BEYOND WORDS

Ever since we left Santiago, people have been telling us that the scenery gets more and more beautiful the further south you go. It turned out to be true. Every day of riding grew increasingly more spectacular and I often wondered if it could possibly get more beautiful. I am positive that we have now reached the natural beauty threshold of this planet because Mother Nature couldn't come close to topping what we've been riding through these past few days. The area around Lago General Carrera is breathtaking.

The land is virtually untouched with little more than a few quiet gravel roads passing through. There is no garbage strewn along the roadside. The air is fresh and clean. The rivers are so crystal clear that it's like looking through a newly washed window; you hardly notice it's there. Around every corner is a new set of mountains; jagged and magestic, covered in glaciers, weaping with thousands of waterfalls, uninviting to human beings yet daring someone to try to conquer them.

Mike and I often stand in astonishment overlooking the water of this lake and surrounding rivers and can't think of a color to accuragely descrive them. Maybe teal, turquoise or electric blue, though none of them seem to be quite right. We utter a few short, mindless comments regarding the beauty of the place, how we've never seen anything like it and how these are the exact reasons as to why we're willing to endure endless hours of tabanos, weather and horrible roads. We tried, and failed, to capture this unbelievable place with our cameras, but the colors, the grandness and the beauty could only be etched in our memories. Mostly we have been left breathless and speachless with no words powerful enough to descrive what our eyes are seeing or our souls are feeling. It's a place one must see for themselves to believe.