Go South Young Man

Well its been a whiillleee since I updated my blog mainly due to lack of access to computers and hangovers on the days off... a photo tells a better story than my words so I will to paint a picture of our trip South after leaving Bolivia and arriving in Argentina...







We knew we were making progress and it was clear that we didn´t have much further to go...

We had to cross a few rivers - Cees doesn´t like narrow bridges and now its Geert´s turn to try the slippery pole - maybe the xtremepaddies can demonstrate how it should be done...

Time for a few relaxing moments too and the scenery is as varied as it is breathtaking...

Ouch, not a great place to sit!

The region around Mendoza is famous for its fine wines which are exported all over the world. We attempted to reduce their exports by as much as possible...

Then into the canyonlands of Northern Argentina

And then we crossed a small desert for a couple of days...

...and cycled over the odd volcano - yippeee!

Not much snow left but we could smell it!

On the right and below, you can see the 7,000 Meter Aconcagua, the Highest mountain outside the Himalaya

...Then, Once you cross the Rio Grande, you are officially in Patagonia and as the guys say "everything is better in Patagonia"

WOW! and yes they are clouds way below us




Patagonia is also famous for its strong winds which we took to mean that would be similar to a stormy day on top of Kippure. We were wrong. I will describe what happened. You won´t believe my story. There are no photos only the picture below after the rescue...

We were climbing up over a mountain pass on a paved road into a headwind. As we approached the top the wind got very strong, then it got much stronger and one of the lighter guys was blown off his bike. We dismounted and started to walk. 300 meters later we could no longer walk and our bikes were blown out of our hands. My bike was flapping at the end of my arms like a plastic bag would on a windy day. We had to crawl across the road and in behind rocks to escape the wind which would have blown us literally off the mountain. We were trapped. 2 of us eventually crawled over the pass with our bikes to get some help for the others - it took us over half an hour to get 200 meters and we had to spend most of the time lying flat on top of our bikes on the road - I kid you not, the wind was very very strong..



Scared and dirty faces after everyone had been rescued...

And then it was gone and Patagonia showed its other tranquil beautiful face...

Business as usual for the birds of prey and this local was found hiding under Mick and Bene´s tent...




Thats it my friends but I almost forgot, we had a party in this barrel one night even though it was a bit of a tight squeeze getting in!

Well, in case I don´t see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight