The pampa relaxo, mall city and sneaking our way towards the glacier.

As we departed from El Chalten, weird feelings were with us. The happiness of hitting the road again, the sensation of complete freedom embracing us that would lead us towards the unknown. But also the more good times we would have had, had we stayed at Florencia's, everything mixed created a really weird feeling. Still, at least for my part, the itch to move, and the red warning showing up in the hills made me decide to leave that day. It was hard as usual, leaving Florencia's is so damn difficult!!!! But we managed. We departed with Connor with the goal of reaching the city of El Calafate and get to visit the Perito Moreno glacier. The glacier of glaciers. One glacier to rule them all. The one that if you see, then you are allowed to skip any other glacier that crosses your path, or so the tales said. So many people spoke about this damn piece of ice that I had to go there and check if the tales were real. Getting there would mean a detour from my initial plan, but once again, who the fuck cares about time! The only thing that matters here is that winter is coming.

The Fitz Roy in the background, El Chalten somewhere over there. Such great times.

A gringo puto riding away from El Chalten.

La Pampa Relaxo.

Everybody scared me about the pampa. Everybody told me how the winds would stop you and forced you to pedal only 30 or 40 k per day. Everybody would tell me how I had to plan my trips in order to avoid wasting food days and water days and how with tailwind it was so easy to pedal more than 100k in 4 hours. Everybody would also say how after leaving El Chalten, the tail wind would make its magic and I would be instantly in the crossing with the ruta 40. And once again, as the weather guy, everybody was soooooo damn wrong. Nature has no rules!

Right after we left El Chalten, a light head wind crashed with our faces. It went from light to light-strong in the matter of 10 or 15 k and kept like this till we reached the route 40.

Some people say that we are at the right time in the right moment when we are doing things like traveling the world. In this case, I strongly agree, 30 k after leaving el Chalten one of my spokes decided it had had enough and broke. I stopped and yelled to Connor that my spoke had broken. We stopped for lunch and also to repair my rearwheel. I tried both spokes I had and none fitted my bike. What the fuck?. Connor said they were probably too short for my wheel so I tried one of his spare spokes and magic. Worked. Had I been alone in the pampa I would have had to hitch hike my way back to El Chalten or just wait for the birds to do their job with my corpse. Still, Connor had the right spokes and he was there and then. Also is funny how after, mmmh, let say, 4000 kilometers, after crossing the whole hellish roads of carretera austral and when being in the nice and best paved road I could be riding on, one spoke broke, shit happens sometimes I guess.

Bikes and Pampa.

After some 70 or so kilometers we reached the crossing with Ruta 40. The so known road that would take us south. We knew of an abandoned pink house in which every cyclist would sneak in to spend the night. We still had to 30k more to go and it was already sunset time. Riding the 30k would mean to ride at night and risk not to see the pink house over the road. Some hitch hikers approached us from the distance and told us about a small cover in the area and asked if we wanted to camp there. We checked the place and it looked ok to spend the night. The hitch hikers asked again, "do we meet here then?", we said yes. Something wasn't right here. Why would hitch hikers ask us to go and camp with them at some spot they knew of beforehand, and then try to make sure we would join them (?) Maybe nothing was wrong and they were being nice, but instinct would tell me that something was wrong here.I asked Connor for his opinion and he also thought it was weird behavior. We are sorry lads but we keep on! Without even making and effort in telling them we kept on for our night ride.

Finally, after 1 or so hour of pedaling in complete darkness we found a nice and perfect spot to spend the night. A sewer tunnel. Perfect shelter for the cold night and the dew that falls in the pampa at night. Good protection from the sight of drivers and also perfect cover for the wind. 106 kilometers for the first day of pampa was not bad at all, it reminded me of the old days over central Chile where I would pedal nearly the 100k everyday. In contrast, in the carretera austral, the norm would be to be around the 50k or top, 60k. I still remember that path near La Junta, such a hell. This pampa, despite all the horrid tales, was pretty much fine!! Connor even called it La Pampa Relaxo in a noticeable broken spanish.

Perfect bed.

Bike on sight.

Stealth enough!

Towards El Calafate, the Mall city.

Second day of Pampa went quite straight as the first one, a bit more of head wind but nothing really to care. We payed a visit to the pink house and made what we had to do, write our names on the wall. It was nice also to see how other people I've met had put their names there too, Jerome and Stephane from France, in Colombia now, Jacque and Kayla from the states on their way back north, John from england who may be somewhere here in the south, some lads I met while coming south, and many others. 

Connor proud of being the only irish on the wall.

Another day of pedaling at La Pampa Relaxo was done and we spent a nice evening and camping day under a bridge. Hell we even found water every now and then. Tales would talk about couple of hundred of kilometers with no water at all, still couple of rivers on the way where to fetch water from and kept on with the day.

Finally on the third day after we had left the so lovely town of El Chalten we arrived to El Calafate. The intrance was a long downhill to what it seemed to be quite a big town from the distance. After 3 or so kilometers downhill we reached downtown and a complete shock for us bicycle tourers who had spent the last couple of months in small and quiet cities.

Where the hell am I? I asked myself for a second. Suddenly, everything that was around me were stores selling whatever they could sell you; food, souvenirs, clothes, jam, chocolates, books, posters, tours, equipment, more souvenirs, bars here, there, over there restaurants, there too, more souvenirs, A CASINO!!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS!?!?!?!?!?.

So many bright signs surrounded the city, so many people walking through the streets, so many business all around and the sound of the city once again hiting our hears, cars driving by, honking now and then, and the funny look of tourists and locals who probably had seen bicycle tourers before but still got amazed by the funny look of a guy riding his bike with all that load.

We did what we had to do in the city, have a beer, get internet access, buy groceries and get the hell out of town. Priorities man. We kept on and left the city at sunset, instantly after leaving the city the awful sounds went away and the relaxed and quiet pampa was back. We kept on for another 15 k in darkness till we reached a bridge with an amazing camping spot where we would spend the night before approaching the glacier.

The bridge where we camped.

In a mission to Perito Moreno Glacier.

The goal was simple, we knew the rangers would charge us a crazy amount of money to get into the national park, we knew it would be around the ARG$200 for taking a couple of pictures and spending around 1 hour looking at a big piece of ice and get out of the park. With those ARG$200 we could certainly have an awesome meal at some fancy restaurant or buy food for at least a whole week on the road, so definitely we wanted to avoid that payment at the entrance of the park. For this we would try to get as close as possible to entrance and stealth camp in order to start the pedaling before the rangers wake up and start working.

We started the day quite late as we knew we wouldn't pedal that much, Connor got ahead as I got delayed by taking pictures of a bird. After around 25 k I saw Connor on his way back with some more info from a guy he met ahead who worked at the national park. We had just passed the last bridge with water till the glacier, and as the guy told Connor, with possibilities for camping as it is forbidden to camp inside the park. We were still 33 k away from the glacier and wondering where the gates to enter the park would be.

We sat for a while and had some tea and cookies because it was 4 pm. After getting tons of water we departed again with the idea that the gates would be around 10 k away from the glacier. Little did we know but after pedaling a small uphill and around 10 minutes we faced a huge wooden sign in which it was possible to read; “Welcome to Los Glaciares National Park”. Holy cow! The entrance to the park lays 30 k away from the glacier. So that was the reason the guy told Connor that the bridge was THE spot for camping and THE spot for fetching water. It was 5 pm, and it was meaningless to try to sneak at this time, it gets dark around 7 pm in the pampa and in 2 hours with that wind we wouldn't make it to the glacier with daylight. Still, I wanted to go to the gates and check if what other cyclist were saying was true, the ARG$200 fee to visit the park.

I approached to the entrance really slowly as Connor waited for me back there in order to no be seen by, probably, the same guy who had seen him before. As I approached someone came out from the rangers office where there was a huge stop sign and another sign stating “here you pay”. I talked to the guy and noticed the difference in the prices for locals, argentinians, memebers of the MERCOSUR and others. Locals would pay ARG$30, argentinians ARG$40, members of the mercosur ARG$150 and others, which included Irish and Chilean citizens would pay ARG$215. The ranger also told me that they opened the park at 8 sharp so I could show up at that time and pay my fee to get into the park. Of course man!. I asked him where I could camp. He basically gave me the same info Connor had been given. I said till tomorrow and went back my way.

We went back to the same bridge once again and decided we would wake up at 5 am and sneak our way in latest at 6 am in order to reach the glacier even before they opened the park. Night rides are getting kind of the norm these days. I decided I would just bivybag for that night as setting up the tent would make me loose time in the morning. Some sand would be used as a mat to not feel the hard surface under the bridge. Nothing else but to chill for the rest of the evening and go to sleep early in order to wake up for the night early ride.

Sneaking in, sneaking out.

We woke up at 5 am sharp, we got our things ready quite fast and after a fast and light breakfast which consisted in cookies and Dulce de Leche we got ready to sneak in into the park. 5.50 am and we were on the bikes ready for the night ride. Not a single shit we would see but the barely noticeable white line on the sides of the road that pointed out we were getting close to the edge. Nontheless the riding started smoothly and in no time we were at the entrance.

We slowed the pace, checked the surroundings for any lights or sound but nothing could be heard. Nothing at all but the sound of the tires hitting the pavement as we advanced over the road. Like spies on a secret mission we sneaked in through the entrance of the park exactly at 6 am in a pitch dark night and nobody wouldn't even imagine we were there and then.

After a couple of hundred meter AC/DC started to sound in my mini personal speaker, at the pace of the Black Ice album we kept for the next 30 k of the night ride towards the glacier.

Dawn arrived at 8, and by that time, we were already at the start of the stairs and ramps that guide you to see the glacier, pictures will tell you if it is amazing or not. As we had planned we made some sandwiches and enojoyed the view for a while, just for a while, because then, around 1 hour later after our arrival, tourists started to pack the place with lots of noises and picture taking that destroyed the real essence and vibe of the place. If you ask me, the glacier is great, worth seeing in its magnifiscence, but the place is so touristic, so invasive with nature, and so packed with people, that is not a place where I would like the spend a couple of hours just contemplating nature. I think the place looks more like a theme park where you can walk over the ramps and look at nature and take pictures to then just leave for mall town again or if you fancy, have a fancy dinner at the super expensive restaurant they have next to the ramps, or buy some souvenirs from the glacier's shop. Nature made business. Still, we spent around 1 hour peacefully till the place got packed, so we started phase two of the mission, leave the park.

Our way to leave the park would be hitch hiking, or at least, that is what we had planned. We moved to the parking lot in the hope of finding some pick ups that would bring us back to El Calafate and out of the park. Sadly, as it was still early in the morning, not that many people with private means of transportation where in the place but mostly huge busses full of tourists. We decided to move to another point in the hope of catching more rides and we sat there waiting for the hoped ride out of the park. After 3 hours, nothing really happened. I decided it would be better to walk a bit and not wait right outside the parking lots, but that didn't work either. At 3.30 pm and without lunch we decided just to pedal our way out of the park.

The tail wind in the afternoon made its trick and in no time we had advanced the 30 k and out of the park. When we crossed the entrance, nobody looked at us or yelled at us or anything at all, or at least I didn't hear anything. I didn't even look to the office where the ranger was supposed to be, I just kept on pushing as if I had paid my fee to get in. As the time passed the wind got stronger and stronger so I decided I would push the extra 50k towards the city and pay for camping and have a descent meal. We had had only sandwiches in the morning and nothing else during the rest of they day. We never thought it would be so hard to find someone to pick us up. With such a wind, my estimation to reach the city was 2 hours. Quite optimistic but the tail wind gave me faith on it. Connor told me he was thinking in camping under a bridge 15k away for the city, but my mood plus the hunger didn't want me to do that and I wanted to reach the city at any cost to eat properly. I get anxious when I'm hungry. Connor said he would try to reach the city too in the hope of a massive meal. After 15 minutes, Connor was a small point in the distance, after 1 hour I wouldn't see him anymore. He was somewhere back in the distance.

The pedaling got so easy with such a tail wind that I kept a 30 kms/h pace for most of the way back to the city. At 7 pm sharp I had made the 50k and I was entering the city on my way towards the camping spot. I was starving so I bough some cookies. By this time I thought that Connor hadn't made it to the city and had decided just to camp under the bridge, suddenly he showed up over the bike looking like a zombie, not knowing what to do or where to go but trying to find a spot where to rest for the eternity. Temptation was next to us though, a huge lamb was being barbecued in the restaurant at the camping. Asado patagonico. We were starving so I told Connor we deserved a huge ass meal and we went for in an asado rampage that night.

Mission completed with success! We made it to the glacier and back without paying the fee and getting our bellies full at the end of the day. Such a long day, from 5 am to midnight with just a couple of sandwhiches in the belly. It was definetely worth it though, more than being at the glacier, the day as a whole was pretty darn cool.

Full bellies, tired as hell, time for rest and till then.

Cheers.