Chapter 1 Spitting off the Edge of the World
Día 1: The sense of something majestic, followed by a bike crash and a swift running out of food (57km)
Chapter 1 Baptism of Gravel (1/6)
Komoot GPX (ARG) Los Antiguos-Fachinal (CHI) (57km)
Fifteen years of dreaming, three years of speculating, six months of research, two weeks of last-minute purchasing and it’s all come down to this moment. Ten thousand kilometers of the most diverse scenery on planet earth lie ahead. And we have the chance to pedal it. The feeling is difficult to describe.
We stuff bags, tighten straps, roll up socks, and eek slowly out of our bus station campsite. I turn to look back at the road.
CRASH!
The crunch of bike frame on tarmac. Jake’s fallen off and bashed his knees.
‘It felt like I was falling down the mast of a ship.’
Slowly, inevitably, and with potentially dire consequences. The stopwatch reads 16 seconds. The only way is up.
One miserable Argentine border guard later and we are swinging across a river between Chile and Argentina. The skyline frazzles our mind, the enormity of what is to come barely comprehensible. In Chile Chico, the name I later give to my trusty steed, we struggle to get cash, abandon the attempt, and set off with the intention of getting to the next town by nightfall. There’ll be card machines right?
On the way out of town, a few hitchinghiking couples raise playful thumbs and ask if we have any space on the back. Maybe next time.
We inch our way up the steep tarmac hill, until, without warning, it’s replaced by bone shaking gravel. Our target town quickly becomes unreachable but we’re distracted by the staggering mountain vistas all around. The closest I’ve ever felt to the scenery Chris McCandless adored in Into the Wild.
By dusk the food/drink supplies have become problematic. I manage to beg some tostadas from a passing car. We have to settle for a farmers field as the road is not improving as hoped. Still 35k from the next town. Toasted bread and cereza (Patagonian cherries) for dinner.
Food stocks: low.
Water: low.
Energy: low.
Sense of adventure: stratospheric.
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Track: Spitting off the Edge of the World - Yeah Yeah Yeahs