Santiago Chile to Mendoza Argentina
After waiting over 2 weeks in Santiago Chile Matt was finally able to free his bike from Peruvian customs and meet up with me. My $1200 Rohloff hub has been malfunctioning from day one (allegedly they never break) and he had the spare parts to fix it. Except that once we swapped them out it was still not working…. So I bought a $400 Cannondale from Pedro spent another $300 on upgrading wheels and tires and we were off riding at last.
Canyon del Pato, Peru
Tunnels lead to more tunnels, over 50 one day. Things were steep and there was no place flat to camp.
A friendly family running a restaurant pushed the chairs to the side and I slept indoors on the floor.
From there I spent Christmas and new years in Santiago Chile and mountain biked, on what was then a demo bike, and now replaces my $5200 custom malfunctioning Co Motion.
We had some beautiful, but tough days back on the bike heading towards Mendoza Argentina, but great canyon views.
Then it was over the Portillo pass, famous for the oldest ski area in South America, and (NorthAmerican) summer training for all the great ski teams.
Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas
the beauty of the Andes (ironically this is where Seven years in Tibet was filmed)
long narrow dirt descent... a blast
