Telephone conversation 6 dec. 2009
FIRST DAY: Liliana and Francisco roasted a whole lamb on a spit to welcome the intrepid travelers. Peter said it was really delicious. All the men who helped work on Francisco's bike were there. They did not speak English, but they knew all the words Happy Birthday, which they sang to Peter. He was quite impressed and very touched. They continue to run into these new friends along the way. I guess they keep popping up here and there.
And yes, he was able to ride in the cab of the locomotive, which he said was worth the coming down to Argentina alone. (Sorry guys) It was really, really an adventure for him, but the phone connection dissolved before he could go into more detail about it. When I told her, his cousin wrote me and said, "Wasn't a bit surprised to hear Peter is trying to get to ride in the locomotive cab. I will always remember him having me drive up into the foothills, while he visited us as a kid, and telling me he would talk the engineer into letting him ride in the cab! Didn't think he could do it but he used some kind of teenager charm and managed to ride back to Oakdale," (California). Ah, I guess the magic still works.
He is finding his Birdy a bit difficult to ride. The bike handles best when it is level. And, as the tracks are not great, uneven and banked in some places, they have figured out a way to handle this. He has to keep leveling the Birdy with a rope on some kind of device. You pull up on the robe to open the clamp and let out the rope to lower, which helps to even out the ride. Sounds pretty tiring. Since he is having to do this quite often he is protecting his left hand with a glove. I am paraphrasing because it was a little difficult to understand the principal on the phone, but he says he has plenty of pictures that demonstrate it. I imagine they will be published later when they get access to a computer again.
SECOND DAY: It was freezing cold with 50 to 60 miles MPH winds for several hours. It was really quite tough, but simply gorgeous. The Andes wore a mantle of snow on all the mountain tops. He felt like they were riding through an Alpine valley with those huge peaks all around them covered with snow. They are getting a bit of a late start in the mornings. It seems there is always some bike adjustment that needs to be made so they don't take off until around 10 am, getting to the next stopping place bout 9 pm.... making for a very long day. They put miner's lights on their hats to take care of dinner and set up camp. Long underwear keeps them pretty warm in their sleeping bags at night. The freeze dried meals are quite good, he says.
THIRD DAY: EL MATAN: Another gorgeous day! This time he felt like he was in the African Veldt. On both side of the tracks they saw herds of the guancos. These animals can run nearly 35 miles per hour -- faster than any other Patagonian animal except the puma. They are a relative of the now-domesticated llama and Patagonia's largest land animal. They would stir up dust storms as they stampeded by. Ahead of them on the tracks at one point there were about 40 guanco babies, looking like small geese without feathers and about 18 inches high. Quite a sight.
There were also large marshes and ponds The birding was incredible. So far they have seen An Andean condor, which, he said, was incredibly huge; a dark hawk-like bird with white outlining his wing; a black & white gorgeous bird; lots of hawks and smaller birds. Since he did not have a birding book with him, he could only describe them to me. Perhaps when he gets home he will be able to look them up and give them their proper names. They would settle on the tracks in front of them then fly off. It was a birding paradise. I know he wanted very much to spend lots more time there taking photos.
Since they are having to stay pretty much on schedule because of the delays, there is very little time for Peter to set up shots with his cameras. Says he may forget using the tripod and stick with the hand held camera in the interest of time and getting some footage. They are using a lot of sunscreen as one gets sunburned pretty fast.
Sadly, Morgan will withdraw. It has been pretty tough for him. But, he has decided to catch a bus to the nearest large city which will take about six hours. There he will rent a car. He will return to the Rail Bikers and follow along as a sort of sag wagon. They are trying to work out logistics. This is great as he will still be a part of the adventure and may be able to carry some of the excess baggage.
Up until now Arne and Morgan have ridden this same route several years ago. The next leg will be a bit more of a challenge as well as an unknown. They expect it there to be more dessert and quite hilly as the tracks go up to 2200 feet.
They are trying to keep on schedule. Everyone is healthy and doing well and Peter sounded just great.
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From El Maiten Sunday, Dec.6
Hi Sweetie,
It was great talking with you.
There is a delay on this computer when you type so the letters
don't appear for a while.
You did a good job with your letter to the blog
I won't go into lots of detail but the birdlike creatures we chased down the tracks
were Rhea, an ostridge-like bird. There were about 20 or 30 of them in a group.
Momma had already crossed the tracks in front of us and the little ones panicked
and ran down the center of the rails for about 100 yards before turning off. The young
ones were about 20 inches tall. I don´t know if I got the video or not.
The countryside varies more than I expected. Sometimes high desert like
eastern Oregon with unending vistas across plains to the Andes. Sometimes
we will run along a river and through lush green valleys with small ponds and
marshes. Occasionally through rocky cuts high on the hill sides. Always with
the background of snow-capped mountains.
When we arrived in El Maiten we were soon surrounded by dozens of pre-teen
boys. They wanted to help us with everything so we had them carry our big suitcases to our
lodging, about three blocks away. As you know, the big cases are very heavy. We turned
the suitcases flat and it took 4 boys, one on each corner, to carry them. Dick got a great
photo of this procedure.
We had a very nice restaurant meal and a good bottle of wine. Everything is so cheap.
You could litterally live like multi-millionaires here.
If Morgan can get back to join us on Monday night we will leave our bikes and gear in the
school house in Norquinco and drive back to El Maiten for dinner and lodging. None of us
relishes sleeping on the ground if it can be avoided. We will still would have four nights of camping ahead of us. Although there is a rumor that there may be lodging in one isolated spot ahead.
Weather continues to be warm to hot with big cumulus clouds. Francisco says
weather pattern changing - to hotter. The country ahead is more barren and rocky, but
there are a few rivers. We all bathed in one which was like being rebourn. More nude
photos in the collection!
Air is very dry. We are all drinking lots of water and using suncreen.
Making continuous progress improving my bike. Much more comfortble riding now.
With Morgan meeting us at our camp sites each night we have been able to reduce or
luggage weight considerably, which will make riding much easier.
My biggest problem is finding where something important is packed. It takes a lot
of prethough to anticipate what you will need during the day, or first at the campsite at
night. We don't have time to stop and unstrap the suitcases and go through all our stuff
looking for some item, so if you don't have it easily accessible you go without.
Eating at night is an inconvience. Resturants don't open until 9 PM, even out here in
the boonies. We would prefer to eat between 6 and 7 and get to bed.
This computer connection driving me crazy so will call it quits.
Love,
Pedro
.
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