Chile is my favorite country.

After the extreme hospitality of last night and the ride to the south of Chile this morning I think I have found a near perfect place for a second home. I have always thought that I would like to live in a place with snow, mountains, ocean and rivers. Chile had excellent food, nice people, amazing landscapes and an abundance of opportunity to go with all those things. I think the only drawback might be the temperature of the ocean. I will just get a wetsuit. We stopped for a tire at the dealership in Osorno and headed for the Andes yet again. The crossing was easy and the borders went smooth save for some long lines. We managed to make it to the southern end of the seven lakes region. The ride was breathtaking and only hampered by a little rain here and there. The top of the pass was a bit strange as the trees were all dead from the top down, and the entire landscape was covered in ash. The small town at the bottom supplied us with wine and chocolate before we found a campsite and had a fire and some pasta for dinner. We slept great in the rain. The next morning we broke camp in the rain and hit the road for Bariloche. The wind kicked up along the way and soon we were hanging on to the bike at a 45 degree angle. The lake was throwing white capped waves at the shoreline and we found a set of cabins, after some searching, so that the girls could get all packed up for the trip home tomorrow. I sure will miss Lisa for the rest of the trip. Speaking of the rest if the trip, I think we have been thwarted by the weather in the south as temperatures are already freezing at night and we may have missed our window for Ushuaia. The timing required for this trip should have been longer as well, I figured we could do it in 3-4 months, but we have ridden everyday for the most part and it sure would have been nice to take things a bit slower. It was never about a destination for me on this trip though, the end was always just a means for the middle. The journey itself has been the goal all along. I think we will just blast around Argentina for while longer before heading back to BA and then home. Speaking of touring around, today we rode through the seven lakes region after taking the girls to the airport. What an amazing place! Big peaks littered with awesome lakes and rivers. I would love to put a pack rafting trip together here someday. I think that there will be many more trips to Patagonia in my future. Anyone want to come?