We left the city of Ushuaia. The Olivia and cinco hermanos mountains are greeting us for the last time. Now, we are going to the pampa.

 

Our first stop, The Fagnano lake, where a rescuer team and their powerful dog ( able to move a car with the teeth) welcome us. We spent a very good first night

The things become very complicated for Alexis. After a few days in Ushuaia, he felt a pain to the right knee tendon. The travelled kilometres have just increased the pain, which never stop to grow day after day. After having thought for a while, he decide to come back to Ushuaia to make some extra examination and to heal himself. A hard decision for all the team, because we are just two guys after three days travelling.

Laurent and julien continue to Rio Grande. We cycle across the tough pampa, which never give us a break. We have to front strong wind around 80, sometimes 100 km/hour. People tell us that the wind blows in the same way in all the Patagonia, it means for us, directly in our face. We will have to keep going to cross all this part, which represent a huge physical challenge.

We stop in an estancia where the gauchos welcome us warmly. We eat a delicious guiso de pasta.

After a long negotiation, we spend a night into the camp of the 5th battalion of the Argentinian navy. The soldiers are very proud to tell us that the English army will always remember their persistence during the fight

After a very good night, we decide to go to the wild pampa, on the unpaved road. We have to front again impressive wind gusts. We are already cycling since 15 kilometres on this road, when suddenly, a guy stop his car to let us know that the Chilean border is closed. As a result, we have to go back to Rio Grande. Once back, the wind blows even more than before, it is impossible to continue to cycle. We end in a deteriorated “house” backyard. After a small rest and a plate of oak, we decide to continue to another place less insane. We spend a night in a catholic estancia.

New day with its usual wind. We arrive with difficulties to San Sebastian where we decide to leave our pack rafts to reduce the weight on our bikes. They are too heavy and the weather conditions are tiring us a lot. Thus, Julien hitch hike till Ushuaia, to come back the day after to the San Sebastian border point, where Laurent is waiting him with impatience.

Once the Chilean border crossed, we go to Porvenir, with an extra ride to the Bahía Inútil coast. Our goal is to approach the unique King penguin colony in South America. We meet Claudia and Luiz, we introduce them our project and it is with happiness that we share one day of their daily work. We learn a lot about the King penguin. A very interesting day which allow us to meet fantastic people with a huge concern about environmental protection. We also eat for the first time sheep meat from the pampa, it tastes so good!

After this day full of emotion, we come back to the road to Porvenir, where the wind never stops. As a result we progress very slowly with an average of 8 km/hour. It is very tired that we arrive to Claudio’s house, a fisherman from la tierra del fuego. We sleep in his rustic hut, where we get the luck to learn more about the fishing of “centolla” or king crab. Unfortunately, the season is already finished and we cannot fish with him.

Now, we are on the ferry to Punta Arenas, where we will have a rest for a couple of days before coming back to the road to Torres del Paine..