Valle de Los Exporadores (2/28 Sun)

Stats:
- 33 miles (all rough dirt)
- 1900 feet of climbing
- roadkill: 2 dead legs belonging to a gringa from Seattle (an endangered species in these parts)
- time...close to 4 hours

Okay, we are on the hunt for better food. Last night, I removed the sauce from my pasta and added butter, dried cheese and salt.  We started discussing food before our dinner was served and we had to stop. While I might have stopped talking about it, I am still dreaming of the filet mignon from La Vita Bella with gorganzola cheese and wine reduction sauce, the pizza from Pagliacci, and a gyro from Wally's (a place I grew up with as a kid and visit everytime I am back in Chicago to see my mom).  And, I would love Marjorie's borsht soup and brownies. Once we finish with the bikes, food may be a driving factor in our decision making. 

With this said, we had a good breakfast. Nice homemade bread, homemade yogurt, homemade jam, scrambled eggs and REAL coffee made in a French press. It was awesome!

The couple that owns the B&B also have an "excursions" business. They offer treking and glacier hiking in the Valle de Los Exploradores (Valley of the Explorers).  You will remember the guy, Santiago, that we rode with a couple of weeks ago. His friends told him their best ride on the Carretera Austral was actually riding up and back on this side road on the Valle de los Exploradores.  The road has been recently extended back into the valley for a total length of 32-ish miles. And, you'll remember the boat trip we took to Laguna San Rafael. Well, this road heads into the backside of what we saw from the boat last Tuesday.  So, we worked it with the owners of where we are staying to get shuttled into the valley --- all the way to the end of the road. With no gear on the bikes, our plan was to enjoy the ride back out the valley and return to the B&B. 

On the shuttle, I remembered the day I walked the marathon in Anchorage, AK. They bused us to the start and I kept thinking, 'wow, I am going to walk this far'. We enjoyed the ride in andthe views were awesome. At the end of the road, we hopped out of the shuttle, left the bikes and did a short hike to a  stunning viewpoint over the glacier. Ice seemed to hang from everywhere and filled the valley in front of us. I recognized a man at the lookout and said, "Hey, haven't I seen you in a bus stop twice recently?" He said, "Yes, and I have seen you four times since Coyhaique on your bike". He was very impressed that anyone would consider riding down here.  The views were great and Arn took photos. And it was time to get the "ponies".  As an aside, I actually dreamed last night that my bike was swallowed up in shifting sand dunes in a wind storm. I woke up in a panic that "narjanita" was gone.  All my bikes have names and this was christened "little orange". 

The ride offered supreme views --- huge mountains, features that looked like Yosemite wrapped in glaciers, rivers of aqua,  waterfalls, and small creeks. The views were in tight and the valley was pretty narrow.  The centerpiece of our views was the highest peak in Patagonia. It is nearly the heigt of Mt Rainier and equally beautiful. Our ride actually crosses the continential divide. At close to 1100 feet of elevation, it has to be one of the lowest passes. Our low elevation only added to overwhelming size and stature of the Andes.  

During the entire ride, we saw 4 cars and had 3 great passes. This was a huge improvement from our prior two days. So, it was a great experience to not feel the pressure of trying to "survive" the cars. Riding the bikes without gear was fantastic and they performed much better in the junky ripio. With the exception of a few miles, the ripio was butt busting --- lots of potholes, lots of washerboard and a far amount of loose.  

Our nemisis today was the freaking horseflies. Arn was bit twice --- his first bites of the trip. One got him through his glove. I managed to avoid bites today. Perhaps all the bites in the head when the bastards got in my helmet two days ago gave me some immunity today. While I didn't get bit, I did get hounded. We were both chased all day. Given that we have been assulted by the bastards for several days now, I have had the chance to study their flight performance. With a stiff head wind, a rider can out pedal them at about 9-10 mph.  However, with a tailwind, the escape velocity is in excess of 13.5 mph. Today, we had a tailwind and nasty ripio, so there was no hope for escape. 

Given the horseflies, we abandoned any idea of a nice picnic lunch with PBJ sandwiches. We ate some chocolate and cookies and opted for lunch in town after the ride. Now, for Arn, I think he would say this was one of his favorite days on the trip. For me, my legs were fading. They went from good to dead. There is no life left in them --- food, water and sleep are not the answers. They need time off.  They were the roadkill of the day. 

Back in town, we had homemade empandas for lunch with cold Diet Cokes. This little store is the only place we have seen a television since the earthquake in Chile. We saw images that were heart-wrenching. After showers, we returned to town to check email and the weather. We both looked for more info on the impact of the quake. At this point, I am guessing you know more than we do. Our only internet is extremely slow, so loading articles to read takes forever. You can imagine that photos are worse and video is impossible. As two people who experienced the 7.2 quake in the Bay Area, we can't wrap our minds around 8.8. It is very, very sad. 

The only impact we have experienced is the result of damaged communication equipment. There is a lack of phones and internet. We have managed to see the weather forecast and the blog of a fellow rider ahead of us. It looks like our road conditions should improve.  Our weather looks like it is going to hold for another couple of days. So, tomorrow we are going to push further south. It won't be pretty for my legs. Hopefully, we can find a nice place to hang for a few days.