Here, one by one, we sat with the officer who scrutinized our documents (including the form we had to fill out online, then screenshot the email we received), asked our profession (I said, “retired”), then stamped our passports. We were free to enter…”No Man’s Land”.
But first…breakfast. We rode a couple hundred feet to where there was some protection from the wind, and set up our chairs to cook our breakfast.
Caroline, Tom (from Germany), and Pedro (Brazil) joined us. Once we were finished, we packed up and started the 21kms through “No Man’s Land”. It’s not really called that, I don’t think, but it’s not Chile, and it’s not Argentina. It’s…no man’s land!
We had 4.4kms of mostly steep uphill that was pretty rocky. While it is a gravel road, there are no cars, save for one white pickup we saw twice (once leaving Candalario, and once going back).
You can see the road going up in the distance.
Just after a very steep section. There was a lot of pushing.
Once we finished the climb, it was not too bad. There were a couple of creek crossings, but there were bridges. There was even an airstrip.
The airstrip was just across the bridge.
We decided to stop for some lunch before we got to the Argentine border, in case they would take away our cheese. Markus spent some time rough cutting a couple of spoons. Alex and I rode on. We would wait for him at the border.
One last climb to the border.
That’s Fitzroy in the distance.
Alex and I came to the border. We thought the border office would be there, but it was just a sign.
Beyond this sign is the end of “No Man’s Land”.
There was even a Matt sighting! The “Pedal and Chain” sticker is a couple Alex has been following on Instagram. She was excited to see their sticker.
Markus caught up to us, and we did a group shot.
Next up was the final 5+ kilometers of mostly hike-a-bike. Next up, Part 3…
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