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Biking Chile, Argentina and Uruguay

South American Bicycle Tour 1999-2000, part 1

Agelasto
2004-05-18 19:05:40

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Part 1: Hola from Chile

March 2000

You might guess that I am in Chile. Actually, I am writing up my notes from my three-month South American cycling trip, which has just ended, on computers in North America. (I hate to disclose so early on that I survived my trip, but indeed I did). I am using the present tense to make it seem like I am still on the trip, as I word-process abstracts and thoughts from my journal. No, I am not taking a computer with me on the trip and sending you each of these e-mails as I move along. Alas, a little deception is being exposed, and it makes me feel so honest.

Why Chile? Why by bicycle? Why South America? These are fairly easy questions to answer, the last one first. The Everest answer suffices: because it's there. I have now touched all major continents (excluding Antarctica but including Australia, despite the fact so many people don't even think of Oz as a continent), and in fact I have ridden a bicycle on all of them (a statement that must be taken literally since I have not "bicycle toured" per se on Africa, but I did ride a bike for a day in Senegal). Explaining the bicycle mode is also fairly straight forward. I have been bicycle touring off and on for 25 years, and have always enjoyed myself. The burst of physical exercise, and often physical strain, makes me feel really alive. As I get older, biking at times resembles a treadmill stress test, but on the whole it is still enjoyable, and more importantly still doable. The cycle remains my favorite mode of travel. It puts me more in control, in the sense that I control my transportation, but it also makes me a somewhat humble traveler as I have little control over weather and road conditions. I plan my trips only on the macro level, not preoccupied with day-to-day conditions: micro changes are part of the adventure.

Then why Chile? I wanted adventure this trip, to be sure, but I ...