towel
lotion
Chamois butter
vitamins
electrolyte tablets

For Fixing things
huge needle
little needle
upolstery thread
thermarest repair goo and patches
nylon repair tape
seam grip
100 patches
8 tubes
a variety of nuts, washers, and bolts
extra disc brake pads
extra pads for Andy’s other brakes
cable
kool tool
tire levers

Technology
Digital SLR camera w/telephoto lense
2 2k cards
120k mini hard drive
battery charger
various adapters
headlamps

Things we bought along the way
Nail clippers
nail brush (also great for scrubbing laundry)
another wool hat
clothespins
laundry detergent
more pens
new camelbak (Elicia’s developed a leak)

Hi! First of all, sorry if there’s been a shortage of pictures posted, or if the posted pictures are extremely short and narrow. I’m still learning the system, but Elicia’s gonna post some more and she knows what she’s doing. We’ll post some older ones too, because they’re pretty nice. Patagonia’s ridiculously scenic.

I’m writing from Trevelin, Argentina. It’s a very tranquil town founded by Welsh immigrants, so there’s several tea houses and still some Welsh written & spoken here & there. It’s on the dry side of the Andes & the castle-like peaks rising just to the west of town have been holding back the rain clouds quite nicely today.

Apparently commenting on our fine weather in my last entry was a jinx, because it rained for the next four days. We departed the island of Chiloe on a pretty big ferry boat which pitched and rolled on windy, rainy, gray swells for the entire seven-hour crossing. At long last the near-vertical mountains of the mainland materialized, and we rode our absolutely drenched bikes into the town of Chaitan through a driving rain. For once we got a room.

The next day we started south on the famed Cartera Austral, the combination of dirt roads and ferry rides that takes you as far south as you can ride in Chile. The terrain immediately started looking like coastal Alaska. Who knows what glaciers & peaks were hidden in the clouds? Shucks, there was plenty to see beneath the clouds though. Waterfalls all over, hanging moraines, big u-shaped valleys, & a palpable sense of being a long way away from the rest of the world. There was also a fairly steady stream of bike tourists going in both directions. More bike tourists, in fact, than either of us have seen anywhere else. It’s easy to see why.

We spent a lovely afternoon at a hot-spring resort and our muscles really appreciated that. We saw many glaciers and climbed a fairly brutal pass. But after two days we had to turn off the Austral towards Argentina at Santa Lucia, a tiny hamlet with two tiny grocery stores that passes for a full-service town in this part of the world. More rain, rough ripio road, and a huge glacial lake followed. We stayed at a campground and met a couple from Santiago who invited us into their cabin, served us drinks of Pisco (kinda like a Chilean tequila), & we had an awesome spanglish time of it.

At last some blue sky began to appear as we worked our way up the equally-blue rapids of the Rio Futaleufu. If we were into whitewater paddling we’d probably have heard of the Futaleufu, because countless rafts and kayaks passed by and the river appeared to be a non-stop series of rapids. It really is blue like the sky too. In the gorgeous town of Futaleufu, which is surrounded by mountains next to the river, we saw plenty of gringos who live there building houses or guiding. We also want to live there!

And now we’re back in Argentina, which is much less rainy. We had a package sent here from home three weeks ago containing some things we can’t seem to get here (granny gear, water filter, peanut butter, etc.) But it hasn’t arrived yet. We’re not exactly sure what to do next. We both miss the grand wildness of the Austral, and it’s rather tantalizing to think that we could just head south until the road is no more. Or we could explore around here, and there’s plenty to see. But we’re nearing the time to bid farewell to Patagonia and hop a bus north towards Bolivia, Peru, and endless opportunities to check stuff out up there.

I dunno, we’ll see!

Thanks for following, and we’ll keep you posted. Ciao! -Andy

Yep, everyone should come bike tour in Chile.

We did finally lose our good weather. This was taken from the top of a pass that we weren´t expecting. Luckily, we met one of the friendly midwestern bike tourists (Joe) and he gave us the most useful information. Like “You are at the top when you see the cell tower.” Useful information indeed!

Overwhelming waves on the crossing from Quellón to Chaiten…but we saw dolphins! The crossing was rough.

Splurging on a super fancy cabaña in Trevelin, and taking full advantage of the fridge, plates, four burners, and an oven to have an exquisite baked pasta and salad and vino dinner, while washing every single item of clothing we had.

I like this place.