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Kilometers to Date: 567 km (340 miles)
| Day |
Km |
Miles |
Notes |
| Jan 23 |
67 |
40 |
Slight tailwind to Estancia Viamonte. |
| Jan 24 |
44 |
26 |
Battled headwind to Rio Grande, Argentina. |
| Jan 25 |
17 |
10 |
Got new headset, then back on road. |
| Jan 26 |
67 |
40 |
Fought massive headwind all day long. |
| Jan 27 |
38 |
23 |
Crossed into Chile, still with headwind. |
| Jan 28 |
25 |
15 |
More headwind to a lake. |
| Jan 29 |
44 |
26 |
Again, headwind to Cameron, Chile. |
| Jan 30 |
35 |
21 |
Finally tailwind to see king penguins. |
| Jan 31 |
120 |
72 |
Hitched to Porvenir to catch ferry. |
| Feb 1 |
7 |
4 |
Walked into downtown Punta Arenas. |
| Feb 2 |
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Rest day. |
Help us reach 1000 "Likes" on Facebook by the time we get to Santiago, Chile (end of Stage 1).
At a protected beach, we meet three other cyclists (2 Austrians and 1 French) and a lady who watches over penguins.
We have to cross this to get to the beach. Christi balances, but the thought of seeing king penguins gives her the confidence to "walk the line."
What's that?
Two different objects...
Them!!
A couple.
A couple of years ago, a small group of king penguins made this beach their home. With protection (yes, there were people who stole penguin eggs), they now number in the 60's.
Who's king? Who's king?
A kiss...
A dance...
They had enough of us, and so strolled away.
But there's more. They hang out near their nesting area.
For the night, we camp nearby and use this structure to shield us against the ferocious wind.
We walk back to the beach. Christi has more confidence now that she's seen the penguins.
But the plank is narrow and she still has to concentrate.
The sunset is worth walking the plank, though.
Worth the plank...
But we have to cross back over them to get back to camp. (Well, this time, it wasn't so good. Christi lost balance and fell into the water! Luckily, it wasn't so deep; but the cold water and the wind made us rush back to camp where she got into dry clothes and drank tons of hot cocoa.)
Before we leave, we see the penguins again.
The colony.
He must be the dominant male since he's all by himself and he is the barrier between us and the colony.
Adorable.
Note: Please continue to support protecting this colony.
We head west again en route to Porvenir, but the wind is soooooo ferocious that we opted to hitch-hike. Christi bundles herself with the tent fly and wait for a passing vehicle. We are 100 km from Porvenir, which is where we can catch a ferry to Punta Arenas.
This van picked us up. We were surprised our bike fit inside!
Our Chilean friends and saviors! "What a small world" moment we had with them! The Chilean lady standing to Christi's right is actually a teacher for blind students in Santiago and she knows our Boston, MA contact at Perkins! We'll visit her and her school when we get to Santiago!
The ferry docks in Porvenir.
No more Tierra del Fuego/Viento. Onward to Punta Arenas.
One last moment on Tierra del Fuego.
A two and a half hour ride over to the mainland and Punta Arenas.
We arrived in Punta Arenas around 9:30 pm. With about 30 minutes of daylight left and 5 km from downtown Punta Arenas where there's a hostel, we opted to go to a nearby truck stop 2 km away. They let us camp next to the store ...and it's "Ride Across America" all over again!! We slept at truck stops a lot when we road across the US in summer 2009.
One of the benefits of truck stop camping is 24-hr convenience store service. Cerveza Austral! After days out in the frontier, we have civilization again!!! Woohooooooo!
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