Off to Chile!

At the end of last year, 2022, as the Covid pandemic was beginning to wane, I was getting the urge to do another world travel (like millions of others, I find). Having enjoyed the exhilaration of crossing the entire barren outback of Australia by bicycle in 2019, I was feeling the wanderlust of traveling unknown lands again.

So I pondered about what other far-off land, exotic and unfamiliar, strange and mystifying, might I travel this year. I heard stories of bicyclists traveling to the southernmost outpost in the world, reaching as close to Antarctica as one can without actually going to that continent. I imagined ending a bicycle tour at an outpost surrounded by penguins and glistening glaciers. It sounded exciting. So I thought to myself– yes, that’s what I’ll do. And so the planning began.

Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina. public photo courtesy of Snowscat

I started the research. I plotted a tentative route. I calculated a foreseeable timetable. Excitement built with everyday of planning. Although some of the research revealed that my first romantic notions of the ride were not quite accurate (e.g., desolate, barren), the ride was still foreign and challenging enough to keep me enthralled. Needless to say, it promised to be beautiful. So a rough time of travel was set: the end of 2023, when the summer season would be in the southern hemisphere.

My previous long tours have been as a solo cyclist. As an introvert, I have enjoyed the solitary moments of contemplation, as well as experiencing the rich cultural exchanges a single person would have. This time, though, I pondered giving the tour a different flavor. I sent out an open invitation to friends, asking if anyone would do this three-to-four month trek with me. I now have six other fellow travelers! You’ll get to meet them as we go along.

On the Carretera Austral, Chile. public photo courtesy of O’car Johann Campos

A group tour obviously carries a different flavor than a solo tour. Decisions will have to be made as a group. Local people may interact less deeply and help less because they think we have each other for support. A local person may be willing to spontaneously offer their home to a single person but less so for a band of seven. Still, there is the joy of sharing the adventures, where laughter around a night fire brings lightness of heart and memories can be talked about long after the trip has ended.

I can’t wait for the trip with my companions to begin.