Cycling The Globe

Before reaching Santiago I had been in contact with Roberto CE3CT, a radio amateur who had invited me to stay while in the city. I had heard many stories about Roberto’s place from my friends in Buenos Aires. I thought I had reasons to believe there would be some very good days ahead, and boy, I was not disappointed!

On Monday Roberto picked me up and we drove to his beautiful house in the northern suburbs. After camping at petrol stations for a week, I was now relaxing by the pool and having beers and BBQ with Roberto. While cycling you quickly learn to appreciate simple things, but this luxury life was really something new to me.

Roberto and Carolina were not the only ones around. The four dogs Chester, Junior, Pelola and Manchita were just as important inhabitants of the house 🙂

I had imagined that I would stay a couple of days, but when we checked the calendar we saw that the ARRL DX SSB radio contest would be taking place in the weekend. We quickly made plans to take part. Hence I would be staying a week!

Some days I was going into town to meet friends and do a bit of shopping. Other days friends would come to Roberto’s house for BBQ and beer. I was also able to give Roberto a small hand with a few of the projects he is working on. I felt that I was almost living a normal life. Roberto and Carolina even started to joke that perhaps I would not want to get back on the bike at all 🙂

After a weekend with lot of hours in front of Roberto’s radios it was time to move into town again. A huge thank you to both Carolina and Roberto for welcoming me to your home and giving me a much needed break from life on the road. Looking much forward to the next beer sometime somewhere!

Petter from Sweden (www.adventurecrave.se) who I had been cycling with further south, had arrived in Santiago as well. We are planning an adventure into the high Andes, and for that I needed more gear. I will never be a fan of shopping, so it was quite a task for me to race around to the different bike and outdoor stores, trying to find all I needed. It took a day longer than I had thought, but finally I was the owner of an extra sleeping bag (expecting very cold nights), a down jacket, a new stove, new boots, thermal base layers, and the list goes on.

Before I knew it I had spent 10 days in Santiago. 10 days where I always seemed to be busy with lots of things going on. It had been a great stay with wonderful people, and the break from the road was much needed. But, while I was looking up into the mountains above the city, I was reminded of the adventures ahead. Cycling life was calling once again.