Slip sliding away in Valdes

We try not to bore our loyal readership with daily updates
But yesterday's mountain biking was so exceptional we couldn't wait. Mario, who runs the local restaurant, giftshop and bike rental, was our guide, together with Nahuel,his childhood friend and brother in law. (Mario is also a committed tennis player and fan, but that's another story.)

Our adventure Through the Valdes inland and unknown beaches began at 2 pm in order to catch the amazing sunsets from various island vistas around 8:30 in the evening. Mario and Nahuel have put in six years (with the help of google maps) mapping out routes to an amazing variety of secluded beaches -- the "white beach" was a milky landscape covered ankle-deep in white sea-shells, and with bright yellow flowers poking through, a once-in-20-year miracle. Other beaches were surrounded by fossil walls millions of years old, from when Argentina lay at the bottom of the ocean. Check out Simon's pictures and coming soon are some video clips of our trip filmed by Mario and Nahuel.

Even more amazing were our female cyclists, who were a bit apprehensive about their abilities. Watched over by Nahuel, Esther and Annice soldiered up and down steep niches, often in deep sand -- usually on their bikes, sometimes on foot, but always doing much more than they had thought they were capable of.

We rode across low-tide seabeds, shellcovered beaches, along canyon riverbeds, and through thorny bushes which gave us a couple of flat tires, but nothing more serious. Guanacos ran wild in the bushes around us. The 4-inch needles on the thornbushes kept us on guard and changing tubes 3 times. We swam in two magnificent beaches and watched the gorgeous red sunsets as we cycles the last of our 30 km adventure.

The cycle was thrilling and exhausting for Esther and myself. The last climb seemed to go on forever. Mario was well prepared for the trip, including a feast of bananas, cold watermelon, juice and water at the end of the trip.

The day gave us a unique opportunity to be immersed in stunning cliffs, valleys and canyons in subtle shades of beige and grey, described by Esther as "greige". The "greige" that would be suddenly contrasted by a majestic blue ocean as we came to the top of a cliff or turned a corner. In this place there is always the opposite of the dry mountains made up of the visible layers of shells and sand with the clear bluish green deep waters. It is a magical place that gets under your skin like the fine grains of sand.

We became good friends with our guides Mario and Nahuel, who sent us many pictures and videos taken on the trip. Their web site is: www.traccion-asangre.com.ar
The poor internet connections we deal with don't always allow us to post everything we want when we want. We will try to put the pictures and videos on when possible.

And finally, we have received some comments on our blogs, and we loved reading them. Keep your comments coming!