It is around 11pm and a full moon rises on the clear sky. A night full of stars falls slowly when three cyclists move silently along the road. Night-cycling to the Perito-Moreno glacier is that kind of sport called and it is not relaxed at all: we cycled already 50km in an insanely strong headwind today. Lutz accompanies our little adventure: we try to get around the entry fees by getting in late...

But the 220km long detour is worth the effort - the massive 30km long ice of this gigantic glacier flows compact, old, ice cold and wild into the two arms of it’s lagoon. Calving of huge ice bergs follows on the loud cracks - the glacier moves 2 metres daily! It’s hard to describe what impressive scenery this is... In the afternoon we can tear ourselves away from this gorgeous place and catch a ride in a pick up out of the park - avoiding the fees - finally.

The following days we stay in the tourist centre of the region - El Calafate. Rene caught cold and so we have enough time to reflect our ride down the South American spine and to look forward to our goal - Punta Arenas. But first of all we need to do a bit of wind poker! The pampa awaits us with flat plains full of stormy conditions - not a place for cyclists.

On 13th of January we spend a night under a bridge - in the high tunnel of a water tube. Just when we reflect the day of tail winds and curious German tourist groups a gusty wind starts - trying to blow our tent away. The night turns out to be sleepless because our “home” is only fixed to the concrete by big stones and panniers. But everything turns out well...

Soon we are on a bad dirt road - heading into the never land along the Ruta 40. We are surrounded by very Australian landscapes - a flat grassy plain stretches till the horizon and a road with football sized stones transports two, swearing cyclists through it. In the morning hours we have temperatures below zero - they make it even harder to get already 5am out of the sleeping bag to get around the wind... After 4 days out we arrive at the Chilenean border. Another dirt track leads now along the border of the Torres del Paine NP with it’s snowy peaks and impressive mountains. Herds of guanacos keep grazing, a skunk is posing in front of the camera and some Nandus run away with their chicks.

After witnessing so much natural beauty our tent is now standing in Puerto Natales. This is the last stop on our trip to Punta Arenas which is only 5 days riding away! Here comes the future: After one week visiting the Falkland Islands we’ll hop on a plane to Hong Kong - staying there for a week. The Middle East, our original plan, is changed (because of the political problems, in Syria) instead we go back for another 3months South-East Australia. Downunder! Again...

Did you know that Argentina is home to more than 150.000 gauchos who live a lonely cowboy-life out in the pampa?

Since the last report: 460km, 3700 altitude metres

Monique

Right in time for Christmas we arrive at the “end of the world” - Villa O’Higgins. Here ends the legendary Carretera Austral - after 1200km of hilly riding. The only way from here is by boat - crossing the deepest lake of America (the 800m deep Lago O’Higgins) and further on a walking path through wild nature to Argentina.

Chirstmas is equally silent: behind the warm wood fired oven in the kitchen the wind outside can roar as it wants. We are on Alicias campground and she talks about her life in the 300 people village at the end of civilisation: “Until 1999 there was no road leading to here. Everything was brought by horses and boat from Argentina. The food was so expensive! Today we have a primary school here. After that my daughter has to go all the way to Cochrane (which is more than 200km away and a very rough way with ferry crossings etc). Petrol is too expensive - we can’t visit her by car. And winter does get very cold - sometimes petrol freezes.” Laughing she puts more rolls in the oven - “We have no problems with that! We have so much firewood down here!”

Our real Christmas gift arrives by 26. December: a memorable day. One of the ones you’ll never forget! Already 5am Rene is chasing a big, red headed woodpecker with the camera. Later we heading out in a sunny day under blue skies with little winds (very rare here!) on a big boat - which carries only 8 people today. Some hours later arrive at the huge glacial face of the O’Higgins glacier. Big icebergs surround the boat and we can nearly touch the ice gaps and the surreal formations of turquoise, ancient ice...

The next days are sweaty and exhausting: first we need to push/ride the bikes up to the pass, where the geographical frontier to Argentina is. After that follows a 7km long hike over tree trunks, river crossings and muddy holes. This section takes us over 5hrs and there he is: the first view on the most impressive rock formation we have ever seen! The Fitz Roy massive is the one, which attracts a lot of world class climbers from all over the world every year. The sheer rock is that steep, that not even snow sticks to it. The rock needles sit over a blue lake - on it’s shore we find the Argentinean customs office. The elderly officer comes out in flip flops and training suit to stamp our passports and returns into his garden...

The Fitz Roy makes us stay nearly one week in the village of El Chalten. Staying on a peak, watching condors soaring through the air and glaciers, joining in an icy lagoon, all overlooked by rugged peaks of sheer black stone is breath-taking. Patagonia let our blood freeze and jaw dropping... On New Years morning we have our own, private fireworks with a sunrise painting the Fitz Roy blood red!

What follows is a contrast to the last weeks scenery: the pampa of Argentina has us back! Golden and flat it leads on and on till the horizon. But we spot a lot of animals: Andean foxes, guanacos, flamingos and condors roam around! The patagonian wind gives us a boost and pushes us a 113km a day to a new distance record! After three days we arrive in El Calafate, from where we are now heading for another glacier before making our way down to our final destination in South America - Punta Arenas!!!

Did you know that El Chalten is the youngest city in Argentina - founded in 1985?

Since the last report: 520km, 5510 altitude metres

Monique

Help! Rene is cycling uphill as if there’s a bee swarm chasing him! The reality isn’t far away from that: hundreds of horse flies make us escaping all the way through the amazing scenery. Only on windy lookouts we find the time to rest and take in the stunning surroundings: the turquoise and dark blue Lake General Carrera is sitting on the foothills of snowcapped mountains. On its green banks are cows grazing and all is set in a bed of yellow flowers... This is one of the most incredible places we have seen on the whole trip so far!

Some days ago we were accompanied by a group of 5 dogs through the mountains: they were gaucho-dogs and found themselves a new owner in form of two cyclists which came along. They fight all upcoming cars and defend us for about 30km. They even hold a constant speed of 23km/h and run through tunnels without any fear. Only on a very fast downhill we managed to get rid of them - it was sad, but impossible to feed 5 dogs...

Only the stunning scenery around us makes it worth to eat all the dust of passing cars on the bad washboard roads, to cycle in rain gear (because of the horse flies) in nearly 40 degrees and to climb this really tough hills. Even 4WD cars have problems to get up there, trucks get stuck in the steep corners. But the postcard picture scene is all worth the effort.

After 8 days continuously riding we finally arrive at Cochrane. This day a big rodeo is going on - the dusty, traditional and rough event is very authentic and just great to look at. Soon we will load the bikes with one weeks food and cross the border on a pretty adventurous crossing... But this is our next story. We wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year!

Did you know that the inland ice of South Chile is the third largest ice mass in the world, after Antarctica and Greenland? And that this region here has only 0.8 inhabitants per square kilometre?

Since the last report: 460km, 6600 altitude metres

Monique

We enter the Patagonian landscapes through the back door and south of Puerto Montt starts the Carretera Austral: the road is the reason why we made the whole trip through South America. It is the only north-south connection through that part of Chile and goes through one of the most amazing landscapes ever!

Short after a 5-hour, very wet ferry crossing through the rough fjord land we enter the Pumalin NP. The land of the NP was once bought by the founder of „Esprit“ and „North Face“ who protects it now as a NP. Here we find some of the nicest camp spots - in lush, cool temperated rain forest, after crossing suspension bridges over wild rivers. Along the roadside grow 3m high rhubarb plants, which span their leaves like umbrellas over the drive way.

After passing water falls, we find some scattered farm houses, which built their fences with whole tree trunks - that much wood they have down here! Fields of violet lupines cover big parts and are a nice contrast to the snow covered peaks, hanging glaciers with up to 300m high water falls and clear mountain lakes. People are as friendly as the beauty of the landscape is: a restaurant owner gives us refuge beside a fire inside, to dry our clothes after a day of heavy rain and a truck driver passes a slice of cake though the window with a broad, toothless smile. I guess he knew that a long, steep climb of 600m within 5km was right in front of us...

We hope the good weather stays with us during our trip further south through Coyhaique, Cochrane to Villa O’Higgins. Keep fingers crossed!!!

Since the last report: 480km, 6300 altitude metres

Monique

Nearly three weeks we stay at the farm near Villarrica. Not only because of the great view and the nice people we meet here - also because of the new rim, which takes that long by „express“ mail to find it’s way to get here. It’s a South American odyssee for the parcel, which includes a long run through the Chilenean customs, who charge us nearly 100% of the value for tax etc. After a lot of calls and bus rides we are too exhausted to be really happy about the arrival of the bike parts...

We use our time on the farm to do some other exercise than cycling: we go for a walk throught one of Chiles nicest NP’s. It contains a stand of very old forest and the trail climbs to some clear water lagoons. They are surrounded by Araukaria trees and thick bush. Hundreds of lizards sunbathing on the trail - their green and blue bellies shine in the sun. The ways are muddy from melt snow fields but it’s still a fantastic place in a fairy-tale forest.

On 18 November we are ready to start! But this good-bye is one of the hard ones on this trip: the hospitality and friendliness we found here was overwhelming! Soon we are back on the road - heading along the motorway. Not a nice place to be on a bike but the quickest route south. We lost so much time we have to catch up a little bit by now. Nature remains very German: a lot of trees and plants are the same as back home! Even the restaurants and some of the bakeries have German names. Penalties for wrong parking seem to be German as well: you pay around 80 USD for it plus you get rid of your licence and you’ll have an appointment at the court! For a salary of only 400USD monthly for a farmhand this isn’t little...

We continue our way south via Puerto Montt and further to Chaiten.

Since the last report: 240 km, 1500 altitude metres

Monique

Argentina includes another 3 days of pampa in our final distance, trying to reach the border to Chile. We ride on a straight road till the horizon, passing 100km long fences, dry and spiky bushes and sun bleached skeletons of animals. Then we reach the pass and everything changes: not only the landscapes, also our attitude, which became a bit rusty after the long, boring stretches...

Old Araucaria trees grow on volcanic basalt up here. They are surrounded by snowfields, rushing water and by the myths of their history: their origen goes back to the era of the dinosaurs and it really feels like a journey back in time. This trees used to cover a big terrain of Central Chile - today there are only a few, but very proud ones, left. We wonder why there’s no dinosaur coming around our tent - only a scorpion looks for a warm place to sleep under our tent canvas...

Chile welcomes us with terrible roads of round, big stones and three flat tires a day. But the surrounding makes it all worth it: green farming land, forests of pine trees and Araukarias plus sparkling springs and big rivers - it is too long ago we have seen all that! This is the land of the Mapuche - the native people, who used to live here before the Spaniards came. But their history is a unique one in South America: they won their battles against the intruders! And even today they keep fighting for getting their land back. The weapons are gone, replaces by court and unfair judgments...

People are friendly and in a little market we can try narca - a plant which looks a bit like rhubarb and their stalk is eaten fresh with salt and has a sour taste. Later we meet Carolina and Gonzalo who invite us to their holiday house, built on the shores of a beautiful lake. During eating fresh artichokes they tell us a lot of pioneer stories. Also Carolinas gran-grandfather was one of the Germans who came here in the 19th century. He bought a piece of dry, sandy land and turned it into a pine tree farm. The German language survived until today in their family.

Our ride to Villarrica is unforgettable: it is the first day on the trip we’re riding a 100km! We arrive late afternoon on a sheep and alpacafarm of two Germans, who came to Chile 16 years ago. Now our tent has one of the greatest panorama places during our trip: we overlook a glacial lake and the snow covered, perfect shaped volcano cone of vulcano Villarrica, which is only 40km away. At night its smoke on the top reflects the orange of the liquid lava in the crater. An unique place...

We won’t leave this great place that soon because the rough roads left some traces on the bikes - one rim has a crack and we need to wait for replacement. After that we’ll be heading down, along the chain of lakes, to Puerto Montt through Chile.

Did you know that the Araucaria trees grow up to 90 metres high and get as old as 1000 years?

Since the last report: 500 km, 4300 altitude metres

Monique