The Patagonian brotherhood

Family I met and camped near, Lago Roca, Swedish dad, American mom, and two great kids.

My travels so far have taken me to some amazing places, Lake Titicaca in Peru, down the Chilean coast, up to San Pedro de Atacama, south along the Carretera Austral, to Parque Patagonia, into Argentina and El Chalten and then back into Chile to Torres del Paine. The scenery has often been amazing, though the roads, well, sometimes the ripio can be brutal. I have spent way too much time driving, but have visited some amazing places, and enjoyed hiking and camping in some very cool locations. And the one constant during my travels, has been the wonderful and interesting people I have met along the way, and especially in Patagonia. There is a brotherhood, and camaraderie, which exists among those of us who travel in Patagonia, and especially along the Carretera Austral. You are immediately friends with others you meet along the road, at campgrounds, or in small towns and cities. We are all here for the same reason, whether hitchhikers, bikers, motorcyclists, or overlanders, we are all here to experience Patagonia, the mountains and rivers, the vegetation and wildlife, the glaciers and perennial snow-pack, the beauty of southern Chile and Argentina. We are all here to enjoy life at the bottom of the continent, to experience the wildness that is Patagonia. And while Patagonia has not been quite as "wild" as I had expected, it has been a wonderful journey, full of beautiful landscapes, and some interesting people and their stories. I cannot get into all of them, but it has been really fun to meet these wonderful people, from around the world. I have already mentioned Thomas the Dane (and his Aussie companions), and Thomas the Swiss, but there are many, many others I have very much enjoyed meeting. I  have met many Germans during my travels, and Dutch, along with Danes, folks from France, Belgium, Sweden, United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan and Japan, a bunch of South Americans (Chile, Argentina, Columbia, Brasil), and of course a few from the United States.

​There are many interesting people traveling the back roads and trails of Patagonia, and there seems to be real camaraderie among us all. Most recently I met Eli, Cam and Noah, biking from Ushuaia, Argentina to Burlington, Vermont, USA, check out their blog www.mundopequeno.org, and PoShun from Taiwan, who has been biking in different regions of the world since 2014. I met all of these folks in Torres del Paine, the three bikers heading to Vermont, USA, on the road from Pehoe camping zone, and PoShun stayed at Laguna Azul where I also stayed; he and his bike rode a number of km with me heading south out of the park (I was heading to Puerto Natales, he was going to camp one more night in the park). These folks on bicycles are the real studs of the Carretera Austral, of Patagonia in general. I have seen them climbing hills which my Sprinter van could barely climb, battling brutal winds on Ruta 40 in Argentina on the way to El Chalten and Fitz Roy, dodging potholes which would swallow a VW Beetle, and pedaling through driving rain and wind. They are the studs, and they just keep going, riding on, day after day, no matter what the roads and weather conditions are, they just keep riding, total studs. I have already mentioned Thomas the Dane, biker, one of these studs, am sure I will see him again, told him I would buy him a beer in Ushuaia where we both are headed (I have seen him something like 7 times during our travels in Patagonia). I also mentioned meeting Thomas the Swiss, we spent a number of days together and ate dinner twice, in Parque Patagonia, not sure what happened to him. And I met Nick from Colorado, spent Christmas Eve together drinking my beer, and experienced a 7.7 earthquake together on Christmas day. I could go on, and on, just so many wonderful and interesting people, from so many different countries around the world, in some ways, the best part of the trip, is this Patagonian Brotherhood. I hope all of you are all doing well. Be safe, wherever your future travels might take you.

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