December 24, 2024

Last night, we stayed up late (Estancia La Estrella was simply too beautiful). We met a couple from New York and a mixed family from Seville and Vienna, chatting with them until late into the night.

So today, we started our journey at a leisurely pace, leaving at 9:20 a.m. After just five minutes, Nicola got a flat tire. While replacing the inner tube, a gust of wind knocked over his bike, bending the derailleur. Thankfully, six out of ten gears still worked, allowing him to continue (we’ll visit a mechanic in El Calafate).

The day’s ride was 110 km: the first 70 km with a crosswind and the last 40 km straight into the wind.

It took us three hours to cover the first 70 km (Photo 1), but then the hard part began. Gigi and Alberto had bike troubles and had to hop into the camper.

Stefano, Toni, Nicola, and Fabio persevered (Photo 2). The headwind was blowing at 20 km/h—not too strong, but enough to slow us down to 15 km/h. By 4 p.m., we finally reached El Calafate, the city of glaciers (Photo 3).

Exhausted, we quickly showered because at 4:30 p.m., several of us had a video call with our families back in Verona for Christmas Eve dinner.

The video call was an emotional moment. Seeing our families gathered to celebrate Christmas from 13,000 km away felt surreal. We longed to be with them (and couldn’t help but envy the array of delicious dishes we saw on the screen).

After a couple of hours playing tresette in a group of five (with Alberto patiently tolerating the undisciplined chatter), Javier, our 24-year-old driver and a chef in Berlin, prepared a Chilean Christmas Eve dinner.

The menu included spicy scallops, Chilean ceviche, and “salmon with toasted cabbage and spicy-colored purée” (Photo 4). It didn’t quite compare to the feasts we saw during the video call, but Javier did a great job.

Now, it’s time to crash into bed.