We left Chalten at about 8:45. Now we have only pavement for awhile. The landscape has really changed. Now we are on the Pampas. Looking back, however, was spectacular.
Fitz Roy looking fine today!
Less mountains (at least the glacial ones)
Photo by Alex.
Pampas
Long straight road with a tailwind.
We weren’t too far out of Chalten when I saw a sign saying to watch out for the fauna. Just a short time later, I looked to my left and saw this.
Guanaco. Then I looked to my right, and saw this.
Another guanaco! There was a third one further away.
Unfortunately, we didn’t see any other live ones (a few dead ones on the fences (it seems they get hung up trying to jump the fence). Very sad.
The tailwind was blowing pretty strong. Without much effort, I was going 30kms/hour. At times I was going 35. This was on the flat (and it was mostly flat except for one climb that was 1.65kms. It was funny…there would be a road sign saying it was an uphill.
But it would only be like 1%!
The views continued to amaze us.
That is ice in the lake!
The one tricky part about the strong winds and the pampas is finding shelter from the wind for lunch. We finally found a big rock we could hunker down behind.
It worked.
We had just 10kms more until the turn on to the iconic Ruta 40. They went by quick.
A shelter at the intersection. This would have been a good place for lunch.
The intersection was also the end of the tailwinds. Once we turned onto Ruta 40, it was headwinds and crosswinds. I finally took the Brim off my helmet.
We had about 20kms to go. Our speed was cut in half. We came around the end of the lake.
Still can see Fitz Roy to the right.
We had a brief moment where we turned and had a tailwind again, but it didn’t last. We rode echelon style, which was helpful for Alex and me (not so much Markus).
We finally came to a hotel, in the middle of nowhere, that also has camping.
It’s on Rio La Leona.
I had this…yummy.
Now we are set up, sort of out of the wind.
Time to cook some dinner.
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