I managed to find a packed and rowdy bar to watch the World Cup final on the main drag in Rosario, a large Argentinian city and the home town of several of it's current star players. The mood because more tense as the afternoon went on and the match wasn't as loud as I expected with short, random moments of chanting. The rest is history and the aftermath was more about light, sombre celebrating from cars in the streets than destructive behaviour like the stories I heard coming from Buenos Aires. The cup atmosphere is gone now and fading away quickly. It started out a month ago in Central Brazil as the beginning of the end of my trip and now that it was over it was just a matter of reaching the port city of Valparaiso in Chile days ahead of my booked flight home to call it a day.
I had a few kilometres yet and days of heading east through the plains, then the deserts of San Juan province before the climb over the Andes one last time.
Reaching the foothills of the Andes east of Mendoza for the final ascent and descent. I met some cool Aussie guys the previous night which inevitably meant I was riding these mountains on a guilty hangover at over 3,000m in the middle of winter. Saw that coming pretty early in the evening, my final hostel stay couldn't be had any other way. Luckily the day was continuous blue skies and the air blew freshly.
Aconcagua: not the most impressive peak to ponder at but at 6,960m it's the highest point on earth outside the Himalayas, making it very special on a clear day.
The last on the quebrada's
Descending down one of the world's classic mountain passes and border crossings. Many switchbacks and truck delays bring me down into the valley on the Chilean side and then a quick dash to the other side of the country within a few hours.
Sixto's final stop, arriving in Valparaiso. I stayed at Enzo and Martina's place who were helping me out with getting Sixto shipped home.
Test run for the crate we made before dismantling and re-building at the dry port a couple of days later. Enzo and Martina and their son Lucas live in a historic timber house near the cliff edges of Playa Ancha, Valparaiso. I had a few days up y sleeve which I needed to nurse a strong flu once again. The last few months of cold weather has been pushing me around a bit, if there's ever a good time, maybe now is appropriate to finish up. More to follow ....
