On the brink of the famous Patagonain Mountains

I rode out of the desert and into a deep evergreen valley with steep spires and cliffs. It reminded me of home and Crawford Notch. The valley was filled with a dark blue river / lake. Parts of the valley were filled with mist and fog and it was quite cool. My hands were cold.

After I left this valley, the terrain turned again to open desert. I saw a herd of a deer like animal. Then I saw a sight that had me thinking that I was in Australia. I saw what looked like ostrich. There was a mama and several fledgling ostriches. Amazing. I was to see several flocks in the afternoon. These were mostly young birds, with the exception of the one adult mama that I saw.

I rode into the small town of Rio Mayo and saw a different type of flock. This time it was a flock of BMW riding motorcyclists, who were all decked out in fancy gear. In fact earlier in the day I had seen a half dozen or so motorcyclist with rental KTM 990 Adventure bikes. For those who don’t know, this is a large and expensive dirt oriented bike.

I found the cheaper hotel in town and set up in my room. The evening ritual consisted of cleaning and lubricating the chain, finding a phone and internet connection (no internet), writing the daily log and having dinner.

I’ve been getting up and leaving by around 6:30 am, and I’ve been riding to around 8 or 8:30. Now that I’m through the desert and into the mountains, I’ll slow down.
I’ll have to slow down, because this next section of road is gravel. It goes by the famous Patagonian icons of Fitz Roy and Torre del Paine. I’m excited to see these areas.