Torres del Paines - then onto El Califate.

Left P. Arenas early 3 days ago and headed for the Chilean national park Torres del Paines. Spent two days hiking and visiting. Did a 8 km low difficulty hike to a fantastic vista point below the glaciers - I was happy to be able to do it considering knee surgery just before I left US. The image of the mountains from about 40 km out on the appreach to the park from Puerto Natales - from there on the roads are mainly rough dirt and gravel; unfortunately, they're paving many of the remaining tierra (earth) roads which seemingly takes the adventure out of Adventure Riding.
The Brazilians say they took a vote in Ushuiua to "adopt" me and I'm glad to still be riding with them, having a great time, and learning a little portugese how to travel cheaper.
We left T.dP. this morning and crossed la frontera (border) in the middle of nowhere from Chile back into Argentina and got stuck at passport control behind a combination hotel/bus (its this monster mercedes bus on steroids pulling a hotel trailer like a sleeper train car but with a huge pop out section) full of OLD Germans! (enough said!!!) We RACED to the next border control (about 10 km) to get ahead of them.
Traveled all dirt from the park to la frontera, then pavement for about 30 miles, and then we got to La Ruta 40 (its famous) and rode a bunch more dirt - probably 400 km in the last 3 days.
We lost the tall dane this morning at the park - he was staying to camp for another 5 days. I'll likely split off tomorow and head north to El Chalten for a day and then to Porito Moreno where I'll cross back into Chile (I dread the hours wasted at their borders). The Brasileros want to spend time here and I've already spent several days on a prior trip. Also, they will travel remainder of the trip in Argentina.
Nick
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