Mar 18'12 - Off on my own adventure...

Written by Christina Smith

Thursday, 22 March 2012 23:49

After spending almost a complete day sleeping at our 'Two Wheel View Argentina Connection' & guardian angel (Santiago Aragon's) house in order to recuperate from my first 3 weeks of travel; I find myself now waiting tonight at midnight for a 2am bus leaving from Tucuman to Salta, Argentina. The plan is to catch the 6am bus to San Paidro de Atacama...a highly recommended place to explore; then to Calama, by Viña del Mar (Casa de Neruda - Pablo) & Val Pardiso; then venture into Santiago de Chile.
The next suggested route would then be to Puerto Montt (Cruce de los Lagos a Bariloche), however; just met a guy who adventure races around the world who suggested that Valdivia & Pucon (vulcano) in Chile is better. Then I could transfer back to Argentina via San Martin de los Andes; Villa La Angostura; then Bariloche; and may check out a place called El Frutillar (Baho) and Osono (Puerto Varas); then onto El Bolsón. (I'm providing these details in case anyone may want to check my proposed journey out on a map to see where I maybe headed).
New friends of mine from Tucuman, want me also to meet their friends and family in Esquel...then off to Puerto Madryn where there may be penguins, seals, dolphins & whales to see in the wild and to scuba dive.
Then a long bus back to Buenos Aires where I must go to fly back home.

I wanted and still may venture down to one of the furthest tips of world...Rio Grande (prior to the Antarctica).
All this is just a plan which is more than I usually go by...which my normal style is to go with the wind and flow of the place & time. I'll be mighty surprised if I follow the plan to any extent, as you just never know who you might meet or what you may encounter that will forever change the course of your life.

I'm extremely tired from the two weeks of biking due to the hot weather; sun exposure; mental & physical strains of travel; irregular types of eating & drinking; irregular hours of sleeping & eating (no earlier than 9/10pm which is customary to the Argentinian culture); camping on the ground in a tent & sleeping either with warm or cool weather conditions; to extremes of a rain, thunder & lightening storm; mosquito & insect bites; swollen lower limbs from travel, bug bite reactions & wear and tear from the breaking in of my body on the 'Specialized' mountain bike I chose to ride (however, not being privy to a 3D (dimensional) fit which could have solved and prevented the aches & pains of adapting to a new bike set up); soar & tired joints, muscles & skeletal system from the inability to recuperate at night 100% due to sleeping conditions preventing undisturbed sleep due to bugs in the tent, to dogs barking and/or loud music most of the night, not to mention the inconsistent sleeping surfaces ranging from tent to hostel to hotel.
Oh...did I mention that the experience was UNIMAGINABLE, UNFORGETTABLE and I WOULD DO IT ALL AGAIN IN A SECOND!

A highly recommended trip for youth or young at heart. Fitness level required is negotiable as we had 8 people all at various levels from couch potato, Olympian & seasoned veterans, but at the end of the day it was all up to your mental commitment to keep peddling one revolution at a time. The team work and comradery was what pulled everyone along the various eps and flow of the trip. Everyone grew from the experience and gained lasting memories and friendships for years to come! My blog on the Two Wheel View journey will be released...stay tuned!

As I roll on dow the road on more than a 'Two Wheel View' from a bus's perspective, the experience just wizes by and I sit here feeling like a coach potato eating and drinking barely burning any calories or working up a sweat as the air conditioning blows cool accommodating air over head and the scenery goes by my window. I can hardly keep up with the ever changing scenery or the photo opportunities as the pace is way faster than I have become accustomed to. Do I have a preference? As Rick McFerrin, CEO from Two Wheel View would say, "It's Different". I definitely feel I'm cheating myself out of a hands on experience, but this country is way too grand and I have so little time to experience all I'm craving to see.

Chat once i get internet again,
Christina

Sent from my iPhone

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