Day 21 (4/14)

Today we reached our highest point on the trip at just over 17,000 feet. Unfortunately, I managed to fail to turn on the Relive app as we started this morning and so you’ll have to take my word for it. We reached this milestone at just after noon after yet another epic climb. Our morning started with a search for gas. We thought we ‘might’ have enough to get us to the next known gas stop, but were reluctant to take the risk.

No gas stations were to be found, but what you often find in smaller towns is a small storefront where gas is sold by the gallon. Fortunately, we found one and each took on a gallon each. The purchase also served as yet another opportunity to engage with the locals, who couldn’t have been more friendly or interested. 

Confident now that we had enough fuel, we began climbing. Again under blue skies and sun and this time on a challenging two track dirt road. To give you a sense of the difficulty, it took us an hour and a half to climb the initial 20km (14 miles) to an altitude of 15,000 feet, where the landscape leveled out. During the climb we were afforded several opportunities to look back on the valley (and the lake) from which we’d come and we could also look back on the horizon and see the snow capped peaks we’d made our way past the day prior. 

We continued at 15,000 for short time and then began the more gradual climb upto our high point of 17,000. In some ways, the altitude was deceptive as we didn’t encounter the steep final ascent we’ve experienced on several of our prior high altitude traverses, but nonetheless there we were at a pass marked by the three crosses of Golgotha (see pictures). To mark our milestone we stopped for another lunch of hard boiled egg with bread, cheese and honey accompanied by a cup of coffee. The warmth was welcome as we were under high clouds with a slight breeze and a definite chill in the air. Once again, we celebrated and gave thanks for being together on this journey. 

From 17,000 feet it was a long downhill run. Just after we got started however, we stopped to check out an abandoned mine shaft that was just off to the side of the road. As you will see from the pictures, the construction of the mine, while sturdy, was remarkably primitive. We spent a few minutes conjecturing about it’s history before we moved on, but what stood out was the fact that someone had gone to the lengths of constructing it at this remote of a location. As we made our way further down, we were encountered a series of three landslides in a 1/2 mile stretch that could easily have been impassable. As it is, they were nothing more than a minor obstacle, but we were both struck with the realization that had we been less fortunate, we could easily have found ourselves having to turn around. 

The remainder of the descent took us through yet another remarkable series of vista’s, in this case, of the Volcanic landscape surrounding us. Recall from yesterday, the marker in the town of Andagua… ‘Corazon del Valle de Los Volcanes‘… well, that was the area we were now passing through and it is marked by several dozen dormant volcano’s. 

Once we completed our descent, I’m sorry to say that the road conditions deteriorated dramaticlly. Long and short, for the final 3+ hours of the afternoon we were dodging potholes and riding over washboard. I suppose our luck was bound to end at some point and so we aren’t in any position to complain, but that said, it was a long three hours of relentless pounding. We finally ended our day around 5:30 in the town of Challalli, where we had an outstanding dinner of roast chicken

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From Claudio

The Patagonian Hare

As a child, Lucien read and reread The Patagonian Hare until it belonged to his heart. The drawings, simple and innocent, brought the hare and the landscape alive. Lucien decided that when he grew up he would go and see that land with his own eyes. Life took him around the world, but never to Patagonia. In his old age Lucien decided to go there. He arrived at the land of Patagones, rented a car and drove day after day under the endless southern skies with no destination. Then it happened: in the orange hours of the day, driving on a solitary gravel road, a hare suddenly jumped in front of his path, forcing him to stop abruptly. The engine was humming, the hare and Lucien looked at each other for an instant, then the small animal disappeared. In silence, inside the car, Lucien was trembling: he realized that he has finally arrived at his Patagonia, he had met his hare. 

Have Fred and I, after so many days and miles, arrived? Have we met our Peruvian Hare? 

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The morning… to 17,000 feet

The afternoon…

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This is a little hand held footage of the final stage of the climb up to 17,000 feet.