The only reason for Cerro
Sombrero to be there is because there is nothing else between Torres and
Ushuaia. Let’s face it – you have to
have someplace to fuel up. It was actually
one of the better stops. To get there
means exiting Torres Del Paine via the always fun and entertaining “ripio” for
about 80km and then a brief stop after a short distance on pavement to Puerto
Natales for a quick lunch and our last stop at an ATM for a few Chilean
pesos. While there, we had our picture
taken for the local newspaper, and Tavo, our Columbian guide gave a quick
interview. I guess when you have six
motorcycles coming into a one horse town – it’s news. The ride to Cerro Sombrero is almost another
400km away interrupted only by a short ferry crossing over the Straights of
Magellan before arriving at our hotel.
The reason this is so memorable is because I sooooo didn’t feel like
showering the morning of our departure (cramped, shared showering and cold tile
floor) that I felt like – well – I felt like I needed a shower. Ohhhhhhhhh – it felt so good. Plenty of hot water, warm floors, plenty of
room to dry off and then a great, hot meal with fun company. It was almost as good as the barbeque 2
nights ago. So that was our last stop in
Chile – long boring, flat, straight-aways with a landscape that would be good
for putting in the world’s longest runway with the least amount of work.
Our first stop the next
morning, after over 100km of gravel road, was our last border crossing. All things considered, it went reasonably
well, but the Argies don’t quite get the jist of this international travel
thing – at least for a group of motorcycles.
We are now in Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) and are traveling to our
last stop on good paved roads. We’re
also traveling in the coldest temps (got down to 4 degrees) and the only
significant rain we had the entire trip.
Oh, I was miserable! The entire trip I kept telling Louise how
happy I was with the gear that I was wearing and how it kept me warm and dry
and abrasion free. Well – I’m still
abrasion free! The only thing that kept
me going was a stop in Rio Grande for some empanadas (jeez – I’m gonna miss
those things) and a fuel stop to get the cold out of my system. It was almost the entire ride that I felt my
left shoulder and chest were getting cold and wet, but I checked them at the
fuel stop and the inside of my gear was dry.
I don’t know what it was, but I just kept telling myself “2 more hours”,
then “1 more hour”, and then just before Ushuaia, the rain stopped, the roads
dried up, and I wish I could tell you it got warm – but, no – I can’t.
But we made it to the end, so it felt like it warmed up. Pictures and high fives of congratulations
abounded, and then off to the hotel to clean up and have our last dinner
together on Compass Expeditions. It’s
been a memorable ride with just a short distance tomorrow to put the finishing
touches on the trip of a lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment