Day 9: El Calafate – Puerto Natales

We left El Calafate after a quick stop at a garage to repair a lamp on Miji's bike. Isabel was astonished to see how much elements from the bike keep failing. Boys are not impressed, it's quite normal given their riding style...

After 100km of asphalt with strong wind, we took a gravel road, another natural zoo. We met several caranchos; sheep running off when hearing the motorbikes or when being chased by Miji's acceleration; a huge condor eating a rabbit. At some point Hadrien started chasing a ñandu. Wearing his big bike helmet he looked like being on a Mars expedition. The ñandu made a small copulation dance for Hadrien, so he didn't seem to feel too threatened. We later learned that they are protected! So not good Hadrien for chasing them!

The rest of the road was so boring that Isabel kept falling asleep and hitting Miji's helmet. It was a straight line and no more animals.

We came close to the border and passed through Rio Turbio: a coal mining village. When we reached the border, the landscape changed completely. The trees started to appear: a weird mix of dead branches and green lively branches, never ending fields of marguerites covered the sides of the road. (For more girl talk, make an explicit request.). We crossed the boarder rapidly, no need to use Miji's fake Swiss passport.

We arrived at 14:00 to Puerto Natales. It is a record!!! so early at our destination!

After a lunch and long discussion, we decided to drop the bags at the hotel and go to a spa to relax ourselves. We enjoyed sauna, hot tube and massage. Well, not all of us enjoyed the massage: Miji is so ticklish that he had to suppress his laughter the whole time and was more contracted at the end of the massage than before. Poor masseuse did not understand what was going on.

We ended up our day by eating some fusion food: Patagonian flavors mixed with an African style. It was absolutely delicious and also creatively presented!

In short, it was a short day. Probably the most important highlight was that Hadrien didn't drop the bike...