Despite my best efforts to make this a biking trip around South America, it has yet to turn out that way.  Originally, I conceived of this trip as mix between biking and busing around South America.  For the first month, I hoped to move mostly by bus while bringing my bike along with me – allowing me to bike around the cities where I landed.  The buses here, however, don’t have room to carry bikes with them.  They either charge a lot of money to ship the bike, or require it to be shipped ahead or behind you.  And they usually require you to take the bike apart and put it in a box.

Due to these intervening factors, my bike has gone on ahead without me.  The Surly is waiting in the Lakes district of Argentina in a town called Bariloche.  I am scheduled to stay for a week in Bariloche in mid-April, so it’s a good place to get back on my pedals.  For now, a hostel (Hostel 41 Below) has graciously agreed to hold on to the bike until I arrive.  So for the next month, I’ll be traveling with only my pack, and feeling a little lost without my bike.  This will mark the longest stretch of not riding a bicycle since my bike was stolen in D.C. four years ago.