For the last seven Canadian winters I have been flying south from Canada to Argentina in search of sun and biking. 2014 proved to be one of my favourite seasons yet.
Argentina is an incredibly diverse country. The main mountain range, the Andes, runs the entire length of the country and changes dramatically from north to south. The south is much like British Columbia, Canada where I live, lush and covered with forests, lakes and rivers. The central and northern areas are much dryer and rockier and the mountains are much higher, mostly barren of trees. Argentina is home to the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, Aconcagua, ringing in at a massive 22 837 feet. With this mountainous geography it is no doubt that Argentina is a mountain biking mecca.
Earlier in the season, in late May, I had the opportunity to join a project called Girando, in english it translates to "Turning", which is exactly what our bike cranks would be doing on this trip. The idea of the project was to travel the length and the width of Argentina with our bikes. We would meet up with like minded riders, friends and friends of friends in each place and have them show us all their golden trails. Then, hopefully make it a regular thing and share what Argentina has to offer with the rest of the world.
Our trip started in the south of Argentina in Patagonia and we worked our way north to the famous Andes mountains of Mendoza, and then east to the Sierra mountains of Cordoba.
Here are some of my favourite shots from our journeys.
The next leg of our journey bumped us about 1200 kilometers north to the famous Andes mountains of Mendoza. The Andes are huge in Mendoza and the riding is also huge. It was a very extreme contrast from the Patagonia as there is not a tree in sight in the Mendoza desert mountains.
It was hard to leave the massive descents of the Andes behind but we had some friends in Cordoba that were planning some rides for us and we had to move along. The next stop was the Sierras de Cordoba, much smaller mountains than the Andes but they proved to be equally as technical.
The Girando project will continue every year so if you want to come visit drop them a line, they are always riding!.
https://www.facebook.com/girandomtb?ref=br_tf
when your family is murdered by an invader empire i guess you will be not very happy and any politician can manipulate people that are still crying for their 17 years old kids sent to war. (that is how it's seen by them)
but beside that, the license plates were a coincidence (maybe) that was used as an excuse by some "populist" political party to appeal to nationalism from a bunch of people.
remember Argentina has 44 million habitants and the ""angry mob"" were just some little group in the far south of the country .
Meanwhile in Bariloche i was taking selfies with Jeremy Clarckson and talking about the cars.
you can't judge a whole country for some angry people.
www.southernexplorations.com/antarctica-tours-cruises
I will use numbers to make this issue very graphic: currently there are more than 250,000 British and British descendants living happily in Argentina and enjoying the respect and friendship of all society. In the Argentinean Patagonia there is much cherished Welsh community of 70,000 people live.
I guess is more an UK problem since the amount of pressure the media is putting to increase xenophobia and migration criminalization is staggering, don't behave as lambs, behave as humans!
Regardless of the flag under we have been born, and more importantly, we are human beings that share this world and these times so why don't we start looking at the whole picture and start expanding our friendship circles and knocking down barriers and silly preconceptions.
Regarding the war we are open to talk. A war is a violent conflict where there's no winner regardless the military result, all the land and power conquered won't return any live lost...
And lastly, "talking" is a process that's endless and is valuable when there is a commitment of both sides to ensure that it will be an enrichment process for all parts
Thank you so much for you time!