Once again a reposting, this time with pictures! Day 36 – Friday April 1 – Another Patagonia David had arranged for us to be transported back over the road we had just traveled, to Cochrane and points eastward in Argentina, since our way was blocked any further south into Chile. We rode from Caleta Tortel in a fairly new red Dodge Durango -- luxury!! -- with the bike trailer and truck following at a distance. In Cochrane we had lunch and got back into the Durango, heading north and east perhaps seventy or eighty kilometers to a little used pass through the Andes. The weather changed to sunny and windy – seriously windy, mainly from behind. Now we got to see the wild life of the steppes: herds of the deerlike/llamalike guanacos, their faces set with huge eyes and eyelashes like a camel. We saw Rheas, the ostrich-like birds that can run almost as fast as the car. We saw a couple of condors cruising high above. A couple people saw armadillos. The plan had been to be dropped off with our bikes near the border, cross the Chilean border station, ride the 10km to the Argentina border station, and press ahead to an Estancia – a ranch where we could stay. But by the time we got through the Argentina border it was almost six and we clearly couldn’t make the next 20 or 30km to the Estancia. There was no other habitation on the road at all. Just a few kilometers into Argentine though, we descended to the bottom of a hill to find the ruins of an old adobe building with its walls pushed down and the bricks scattered, It was next to a beautiful flowing stream and we decided to set up camp. The wind was howling from behind the hill we had just descended, but it was calm enough by the tumbled walls to get the tents out and set up a kitchen tent, where we ate. The terrain was desertlike but filled with gigantic buttes and mountainous profiles. It promised to be cold, but we hunkered down anyway and went to sleep. The next day was to be our last one on the bikes, and it looked like a long day, a long way to the tiny village of Bajo Caracoles. We had no idea what the day held in store for us!
