Freezing our Tushies Off

Sometimes the great difficulties of life hit when I wouldn´t expect them. At least, that´s what I think the last day of biking was teaching me. Trevor and I have ridden through windy, empty, un-known southern Argentina and Chile, and well, it´s been manageable. It´s not really as deserted as some made out, and the 100kph winds never joined forces with the hail. All in all, it seemed quite doable.
That is, of course, until we left Esquel yesterday, headed for El Bolson. The morning was brisk and damp, it had rained a bit during the night and couldn´t seem to decide if it was done or not, but it was nothing that would keep us from a day of cycling.
Twenty-five kilometers into the day we were having a grand time of it. The rain never completely stopped, but the pavement was welcome, traffic was light, and the sun would be ever so slightly brigher through the clouds every now and again, giving us hope of clearing. We even asked God to help us make it to El Bolson that day, about 160km from where we began.
Fourty kilometers into our riding, it was a different story entirely. We had climbed a lot and were riding on some high-plateaus where the air was a bit colder than it had been in the morning, and the rain steadied up a bit, thoroughly soaking us. Intrepid youths that we are, we bicycled harder to keep warm. That strategy worked...for a while. Our hands were never warm, but slowly they stopped hurting (in a numb sort of way). Our legs and ankles became stump like, but we pedaled on. The up-hills felt a little like merciful relief from the cold of the swiftly passing air, but what goes up must come down.
At the top of one rise Trevor suggested we pause to warm our hands. This would help in case braking were to become necessary in the descent. Unfortunately, as good an idea as that may seem, it´s really a bad one. There was no hope of warming our hands, and stopping only cooled the rest of us down. I don´t know that we could have pressed on much longer, but we gazed off into the valley that stretched before us for some sign of warmth and civilization (we hadn´t passed any in the previous hour). Seeing nothing, we began to talk plan B.

Will: "Hey Trev, does your thumb still work?"
Trev: "Yeah, if I use my other hand to pull it up."
Will: "Sweet. I´ll do my best to look pitiful"

You must understand that all this was said in mumbles, for we could not precisely control any muscles of the face, and looking pitiful did not proove difficult. The first truck to pass us stopped and gave us a lift all the way into El Bolson.
I´m really not sure what we would have done if not for passing traffic. We might have been able to cycle another 20km, but we would´ve been really weak at that point. Setting up the tent and getting into our sleeping bags is another possibility, but who knows how many days that weather was going to last.

So...there. I´m feeling better!!!! Oh, it´s such a joyous thing. For several days I was not able to eat very much without considerable stomach discomfort. I noticed that I was getting slightly weaker as time went on, and well...it was disconcerting. But, the last few days I´ve been improving, and I feel positively normal today! I ate a ton last night and had plenty to show for it this morning.

Anyway, from here we´re heading to San Carlos de Bariloche with Felipe. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your encouragement.

Love,
Will and Trev