nancy's blog

A story about artists and their art who we meet along the hobobiker route: weavers, painters, carvers and so much more

nancy — Sun, 03 May 2009 04:34:46 +0000

photo of Ed Frank - Tahltan mask carver near Telegraph Creek, Canada

One of the special interests I had while traveling through 14 countries was seeing the different regional art. Art tells about the culture, values and links with the history of the people or a connection with the past. Much of art through out the world are traditions that are passed on from one generation to the other. This is especially true with the indigenous people of the Americas.

During the nearly three years of our trip, I would often stop and talk with the artists I met. I wanted to learn as much as I could about their art, techniques, materials and themselves.

Some of the people I sat with were First Nations Canadian wood carvers and Inuit leather workers. In the United States, I learned how to blow glass along the cost of Oregon I visited ceramic studios and fine tapestry studios in Mexico.

Magdalena weaving with a belt loom

In Guatemala I spent months visiting women who hand-weave tradition Mayan fabrics using a back-strap loom. A back strap loom attaches to the waist by a strap; the artist kneels on the ground keeping constant pressure on the weaving in order to weave yarn though a forest of parallel threads. During the weaving process, symbolism seem to magically appear. These design and patterns can convey information about the weaver's village, marital status, culture or personal beliefs which often represent thousands of years of the Maya civilization. (More information on the women of Guatemala including the little downloadable book we wrote about them is here.

A long time ago when I was in college, I worked part-time a gallery which sold art from all over the world. One of the art forms I loved and ended up owning was a mola. The mola originated in the San Blas islands off the coast of Panama. It is said that the Kuna women used to paint their bodies with geometrical designs, using available natural colors; in later years these same designs were woven in cotton, and later still, sewn using cloth bought from the European settlers of Panama. The women now decorate themselves from head to foot with colorful molas and jewelry. As a side note, the Kuna people use coconuts a form of money to trade and buy goods. If you ever visit one of the many tiny islands, do not e touch the coconuts because it belongs to someone and that would be like stealing money.

A hand woven rug by Hernan Bajalqui Tenorio from Ayacucho

In the middle of the high Andes mountains in Peru, I roamed around a neighborhood in Ayacucho called Santa Ana. This neighborhood high up the hills is well known as an artist district with over 250 families creating Peruvian art ranging famous high-quality tapestries, stone carvings and Peruvian ceramic religious arts. I visited 6 homes. In the home of Hernan Bajalqui Tenorio, the whole extended family produces fine woven rugs from hand dyed threads. The rugs I saw ranged from 2'x3' to 5'x7'. The quality is top notch and much attention is paid to the the design, the weaving and the finishing details. I have been corresponding with Harnan on a regular basis. It is my intention to help him export this fine work. The cost is amazingly reasonable. If you are interested in purchasing any please contact me.

In Bariloche, Argentina, a very lovely tourist center, there were several organized art centers where artists could setup a booth and sell their art. It cost the artist three dollars a week for a permit to set up a booth. They hardly made enough to feed themselves but they somehow eke out a living selling to the tourists that stroll by. I tried selling my art work on the streets for 4 days and did not sell one. It was a humbling experience.

Finger painting by Rider

While staying in Bariloche for a month, I met one artist, Dardo Rider Ortega who manages to support himself by creating and selling his hand painted tiles on the street in the main tourist street. He does wonderful Patagonia landscapes on ceramic tiles. He literally hand paints each one. He starts by smudging a little color on the tile, rubbing it around, adding more color, removing some of it, and three minutes later there are mystical landscapes depicting the mountains, lakes, trees, meadows and glaciers of southern Argentina. I filmed Dardo "Rider" Ortega creating his craft on the streets of Barloche, Argentina. He was also a great sales person that always took interest in everyone that stopped by his table. Take a look at the short video below.

A sampling of hand woven rugs by Hernan Bajalqui Tenorio from Ayacucho

I told Rider and Harnan, I would try to find new markets for them when I returned home. As mentioned before if you are interested in purchasing any of the work featured here, please contact me.

Nancy's Art

nancy — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:50:00 +0000

A bunch of roses

Click here for a slide show of my art.
Often during the bike trip I created small watercolors using a Winsor Newton traveling watercolor kit. I would either work out in public at busy markets, plazas, dockside, or quiet, secluded places like along the seashore, river banks or on top of mountains like Machu Picchu. I also painted in our hotel or temporary apartment from prints of photos either Randy or I took. While working outside I would often have a crowd looking over my shoulder watching each brush stroke. If someone was a little to close like the young kids and teenagers, I would start drawing them. They usual shied away from this and I would get some breathing room. Other times I would worked from a computer display or the small display on my camera. A trick I discovered to view a particular photo was to make it the last one on my memory stick by copying it. It would then be the first one I viewed when using the view feature on my camera.

Naples beach with interactive colors

I would then take a photo of the finished studies and post it on our photo collection on flickr.com/hobobiker.

Self-supported bicycle touring requires effective use of limited space. Therefore I did not carry much but I carried a watercolor kit, 5 brushes, a sketchbook/journal and a 4"x6" block of Arches #140 watercolor paper with 20 or so sheets, some drawing pens and masking fluid. When I ran out of a paper, I found I could not purchase a block of paper in South America, so I made them. A block of watercolor is basically many sheets of art paper bound together on all sides so when it is wetted with watercolor it dried flat. I would slice around the edges to remove the painting and unveil a new clean sheet underneath. When my collection of art work accumulated, I would give my watercolors as a gift to the kind people or families who put us up along the way. It was a way I could thank them for their hospitality. Once and a while I sold a piece or two. I tried selling my art in the streets Bailoche and Salta, Argentina but I did not succeed in this endeavor. I shipped a collection home on several occasion.

Peruvian woman

My current goal is to create watercolors in larger formats and paint as much as I can. I have been creating some new exciting pieces while I have been in Florida for the last several months. It is my intention to submit my work to juried shows and galleries for exhibition and sales.

I would love to hear your comments about my art work. If you would like to purchase one, I would be pleased to talk with you. If you have a special request, I do custom work.

Enjoy
Nancy Lewis

Torres del Paine and the Perito Moreno Glacier

nancy — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:07:52 +0000

Oh by the way, did we mention we have finished our bike ride? Yep, we rode the last bit from Bariloche, Argentina to Puerto Montt, Chile. After over two and half years and pedaling over 22,000 Kilometers (almost 14,000 miles) we have reached a place we consider a final ending point of our north-to-south journey.

After spending a wonderful month in Bariloche, Argentina cycling unloaded, hiking, Randy working remotely and Nancy drawing and exhibiting her work, we headed out for out final trip bike trip but not our final adventure.

We celebrated the end of this trip and the beginning of the new year in a tiny campground in southern Chile and rode to the end of our trip. On January 1st, 2009 we rode our loaded metal steeds to Puerto Montt, Chile and retired our bikes to a closet for a couple of weeks.

We were told by many people that if we came all this way in South America we could not miss the dynamic sights in southern Patagonia, Torres Del Paine National Park and the still-growing Perito Moreno Glacier. So as the good travelers we are, we took a vacation from our bike ride and headed the very bottom of South America, to Punta Arenas, the southernmost city on the continent of South America. But we went by plane this time.

The logistics of travel arrangements were more complicated than riding our bikes there because it's the high season, with thousands and thousands of tourists, but with lots of planning ahead and patience and a bit of money, it's great. It is a backpacker's paradise but can be explored without lugging the world on your back.

After travel by plane, buses, more buses, tours, and boat rides we reached the first of our travel goals, the Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate in Argentina. I don't have the words to describe the wild place full of turquoise lakes, unusual flora and fauna and glacier-clad mountains that rise straight up to the turbulent Patagonia skies. We got to visit the glacier and even hike on it with crampons. It was a very impressive sight. even though we saw glaciers in Alaska and Canada, the Perito Moreno glacier is tremendously impressive. You can see it flowing down from the huge Patagonian Icefield above, and it's one of the few glaciers in the world that is still advancing, not receding. As a result, it's all white, not the dirty color of many of the receding, melting glaciers. It was amazing.

Click here for our favorite pictures from the Perito Moreno Glacier

We then returned to Chile and did three days of day-hiking in the incredible Torres del Paine National Park. The lakes and mountains of this district are deservedly world-famous. We should have backpacked at least the 5-day "W" circuit, but instead we stayed in a lodge and did day hikes, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The views are amazing. Click here for our favorite pictures from Torres del Paine.

And now we're in Santiago, the capital of Chile, packing up our bikes for the plane ride tomorrow. We fly to Miami via Bogota. Then we're going to bike from Miami through the Everglades to Naples, Florida as a strange little postscript to the trip. There we'll spend a couple of months with Nancy's dad, Frank Lewis, and Randy will continue working and Nancy's going to do a lot more painting. She's getting an article ready to post with some of her favorite watercolors she's done on the trip. We'll still be posting catch-up articles for a few weeks, at least. There's so much to remember aobout the trip. We're considering going through all our pictures and posting our favorites for you.

Hasta tarde,
-Nancy

Biking and Boating the "Andean Lakes Crossing" into Chile

nancy — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:25:11 +0000

Click here for our favorite pictures from this section.
We took an incredible bike-and-boat tour from Argentina to Chile. The "Andean Lakes Crossing" combined boat rides through two majestic thickly forested national parks, hiking, and biking touring. We started from Bariloche, Argentina and ended up in Puerto Montt, Chile.

We emptied out the apartment we had been renting in Bariloche, Argentina and loaded our bikes with the gear that had been spread out all over the apartment for the last month. My bike was heavier then usual because I had purchased some new clothes and art supplies but some how it fit, especially because I offloaded some of the art supplies to Randy. We left at 6:00 in the morning, pedaled 20 quiet kilometers to the boat dock at Llao Llao (pronounced Zhao-Zhao in Argentina). After loading our bikes on to the front of the giant catamaran and purchasing a nice cup of cappuccino we settled down for first of three boat rides. The first was across Lago Nahuel Huapi which was surrounded by huge mountains and we reached Puerto Blest after a couple of hours.

We disembarked and rode an easy 3k for the next short boat cruise across Lago Frías. While cruising through the calm waters we came around a corner and there in front was the majestic volcano Tronador. The snow-covered triple-peaked volcano shone more brightly under the clear blue mid-day sky. It was so close and big, it felt like I could reach out and touch the mountain. We stashed our bikes at the next landing and went for a hike in the wild Patagonian forest. Mostly we followed a river which was gray from the glacial silt that washed down the river in the currents and rapids. We crossed the river once on a huge fallen tree which also had a ratty network of guide wires strung for hand holds. It was rather scary crossing the natural bridge and scarier as the tree narrowed to next to nothing on the other side of the river. We continued the trek through bamboo forests and holly bushes. I had worn shorts and should have known better. The path we took was very wild and overgrown so I got scratched by the sharp edges of the low growing holly. After a few hours we returned back to continue on with our bike tour.

We had been warned about our final 3 kilometers in Argentina, and we knew we'd be pushing our bikes. And we were. We dragged our bikes up that monster, but it was only a short ways and only about 250 meters of climbing, but oh, so steep and loose. The back of my calves ached after the two hour of pushing and we crested the pass. The next part was down hill for 8 kilometers but we had to ride slowly as the road was lined with large loose gravel waiting for us to blow it. Randy did lay down his bike but he somehow managed to run out of the fall and was standing laughing as his bike and trailer laid still in the middle of the dirt road with the back wheel going around and around.

We camped in front of the Chilean border post. Since this was a national park which prohibited camping the only two official places were a hiking campground and a the border guard house. I must say that the camping was lovely. We had the whole place to ourselves, the use of the bathroom, access to clean drinking water and a the very best view of the Volcano Tronador with its massive glaciers hanging on the the steep ridges. It was the best view of any volcano we have seen anywhere on our trip.

The only really bad part of this ride was the monster horse flies. The must be on steroids as they are twice the size of any I have ever seen. They are black with bright orange underbodies. They can fly more then 15 miles an hour and they swarm. Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest is in effect in these parts of Argentina/Chile. The slow flies get killed and can not reproduce. Let me tell you how satisfying it is killing these creatures, oh it is a great feeling. The horse flies which can fly 15 kilometers an hour, kept up with us. They waited until we stopped for just a second and stung us through our clothes. Those that can fly fast get fed. Those that fly slowly, die of starvation. The mighty live on to reproduce and continue the gene poll of monster horse-fly-dom.

We reached the small village of Peulla where we had to wait for 4 hours for last boat crossing. As we waited, I was in need of a shower to wash all the grit off. I asked at the homely yet expensive hotel if we could take a shower in a room that had not been cleaned yet. The desk clerk gave us a key to room 113 where we enjoyed a bath and a shower. Afterwards I returned the key to the desk clerk along with a tip. It was nice for him to risk his job so we could be more presentable for the last leg of this boat crossing.

This time we traveled across the gigantic lake Llanquihue and past the impressive classical shaped volcano Osorno. It was even more impressive because it came right out of the lake and raised thousands of meters straight up. The top was draped with crisp white snow.

Everyday of this three day trip had biking challenges. The next road was under construction and lined with a inches of ash. Every time a bus rushed by we got a face and lung full of the loss powder. After 27 kilometers, we reached pavement and headed to the grocery store and campground. This night was New Years eve and all the stores would be closed the next day so we had to buy supplies to last the next day and half. The campground was run down but offered pretty views of the lake Llanquihue. We enjoyed a glass of wine at the beach and reflected on the past year as we watched setting sun reflect off the volcano Osorno. We did go out to dinner at don salmon and had a delicious salmon meal. The campground came alive around 11:30 and final went to sleep around 4:00. We on the other hand where in bed by 11:30 and slept through most of the party.

The final leg of this trip took us into Puerto Montt. The winds were strong and blew us all over. The 40 mile ride seemed like a hundred. The traffic was light, though, and we arrived in a city that was completely quiet for the New Year's holiday. We did manage to find a very nice hostel that took us in for the night, Hospedaje Familiar Nelda. A helpful and open family which run a hostal in a large seaport style wooden home. It is a place which is clean and has a lot of character and great beds.

We are going to store our bikes there for two weeks as we take a plane south to tour the Torres del Paine National Park (in Chile) and go to El Calafate in Argentina, where we'll see the famous glacier Perito Moreno. Then we return here, take a bus to Santiago, and on January 14, we have a flight to Miami, Florida, in the US, where we'll ride to Nancy's dad's place in Naples, on the other side of the Peninsula.

Thanks for following along!

Biking the Seven Lakes (Siete Lagos) District in Patagonia

nancy — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:33:46 +0000

Even though we are taking a break in Bariloche, Argentina for a month, we are not staying still. One of my dreams for years has to been to ride my bike through the incredibly beautiful Patagonian Seven Lakes, or Siete Lagos district. This past weekend, this dream came through. The plan was take a bus to San Martin de Lost Andes and pedal back along the way we had come to La Angostura along a road that was paved for half paved and half dirt.

We loaded our bikes on a bus departing at 7:00 pm from Bariloche and got to San Martin de los Andes 11:00. We had no trouble loading our two bikes into the back compartment of the bus as they fit perfectly standing up and we didn't even have to take off the wheels. Not all bus service in Argentina will take bikes but after a few phone calls we found out that Albus would take two bikes on each trip. The bus company Aribus was great all the ways: courteous, efficient, clean new buses, safe and best of all, they took our bikes with no fuss. Being able to put our bikes on a bus and travel short or long distances has been one of the nicest parts of traveling in Latin America. No boxes, no fussing, just load and go.

The bus route was exactly the road we'd return on, so we got a sneak preview. From the seat on the bus, it appeared I had underestimated the difficulty of this ride. The road had endless amounts of short ups and downs and it was under serious construction. It was daunting. I watched for hours memorizing the route we would soon be exploring. Meanwhile Randy slept soundly next to me. He only awoke when I would nudge him to get him to mark a point on the GPS and then he fell back into a deep sleep. The last time I remember this type of road and the short steep grades was while riding the Cassiar highway up in Canada. It was nightfall about halfway through the trip and the steep grades were exaggerated by the bright lights emitted from the huge bus. A few cows and deer where also caught by the highs of the bus lights, freezing in place as we came around the blind curves. The driver stopped the bus, lowered head lights from bright to low and waited until the handful of cows lumbered their way across the gravel road and out of harm's way. The headlights of the bus cut a path through the pitch darkness and illuminated the climbs and thick loose gravel. Like looking at things underwater, everything appeared bigger and harder. I told myself over and over, this was my idea, this was my dream, tomorrow I will just shut-up and pedal and enjoy the ride. This was a no whining zone...

We got to San Martin around 11:00 pm and rode to the only campground in town. Even though it was almost midnight the restaurants were in full swing, as this was the standard time many Argentinians eat dinner. The campground was on the edge of town and was not open yet for the season. But after ringing the bell and waking up the manager, he let us in for the night as long as we promised to leave early the next morning. He also told us that there was no bathrooms With this he went and locked the bathroom doors and went away. The next morning the ground workers opened up the ladies room to do some maintenance in which we took it as an invite to take a warm shower and to use the bathroom which of course we were told did not exist. We did leave early for Argentina time, before 9:00. After stopping at the only open grocery store and buying 30 dollars worth of groceries we were provisioned for the our three day adventure.

The first 40 miles were on paved road along countless pristine lakes. Rising out of the glacier waterways were the photographic Andes which reflected back onto the mirror lakes. We traveled from one National Park to another. Capturing great photos was so easy. It had all the elements which make for stunning images. Bright clear sunlight, rich blue sky, snow covered mountains, tree covered foothills, glacier-fed lakes and meadows of spring flowers. Take enough photos and one or two have to come up right. I find riding a bike a great way to explore an area and shot photography because we can stop anytime and spend as long as we want.

We passed a beautiful campground at Lake Falkner which called to us but we continued on and made more miles. We wanted finish the pavement and to get some of the riding on the dirt road out of the way so we would not have to ride some many miles on dirt the next day. Just as we got on to the dirt road, it started to rain. We got our rain gear out for the first time since northern Peru. It usual happens that as soon as we get our rain gear on it stops. This was the case. The rain stopped after 10 minutes of light rain. Late in the afternoon we made it to the campground Pichi Traful, a glorious spot along the lake and along a crystal clear river. We camped down the river a bit away from most of the campers, in order to enjoy the solitude of nature. We met a Dutch cycling couple, Clara and Rolf, and shared some tea and stories of the road.

That night it was hot so we kept the front of the tent wide open and slept well. My handlebar bag which was at the entrance of the tent when I went to sleep was gone in the morning. It was missing! My new camera, prescription sunglasses, a copy of my passport, a change purse with a few pesos, and my beloved rear-view mirror were missing. I was so confused and distraught. We unpacked everything. and searched through our gear. I searched the whole campground and surrounding area thinking I left it somewhere or perhaps someone stole it and discarded it. I was heartbroken because my new camera was gone. I reported the missing bag to the caretaker of the campground who in return called the park ranger who in return called the police on the radio. After an hour or two of waiting for the police, I was told they were busy with a competition and could not drive the 50 kilometers to investigate the problem.

I felt helpless and wanted to do something about this situation. I wanted to find my bag and its contents. Randy told me it was impossible and that I would never get it back. I went and talked a group of young men nearest to our campground. They had been partying hard the night before and I suspected they had something to do with the missing bag. They talked about a young man who had been partying with them but they really did not know well but they new his name was Saul and he wore a bandanna. Saul had left their campsite about one o'clock in the morning very drunk and headed past our campsite oh his way home or wherever he slept. I reported this information to the campground manager, he and a posse of 4 other workers headed out in search of Saul. They knew Saul was trouble. A short period later, the group of 5 returned with my bag and all of it's contents. It was an amazing sight to see, all my stuff had been recovered. It turned out the drunk thief passed our tent on his way back home and grabbed my bag. He was so drunk he passed out with my big bag lying right next to him and they found him senseless on the ground with my bag and some other goodies from other campsites. I still am amazed at the stupidity of this young ma. Luckily for me, he was a complete failure at being a crook. He should take up some other occupation. I am very thankful for the guys who run the park that they took my report seriously and searched out the robber. In the end the campground will continue to have trouble with the nitwit because no legal charges can be made against him because the items were recovered.

We finally left the campground after noon and pedaled the stretch I had concerns about. To make matters worse there was giant horseflies that bit us every time we stopped or slowed down. The buggers even bit us through our bike gloves. I killed as many as I could with great satisfaction. The ride was physically challenging but was not as bad as my imagination had made it. Yes it was hilly, dusty and the road had loose gravel but it was beautiful. Stunning! It was just like I had dreamed the views would be. No, even richer and more beautiful. We camped at the lake called Espejo Chico (small mirror) and set up our tent overlooking the lake which indeed is like a mirror. After buying a liter of Quilmes beer from the small camp store, we sat on the beach and watched the sunset dip behind the glacier-carved mountains. With the fading light, day became night. In the still water, I still seethe reflection of day merging into night. The daylight has come and gone and in its place is only the memory of the day. The night embraces the day and holds it safe. It lives on forever in the memory of time.

To me, that evening sunset symbolized a closing of our grand adventure. It is time to wrap things up and head back home. What better place to finish our trip but a Lago Espejo Chico. We have a few more miles to ride but essential it is time to transition away from a life traveling my bicycle.

The next day we continued on our route and cycled to La Angostura where we would take a bus back to Bariloche, avoiding the busy highway around Lake Nahuel Huapi. During the day we met a cycling couple from Argentina and rode with them for the second half of the ride. Chris and Maria live 6 hours north of the Lakes district but was touring the area for the long weekend. The new friends made the day fly and distracted us from our tired muscles. We stopped and cooked lunch along the shore of Lago Espejo Grande. We learned from them about living in Argentina, working, taxes, benefits and health care and retirement. The dirt road turned to pavement and we continued around Lake Nahuel Huapi for a few kilometers, stopping to take some stunning panoramic photos. After reaching town, all four of us washed up at the local gas station and changed into clean clothes. We then did what most bicycle tourists do when arriving to civilization, and went in search for food. We found the best ice cream in the Americas and ordered 3 scoops each. I am talking about a huge bowl of rich cold, full flavored delights: Lemon, Berry and chocolate bites in caramel ice cream called Dulce de Leche. I will be dreaming of that bowl of ice cream for a long time.

All four of us headed to the bus station and said our goodbyes as Randy and I loaded ourselves and our bikes onto the bus for the hour-long trip to Barliloche. As we road back in the luxury of a huge comfortable bus, I reflected on the 3 day trip. The reality was as great as my drea. I can check-o ff that dream from my long list of things I want to do before I leave this big apple.

Greetings from Patagonia!

nancy — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:13:49 +0000

We are in Bariloche, in Patagonia in southern Argentina. We have rented an apartment for a month and will enjoy a gorgeous place with fine weather. As winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, we will be exploring the lakes district which is surrounded by snow-capped mountains and spring weather. Please let me know if you are sufficiently jealous.

We rode from Salta, Argentina, a jazzy city in Northern Argentina, through the Canyon of the Shells (Quebrada de Las Conchas or Quebrada de Cafayate) an impressive multi-colored landscape with interesting geological and cultural history. As my friend, Linda, described It is like Moab, Utah but with more pizazz. The landscape was inspiring as we traveled down the las Conchas Ravine and colorful sedimentary mountains towered over us. I was gleeful to be riding. Amazed at that we where riding this region in Northern Argentina. How lucky can we be?

We camped along a small river in a remote town of Alemanía. It was not a real campground, just a green quiet spot down by the river not too far from the tiny village. When we got there, we set up the tent and relaxed awhile. I sat and drew the landscape with my traveling watercolor kit while Randy worked on the computer he bought in Salta. No surprisingly there was no wifi at our campsite -- there was not even a bathroom. Horses grazed by me, a herd of goats trekked by, stopping to give me a once over. Dogs sat next to me waiting for a morsel. A tracker drove through the river bank. Teenagers came and went. As the day turned into night, incredible magical sounds and sights of nature came to life.

The sky filled with the blinking neon lights of fireflies, a huge toad with his/her mating hitchhiker parked in front of our tent and loudly croaked in competition with other similar boisterous toads. A constant greenish light emanated from large cicada bugs (or something) which mingled with the flashing fireflies. Up and down the river bed we heard the cows moo-ing, donkeys hey-hawed in their protesting way, the sound of passing horses added to the percussion section of this natural symphony. Dogs passed in silence searching for a bit of scraps to eat. The little town was a just a half a kilometer away and we could hear the children playing and laughing in the warm spring night. Randy and I wandered in the night listening to the magical sounds in the valley of the shells truly relishing this magical moment.

Continuing our tour the following morning we rode past strange natural sandstone sculptures and stopped to visit signed points of interest such as the the Devil's Throat, Los Castillos (the Castles), El Obelisco (the Obelisk), El Fraile (the Monk), El Sapo (the Frog), and El Anfiteatro (the Amphitheatre). We reached Cafayate in the late afternoon and found a room at San Jorge, a family owned hostel. It is so easy finding hospitality in Argentina because all have the minimum I like to have. A good bed, hot water, clean and friendly. The only thing I did not anticipate was the hoarsely squawking roosters next door and the barking neurotic dog the next block over. Luckily we have ear plugs which allows us to sleep. Sweet ear plugs, sweet sleep.

Cafayate is one of the premier wine growing regions in Argentina. Because of its high altitude and mild weather, it is the top producing area of the Torronte white wines. I can attest that after trying various kinds, that as long as you spend at least ten peso or over 3 dollars you will get a quality bottle of wine. We toured one vineyard personally, tried a few others but they where closed. We rode our bikes past dozens of highly productive vineyards with a background of poly-colored geological layers. Riding the route south was delightful but by the end of the day, we had come to an important junction on our trip.

We just wanted to finish our adventure, after two years and 5 months, we have ridden 22,000 kilometers, and visited 13 countries. We had set out to learn about the wonderful varying cultures of the America, we had seen endless landscape of inspiring vistas and pedaled our bike threw hellish deserts, eaten traditional foods from all over the Americas, got sick on some. We have enjoyed the generosity of strangers who now are our amigos. We have been called Gringos by strangers and children excited to see us, in return we smiled and waved back at their excitement at seeing two touring bicyclists passing by. I have cried, we have laughed, we have danced and drunk from the well of life. I do not know how many photos we have taken but I might estimate it is over 10,000. Heck, I took over 500 at the Galapagos Island alone. We have spent as many hours in the Internet writing blogs, updating our website and writing to our old and new friends. I have created a ton of watercolors paintings. We even fulfilled our dream of doing volunteer work in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru. So after all this we have run short of time, money and desire to ride to the end of this continent. We want to go home. After resting a bit before we go back to the United States and back into a culture that is currently foreign to us.

We loaded our bikes on to a bus for Tucumán and then bought tickets for a 36-hour, 2300 kilometer (1426 mile) bus ride to Bariloche, Argentina, a paradise in the middle of the Lakes district in Patagonia. We have rented an apartment for a month. The apartment is really a converted garage but a nice one with a very big backyard and trees and flowers. We will do some short trips from Bariloche, do some hiking, fishing, kayaking, horseback-riding, drawing and updating of our computer skills. Randy is doing some freelance website programing with Drupal and Nancy is drawing and searching for the right career. So many options it is hard to pin down the correct one. Vamos a ver (we will see). We have many things to still post on the websiteso return to the site for further stories and photos.

We have mixed emotions, of course. Although we got to Argentina, we didn't ride to Patagonia, and we aren't going to get to Ushuaia, the southernmost tip of the continent. On the other hand, what a lot we have seen and done! And there is the future...

PS. So if you are in the neighborhood, come on by. We would love to cook you up a home cooked meal. If you are cycling by we have plenty of floor space to camp on and would love to share our humble abode.

First impressions of Argentina

nancy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:01:54 +0000

Now that we have been in Argentina for a bit over a week, I have noticed some differences I would like to share. Wine flows more freely than water and is way cheaper than bottled water. I haven't really found good wine since the USA so this land of wine and honey is a great place to buy very good wine at a fantastic price. I wish I knew which wine vineyards are the best. (If you have a recommendation of some of the better wines let me know.)

Water can be drunk directly from the tap all over Argentina! No more buying plastic bottles of water and adding to the world's plastic waste.

We have entered into the land of refrigerators so we can buy cold cuts and cheeses, and refrigerated yogurts. We are now preparing sandwiches for lunch instead of the lunch specials or menu del día found in most of Latin America. The lunch specials usually consisted of rice, french fries, yucca, chicken or beef with a soup as an appetizer with rice, potato, stock and some kind of chicken or beef all for an amazing price of a dollar or two. Argentina's lunch specials are far more expensive than we've had in the rest of South America, at 3 or 4 dollars. They eat around 2:00pm, take 3 hours off and then start the evening feasting and entertainment around 9:00. We went out for dinner the other night to have our first Argentinan steak. At 8:15 we were the first ones in the restaurant that night and they had to turn on the lights for us. Most Argentinans eat dinner about 9 o´clock or 10 o´clock at night. There are more people roaming the street at midnight than at 5pm.

Other differences are the bathrooms. They have flushing ones with water. The kind you push down on the handle and the water disappears and fills up with clean water again. There are toilet paper and soap in some of the rest rooms. Also all the hotels have bidets and a separate toilet. We have found warm water for showers in all the hotels we have stayed in so far. The hotels cost have been about $12 to $15 on average.

Finally, since so many Argentinans are of European descent, we can't spot the gringos! I started talking to a guy in shorts the other day in English, just because he looked like a gringo. But he was a local!

The one bad thing that is hard to adjust to is the smoking of cigarettes. It is everywhere. In the hotels, Internet cafes, restaurants, streets. It is really disappointing. The wasted butts are everywhere, on the computer tables, in the urinals, in the streets. It seems where there is more money, there is more spending on more vices.

There are more bookstores and newspapers. Less music in the streets. There are larger box stores and less sales by individuals trying to sell an armful items or a sack of fruits or vegetables. I do not hear all the laughing I heard north of the border. People take themselves more seriously or are more into their heads.

It feels like a European country and very different from the rest of the countries in Latin America we have visited.

A perfect ride down from the highlands of Bolivia into Northern Argentina, Jujuy

nancy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:54:29 +0000

We started our descent from the Altiplano at about 3800 meters where the air is thin and sometimes seems almost non-existent. I never did get acclimated to the high elevation even after almost 3 months. So riding down to the lower lands was very exciting to me, I had hopes I would get my health back and my motivation to ride. This section was going to be downhill. Yes down, down, down. I enjoyed the ride downhill for all 4 days. It had a very satisfying feeling. The road was paved, smooth and no traffic to speak of. The land was open range with llamas grazing everywhere. Instead of having the yellow road signs, "watch out for cows", there were a signs with black silhouetted llamas. I think llamas have about the mental capacity of cattle. Llamas must have suicide tendencies because herds of them keep running across the road just as cars where coming. I imagine they dared each other to run across just as the biggest, fastest bus was approaching and cheered each other when they made it alive to the other side and just went back to grazing when one did not make it.

The first day, the winds were quiet and we got in about 100 kilometers. At the end of the day we found an little old adobe church and set up our tent on the quiet side out of the wind and out of sight from the traffic. We cooked dinner inside the bell tower, and watched the sun setting over high grassy plains. The landscape had an odd ruby purple glow which deepened the blood colored shadows. It felt good to be alone with Randy and let the night settle around us in our secret haven.

The following day, a lady wandered down from a far away field to say good morning, wondered what we where doing. I don´t think she was impressed by our trip. Buy the look in her eyes, I think she thought we are a little crazy and why would anyone leave home to do something like this. She was more concerned in finding her dog. We did see the dog an hour before because it came barking at us and got bored and wandered. For some reason dogs like to bark at me and I like to throw rocks at them (but I didn't throw one at this one, honest). After ten minutes of conversation, she wandered off also.

The morning ride proved to be calm, the sun was bright. The riding downhill was again fantastic. I regained some more enthusiasm for touring. We stopped for a couple of hours at the small tourist town of Humahuaca. We toured the archeology museum and had a picnic lunch in the thriving plaza which was filled with artist stalls, dogs, tourist and playing kids. We intended to continue riding, but after a nice lunch and still wanting a shower, we got lazy and found a hotel.

The next day we started off well, but after lunch, pedaling into the famous Argentina wind, we only made 10 miles before we decided to hide behind a tree for protection and read our books and wait until the wind died. Well it never did calm down so we camped there for the night. We had a visit from the police around 11:00 pm. but it was just a courtesy visit. When I greeted them in the dark "buenas noches", one replied as they approached with their flash lights blaring, De Donde son? (Where are you from?). I guess they figured we where harmless and let us be for the night.

One the forth morning, again the wind was calm and we made it to Jujuy. The ride was beautiful through a green valley with trees, red rock mountains on each side of the valley and green stuff called trees, which we have not seen for months. Jujuy is not as beautiful as I had imagined but we stayed there for a couple of nights as Randy came down with a cold and needed a couple of days in bed.

A 3 day tour of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia - a salt desert

nancy — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:01:51 +0000

Our 3 day tour around Bolivia´s famous Salar de Uyuni, a massive salt desert, is best described by photos. Because of the difficult terrain, high elevation, remoteness, and extreme cold, we decided to explore this amazing region of southwestern Bolivia by 4x4 vehicle. We went with a tour company called Andes Salt Expedition . They provided all the transportation, food and lodging and expert interpretation in English about the surreal desolate geography we encountered along the way. They delivered what they promised and at a fair price.

During the 3 days, we explored rugged, dirt roads that crisscrossed the 1000 kilometers and up as high as 5000 meter. We shared this adventure with a total of 13 tourist, two drivers, two vehicles and the cook. For me the highlights were the flocks of wild flamingos, the thermal pools at sunrise, the vastness and emptiness of the dried salt lake called a Salar, and the multiple colored lagoons. Take a look at the rest of the photos as they speak for themselves. (Click on the little photos to see larger versions or to view as a slideshow. Or see all of the Salar trip pictures here)

Riding around Lake Titicaca and into Bolivia

nancy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:01:25 +0000

We rode from Puno, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia mostly along Lake Titicaca where the high-altitude lake reflected silver sunlight off the deep blue-green water. During the ride we saw villages harvesting reeds to make into mats, individuals making fishing nets, groups of people preparing the earth for the planting of potatoes, with mostly human power or oxen, but a few had the benefit of using tractors. The first night out of Puno, we outraced a tremendous storm and dove for cover in Ilave after riding 35 beautiful, flat miles. It was so good to be in a hotel room, dry, and safe from the blasting winds and pounding rain which lasted for most of the late afternoon and evening. The next day when we awoke the sun was shinning and the skies were clear. We rode another 49 miles enjoying vast open altiplano which was a wide open valley of dry flat fields. The closer we got to the Bolivian border the more we saw sheep and llamas grazing in the open valley. We even stopped for a photo shoot at the market in Juli where the livestock market was full of sheep and llamas. I saw live sheep hauled up on to the roofs of mini buses and lashed down. I watched as they stuffed live llamas inside the buses. I found it amusing to see a big bunch of live giant sheep on top of a van and a heads of llama sticking out an open window as the buses called colectivos drove past us. I was glad I was not one of those animals.

We stopped for the night in the last town in Peru called Yunguyo before we crossed into Bolivia. To our delight the town was celebrating the fiesta of its patron saint. Over twenty groups paraded around the town, playing incredible Andean music complete with panpipes, traditional folklore dancer in elaborate costumes and followed by marching bands. All the groups were from this one town and they all must have been practicing all year. The main plaza had bleachers for the spectators and the music went on for 4 days. While we were there the music continued all night and a new parade started at 6:00 in the morning complete with many marching band and dancers. Women and men, danced and drank beer during this celebration which I found ode because I have not seen alot of women drinking in South America. The young teenagers danced and played their instruments with passion and celebrated immense intensity.

Entering Bolivia was calm for the most part. I rode past the immigration check-in point by mistake. I was an illegal in Bolivia. When I passed all the houses, business, waiting taxis and was riding toward the countryside, alone without Randy, I figured I had missed a turn and went back to check in. One immigrations officer was keeping an eye on me. I found Randy waiting with our paper work and the astute officer. When we paid our $135 dollars each and turned in all the paper work, the man stamped our passport and declared that now we were no longer illegals.

After a short 5-mile ride, we entered into the lovely town of Copacabana. The weather was perfect, with a strong warming sun and the warming affects of the lake. The town has a huge, absolutely huge Moorish style church, dedicated to the Virgen of Copacabana. Why a small town would have such a wondrous church is very puzzling, but it does create a center master piece of this sleepy town.

We stayed in the Hotel Sonia, which I highly recommend for the budget minded traveler who wants TV, hot water, sunny rooms, good beds and a 5th floor terrace with extraordinary view. I visited a dozen hotels in Copacabana and most are either very expensive or very run down. Hotel Sonia is thumbs up in my book.

After two nights stay in Copacabana, we pedaled the remaining two days to La Paz. We arrived on Sunday which is the best day to ride into a huge city of over one million two hundred people. We took the autopista down to the center of town. The drop of 600 meters snaked down a few kilometers and took us from 4100 meters to 3500 meters into the historic center of town. Even though the sign on the highway said bicycles prohibited, the toll gate attendant motioned us down the freeway. There was mammoth shoulder which I rode down on. Because of some chunks of concrete and other missing parts, I cautiously made my way down to the San Francisco plaza, while Randy whizzed down in the traffic lane, going as fast as the all the cars and buses. Luckily there was little traffic and we both entered into La Paz fairly relaxed.

The main reason we went to La Paz was to have our bike front shocks serviced at Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking, a bike tour group that specializes in the taking people down the most dangerous road in the world. My shock had been losing all the air every day. We would pump it up and at the end of the day it would be flat. Randy´s no longer had any oil. We had contacted them by email a week earlier via the Internet and they said they could work on our Fox shox, F80 rl shocks and had the parts in house.

Well dear readers, we were utterly amazed with this shop. We have not seen such a well run, mammoth, well qualified technicians, well stocked shop since forever. They were familiar with our shocks and knew what the potential problems were. If we had a ruptured chamber we were screwed. But if it was worn washers and gaskets we where in luck. The gamble was going to cost a total of $135 dollars for both bikes. Two days later we got the news. The gamble paid off. Our bikes were as good as new with replaced gaskets, two special washers and new reservoirs of oil.

While we waited, we took care of a couple of medical issues. I had my teeth cleaned at periodontist and got new veneer on my front top 6 teeth to fill on some ugly spaces. A special German-made ceramic was used. In Bolivia health care costs a fraction of what it costs in the United States. The dentist explained that since Bolivia is such a poor country that ceramic material was bought at reduced price of $35 but in the United States the same product would cost $400. After three visits and about 6 hours in the chair, I now have a new smile which I am very happy with.

Randy got his back looked at -- it's been bothering him for over a year. We walked into a clinic to make an appointment with a orthopedic trauma specialist. Well, no appointments was needed. Dr Antonio saw him immediately, examined him, sent him down the hall for an MRI, and read the imagery, and diagnosed his problem in less than two hours. Get this, the bill was $150, including doctor, MRI, and all. The diagnosis is that he has inflamed nerves in his lower back. To fix this, a is wearing an elastic custom made wrap for 2 weeks and he is to lay off biking for a couple of weeks. Basically the doctor says it's an overuse injury -- too much biking.

So with this in mind, we have decided to take a bus to Salar de Unyni and visit the salt flats and continue via bus to the Argentine border, then ride to Salta, Argentina and take a break until we are revitalized and are inspired to ride on.

We have stayed in La Paz for one week now and are very impressed with this grand city of many services, rich in culture, great Internet, and anything you could ever want. We have attended fabulous folklore performance at the Municipal Theater, La Paz football game against Santa Cruz, visited museums, watched hours of parades with traditional customs and music, walked hours after hours exploring the many streets filled with open air markets, business districts, plazas and people of all walks of life. It has been a delight, and today we move on. Hopefully- A huge march has arrived in town today. Thousands of camposinos from all of the country have marched on La Paz to protest their poverty and demand a change to the constitution. It seems the main issue is the need for land reform.The contrast between the rich and the poor is astonishing. The poor live without clean water, electricity, access to health care, food prices have sky rocketed. They need a change and they are coming to let President Evo (their main hero) and the current government know.

Our bus leaves tonight, I hope.