29 Oct 2018

El Calafate to Luz Divina

It sounds like a lovely place and you can see the dot on the map. Luz Divina.

The sad truth is that Luz Divina is a collection of derilect buildings being used by travelers. There are signatures on the walls find back to 2013... Make that 2012!

It is always fun to see the names of people you admire and know you are following them.

Starting strong

We left El Calafate in good spirits with the wind at our backs and made good time. That soon changed as we turned north toward Tres Lagos. The side wind was cold and put our layers back on. 

Most people don't realize that Patagonia is 80% steppe. A fact that I can appreciate having ridden my bike through most of it.

You can see the air conditioned buses c/w wifi zoom thru the steppe to get to the majestic mountains.

We left El Calafate and saw the glaciers and were going to get to El chetein. It is but a 3 hour bus ride for most travelers. But for us a 3 day maybe 4 day bike ride across the steppe, up and down and around. 

By the way, We opted to head to tres Lagos and take Ruta 40 rather than El Chatien and northward.

The Final straw

Wind thou art a heartless bitch.

Having fair winds, by fair I mean tail wind, gives you a sense of strength and determination. That hard part, as I've come to understand from people who have ridden in these parts before, is that Patagonian winds can change in an instant and change they did for us.

With accommodations in our sites a mere 20km away we decided to "go for it" and have a sheltered place, rather than set up camp at an earlier spot. What we didn't account for was the fickle wind to turn on us and make a do-able run an endurance ride.

Our home sweet home for the night.

Luz Divina, the dot on the map.

Safe and warm a house inside a house.