The road turned to gravel 400 or 500 miles ago. I'm not sure, I've lost count. Time has ceased to exist, the days are blending together, and the sun is still shining at 10pm. Rain, hail, wind, snow, wind, sun, clouds, wind. And that is just a typical hour in Patagonia. The mountains play a continuous game of hide-and-seek. Sometimes I stand in one spot for hours waiting for a passerby, only for the wind to finally blow away a cloud and reveal I am towered over by a 5,000 foot mountain top so close that I feel could reach out and write my name in the snow.
I've reached a milestone, the end of the road. 98% of other travelers I have encountered on my journey are here solely to travel the famous "Carretera Austral" - the Southern Highway. Reaching the end was a highly emotional moment. My new friends who gave me a ride for the last leg of the journey said, "mission complete." But for me it's not the end of the road, it's only the end of a road. One I started long before and will continue long after. For that 98% of people that have reached the end of this road, they stay the night and turn around and go back, their only option. For the remainder of us, we'll board a boat that will take us across a glacier lake, get out and begin a 20+ mile journey crossing the Andes, and arriving at the backside of El Chaltén, in Argentina.
Yes! The remote border crossing I was so sad to hear was closed has opened! My cousin Mike made a comment to me the other day, "follow your heart and the body will follow." Well Mike, I followed my heart and the signs telling me to go left, knowing there was a strong possibility I would reach the end of this road and have to turn back like so many others, hundreds of miles north to reach the last border crossing. But even knowing this, I decided it was worth it. And in this moment I couldn't be happier. In these moments intuition is everything.
It's been quite the adventure to get here, but now it's a waiting game. The weather has been so bad the boat hasn't been able to cross the lake. It's a very small boat, 16 passengers, and it's a 2.5 hour journey. Every night I have to go to the boat office to see if the weather will clear enough to leave in the morning. At the moment I have my fingers crossed for Monday. So for the first time in a month I have some downtime. I'm living in my tent, cleaning my gear, restocking food supplies, and preparing for the journey ahead. I also plan to catch up on photos and writing in the next day or two, but service is quite spotty and I can't get more photos to upload at the moment. For now, I'm off to the one pub in town to watch a bit of the World Cup (and spend a few hours indoors next to a fire :) ). The sun is coming out and I found a dog to play with. Life is good. More updates to come soon.
See you out there,
J. James
