THE END

"This is the end
This is the end
..In a desperate land"
Just as Jim Morrison would have it.

We´ve been as far south as the road will take us to the tip of the South American continent. We walked for 2 days towards Cabo Froward, the southernmost point of the continent but had to turn back just shy of the cape. I had a fall and injured my knee, and we had some long waits at deep rivers for the tides to turn. The river level was nipple deep on me, chin deep on Jude. Also the weather was miserable....so we didn´t quite make it. But after a 12-month and 13,769km journey, crossing 68º degrees of latitude I think we´ve come far enough. Nada mas!

Many cyclists go further on....to Ushuaia on the Argentinian side of Tierra del Fuego...but my plan was to ride from the Caribbean to the southern limit of the continent (Tierra del Fuego is an island).

There will be more posts on this blog as we head north through Argentina- Perito Moreno National Park, Monte Leon NP, Camarones/Valdes Peninsula coastal ride, Buenos Aires, Estero de Ibera and Iguazu Falls. We´re heading towards warmer climes - beer in the tropics - time for a holiday.

I will fly home to Tasmania on Feb 16 and Judy will fly to Colombia solo backpacking without me or her bike. This is the end!
Que lastima!

The end of the road
We´ll still do some short rides along the Atlantic coast of Argentina but the long ride down the Andes has come to the end of the road. And here it is... just south of San Juan Bay on the Straits of Magellan.


The sign showing the southernmost lighthouse or faro and the most southerly point on the continent.


The view south towards Cape Froward. Looking out to the Magellan Strait with Dawson Island and Tierra del Fuego in the background. Dawson Island was the site of an infamous prison during the Pinochet regime where political prisoners were imprisoned, tortured and murdered. It looks a lonely and desolate place. We met a Chilean woman whose friends were taken there and `disappeared´ by the military.


We saw sea lions playing in the kelp beds and dolphins swimming in the small bays. Also a large red fox (zorro colorado. Apart from that the walk wasn´t very interesting. Lots of slippery pebbly beaches and everything cloaked in a dull ashen torpor.

Our campsite on Lake San Nicolas. We got very bored with the long march along the rocky shores of Brunswick Peninsula and headed into the hills - a much more colourful and vibrant world.




Nothofagus reflections on the tannin-stained lake




Sphagnum moss in the high country


A pine sapling growing out of the sphagnum moss. It looks remarkably like the Tasmanian endemic prostrate strawberry pine (Microcachrys tetragona)


Two parasites on one Nothofagus - Chinese lantern and Indian bread.


Flowers on cushion plant (Epacridaceae). These are very similar to the Tasmanian alpine bolster heath communities (Donatia, Aboratella ssp).


The prolific dog orchid carpeting the mossy floors of beech forests.


Something fishy! Lots of dead fish mysteriously washed up on the shores of the peninsula. There is also a `red tide´ flourishing on this coast (pollution and global warming). It infects shellfish with a toxin and is very deadly. Two French tourists from our hostel were rushed to hospital after eating a few mussels from the beach.


I´ve been following Charles Darwin´s voyage aboard the `Beagle´(1831-4) as we´ve travelled south. (Later, I´ll include some wonderful quotes from his book - a natural selection no less). He spent some time along the coasts of southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego on the survey ship. On a earlier voyage on the `Beagle´ the commander Pringle Stokes became severely depressed after months at sea and shot himself in the head. He was buried at San Juan Bay, not far from Puerto Hambre (Port Famine). This is his gravesite but the original wooden tomb marker is in the museum. Here is the replica and misspelt epitaph to Stokes with a quaint euphemism for suicide - `..died from the effects of anxieties and hardships´. Poor old sod.


Puerto Hambre - another interesting story from the 16th century. I´ll write about it later or else Google `Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa´ for one of the most hapless adventures in history. Surely a Darwin Award winner.


MUSIC DOWN THE ANDES
Shortly after we started out from Huaraz on this trip my MP3 player died taking all my favourite tunes with into the cyber grave. It was just out of warranty - the second time this has happened. I think the electronic makers put an implant into these devices to self-terminate like Monsanto does with its seed genetic technology.
Anyway I borrowed Jude´s (on an indefinite loan) and slowly built up my music library again at remote internet cafes along the road.

TOP 5 - HIGHS AND LOWS
Here are my Top 5 songs. As you can see it all depends on my mood on the day.

1. `Walking on a Dream´ by Empire of the Sun (a shameless Australian pop song)
..with my words in bold.

"Talking to myself
We are always cycling
For the thrill of it
Always pushing up the hill
Searching for the thrill of it
..Never looking down
Just in awe of what´s in front of me"

This was blaring in my ears when I hit a nice stream of tailwind or on a pleasant sunny day riding high among Andescape. I love that last line - `just in awe of what´s in front of me´- an apt motto for the cyclotouriste.


2. `Waiting Around to Die´ by Townes van Zandt
..my words in bold again

"Sometimes I don´t know where this dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I don´t even know the reason why
But I guess I keep I keep a-cyclin´
Lots of hills
And lots a-pedallin´
`Cause it´s easier than a-waitin `round to die"

From one of the most misanthropic songwriters, this is more relevant on my hardest darkest days- eg. fighting headwinds in Patagonia or pounding along the punishing dusty roads of Bolivia.


3.`Push on Through´ by Salmonella Dub
This was the song playing when I fell on that fateful day in Peru in June 2008. As I lay in the dust, bleeding on the road (still clipped into the pedals) a one-line mantra from the song echoed in my ears....
"I´ve had enough"
And on some really tough days this line still rang true.


4.`Mooonlight Mile´ by The Rolling Stones

"When the wind blows and the rain feels cold
With a head full of snow....
Oh, I´m sleeping under strange, strange skies
Just another mad mad day on the road....
I´m just about a moonlight mile down the road"

I´m sure Mick and Keith had other snow in their heads on the Sticky Fingers recording sessions but it´s a very evocative song of life on the Andean roads.


5. `Henry Lee´ by Nick Cave (w/ PJ Harvey)

"And the wind did howl and the wind did blow....
...And the wind did roar and the wind did moan."

This song was one of my favourites on the wind-blown pampa as we got tossed about by the wild Patagonian winds. At times I couldn´t hear any music at all, just the roar of the tempest around me.

The wind is a powerful force and this is how trees grow in Patagonia (although mostly it´s just dry thorny scrub).



SOME STATISTICS - How countries compare...

THE ROADS
Distance (in kms): total distance/daily average
Colombia 1975/66
Ecuador 1217/68
Peru 3983/65
Bolivia 1400/48
Chile 2176/63
Argentina 3072/71

Altitude gain (vertical metres): total altitude/daily average
Colombia 20,180/670
Ecuador 19,565/1090
Peru 54,830/915
Bolivia 12,010/400
Chile 11,425/340
Argentina 18,000/430

Road Surface: (in kms) sealed/dirt roads
Colombia 1704/271
Ecuador 1044/173
Peru 1785/2195
Bolivia 269/963 + 185kms salt
Chile 929/1256
Argentina 2258/814

THE COSTS
No. of days/money spent in $US (per person)/daily average
Colombia 49 days / $1000 / $21
Ecuador 28 days / $420 / $15
Peru(2008) 40 days / $610 / $15
Peru(2009) 77 days / $910 / $12
Bolivia 44 days / $335 / $8
Chile 65 days / $1000 / $16
Argentina 68 days / $925 / $14