Up the Andes, Into the Wind - Or Die Trying

Tole donning his Buenos Aires clubbing gear.
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Uspallata, Argentina to Los Andes, Chile

In the morning, we set off on Route 7, scheduled to reach Chile by the next afternoon.  Route 7 crosses the Andes at a fairly high elevation, although the highest part is bypassed via a 3-kilometer tunnel through "no man´s land" between Argentine and Chilean customs checkpoints.  Our crossing would take us up to about 3200 meters, meaning we would climb about 1200 meters over two days, all on a paved road.  The road is lonely, passing only 5 or 6 very small towns over the 150 kilometers from Uspallata in Argentina to Los Andes, Chile.  Still, we looked forward to what we thought would be an easier time than we´d had the previous two days.  We were sorely disappointed in that expectation!

This wind was a mighty tyrant.

Still trucking along on Route 7, Argentina.
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Leaving Uspallata, we were on another hot and dry road with undulating hills for about 15 kilometers.  A little while before the ascent started, we were rudely awakened to our real challenge over the next two days:  the headwind.  Oh, this was no ordinary wind, no no.  This wind was constant and unending.  This wind was a mighty tyrant, a true force of nature.  This wind could blow you right off the road.

And so we struggled up the mountain, always against the enemy wind.  We quickly ran out of water, and put our iodine pills to use on some water gathered from a rushing mountain stream.  Thankfully, Chris & Annalee had given us some Tang.  We learned that Tang does much more for the flavor of river water than the "taste neutralizer" pills from the camping store!

Puente del Inca, Argentina.
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By about 5 o´clock, we still had 20 desolate kilometers to go.  Our average speed so far for the day was only about 9 k/hour.  I begged to hitchhike to our goal town of Los Penitentes, and Tole agreed.  At about this exact moment, the traffic on the highway trickled to practically nothing.  By 6:30 p.m., we were forced to give up and keep moving.  We hoped to either reach a national guard station 12 kilometers ahead, or manage to snag a ride to Los Penitentes, where we hoped we´d find Chris & Annalee.  If neither of those options worked out, we could be left trying to make camp next to the highway in the insane wind.  We made it through about 10 of the 20 kilometers by 8 p.m., when finally someone in a pickup responded to my sad and desperate thumb.  This very kind man gave us and our bikes a ride to Los Penitentes, and even tried to feed us along the way.  I truly almost cried when he pulled over to give us a ride, I was so thankful!!!

On the other side - Chile at last!
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In Los Penitentes, we pulled up to the only open lodging, a hostel that provided a dinner-plus-bed-deal for about $12 per person.  Chris and Annalee came out to meet us as we pulled up, and we were extremely excited to see them, since until that moment we had no idea how far they had made it.  We were glad to see they'd huffed it all the way on their bikes - extremely impressive!

The next morning, we headed west again, stopping after about 6 kilometers in Puente del Inca, the site of a beautiful stone natural bridge.  Another 6 kilometers or so brought us to a viewpoint for Aconcagua, so we stopped again to gawk at the mountain and take some photos.  Still, the wind blew and blew, but at least this day we faced only 23 kilometers of climbing.  Just before Las Cuevas, the last town in Argentina, we found ourselves in the strongest wind yet.  We each were pushed off the road at least once in about a one-kilometer stretch.  We tried to ride closer to the middle of the road whenever there was a drop-off to our right, as we feared being blown off the road and tumbling down a cliff!  Ahead, Chris & Annalee were waiting for us just in front of a long tunnel.  Chris flagged down a car, and asked if they would be kind enough to drive through the tunnel just behind us with their lights on.  In this way, we hoped to seriously minimize our chances of becoming tunnel roadkill.  Some kind folks stopped and helped, and afterwards gave us an encouraging cheer upon hearing we planned to make it all the way down to Ushuaia "en bicis."

Ah, rarely have we seen a more welcome sight than this.
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Once we made it through the tunnel, we found ourselves at the tiny town (really more of a truck stop) of Las Cuevas.  We stopped for lunch and found the most welcome sight imaginable: a buffet lunch with roast beef and mashed potatoes.  Oh, yes, we felt the gods were smiling upon us at that moment.  After clearing the buffet of as much food as our bellies would accept, we set off on the last few kilometers to the international tunnel.  Unfortunately, the gods had stopped smiling.  The wind here was stronger yet.  Tole and I each were blown clear off the road, and had to hunker down and hold onto our bikes just to keep them from blowing away!  After these long and wind-swept few kilometers, an Argentine customs officer drove us through the tunnel to the Chilean side.  Here we started our giddy descent, bound for Los Andes, still 60 kilometers away.  After the brutal climb, we were thrilled to hit this rollercoaster-like, serpentine stretch descending from the Chilean side of the tunnel.  The pics give an idea of the insane grades and curves on this road.  For once, though, we were passing the trucks!

Paused for a photo opp on the way down from the pass in Chile. It's cold, cold, cold up there!
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After about 45 kilometers, the fun was coming to an end.  Tole and I had lost Chris and Annalee and it was getting seriously dark.  We stopped 15 kilometers from Los Andes and managed to get a ride there on what had to be the world´s dustiest and most dilapidated bus.  At one point, we didn´t think she´d make it up a hill, but she eventually got us there.  On arrival, we set about finding the essentials: eatin´and sleepin´.  What we did not find in Los Andes, however, was Chris and Annalee.  We assumed they had stayed at a "casa de bicis" they knew of, but found out later they´d caught some bad luck in the last few kilometers to Los Andes.