Puyuhaupi, Patagonia, Chile 27/5/10

Odometer: 5200.4 miles

The road to Puyuhaupi {pronounced Puyuhaupi} from Coihaique was the best so far. It was spectacular. It took all day to make it 140 miles. Between leaving late because of the freezing temperatures to getting off the bike every mile or 2 take a picture I ended up arriving in Puyuhaupi after dark. Oooooops. Bad Uncle Walter.

At one point the road was tar and really slowed me down. It went through a canyon along a class 3 white water river. The canyon ran mostly east to west, the sun at mid day is due north and the mountains block the sun from drying the road. The temperatures remained in the mid teens. The temperature of the river was above freezing. The mist coming off the river created a heavy fog and frost. The trees, plants, road signs, and road all were covered white. Gorgeous. My helmet fogged first, then my mirrors, windshield, and then me. Never saw anything like it before. As I drove 5 mph for 10 miles the only voice I could hear was Pop’s. “That looks dangerous, better let me do it.” As I tried to coast to a stop to take a picture the words changed, not the voice, “just keep driving ya dumb a##. “ At one point there was a 4 wheel drive SUV upside down in the road and a wrecker trying to right it. I thought “appropriate vehicles for appropriate circumstances, ya dumb a##!” Right pops!

Uncle Walter

PS. Dr. Grau, I hope the above pronunciation guide helped.

Happy Birthday Cocobean!

Los Lagos, El Districto de los Lagos, Chile 30-5-2010

Odometer: 5529.8

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS!!!!
HAPPY WEDDING SETH AND BRIDE!!!!

Congrats to my cousin Dave for holding out. I think we are the only 2 left. Strong work Dave.

Puerto Mont, Chile 29-5-2010

Odometer:5330.7

Chaiten, Chile 28-5-2010

Nice long boat ride to Puerto Mont.

Puyuhuapi, Patagonia, Chile 27-5-2010

no pictures of the above as we are having some technical problems.

Uncle Walter

the road from Chile Chico to Coihaique, Chile

Odometer:5060.1 miles

Arrived today with daylight left and without incident. But, it feels like I've been here before. The first photo shows the rod along the lake, look closely along the shore on the left. The second photo is taken when I got closer to the mountains, which are the background in the first photo. The third photo is what the road looks and feels like, except you can't see the mountains for the trees and the camera just couldn't capture it. The fourth is one of many lakes and ponds and waterfalls along the way. The last photo does not really show how much snow was on top of the pass into Coihaique. The top 6 miles had me a bit worried as the snow was not melted by the sun over the last 2 days. It was only about an inch deep in the middle of the road, so not too bad. Just hope there are no more opportunities to demonstrate control on ice, but I am loosing the battle with trying to move north faster than winter is setting into the Andes. Day light hours are getting short. The sun angle is not too steep any more at high noon. As I drive north it makes it as high as bothersome to look into. As you can tell in all the photos, 82 and sunny.

Uncle Walter

Rio Tranquilo, Patagonia, Chile

El Puerto Tranquilo, Patagonia, Chile. 24-5-2010

Odometer: 4920.4 miles (20-5-2010)

The last 8 days has been something that is best summed up by nephew Phillip. “I….I….I don’t want to talk about it.” But, sometimes Phil, it is better to face up to it. So here is the short version. In all photos here after, la Poderosa will no longer look all shiny and new. Uncle Walter will no longer look all shiny and new, either. I know what the inside of 2 different rural ambulances look like in two different countries, Argentina and Chile. I know what the inside of 2 rural hospitals look like in said countries. I know what the x-ray machine in the former looks like and the CT scanner looks like in the latter. All of which I would not repeat. I would rather have encephalitis again. Well...OK...cholera...hmmm...fall into the Berring Sea or breake my leg?

However, there is a silver lining in all dark clouds. Well, actually, gold in this case. The paramedics and families in these rural areas are the only reason I bring the past week up. From the first pain medicine and steroid injection at the scene just out side Bajo Caracoles (BC) by Maria Leon and her ambulance driver Victor (el rey), (305 km round trip ride #1) to the owners of the Hostel(Hostel Ruta 40) in BC (Maria Luisa, Mario, and Tono) who let me stay 3 nights to recoup in their hostel, and feed me, even though it was shut for the 6 month low tourist season and they were gone, to the police in BC, who guarded my bike in my absence, to the paramedics in Rio Tranquilo, ( Jose Miguel, Francisco, and Jesse) who correctly shipped me off (ambulance ride #2, 221 km one-way) to Coihaique for a head CT after recognizing that my symptoms of nausia, vomitting and dizzyness may be from an undiagnosed head injury from 3 days ago, and who also wrote to my family to inform them of my trip to Coihaique, Chile, to the last paramedic,( Lidia) who, after a negative head ct, negative exam, negative labs, and I still passed out 3 times,( each time just standing there waiting in the check out /payment line, in the er) as I was being signed out by the ER physician, stood up and made them admit me for three days of observation, ( and who’s face was in the little circle of faces each time they got me to come around and put me on the gurney, and came to visit every day) to Paulo, a young highschooler who is doing his volunteer hours now in hopes to get in to medical school next year, who translated what I couldn’t get, and brought food, because family’s normally do that, to the last family here in Rio Tranquilo, (Hostel Los Pinos, Alfredo, Irene, and Rosa) who guarded my bike for me the four days I was in the second hospital, held my room, and now are still taking care of me as I write this, knowing full well their visa account is closed for the season and won't work, (its the only card I have), that there is no cash machine available for 221 km, and I do not have enough Chilean Pesos and $US on me to pay the current bill, let alone the next few days expenses, to all those otherwise involved that didn't get mentioned, I can not thank all of you enough. Wow! How could I! Where would I start? Where would I end? Thank you!

And some of you were worried about me before I left the states. Come on people.

If the Cold Spring, Richmond and Rockville Fire Departments are half this helpful, then all you meat loafers had better be going to all their events and spending all your money in their support. Small towns can’t run without them. I don’t think so. Don’t care where you are. Little towns need volunteers, or you got nothing.

A huge, huge hug to all who volunteer.

Uncle Walter

Sorry, only one picture taken, I was kinda busy trying to get my arm to work, or didn’t have access to my camera, while being put back onto the gurney, again and again and again.

Final Tally:

DIGGERS at 170 mph: 0. My bike don't go that fast.
DIGGERS at 50 mph: 1
SUMMERSAULTS BY UNCLE WALTER: 3. full layout into rock/dirt-1, crumpled into rock/dirt-1, wet noodle into rock/dirt-1.
SUMMERSAULTS BY LA PODEROSA:2. i think. the first i wittnessed first hand somewhere between my summersalts 1 nd 2 as i was upside down in the air, looking backwards toward la poderosa as she was also upside down and backwards in the air. the next i am not sure, as i was busy with my own routine, but the big digs in the dirt suggest another tumble by the bike.
X-RAYS: 1. negative for fracture.
CT SCANS OF THE HEAD: 1-negative as well.
DAYS FURTHER BEHIND:8
UNCLE WALTERS AS GOOD AS NEW: 1
NEW BODY WORK FOR LA PODEROSA: duct tape and wire, also good as new.
TOTAL HOSPITALS/AMBULANCES BILLS: $221.00. US.
TOTAL DEBT TO VOLUNTEERS: unpayable.

Baho Caracoles, Santa Cruz, Argentina

Bajo Caracoles, Santa Cruz, Argentina. 5-16-2010

Odometer: 4617.4 miles

Bajo Caracoles must be close to no where. I arrived only 1 to 2 hours after dark. The last piece of tar I saw was just over 390 miles back. Traffic was very heavy today too, a total of 13 cars, the last just over 160 miles before I finished for the night. When I pulled into town the local policeman was waiting for me. He said he could see my headlight about 7 miles away and thought he would wait to see what was wrong. People generally don’t come up Ruta 40 at night, and never in the winter. I had spotted the lights of the city at least 7 miles away. I had only been lost for the last 5 hours or so. By dead reckoning, choosing the fork that inclined most northward I found the right road. There had been 3 different times during the day that ruta 40 had split with out a sign as to which fork went where. I must have chosen poorly at one point, but found the way in the end. Bad Uncle Watler.

The policeman directed me to only hotel in town and said hw would look in on me in the morning. I was gone to La Cueva de Las Manos, before he arrived. When I got back to the hotel around 12:00, the hotel owner asked if I knew why the police were looking for me. I told him they were concerned about the place I was staying. He just looked at me funny.

La Cueva de las Manos, Bajo Calacoles, Argentina. 5-17-2010

La Cueva de las Manos is out next to the middle of nowhere. You have to go through nowhere to get there. I know this, because I just went though nowhere yesterday to get to Bajo Calacoles. They think the cave and the canyon were first inhabited about 10,000 years ago. That is older than Uncle Walter. The hunting pictures (the paintings of animals and such) date about 10,000 years ago. The positive hand paintings ( where they painted there hand with paint and placed it on the wall) date back about 2560 years ago, when Uncle Walter was a young lad. The negative hand prints (where the paint is sprayed around the hand) date back about 2190 years ago, about when Uncle Walter first learned to be naughty from Uncles Skosh and Math. All eras can be seen in the first photo. Most of the prints are of the left hand. They also obvioulsy tried to potty train their cat, and one dude didn't have any hands, so they used his foot. Through chemical analysis they can tell the colors used are from local minerals in the soil. It was mixed with the blood from guanacos. It was too pasty still, so they added human urine to make it really soupy. It was then sucked up in to the mouth through an old guanaco bone and blown across the hand. (Sounds delightful, huh Knut?)

There are two outstanding theories as to why the hand prints are smaller and with narrow fingers, and the majority left. Both theories start with the people being mostly right handed and therefore holding the bone straw in the right hand to paint. Here the theories part. The first then, is that the prints are mostly of young males receiving rights of passage into adulthood. The other is that the prints are mostly made by mothers and their children while the men were out hunting and gathering. It all sounded fishy to me and my fellow tour member Roberto. There had to be a better explanation.

Now, thanks to Uncle Walter and Roberto there is a third and most plausible theory. It is called the Roberto and Uncle Walter Most Plausible Theory. It is simple and comprehensive. “Todos los gringos a la pared!! Esta abajo aresto!!” When we demonstrated it for the photo, the tour guide asked to explain why mostly left prints then. I explained Skosh, Math and I used our right hands to gesture to the arresting officer while his partner took our prints. The dates are explained in the first paragraph. Simple. Better.

Uncle Walter

P.S. Knut, the next time your mom serves peas, just eat them.

El Chalten, Patagonia, Argentina

5-11-2010 El Chaten, Patagonia, Argentina

Odometer: 4235.3 miles.

El Chaten is the northern entrance to El Parque Nacional Los Glaciers. After 2 days of rain, snow and wind, the sun came out there was perfect weather. For the first 2 days there were only 3 of us in the Hostel. A women from France who could not speak much Spanish summed the first two days of hiking. “Nubes! Nubes! No Fits Roy, no Torres! No! No!” On the 2nd day of rain and snow I debated staying in, but then I thought... what would Meemers do? Wet boots, wet boots on the wrong feet, none of that matters. Outside is where the fun is, I am going out side, too. There haveto be some puddles with with name on them. It was great! Thanks, Meemers! And Ahhh, the sun came out on the third day. The last 2 photos are taken at the same spot, just 2 days apart.

Uncle Walter

El Glaciar Perito Moreno

El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina. 5-9 -2010

Odometer: 3960.4 miles

El Calafate is the southern entrance to El Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. It is a huge park. The Chilean side is even bigger. I stopped here to see Glaciar Perito Moreno. Wow, was it cool! They estimate it takes only 400 some years for the ice to travel from it's beginning before it falls off into Lago Argentino. And when it falls, it really crashes. The glacier makes noises all day and all night. You can hear ice crunching inside the glacier and outside as it falls into the lake with a bang. I only managed to capture one smaller crash on film. You have to blow the pictures up, but look just above center. The wall is estimated to be 20 stories above the water and 40 stories underwater. The chunk I caught on film was all 20 stories, it just happened to be a long way away and I had a 50 mm lens.

Uncle Walter.

ps. A guy could serve a lot of brandies with all that ice, huh, Bobby?