San Jose - Panguipulli

"The night's busting open, these two lanes will take us anywhere" - Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road

Leg Distance - 78.39km
Leg Time - 4:50.18
Total Distance - 377.63km

You'll be glad to hear I have managed to download some photos, which you can see on Flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/35127291@N05/?saved=1 ) or on my Facebook page. There are a couple of things I should point out about them: Firstly, there aren't many of them, at least not as many as I would have liked to have taken. This is because photo-taking has not really been a priority up until now, and the last thing you want when you're cycling is stopping every five minutes to take snaps. Secondly, the vast majority of them are of roads or taken from the road or in a similar vein. For the most part, these photos were taken not because of their aesthetic qualities but for what it was like for me to see those places, which obviously the camera can't transmit. The one of the motorway on the first day, for instance, probably seems like any motorway anywhere in the world, but at the time it seemed I could see the whole of South America before me. Besides, giving a camera and an open road to a Bruce Springsteen fan (and I apologise in advance for this simile) is like giving a paedophile a camera in the swimming pool changing rooms.

Finally, and because I know some of you will point it out, I'm not in any of them. I don't like taking photos of me with my camera, and I don't understand what possesses some people to think that a photo of say, a still lake with a volcano in the background, would be improved by them in front giving the folks back home a goofy thumbs-up - it's not like they're going to demand evidence (quite frankly, I think it's a bit egocentric. Bah humbug, I'm a joyless bastard, I know...). However, I will try pander to all requests and purloin a mini-tripod so that my dishevelled mug will soon be appearing on a computer screen near you.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy them, it's as nice for me to put them up as for you guys to see them, particularly as it's the only way for the non-English speaking friends and family to follow my misadventures.