Bouquet Biking in the Rain

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  Mark Twain

Today, after a great breakfast .....

....we bike in the rain- 30 kilometers. 

Downhill many times. I take off my glasses, don a rain jacket of Jocelyne and let go of my brakes- sometimes, despite my imaginations of 'wipe out!' What a pleasure this day is, including the uphills. I walk some of one; I have once again leaned into my fear of falling.

After the ride, we Carlos says, just a short walk to a real hot spring. Well, as usual, he has undersold the walk- it is a good 20 to 30 minute walk in mud up to ankles at times. Thank goodness I did not bring my new fancy biking shoes! We change in behind rocks and squelch across a marsh we share with sheep (my foot sinks to well over my ankles and I have to use both hands to pull it out) to the hot spring. Nothing touristy in this hot-spring. Au natural. It IS hot! Yeh!  No need to go back too soon as our transport will not have arrived and it is pouring anyways and why not stay warm and wet instead of chilled and wet? 

Back to town, we go to a restaurant clad in all our soaked gear. I change to the one dry top I had left in the van. With the most delicious espresso ever, the chill flees. I may have eaten a thin crust pizza for lunch- in the face of the espresso, the memory is dim. 

In the evening, 3 of us who are still up for a late dinner and another walk in the rain are guided by Carlos to an excellent Argentinian restaurant. I have my first and only drink on the trip. I am tipsy to say the least. :-)