Welcome to our sea kayaking project, "Facing the wind".

In March 2009 we will attempt to paddle more than 4.000 nautical miles along Argentina for the first time. Starting at La Quiaca, a little town settled in the heights of the northern Andes Mountains at 14.000 ft we will cycle and paddle to end this trip 10 months later in the very end of Patagonia, precisely in the city of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province.
We’ll have to cycle 410 miles with our sea kayaks in carts to get to the waters of the Bermejo, an always changing river with plenty of crocodiles, snakes, piranhas and many other wildlife. Also we’ll have to paddle along the big Paraguay and Paraná rivers that come from the Brazilian Amazon to die many miles later in the Atlantic Ocean. These two rivers are an excellent option for kayak fishing. The hardest part of the expedition comes last when our sea kayaks will head south in search of the Patagonian coasts, full of rocks and ridges, cold temperatures and strong winds. This Atlantic coastline is extraordinarily rich in sea birds, penguins, whales and sea lions, but no human presence for many miles. The use of an inverse osmosis bomb for purifying salt water will be vital for survival in places where rain is not usual for many months and fresh water rivers don’t get to the sea.
Why paddling 4.000 nautical miles? Our kayaking philosophy is quite simple; we believe that we can use our kayaks to generate conscience. Working hard locally can lead us to global solutions. The daily effort and a positive mind makes the difference, so lets do what we know best, lets paddle and show people that everybody can do something to solve problems in a local scale. This time we paddle for rural schools and environment preservation. Rural schools have little resources and are settled in the middle of nowhere, so people have to get there walking, horse riding, rowing, but never on a school bus. This kind of schools also feed children that spend all day far away from home. Our help is needed, so we are trying to compromise everybody to donate food, clothes, shoes, books, computers and many other things.
Environmental problems are also important; we paddle for clean rivers and healthy ecosystems, for the respect of wildlife, global warming, against industries breaking the laws and many other threats that nature is suffering.
The team members started paddling in sea kayaks 10 years ago. Now they spend their time teaching the basics of kayaking and guiding people through the islands of the Paraná Delta, a unique ecosystem formed by the deposition of river sediments.
Never stop exploring is an option in Argentina; we still have many rivers to paddle with the same purposes of this trip.
So, lets go paddling!! Enjoy Argentina!

jueves, 5 de noviembre de 2009

CLIMBING AND DESCENDING, WE ARRIVED TO HUMAHUACA

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009

Hi everyone! This afternoon we reached the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Impossible to summarize everything that’s already happening on the way, but we’ll try.

We left La Quiaca on Sunday at noon after a breakfast of cheese pies and caffé-latte (sounds very “Starbuck’s” but it’s a very common part of breakfast in Argentina). As promised, after having our picture taken under the La Quiaca-Ushuaia signpost, we headed for the road. You can’t imagine people’s faces when they saw the kayaks; nobody understood anything, since there is no water for miles around. We now have a new motto: “As useless as a kayak in La Quiaca.”

Our little “whim” is starting to turn into a reality and, tugging 120 kilos behind us, we’re passing through hills, plains, climbing and descending. We’ve pedaled for three days. The first two days to reach Puesto del Marqués and from there on to Tres Cruces have been extremely hard: 100 km (kilometers) reaching an altitude of 3800 m (meters).

We’re stopping every 5 km to recover our breath, slowly improving our rhythm, but the weight doesn’t allow us to go over 20 km/hour on the flat parts of the road. We’ll probably average 50/60 km per day, except today that, in some sections, the road to Humahuaca let us descend at 70 km/hour. A little crazy, but fun.

The landscape is incredible, and one can’t believe that all the beautiful, old train stations that you see along the way are closed down, since trains haven’t run through this part of the country for a long time. Being on bikes has allowed us to stop at places that were once prosperous and full of people, but because of the lack of transportation, are now ghost towns. Everyone talks of the old days, when the train would come through and there was work in the mines. There are totally abandoned houses on sale in towns such as Tres Cruces, with populations of less than 300. Sad things such as these coexist with all the other wonderful things that we’ve seen.

There is so much diversity in a few miles, that it’s unbelievable and breathtaking: ravines covered with cactus, hills of different colors, and on the bike you can take in the view much better. Sometimes we’ll just stop on the side of the road and look at the landscape for a good while before going on. In every stop, we chat with the local people, and that’s also something that we enjoy, so many stories and different realities.

Tomorrow we head for Tilcara. So far, everything is going well and as planned, with some small details to sort out, but fine.

Thanks for all the messages and for being there!

1 comentario:

James dijo...

Here's a perfect place for travelers to stay when they travel to Argentina.

Hostels in Buenos Aieres

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