On not being a purist 🇨🇱

After the long lonely stretch that got me to Los Ángeles I decided to carry on with a bus to Santiago. What would have otherwise been nearly two weeks riding along highway 5 was done in several hours by bus. I’ve found that the distance a car covers in an hour takes me about a day. With cold nights and snow on the tent the autumn weather had definitely caught up to me. I’m happy I decided to spend so much time in Patagonia and can now elect to cover this (to me less interesting) distance by bus.

I have been called a purist before, though, but I certainly don’t feel many reservations about taking a bus for this section. Whether in rock climbing or mountaineering or any other outdoor pursuit I’ve often been a bit of a hater when it came to lists, thinking instead that each objective should deserve effort in its own right, not as part of some larger collection being done purely for completeness. I’m trying to see this section of road from that perspective; it’s not necessarily a stretch that I feel motivated to ride and I don’t feel the desire to ride these kilometers simply for the sake of having ridden “the whole thing,” however far I go.

But sometimes that’s all easier said than done. I had my reservations when buying the bus ticket. Hell, it was cheap enough that when I bought it the day before my ride, I even thought briefly that I could sleep on it and maybe just not show up for the departure. I’m glad I took the bus. After a while I’ve noticed my motivation become something that isn’t totally indestructible, something that at times needs protecting. So I’m happy to now be sitting in Santiago, enjoying the luxuries of a big city, and watching the trip really become something of my own creation.