Saturday, March 29, 2014

Crossing the border, the unexpected!

We departed early that day from Mauro's eco-camping Tsonek, we were supposed to show up at the boat at 8.15 because the boat departed at 8.30. So at 7 am we were ready to do a night ride of 8 or so kilometers towards the southernmost point and the end of the Carretera Austral.


The riding went quite smooth despite the fact we didn't see a shit of where we were going. A bit before our destination the sun rised in the sky and the light revealed the amazing O'higgins lake and the small and expensive boat that would take us to Candelario Mancilla, a small carabineros spot were they would give us the permit to leave Chile and enter Argentina.

After unloading all the load and getting the bikes on the boat we were ready for a sail of 4 hours surounded by a group of noisy Argentinians that were on their way to a glacier. Despite the noise, the weather was damn marvelous, and the color of the lake plus the mountains made it an amazing picture, almost no cloud in the sky and no wind made it the perfect day for crossing the lake and seeing the glacier.



After the 4 hours, at 11 am, we reached our destination, and in a hurry by part of the crew of the boat we got our panniers and our bikes, I got everything I had, and so did Seba, or at least that was what he thought. We said our good byes to other bicycle tourers who were on their way to the glacier and to Mauro and Julie, the guys from the Tsonek eco-camping. After a couple of pictures and good byes, the captain of the boat yelled the “all on board” call and the boat started to leave. Right when the boat was about 20 meters away from the pier and turning around to take point towards the glacier, Seba said; “I forgot my tent on the boat”, wait what?, really?. Yeah, he did. He forgot his tent on the boat and the boat had already left the pier and despite the yelling and the waving we did nobody from the boat saw us and the tent took destination towards the glacier to come back 6 hours later with the rest of the people that would do the crossing towards Argentina. Some police officers, a.k.a. carabineros, were on the pier with us and laughed at Seba's missery but at least gave a bit of a hope, they said they had a radio up in the border station where we could call the boat and ask some of the other cyclists if they could bring the tent to Argentina so Seba could continue with the riding for that day, we would share tent if we were able to call the boat.


We went our way to the Carabineros post which was 200 metres away from the pier but uphill all the time. The road from now on got sooooo bad that most of the way towards the post we were forced to push the bike because riding was impossible. On the way up, some clouds started to show up and a light rain started to fall. Weather can change pretty fast at this latitudes. Right at the carabineros post the bad news arrived. The radio communication with the boat was a lie, or at least that was what a carabinero there told us. He also said that there was no point in calling the boat as they wouldn't come back for a tent and that we had to wait. Despite we explained 3 times that the goal of calling to the boat was for asking if other cyclists could take the tent with them, the carabinero kept telling us the boat wouldn't come back because of the tent. I wonder what language you have to talk to these guys so they understand what they are being told. Seba told me he would wait for the boat to come back then, that meant, waiting for 5 hours and loosing the day. I didn't want to wait that much as the weather still looked good despite the little rain so I did the paper work to cross towards Argentina.

After doing the paper work and having some lunch, I got ready to start the 22 kilometers pedaling-hiking towards Laguna del Desierto, where I should be before 6 when the only boat of the day departs towards the road that leads to El Chalten. When I was about to leave, another Carabinero showed up and looked up at the mountain and said the unexpected; “it snowing up there, are you going to go uphill now? You should think about it, a storm is coming”. A storm is coming, it sounded like Winter is Coming. It was 1 pm and still I was at the carabineros. After a small chat I decided I would just face the storm and try to make my way towards the Argentinian border and the Gendarmeria, how bad could a storm be if it was so clear and bright in the morning?. I said goodbye to Seba and agreed on meeting 2 days later at El Chalten, took my bike and left.



The riding began pretty well, but after around 100 meters I was forced to go down the bike and start pushing for what it would be 5 kilometers in a really bad road going uphill. After something like half an hour the rain became snow and rain and temperature started to drop as I was going upwards. On the way up I started to meet people who were coming towards the Chilean side, all of them cheered me up because I was about to reach some more flatty area. When I got to some rideable part of the rain and snow became only snow. Huge snowflakes would fall and would start covering the landscape around me really slowly. I started to meet cyclists who were coming towards the Chilean side, all of them told me that with such a weather it was not recommendable to to the Argentinian side, which was a trekking next to the bike. The so feared trek everybody spoke about. Once again, people would tell me to think about doing what I needed to do in order to reach Laguna del Desierto.

The snowing got thicker and at some point I would not see further than 10 metres away. At least I was able to see the road. I don't think I have seen snowing like this in years, probably since I was in norway. Despite everything, I was having such a fun under the snow that I kept with the pedaling till I entered a forest where the snow wasn't that thick anymore. It was 3 pm and I still needed to reach the Argentinian border and then the Gendarmeria which was 15 kilometers away.

Finally, at 4 pm, I reached the border, good bye Chile, hello Argentina, fucking Argentinians man!!. The road I was riding till now, was something we can call a road, a 4x4 would be able to ride over that, but what everybody spoke about in the Argentinian side, was actually that, a trekking trail in which it was impossible to ride the bike. Also, there was no more snowing but a clear sky with a shinny sun going down. It's amazing the power of the Andes when controlling the weather. At one side a snow storm and at the other side clear blue sky.




I started the 7 kilometers hike towards the Argentinian Gendarmeria that would give me the approval to enter the country and towards the boat that would cross me through the Laguna del Desierto. It was 4 pm and I had 2 hours to do the hike with my bike. 7 kilometers in 2 hours, quite doable I thought so after the obvious picture I started the hike.


I was expecting a trekking trail, but I wasn't expecting a trekking trail in so bad conditions. After 15 minutes of the hike I faced the first problem. A small creek with a bridge made for hikers, not for bicycle tourers. The only way to cross the creek was go down, cross the creek, and go up again risking getting stuck in the mud. No other way to do it but to go in and so I did, and so I got stuck in the creek. I tried pushing the bike once, twice, three times, four times, and no success at all, it got stuck in the mud and water and all the load wouldn't help to take it out. The steep climb after the creek wouldn't help either. Damn hell, and the time still ticking. It was 4.30 and I hadn't even walked a kilometer. I had to do what I didn't want to do, take out all the gear from the bike, carry it over to a flat area, take the bike, carry it to a flat area, put all the gear on the bike, start the trek again. This took me 10 minutes. I kept on walking through uphills and downhills, trying to avoid branches on the ground, logs that would block the way, small stairs like parts that would menace with breaking my spokes and the racks and more small creeks with shitty bridges that were meant for hikers only.


I got stuck here.
It was 5 pm and I was 4 kilometers away from the Gendarmeria and the boat that would depart at 6 pm. Shit I had to rush it. I would keep on through the trekking trail avoiding more logs and branches till I reached a full mud zone of around 20 meters long. What, seriously?. Clearly some hikers had passed before me during that day, their track were still fresh on the mud and it was noticeable how someone fell while trying to cross that part. How the hell was I supposed to cross that with the bike and the 40 kilos over it?.I asked for guidance to the old gods and tried my luck. The old gods clearly forgot about me in that moment as I got mud till my knees and the bike got stuck having half the wheel under the mud. Seven hells! The bike is sinking!!! Abandon the ship! Wait, abandon the ship my ass, all what I have is over the bike. Making inhuman efforts and getting mud almost to my balls I managed to get the bike out of the mud. Gladly, (gladly?) there was a small creek after the muddy part where my shoes would get cleaned and fully wet too. A bit of the bike would get cleaned too, at least.



Mud to the knee, half the bike deep in mud, the heck man!!!

It was 5.15 and I hadn't advanced much. I was still 4 kilometers away from destination so I decided I would start trying to ride some parts in order to advance faster. All the way now was mainly downhill so it would be easier to ride over so many obstacles and so it was. The only problem with riding now, was that I had to use the brakes on all times in order to not fall or gain much speed that would certainly make me crash against a tree or fall down the hill. Slowly the trekking trail turned into a trench of around half a meter deep with walls that were quite comfortable for a hiker, but once again, not made for a bicycle with front rack and panniers. It was impossible to walk beside the bike on the same level and really difficult to pedal without damaging the panniers. Also most of the way was downhill and my brakes were not responding for some unknown reason at that moment. 5.30 pm and I was still 3 k away from destination. Shit, will I make it? I thought, the advancing was really slow but at least I was advancing way faster than before.

Suddenly, another creek and a nice steep unrideable down and up through the creek pretty similar to the one where I had gotten stuck before. 5.40 pm and I started to think I wouldn't make it to the Gendarmeria. Shit, I would have to wait for tomorrow's boat doing nothing the whole day, damn. I went down the creek and started to try to push upwards. Once, twice, three times. Once again, stuck. Hell, get the gear out of the bike once again!?. Somehow, I didn't have to, slowly, but with a lot of physical effort I managed to push the bike out of there to keep on over the trench like trail. 5.50 pm and still 2 k aways from gendarmeria, ah fuck it, I missed the boat man. I started going downhill and forgot about my not working brakes, suddenly when I needed to brake I couldn't and I almost fell to a steep cliff that ended up in a small creek down there, somehow I managed to regain control of the bike and with my feet on the ground I stopped the bike and me from falling to some painful end.





Finally 6 pm, and I missed the boat, I was still 1.5 k aways from Gendarmeria and probably the boat was starting to leave at that right moment. Fuck it, the thought of the boat leaving made angry for a moment because all that effort to reach the place on time was wasted. I took a small stop of 5 minutes to look around the place and take a couple of pictures. I kept on and the trail kept being the same till I got to see the Laguna del Desierto and back there the Fitz Roy. A really amazing picture full of autumm colors and what's that tiny spot on the lake? Ahh the damn boat that already left. From here on, I took it really easy as there was no point in rushing it to reach the gendarmería. I kept on going through the hellish trekking trail which started to get better and better. A sign that I was approaching to some sort of civilization. Finally, at .6.20, I saw a sign stating that Gendarmería was 200 meters away. From there I could see the Gendarmería post the beach and a boat on the lake, way closer than what I had seen before and on direction towards the Gendarmeria. Could it be that the boat that did the crossing?.

Fantastic view of Laguna del Desierto

As I got to the Gendarmeria post I got a better view of the lake and the beach and I spotted some people that I had previously seen on the boat crossing Lago O'higgins. Heck, we were supposed to take the same boat to cross the Laguna del Desierto. As they saw me approaching they started to jum in the air and make signs towards me. I entered the Gendarmería and made the paper work for entering the country, I asked the Gendarme when was the next boat to cross the Laguna del Desierto and he told me it hadn't arrived yet so I had to go to the beach and wait there, he hand't seen the boat coming yet. Woah, I couldn't really believe it. I got out the place and went to the beach right when the boat got to the pier. All the other hikers there started cheering on me and asked how did I make it to get there right on time for the boat. I didn't know what the hell was going on.

After all the people boarded I placed the bike on the boat and asked one of the crew at what time the boat usually left. He told me that they would leave usually around 6 but depended much on wind, weather and if there was a football match or no. Mmmmh, ok. I took a sit being still confused and the boat shipped from the pier leaving behind the Gendarmería post.

After around 10 minutes I realized that I had managed to take the damn boat to cross the Laguna del Desierto. All the effort, all the swearing, all the mud and dirt had not been in vain and for some unknown reason the boat got late. The other hikers noticed how I realized the situation and started cheering again and I just laughed at everything that happened that day. They gave me some candies to celebrate the sharp arrival to the Gendarmería and to the boat.



After 20 minutes, we were at the other side of the lake, were I found an awesome camping spot with view towards some glaciers. I said good bye to all the hikers and moved on before night because I was in need of a good fire to dry my shoes, get warm and cook after so much effort for a day. All my body ached and I needed to rest.

Such a day, with so many unexpected things. Awesome weather, rain and then thick snow, hell of trekking trails, downhills with no brakes, mud to the knee and half the bike stuck in the mud, and despite having lost all hope to get to the boat on time, I still got to the place right on time and did the crossing of the Laguna del Desierto. I ended up doing a huge fire and having a great meal at a fantastic camping spot. Everything was awesome at the end of the day after so many things.

I think it's days like this what makes bicycle touring an amazing way of traveling. You never know what will happen and how you will end up at the end of the day. After all, there is to go everywhere with some faith.

Until then.


Cheers.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Get South! Till the end of the Carretera Austral.

Two weeks ago I left Coyhaique with the goal of reaching Villa O'higgins, the end of the Carretera Austral. Finally, and after struggling and fighting against the road I managed to reach this last town in the Carretera.

Several things have happened in the past two weeks, I think this last stretch of road has been the wildest, deadliest, most difficult and most beautiful of the stretches I've been pedaling so far. So many things have happened in the last two weeks that would be too long to write them all, so I'll just write a couple of the most important ones in the hope of not writing a long unreadable testament of the experiences, the rest, will be just pictures of what I've seen so far and memories that I'll keep with me.

Leaving Coyhaique and the first snow of the season.


After saying my farewells to my friend Pato, I left Coyhaique with the hope of having nice weather for, at least, the next couple of days. According to the forecast there should have been a good weather span of time. How wrong can the weather guys be?, well, pretty wrong most of the time. After leaving town, dark clouds started to show up on the sky, being a really cold day this made it even colder with no sun to warm the day. Pavement should last at least another 100 kilometers so, despite having front wind which made the pedaling harder, it went smooth for the first 30 or so kilometers.




The morning went smooth, but in the early evening, the rain started. I hadn't really noticed, but I had been pedaling upwards most of the time, reaching an altitude of 1100 meters over sea level. Also, I didn't really notice how cold it was till I stopped pedaling. Being on the bike helps to keep good body temperatures, despite the coldness. At 5 pm the rain got thicker and temperature dropped even more. I decided to call it a day because it was really difficult to keep on. Having a thick rain made it complicated to see what was laying ahead and the low temperatures would make it hellish to dry my clothes with such a rain. I was outside the entrance of a National Park so I decided to get in and check if it was possible to camp in the park. According to another bicycle tourer I had met on the way, there was no rangers around so it was possible to camp for free.

Several signs pointed that it was possible to camp after paying a fee for the place, but no one was around as the guy said. At this point the rain kind of stopped a little and I got the thought of pedaling again. A ranger showed up and asked me if I was going to camp, I told him I was just checking the place and that probably I would continue the pedaling, he told me it was snowing on the road ahead and that if I decided to stay I should go to his house and pay him the fee for the camping place. Yeah man, right. He left the place and there I stood, whole alone with several places for camping. The thought of snow made me re-think about pedaling so I decided I would stay in the park, not to camp though. I found a huge dome which was being used as museum which seemed nice to spend the night in. Sometimes you get lazy when you have to mount and unmount the tent everyday so every opportunity I get to not mount the tent I use it.

Seba, another bicycle tourer I had met on the way showed up and told me he was going to spend the night there too. I told him about the ranger, and we agreed on leaving early the next day to not pay the camping fee which was too much to not even have warm showers. Right when it got dark, snow started to fall. I must say, that when I decided to keep on south instead of going to Buenos Aires, I started to accept the fact that I would face some snowing, but snow, this early on the season, was really unexpected!. Having such temperatures would be a nice test for my sleeping bag which didnt let me down. I spent a warm night inside the dome.

We woke up early next day, but the snow that had fallen during the night had already melted and a nice, warm and sunny day was coming ahead. Weird weather probably due to the full moon only. We left the national park without paying the camping fee, which actually we didn't had to pay as we didn't camp, we slept inside this huge dome, so technically we weren't supposed to pay for camping but for using the dome.








The road shall provide, actually, the lakes shall provide.


When I was in Metri, they gave me the idea of buying fishing line, hooks and a small can to be able to fish on the rivers of the carretera austral using the “Pesca con Tarro”, a local technique for fishing. This technique though, hadn't been working for me so far. Someone on the way told me the best time to fish was when you were able to see some fishes in rivers or lakes. As I was pedaling along the road I saw some fishes in a small lake right next to the road, which instantly made me think it was my chance to catch a fish for dinner. I got all my really simple fishing set and started to try some luck. Some minutes later, Seba showed up and asked what the heck was I doing with half my body on the lake, my hook had got stuck in a branch and I needed to retrieve it. Then he told me how his uncle had been fishing, also with no luck. Right when he told me this, a nice trout got closer to my hook and it thinking it was an insect, bit my hook!. A nice and healthy trout for dinner! I was so happy and it was so unexpected to catch a fish that I needed a picture of the moment. It was an awesome dinner that night.



The road itself.


As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the road so far has been the wildest, deadliest, most difficult and most beautiful part of the whole trip. I fell of the bike 3 times on a day due to the washboard road, but I have to say that Daniel's theory of the 21 kms/h is wrong. I have been reaching 50 kms/h on downhills over the gravel washboard roads. Also all of the three times I fell happened in a single day, which probably was just bad luck for the day because I haven't fell again since then.

The washboard road makes the pedaling really damn difficult and slow. My average pace has been reduced to days of 50 to 60 kilometers of pedaling. Compared to the central area of Chile where I could pedal 90 kilometers on average, reducing the pace to 50 kilometers makes a huge difference. It's impossible to pedal more on gravel roads though, if I pedal more then I wouldn't get the time to see other things and enjoy the landscapes I am crossing through.

The wind has been deadly in some stretches too, three days ago we faced a huge storm with winds that stopped me on a downhill. I wouldn't advance a meter due to the wind. Picture the fully loaded bike with me over it, standing still for around 10 seconds not moving forwards and not moving backwards. Crazy. Lucky me it was front wind and not side wind. Had it been side wind the story would had been quite different. At some point I saw how Seba almost got blown up in the air due to a strong wind coming from down the valley up the mountain. The elements try to get rid of us sometimes.

Mountains, forests, lakes, fjords, jungle, glaciers, rivers, towns that look like if they were taken out from some fairy tale, I have crossed all of that on a stretch of around 600 kilometers since I left Coyhaique. It's crazy how beautiful this part of the world is, it's incredible to be able to see this and I'm really happy I'm able to be here and now. Somebody asked me the other day if I missed any of the commodities I had in the city; a roof, a bed, a warm shower everyday, internet!. I have to say that, no, I don't really miss any of those commodities. It's nice to have them, yeah, but being here, and being able to see all of this, overcome all of those commodities. The only sad thing about all of this, it's that the camera can't really do justice to the landscapes and the beauty of the places I stumble upon. So far, I have been taking many many pictures, but seeing them in the screen does not show the complete beauty of the place, I think there is to be here to be able to admire everything the landscapes has to offer.







Villa O'higgins and to Argentina we go.


Yesterday we arrived to Villa O'higgins, I write we, because we met so many times on the way with Seba that we decided to join forces. We both are going south and we both are taking the last of the boats that will cross the O'higgins lake towards Candelario Mancilla. Four other cyclists have arrived to town to also do the crossing with the boat. As reports and other cyclist tell, the crossing is going to be even wilder than the road so far, we will have to face a small jungle and cross it through a small trekking trail which is not made for bicycles, but as they say, it is possible to do it with the bike, somehow. I'm really looking forwards for this part as everybody speaks about how crazy this crossing is, full of mud, branches, ups and downs. It's going to be tough, but certainly worth the effort. The boat leaves tomorrow morning and the next time I get to write it will be, mmm I don't know then, maybe in El Chalten, maybe not.






Until then.


Cheers.  

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Carretera Austral till Coyhaique

Right now, I am in Coyhaique. The road has been crazy. Crazy good, crazy bad, crazy amazing, crazy everything. If there is to define somehow carretera austral I would say it's amazing in every aspect; landscapes, weather, people, experiences. It's hard sometimes, because the weather treats you hard, but it's possible to overcome anything afterall, with the right attitude everything is possible.

Boat Crossing from Quellón.


Entering Carretera Austral with the ferry from Quellón brought bicycle tourers even before leaving the boat. I met several guys on the crossing who were also heading south on bikes. What I thought would be a lonely journey towards Coyhaique, my next big stop, became a journey full of people all the way down.

The ferry stopped in Chaiten, a town that got destroyed some years ago by the explosion of the volcano in the area. Still, almost nothing from that destruction can be seen nowadays. Nature has dealt with it pretty fast. From time to time though, it is still possible to see abandoned houses on the way.

The ride started with an Argentinian guy who was going back to his country because had to go back to work, a few minutes later we encounter a couple of Asians who were also going south so we teamed up forming a group of four, on the first day.

Because weather and also because the ship departed from Quellón at 3 am we had a rough night of sleep and called it a day pretty early, after only 40 kilometers. This gave time for some fun under a bridge which we found was pretty descent for camping. Some fishing in the evening plus some harmonica playing made the day enjoyable.

South we go.


The road south changed the second day, no more pavement for us but gravel and climbs all the way. The pedaling got harder and advancing became much slower than I thought. Still, pedaling in carretera austral got to be much much better than pedaling in the Chiloe Island. Not that many hills to climb but more flat areas. Nontheless, climbs would show up on the way that would suck our energies pretty bad, adding to this the bad shape of the road which made the advancing slower than expected.

Still, many surprises on the road! Like some Mineral Water natural springs which offered an ambrosia of water for the body. At this point the group got disassembled, I kept riding alone again. Also at this point, I realized how sad is to have an schedule. The Asians guys couldn't join me to check the mineral water spot, because they had an schedule to follow. Loosing time walking the trail to reach the mineral water spring would have meant getting behind schedule for them, so they kept on the riding while I took the time to explore the area around the mineral water spot.

While walking towards the springs I thought, fuck the schedules man! When will be the next time you will be able to visit a place like this! For them, probably never, still they had to follow what they had planned. Later on the day I found them again resting because the way was to hard. At the next town they called it a day because they were too tired to continue, and with a reason. The carretera austral can easily eat your legs as the road got worse and worse as we advanced south. For me, it was too early and the spirit was way up. This allowed me to keep up pedaling so I kept on the move for some more time till I found an amazing wild camping spot to spend the rest of the day and the night.

Alone with the worst road ever.


Next day I expected to ride nearly 80 kilometers. Being alone again made me think I could advance much more that with more people around me. So I took it really easy in the morning and ended up leaving the camping place around 11 am. Quite late compared to the times I used to leave my camping spots in the central area of Chile, 6 am. As I started to advance I realized I had commited a really bad mistake. This portion of the road was the worst I have ridden so far in the whole trip. Big rocks, loose on the road, made the pedaling at some points impossible. It was the first time so far I had to push the bike on a FLAT surface. Shit the road was bad man!. But this shouldn't be the normal shape of the road. Later on the day I found out the roadworks on the carretera austral made this portion the worst ever. They are fixing the road to put asfalt on it, so in order to cover all the wholes that trucks and cars make during rainny days they are filling the place with small stones, and sometimes not so small. Quite ok for cars and trucks, reaaally bad for motorbikes and bicycle tourers, some guys told me how they saw a motorbike guy go straight towards a truck and almost got run over becayse he lost control of the bike.

I managed to cross the 20 kilometers section in around 4 hours! The slowest pace so far on the road too!. Gladly, my mood was ok for that day and despite facing the slowest and hardest strecht ever I managed to reach the next town, La Junta. Still, the way I looked was awefull to say the least so after getting supplies in the town I went straight to a lake I had seen on the map and took the next day off right next to the lake.

Lago Rosselot and towards Puyuhuapi.


For the first time on the whole time on Carretera Austral I managed to spend the whole day alone. It's nearly impossible to be alone while riding bicycle in these roads. You meet other cyclists either going north or south from time to time and it's useful to get information from them and pass on what you have experienced so far, like those 20 kilometers of hell. Still, I really needed to be alone and enjoy the beauty of the place and just chill out. So the day I spent at Lago Rosselot was marvelous. I saw nobody in the whole day and spent the time hearing the birds and mices around, the wind and contemplating the amazing nature we have here in Chile. Definetely an awesome day next to a lake.

Next day I had to keep on though, so I kept onwards south to reach Puyuhuapi. The road on this part got much much better and having the mood up thanks to the resting day made things quite easier. At 5 pm I was already on Puyuhuapi where Christian, a german bicycle tourer, found me and told me about a camping with other bicycle tourers. Guided by instinct I decided to camp with these guys and spend the evening there.

Christian was also going towards Punta Arenas, so we decided to team up for some days and the next day we departed to a National Park near Puyuhuapi. There we found more people who I had previously seen on the road and made a huge group for a night of beers/wine, music and fire. We also found Denise, a girl who had been cycling from Puerto Montt and was on her way towards Coyhaique who also made team with us. More people who to share the road, for a road most of the people knows me thought it would be lonely.

The road shall provide.


After a couple of days of pedaling onwards south we reached the last town before the final destination for Denise and the resting point for Christian and me, Coyhaique. We departed as usual, in the morning with the goal for the day. We stayed that night at the cyclists shelter in Mañihuales, where the bicycle hunter lives and offer shelter for any bicycle tourer that happens to cross the town. We heard of Boris, another guy who offered shelter for cyclists in Coyhaique and where you can stay as much as you want. Some french lads had said the place was full though, having around 18 cyclists in one house. They said we had to be ready for partying and for lots of noises as the place was full with young pedalers from all around the globe. A nice picture for some people with all the booze and the party you can get, but a not so nice picture for me. Coyhaique for me meant resting time and relaxing time in order to get ready to keep on south. Maybe partying, but everyday? Heck no. The french lads said they had to mount a tent in the patio in order to rest a little bit because the noises in the house were too loud to rest. This made me picture a not so nice place where I wanted to spend my resting days. I left Mañihuales thinking about this and trying to come up with an idea of how to find a cheap place where to sleep.

The thinking kept in my mind for around 2 hours after I left Mañihuales till I just let it go and started focusing on the road. Just right when I had stopped thinking about this matter the most unexpected thing ever happened.

I was taking pictures of some abandoned building next to the road when I saw a jeep approach to where I was. The jeep passed by my bicycle really really close and I thought it was going to run over it. I wondered what the hell was wrong with the driver and what the shit was he doing there. I was about to start swearing against the driver when slowly the jeep approached to me and lowered the co-pilot window. Then the driver said; “O'car! Remember me?!”. Holy mother of cows!!! A friend I hadn't seen in YEARS showed up in the middle of nofuckingwhere! What the heck man!!. My mind collapsed for about 2 seconds and then I came back to earth. “Pato! What the heck are you doing here man!?”

The first time I met Patricio I was like 7 years old. We went together to a scout group and then we got to be part of a group of like 50 guys who grew up together in Talca. Last time I saw Pato was around 8 years ago, so meeting him there, in Carretera Austral, in the middle of nowhere, was to call it the least, unexpected.

We talked a bit about life and he asked where I was going to stay, I mentioned my problem and he told me just to call him in the evening so we could sort all out. Thanks to this encounter my problems got solved instantly and here I am now. Staying at Pato's house for the rest of my stayance here in Coyhaique.

Ask and you shall receive a guy told me the first day of my trip here in Carretera Austral, and so, it seemed to work! Hahahah, crazy shit.

I will stay here in Coyhaique longer than I expected mainly due to my encounter with Pato. He has been showing me places around the city that I would have never visited with the bike. I've been having lots of fund with Pato and Pame (Pato's wife) and definetely I've have gotten the rest days I wanted in order to keep on.

During the weekend I will start the pedaling again, now towards Punta Arenas. Just as I left Quellón, when I leave Coyhaique I have no idea when I will get online again and when I will be able to upload pictures again. Towards the unknown I go but it's so fun and awesome that I love it.

Till then.

If you want to see pictures, check this link.


Cheers.