Trevor and I bussed from Santiago to Los Andes, after visiting with our friend Marina, and camped on the lawn of our friend Eric Savard´s house. Last time we were here the sky was clear and the mountains beautiful. This time, there was a lot of smog. It was strange to return to a familiar place in a different time, feeling so different ourselves.
Though we knew what to expect, it´s always sobering to see a sign warning that 55km of steep climbing await us.
The road was familiar, and this time, with a lot less weight to haul, we had no trouble reaching the top before sunset. It did get rather cold as evening came, so we decided to go through the tunnel to the town of Las Cuevas and see what the next day would bring, whether or not we would want to climb the old pass to the statue of the Christ.
The next day brought...snow! The biting wind tossed the snow from one place to the other, and while some patches were dry, others were almost a foot deep. The road, however, was mostly clear.
We took it slowly at first, respecting the mountain and ice, but we had no fear that our rims would overheat from all the braking.
Though the temperature rose as we descended, and the road wasn´t icy, some didn´t fare so well.
We stopped for some touristy photos and a snowball fight in Puente del Inca, a small town featuring an Incan bridge and some old and out-of-service thermal baths.
The road is clear at this point, but Trev is still hiding his hands from the wind, trying to warm them up.
And suddenly...we´re below the snow-line and the sun appeared!
We finally got to enjoy a rip-roaring ride down the Andes (on our bicycles), something we weren´t sure was ever going to happen.
And tonight, we´re in the nice little town of Uspallata.
