I had to dress in all of my layers this morning as it was a very cold start. It had rained all night leaving a fresh coat of snow on the hills just above where I was camped. Having completed the Carretera Austral, I now had to backtrack in order to cross back into Argentina. Once there I would still have more than 1500 miles to reach my southern most point in Ushuaia.

I was able to shed my heavy gloves and puffy jacket when I stopped for coffee in Cochrane. The sun was poking through the gloomy morning clouds and the mountains were aglow with a white dusting of new snow. I stopped to take a photo and a bicyclist pulled over to chat with me. He asked if I would like him to take a photo of me on my bike but I think he just needed to take a break. I said sure and he introduced himself as Malcom from Wales. He began his ride in El Calafate, Argentina and is intending to end in La Paz, Bolivia four months from now. It's people like this that make it difficult to complain about anything. Just as soon as I think, this road is too hard or it's too hot (or cold or windy) along comes someone trudging along on a heavily loaded bicycle.

The ride along the Lago Buenos Aires was some of the best scenery of the entire trip. The Andes were standing impressively tall over the absurdly blue lake. The wind had picked up and I could see white capped waves across the entire surface. The road surface was loose and slippery in places making my afternoon seem extremely long. My neck, upper back and shoulders started to complain. I had to stop them because of course I saw two bicyclists toughing it out and making almost no forward progress against the stiff wind.

After riding more than 800 miles of gravel road over the last four days, I wasn't disappointed to see pavement when I arrived at the border town of Chile Chico. After crossing into Argentina I decided to ride another 50 miles to Perdito Morena because I thought maybe there would be less wind there. Nope. Same wind.

I found a little place to camp run by a cheerful old guy named Raul. He took me for a tour of the place and suggested I camp under a shelter on the back of one of the buildings. It did seem to be the only place that offered significant protection from the wind. Raul asked if he could replace the chain on my bike. I wasn't sure I had understood his Spanish correctly so I asked "lo limpia o un nuevo" (clean it or a new one). He dug through a greasy old cardboard box of what looked to be junk and produced a new(ish) motorcycle chain. I laughed as it was way too small to fit my bike. I did my best to explain that to Raul but he was insistent until he held the chain up next to mine. He said "tu moto es muy grande" (your moto is really big). Yes it is.