Distance: 79.39 km
Ride time: 5:38:21
Average: 14.1 km/h
Total: 20934 km
During breakfast at the hostel it was raining steadily outside. Inside the cyclists were trying to decide if they should face the rain or wait for the wind to pick up later in the day. I needed to buy some water proof trousers anyway, so we ended up staying until after lunch.
As we were leaving Rio Grande we saw yet another familiar cyclist. I had met Dmitry as I left Ushuaia the other day just as he was finishing his ride down from Venezuela. Now he was trying to hitch hike with his bicycle up to Buenos Aires. But as he said, “I’m not a very patient person” so when we told we were heading for the border crossing at San Sebastian he decided to join on his bike. The cycling quartet was now complete.
The wind was picking up, and the last trees disappeared from the landscape. We were now riding on a flat barren steppe. At some point Dimitry, who had been cycling here before, said we might as well have lunch behind an unfinished building as there would be no shade for the wind for the rest of the day.
We reached the border crossing between Argentina and Chile at 9 pm in the night – once again taking advantage of the very long days around here. We were allowed to stay at the waiting room right next to the passport control. With hot water, a stove, heating, and toilets next door this was almost like staying in a hotel.
We cooked our pasta and rice dinners on the stove and shared cycling stories from the road before putting out the sleeping bags for a night at the border.
Tomorrow there will be dirt road and more head winds on the menu.
