A sleep in, quick pack (so much quicker than when packing camping gear) and off to the service station a couple of kms out of town. The word service in the term service station is used very losely in this case. We rolled up at the bowser and the most sour faced and unpleasant young lady forced her way out through the doors to unlock the bowser to fill our bikes with Super! Not a smile, not a hola, merely a “full”, which I promptly replied to with a “por far vor” and a big smile. No positive response just a look of disdain and a flick of the nozzle to ensure that fuel was spilled on my tank bag and down the tank. I conferred with Paul over a coffee and the only breakfast we were to get, two cereal bars, to find out it wasn’t only me, he had received a similar reception. She had not asked Paul for payment of his fuel so being the honest guy he is he tried to let her know. Well, this was received with about as much enthusiasm as our previous smiles and it seemed that she was quite put out by the fact she would have to take the money from him and put it in the till!! We are well aware that, dare I say it, the service station is situated way out of town and the town is not Buenos Aires but life can’t be that bad. Some people just seem to have a problem with life or perhaps it is with Gringos as we did see her smiling and joking with some Argentinians as we left.
The hundred and fifty kilometres to El Chalten was alongside Lago Viedma, a lake one hundred and fifty kilometres long we were stunned! It was a pleasant ride and all the more stunning as we approached the once distant mountain range that held Cerro Torre and Mt Fitzroy. Snow capped peaks began to appear as did a glacier that wound it’s way down to the lake. As usual we could not resist stopping to take many, many photographs. We had been hoping no that the entire range would reveal itself so that we would be able to take the classic photograph of ourselves riding toward the camera with the range in the background, it was not to be. We did take photographs with what was revealed of the range and were relatively happy but still a little disappointment resided in both of us.
We entered El Chalten first visiting the parks centre than the tourist information centre to try to find affordable accommodation in what had now become a burgeoning tourist destination. I did not recognise the town, it was massive and all the streets had been paved. Driving into El Chalten those many years ago, faced with a similar view of the range as Paul and I had experienced but a town that was very small with the few buildings interconnected with dirt roads. Kath and I had spent the next 4 days of our time here waiting out the rain. Fortunately we had Bluey, we drove out to a small waterfall along the road to the gateway to Argentina and the walking track to Villa O’Higgins and camped each night along the same road. We took water from the streams that came down from the mountains and cooked our own meals and for a treat each day we had hot chocolate, snacks and sat in the only little café we could find. The weather at that time didn’t seem to want to fine up for us so the decision was finally made that we should head out, it was late in the afternoon and so departure would be the following morning. When we awoke the rain had stopped and we were overjoyed. A quick pack and off we went for a three day hike to Fitzroy and Cerro Torre. It was absolutely stunning and a very enjoyable walk after having been cooped up in the van for so long. We also met Nick and Jodes an Australian and New Zealand couple that ended up sharing adventures with us in Bluey and have become life long friends.
Paul and I found accommodation after enquiring regarding prices and quality. The road to Villa O’Higgins beckoned as it was an incredibly scenic ride and who knows what the weather would do. It started off well, very dramatic scenery, lot of photo stops Including set ups for that perfect adventure shot.
Then it happened, as I walked back from taking a photo I noticed that the rear tyre on my bike was as flat as a tack. Not happy!! There was a 75mm nail slap bang in the centre of the tyre and not a building in sight!!!! Paul and I set to work. We had never done a rear tyre before so this was a new experience. As for fixing punctures, we had done one in my shed at home (Paul had got a tech screw in his front tyre on the way home from getting new tyres for the trip). We didn’t manage to fix it as such as the patches we tried would not adhere to the tube for love nor money. We ended up putting a new tube in it. We had been advised of a technique that would work so we set about getting the tyre fixed.
We got the wheel off no problem then came the tyre. I got out the new bead breakers and got that done, then got the bead buddy and slipped it in to push and hold the bead in the centre of the rim to allow the tyre to come off. A bit of stuffing around and finally managed to do this. Out came the tube, scrubbed it, cleaned it with a medi swab (the secret to the whole process) and then opened the tube of glue and squeezed, and squeezed again, and again, for a rather large tube a tiny bit came out, just enough for the patch!!!! Glued on the patch, got out the Best Rest Pump and filled it, no problem got to get it back in the tyre. In the meantime a guy pulled up and asked if we were OK. No problem we said and he said he would check on his way out. We put it in (without the other secret ingredient (talcum powder to make the tube slip around inside the tyre and not get crimped). Getting the tyre on presented a bit of a problem, that being the bead lock I had in the tyre, but after a lot of mucking around and. Little too much force we got the tyre back on. Started up the Best Rest and began putting air into the tyre after applyingWool wash to the bead on both sides. The guy who came back to check on us and decided to stay and make sure things were OK as we had been faff ini around for about 3 hours by now! We got the tyre up but could not get the bead to set no matter what we did but at least the tube was holding air. I decided to ride it slowly back with the bead as it was due to the weather having threatened to crap out for the entire team and the fact that night was almost upon us. I could try to reseat it the following day. We put the wheel back on and packed up. Aldo (we found out his name and that he worked for the fisheries) was going to follow us back to make sure all worked out. He even broke out the lemonade for our dying thirst. Just as I was going to get on the bike I noticed it was flat again!!!
Four hours and no success, we were devastated. Aldo was very calm, he just made room on his old v8 truck for the bike and we loaded it up. He drove me and the bike back to the hostel while Paul followed on his bike. Aldo gave us a tip to eat at his friends new restaurant Laguna Tres Lagos as it was great pizza and Barrato (cheap). So that is what we did, headed to the Laguna Tres Lagos for pizza and a few big beers (litre bottles). Aldo also rolled up a little later, we bought him a beer which he sneakily paid for himself. As we left we paid for a beer and watched him receive and he was unable to refuse.
28th March (Easter Monday)
Tyre fixing time, out we went to tackle the unwilling monster! I took the wheel out just as the owner of the hostel came out to see what I was up to. He had seen us arrive the night before with the bike inn the back of Aldo’s truck. He indicated he had a compressor and a shed to work in and would we like to use it. At this stage I was pretty much fed up and just wanted to get the thing fixed. I had watched a You Tube video on how to do it and we were pretty much on the money. A couple of little tricks should enhance our chances. Paul thought we should use the Best Rest but I was only interested in a quick fix! We took the wheel into the shed and pulled the tube out in no time at all. Air went into the tube and seemed to stay in there, we were confused to say the least. Time for a bucket of water so into the kitchen for a bucket, no bucket so we procured a massive pot. After dunking the tyre we found no leak. Again in went the tube and finally we found that the leak was directly opposite the patch, it appeared the nail had gone through to the other side of the tube and we hadn’t noticed the small puncture.
29th March
I slept in then spent the whole day writing, posting blogs and Facebook updates whilst Paul walked out to Cerro Torre.
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