Guardian Angel

While I was contemplating setting up my tent on the covered deck near the guard station at the entrance to Ushuaia (if the rain didn’t let up) a friendly black Labrador retriever with a red collar decorated with dog bones came by to say hi to me. I petted her just a little and she just kind of hung out with me. 

Munchi where I first met her

As I left the area of the police/guard/sign I tried to tell my little friend to go home. I tried in Spanish and in English but she just kept following me.  When I came to a long downhill she couldn’t keep up running with me and I watched her get smaller in my rear view mirror. I thought she would give up and turn around but she just kept on running and of course caught up to me on the subsequent uphill.  She never turned back.  

Well it seems I was officially adopted by this dog.  She had not left my side since the day she found me. My friend Tenecia’s boyfriend has a cute black lab mix/mutt named Munchy and has been trying to give him away to a good home but to no avail for a while. Tenecia jokingly asked me before I left Anchorage if I wanted to take Munchy with me on my bike trip.  I told her that I wish I could have Munchy on my trip with me and that it would be a lot of fun to have a companion along like him but logistics would be hell. Well, I guess the saying is true, “Be careful what you wish for” since I think I ended up with Munchy after all.  I have been calling her Munchita, Munchi for short.

Fast forward 5 days later and I am in Tolhuin only 100km (60 miles for the metrically handicapped) from Ushuaia. I switched my GPS and bike computer to show in kilometers because it makes me seem so much faster and like I have gone so much further! Incidentally, all of the signs here are in kilometers anyway.

Munchi stayed with me like the best friend a dog is supposed to be for these 60 miles. I only rode about 18 miles each day but that meant she was running most of those. I would be taxed going uphill and she would be taxed going downhill!  I really had to ride the brakes on the downhill parts for fear of her poor little heart giving out 
because she would try so hard to keep up!  What a trooper!

Munchi and I getting water. I was purifying mine but hadn´t realized yet that all the
water from streams etc in Chile and Argentina are okay to drink from!

Well, I really enjoyed her companionship at night in the camp. I had visions of appearing on Oprah with this miracle dog that followed me home across two continents!!  Mom would be so proud (she loves Oprah). Then came a reality check when someone mentioned the difficulty of crossing the many countries' borders with a dog and besides that Munchi was really slowing me down on my riding. Munchi is such a great companion and she makes me smile.

Munchi sleeping in the entrance vestibule of my tent

So, I landed in the town of Tolhuin and I was explaining my dilemma to the bakery owner’s son who speaks English. He thought it would be impossible to cross the borders with Munchi and he thought Tolhuin was a better place for her than Ushuaia but of course he personally could not take her in. I left the bakery and Munchi was gone!  She disappeared from my life the same way she appeared in it. As I walked around Tolhuin that afternoon I never crossed paths with her. Munchi served an amazing purpose to me.  She was with me on my first 4 nights of camping in the trees off the highway and in horrible weather, over my first mountain pass, and she saw me through to the next town outside of Ushuaia. A job well done. She will be greatly missed.