Expedition65 – 65 Degrees of Latitude in 65 Days Just as we cruised down into Ushuaia, my odometer clicked across 10,000 miles and we completed 65 degrees of latitude from Cartagena, Colombia to Ushuaia, Argentina. We missed our one injured member, Jason Houle, and the two who had to make their own way home, Bill …
Author Archives: colindotpdx
Good War or Bad War. Honour Those Who Served Regardless My father served in a bad war. He was conscripted in 1943 and joined the Army Corps of Signals and then volunteered to join the relatively new Airborne Division. After training he missed the action in Europe and was sent to Palestine as part of …
Magellan and Patagonia Now we have completed the final leg of our journey across the Straits of Magellan from Patagonia to Tierra de Fuego and back into Argentina. Almost to Ushuaia. Today this is a very fast, friendly, and professional ferry trip across the narrow strait. Though it is definitely a challenge to ride a …
Bike Brotherhood Waiting at the ferry crossing today across the Straits of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego everyone wanted to chat about the bikes and where we were going. One truck driver in particular asked us about our ages and joked that this trip was a big effort for guys our age. We shook hands …
Torres Del Paine – Geology and Hospitality We crossed into Chile with high expectations and no reservations in the Torres del Paine National Park. The hostels were either closed or full, the famous hotels and lodges are crazily expensive, and the rain was rolling all over us. After a couple of phone calls, we found …
Nalca – Jurassic Rhubarb Riding the Carretera Austral in southern Chile seems strangely familiar to those of us who live at the same latitude north of the Equator. The temperatures and constant rain and colors and smells and plants are what we would expect to see at 45 degrees near the Pacific; all the pines, …
Meteorology and Bureaucracy The Andes control everything in South America – trade, travel, national identity, industry, history, religion, and most importantly, the climate. In the northern half of the continent, the winds blow from the east and pickup megatons of warm Atlantic water that is blocked by the Andes. This creates Amazonia on one side …
The Carretera Austral Southern Chile is huge and beautiful and rugged and difficult with a small number of remote communities scattered in the steep mountains and forest and fjords. Construction of the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway) was started in 1976 under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet to try and connect this complex part of the …
The Mimosa – The Welsh Mayflower Somewhere my Evans ancestry goes back to Wales so maybe I am related to the Welsh community here in Argentina. The Welsh in Argentina? What? How did that happen? In the early 1800s the coal, slate, iron, and steel from Wales were fueling the industrial revolution and many thought …
Forget What They Say About Wind In Patagonia It gets much worse. The winds in Patagonia are legendary. There is simply not enough land mass in the narrow point of South America to slow the “Roaring Forties” winds at these latitudes. These winds are stronger than the same winds in the northern hemisphere because they …
Colin's Travel Journal 