Paparazzi and Such

Paparazzi and Such

I visited my friend and wonderful host, Juan, at his place in Rancagua, Chile a few weeks ago. Juan left the apartment one day and came back with a photographer and a journalist from the local free newspaper and he told me they wanted to interview me about my trip! It was quite a surprise to me and it is a good thing they didn't use any of the photos they took of me because I had a very flush face if you can believe it.  

The journalist did a pretty good job at recanting my story except he spelled my last name wrong (which I corrected in the translation). I guess you can't win them all. When my friend Betty and I appeared in three different newspapers on our bike trip across the USA 18 years ago none of those journalists got everything right and all of that was done in only one language between us! In this interview I spoke to the journalist in English, he tape recorded it and then translated it to Spanish, then I translated it back to English using a few different online sites. It is a bit rough and the article is a bit redundant at times but all of you know the story anyway. I love that they call me an "athlete" in the article!

Ever since that edition of the Rancagua newspaper was published I can't get away from the press! It is like they are following me all over the place taking photos here and there with long zoom lenses!  I fear I will cause a traffic accident here and might have to hire some body guards!

Translation:
American undertook crossing from Ushuaia to reach Alaska.
Holly Allin rests in Rancagua and then follow the path to her destination.
Last December, the American Holly Allin undertook a bicycle trip from the city of Ushuaia Argentina to Alaska, her hometown. Currently, the athlete is resting in Rancagua to resume her journey.
Allin started her journey on 20 December of last year, and although initially hoped to finalize it in August 2013, it is clear that she will most likely to come to Alaska in 2014.
The North American stated that "with a friend we thought we could make this trip together in two years but she could not join me because of her work, so then I began this odyssey alone. I started in Ushuaia, originally thinking it would be 20 months of travel, but now I think it must be 26 to 28 months because I move too slow in Chile to visit people and tour the national parks. "
Allin added that the voyage should end in the summer season in Alaska, as "the winter is very crude, I know how to end the summer. In principle, they were 20 months of planned trip, but I'm delaying a little longer and perhaps is to end by 2014. In the rest days I've had, the least thing I do is rest-- I do repairs and clean my bike, but it’s all worth it. "
Asked by the places that most liked by her stay in Chile, she indicated that "Torres del Paine is most amazing place I have stayed. Also I've been delighted with the Carretera Austral. In southern Chile, all days are beautiful, with extraordinary passages. It is very similar to Alaska with respect to the mountains, glaciers, rivers blue. "
The North American will be a few days more in the regional capital after her departure to the north gate of the country where she will cross Bolivia to visit Salar de Uyuni and from there to follow to her hometown.
"I cross fast Chile to reach my destination on schedule. I am very grateful to this country. Only I must say that they take care of it because there are no equal landscapes like here, Allin ended.

___________

Don't cry for me, Argentina... I cry for you Argentina!!

Don't cry for me Argentina... I cry for you Argentina!!

(I know the song wasn't actually meant this way FYI)

 

I crossed over into Argentina from the Carretara Austral in the place that I did because it was suggested that the scenery in this area was beautiful. I admit I was also pretty done with dirt/gravel roads (called "ripio" in Spanish) and getting off of the Carretara Austral meant paved roads again. It didn't take long before I regretted that decision. 
Argentina has translated to "wind" for me so far.  I thought that this area I was crossing into would have less wind than southern Patagonia but I learned the hard way that this wasn't true.

I took a spill on my bike (and broke my handlebar bag bracket) because I was pushed off the road by the wind. Even motorcyclists talk about fighting the wind here and having to lean to one side while riding and how the rubber gets worn on one side of their tires!
To top it off the scenery was just okay. Sure some places were pretty when I got back towards the mountains bordering Chile but outside of those areas it is arid grasslands that are windy! Granted I think I am jaded now because of the amazing beauty I have seen so far, the Carretara is a hard act to follow.
I feel bad for Argentina because it seems like it was short-changed geographically and Chile won all of the good parts! I may be stating this prematurely but I don't think there is anywhere in Argentina that can rival the places I have seen in Chile. My apologies to my Argentine friends Diego and Agustin! Poor Argentina, all they got out of the deal was a bunch of oil!

I asked for a place to set up my tent in this town, Las Cipreses, and was offered this place by a man who overheard me. He checked with his wife first then gave me the garage. The place was perfect except he had three little yappy dogs that I was afraid would pee on my tent, so I put up the stuff around the tent. He also had lots of chickens and some roosters living in the yard. I hate roosters! I hate their crowing in the middle of the night, middle of the day, all times. Previously on that same day I had been thinking about how I hate roosters and that same night was offered this place in which to "camp." I had to laugh at the irony and thank my stars for my earplugs-don't leave home without 'em!.

Leaving the mountains behind.

Jumping for joy that I finally reached pavement in Trevelin, Argentina.
I got lucky and took this photo on the first try using my automatic timer set for 3 successive shots.

It was definitely fall here, the colors are gorgeous. It reminds me of fall in
New England when I was a kid. I love the fall!

This was a super cold day where I was pelted on and off with hail while riding.
I was racing to keep ahead of this storm. This is looking back behind me.

Not many trees to speak of really but I got the point about the wind anyway. Take a closer look at the detail of this sign in next photo.

I don't think the sign comes from the manufacturer this way but someone had some spare time!

Back in the pampas (grasslands) and subsequent winds of Argentina.
Yuk!

No other places to camp out of the wind. 
This would not have been my first choice of places 
to camp under different circumstances. 

Results of a car accident I happened upon and later saw the cars at the police station where I camped. The locals told me there were a lot of accidents that Easter weekend caused by the strong winds.

The people in Argentina are much nicer than the wind in Argentina.

This man is an immigrant to Argentina

from France. He and his wife run a campground in

Argentina now and I stayed there for a couple of days

waiting for the wind to die down. I asked if they knew

of a place to have my plastic handlebar bracket fixed

and he instead fixed it himself using fiberglass!

Who would have thought?! The fix lasted

for a couple of weeks before separating

from the plastic but it still held on anyway.

Not very pretty as it looks like I have honey spilled on my handlebar bag bracket, but I didn't care because I was happy to have a fix!  It broke even worse but my friend in Rancagua has put a metal piece inside the bracket the plastic now.

Bees are alive and well and flourishing in Chile and one stung me too (not this one).
It was the first bee sting I have had since I was a kid. There is "homemade" honey for sale everywhere and it is really good! I think I am addicted to it now. I ate a pound of honey in 2 1/2 days!

This was definitely a pretty area but there aren't that many places like this in the route I took except on the Route of the Seven Lakes.

This is the kind of wild camping I like to discover. I liked this place a lot and it wasn't on private property and there wasn't a charge to camp here. It was one of my little hidden spots that I found not too far from the road but just out of view.

The little waterfall across from my wild camp spot.

Volcan Lanin is located in Argentina but is super close to the Chilean border.

I guess I can't escape nasty roads entirely!

Back in Chile! Yes!

This road was like a dream come true!! Will you look at that shoulder!!!!

It made me very sad to see all of these dead parrots.I don't know what happened, maybe a truck hit the whole flock at once. BUT one thing that made me happy about this is that if I was seeing parrots it meant I was getting into areas more tropical!

The threat of volcanic eruptions is real here.

Looking over a short fence at a trail that I had to camp on one night. There weren't any flat spots anywhere along the side of this road and it was getting dark and the sun was setting. I tried to ask the people in the house across the street if I could camp in their yard but they weren't home. Notice the log going across the "hole" in the trail at the top of the photo; the edge of my tent straddled across that area because this trail was only wide enough to barely accommodate my tent.

I had to stuff anything I could in the bottom left corner of my tent under my mattress to try to level out my sleeping space because I didn't want to end up putting pressure on that side of the tent as it was the side straddling that hole in the ground. I kept sliding down into the corner all night in spite of my efforts to level this space. It was crazy!

The next morning I awoke and started packing up and the man whose property this is discovered me here on his path. I apologized for camping on his property without permission and explained there was no where to camp and that I had tried to ask for permission but they were not home. This is the first time I have camped with disregard to a fence/private property. He said everything was fine and invited me to have coffee with his wife at their house-see next photo.

Having coffee with the owners of the property where I camped without first getting permission.

I discovered the cut in this tire because of the bulging inner tube showing through. I lined the tire with a 1000 peso bill and continued to ride on this tire for more than 600 miles! Money bills are usually really strong, durable, and super thin so they make a perfect liner for a tire with a cut. Most people replace a cut tire but this little known trick to salvage a tire was shown to me on my first bike trip across the United States 18 years ago although I had never used it until now.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

I am now in Argentina again and have left the Carretera Austral behind me in Chile. It was an amazing five week journey through some awesome scenery. I really can’t believe how beautiful it was throughout the whole length of it. It rivals parts of many other countries I have visited. This part of Patagonia makes up for the other parts where there is only wind!

 I am kind of sad to be done with the Carretera but kind of happy too as finishing it represents completing another part of the “big journey.”  Being on the Carretera was like being in a microcosm of sorts. It felt like being in a little world protected from the outside where only certain people were allowed in.  Since the Carretera is not a through-road only those who lived/worked there or others who were tourists like me were there and there were fewer of those because of the strike. The food shortage added to the feeling of being inside of a bubble isolated from the other parts of the world. I’m dating myself now but leaving the Carretera felt like the opposite of leaving the bubble in the movie Logan’s Run.  The Carretera was Sanctuary inside a bubble.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words I will let the photos speak for themselves. Lots of mountains, glaciers, and rivers. If the photos seem redundant of these subjects it is because the beauty was that way too, over and over again.

I passed this guy and he ended up riding his horse alongside of  me for a couple of kilometers. When I was going downhill the horse was getting a workout and when I was going uphill he would slow down to stay with me. It was kind of  fun. Wish he could have towed me instead! :)

This guy is definitely the closest zorro I saw. I eyed him on a hill while he was crossing the road. Since I was going so slow he didn't hear me coming and I had time to take out my camera. Then when he noticed me he just kind of watched me so I crept closer and closer getting better photos each time. He let me pass him straddling my bike and walking it while he sat on the roadside and just watched me. He definitely did not seem concerned but foxes can be like that, used to people easily.  Beautiful creature as long as he isn't stealing my food!

View from Juan's cabana in Puerto Berttand, Chile.

Wine in cabana with Juan and Sandra; two Chileans I met. Sandra is the one I rode with for a day and a half and Juan was a local we stayed with-super cool people.

Sandra and I as we left Juan and the cabana. By then we were like sisters and squabbling the same way too, that is why I am holding my hand in a fist!

Condor

A Chilena girl and a Spaniard guy, Indira and Marc. I met them on the road and we talked for about 45 minutes exchanging information as cyclists do. They have been on the road for 3 years, basically doing my route but from the north to south. Maybe 20 months is a little over ambitious?

What did I say about the Chileans stating the obvious...?

Hike I did in the "Bosque Encantado" or Enchanted Forest along the route in Parque Nacional Queulet. This was such a cool place I decided to camp here even though I had only ridden 4 miles by the time I stopped to do the hike.

More Bosque Encantado

Trees make me happy!

Someone pasted these stickers on a few of the road signs in this part of Chile. For those of you who don't know, the Hood River is in Oregon, USA.

Necessity breeds invention...

This was the parting road that took me away from the Carretera Austral. I actually couldn't believe this road when I was riding it~err, falling over on it. I laid my bike down at one point and a guy in a truck stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride. I told him "no gracias, esta bien" (no thanks, I'm okay) like a fool. He asked again with a knowing look like "Are you sure?" and I refused politely again. As soon as he drove away I regretted having said that. I thought immediately that I am such an idiot to have refused the ride. I mean look at this road! I had a lot of emotions going through me then but the one that prevailed caused me to laugh out loud! Laughter is the best medicine after all. Fortunately this road condition only lasted for about 3 miles (5 km) and then it was back to a normal dirt road albeit crappy.

This group was a tour group that passed me on the road in a van and stopped. The guide (the only male in the photo-the only other one was the driver who took the photo) got out of the van and gave me an apple and a kiss on the cheek (very Chilean/Argentinean custom even with strangers). The next day after both of our different stops for the night they passed me again and honked. Shortly after they passed me I caught up to them at a viewpoint and I stopped to thank them. All of them were gathered around asking me questions and oohing and ahhing. They were taking turns getting photos with me and by the time we had gotten through all of the preliminary stuff about how long my trip was etc they were like good friends and were taking turns feeling my leg muscles to check for themselves (with my okay of course!). The guy tried my bike for a spin and was surprised at how heavy it was. They gave me more apples and a cheese sandwich to go!