Kilometers to Date: 567 km (340 miles) While the phrase viento al frente sounds like a creamy pasta dish, in reality it is not nearly so delicious. Unfortunately, this was served up nearly every day through Tierra del Fuego, the island at the southern tip of South America. After a run through frontier-land between Argentina and Chile, we have arrived in Punta Arenas. What a journey! We were out of shape when we left Ushuaia, but after days of fighting against Tierra del Fuego's easterly winds, our legs have become strong. It should really be called Tierra del Viento! We'll rest up, protein-load, and then continue north. Help us reach 1000 "Likes" on Facebook by the time we get to Santiago, Chile (end of Stage 1).
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The morning we leave Tolhuin, we have a facturas breakfast with Yves and Katharina.
Yves and Katharina have gone ahead while we take it easier. We feel better and stop to enjoy the feeling of finally being on the road.
See the flags? Tailwind! Christi is flying!
We reach the Atlantic Coast.
We leap-frog with Yves and Katharina all day long. They now catch up to us.
Katharina rides up to Christi as we're taking a break.
We ride on along the coast.
A different view courtesy of Yves.
A very different view as Yves smiles as he snaps a shot.
We arrive at Estancia Viamonte after 67 km and camp for the night.
The estancia is a farm for sheep sheering, but it's quiet at the moment. Estancias dot the country-side and often let cyclists stay the night either camping or staying in their buildings that house migrant sheerers.
The following morning we battle headwind to Rio Grande.
Rio Grande, Texas? Perhaps not big enough, so Rio Grande, Argentina.
We had been having problems with the steering, and we find out that the headset is broken.
We find a bike shop and a new headset. The shop's owner installs the new headset for us.
Tauru holds the bike while he works on it.
Ta-dah! The bike is good to go! The new headset improves steering a thousand-fold! The bike is long enough and unstable enough -- no need to have a broken headset to further complicate things.
We contemplate taking the regular route to Punta Arenas, but... afterall, this is an adventure! So we take the alternative route through frontier-land. We stop for the night at Estancia Menendez.
Christi, who is now our CFO (Chief Food Officer), reviews the 8-day supply of food: tons of cookies, polenta, split peas, oatmeal, dulce de leche, powdered milk, and so on. Tauru, the CMO (Chief Mechanic Officer), is responsible for the fuel for the stove.
As we ride the dirt roads through frontier-land, we spot sheep.
Lots of them to the left.
That's a lot of wool socks! They belong to Estancia Menendez, the place we camped at the night before, and they'll be sheered soon.
But the winds are horrendous! The flags point the way and illustrate our battle ahead.
Paseo Bellavista... or rather "Paseo Ventoso" for Windy Pass.
After an all day battle royale, we arrive at the Argentinian border. They let us pitch our tent, and that was it for the day!