Trip for a weekend. Finally a bit of road.

It was  really necessary to get out. I have been inside the office and in the city for too long and I started to really notice it. Finally the time window appeared and I was able to take a 4 days tour mainly to test some of the gear and get some fresh and clean air.

The Route.

So we had 4 days free because of a holiday and Daniel (one of my coworkers) made me know we could easily do a small tour for the weekend. I instantly recalled this warmhowers member who is the only one 90 kilometres south of Santiago. So I looked around the area for some good mountain range where to go. That's how we chose Coya as destination and the Andes range up in the Copper highway.

From Santiago to Cajon Las Leñas.

Mining industry around the area is pretty active whole year round. Heavy trucks and bus traffic would be waiting for us both going up and going down the road.

Finally out of the city.

It took us around 2 hours just to leave the city. After asking a weird man in a wheel chair sitting next to a small stream we crossed some private road and made our way out. Everything went from buildings and pavement to countryside and a dirt road. It was funny how Daniel joked about how a bear would came out and eat us and we didn't have sticks to protect ourselves. Yeah, right, suddenly out of a countryside house huge dogs running towards us. Murphy always present.

Finally out of Santiago.

After crossing this small countryside dirt road everything went pavement again and we entered the road that would lead us to Rancagua. From here everything went really smooth. After crossing a river and a really small climb the road started going down. We rode around 50 kilometres in 1 1/2 hour. Really damn fast considering our weight. As we were riding really fast to what we thought, we slowed a bit our pace. Suddenly, the horror. First climb.

Going uphill.

Moving uphill was really slow. The pace I got while climbing was in average 5 kms/h. I think this is almost like walking fast. Going at this pace and with this weight made me go into thinking mode. I started thinking about a lot of different things. Heck my mind was working at full speed. I wouldn't feel neither tired nor without breathe, I would just continue pedaling and maintaining the same speed while thinking a lot of things, or at least I thought I was maintaining the same speed.

Daniel was ahead when we started the climb, but after a while I passed him and finally reached the top. This was the first climb and was kind of hard but still we were ahead on time. My thinking also helped, I forgot being tired and just continued with the pedaling.

View from the top.

After having lunch in a nice area next to the road and using the twigs stove a.k.a. the nuclear we had enough rest to continue towards Rancagua.

The Copper highway and Coya.

We reached Rancagua kind of late, we took it too easy after lunch and got confident we would be on time for the sunset at Coya. We knew we were supposed to do a huge climb. There is a difference of 500 metres over the sea level between Rancagua and Coya and this in a distance of 25 kilometres. Suddenly after we passed Rancagua and climbed a little bit we realized the sun was going down too fast and we were climbing to slow. We decided to take a rest.

Entering the copper highway.

After 10 minutes of rest the climbing continued and the light started to fade away. Lots of buses started passing next to us, probably with workers from the mine up there. Also more cars started passing too. Suddenly there was no more light and the signs were telling us we had climbed 15.5 kilometers. We still had to go 10 kilometers up to reach our destination.

After another rest in the dark we continued this devil's climb. Buses passing at high speed next to us. We two trying to maintain balance in a narrow space, because as usual, the road is not made for a bike. Tired after 100 kilometres of pedaling. And now at the kilometer 16. Devil's climb. After going again into thinking mode while pedaling, suddenly we managed to reach top and surprise. A nice way down. This started at the kilometer 20, so our prize was 5 kilometers going down the hill.

Damn I love going down the hill at high speed. Add to that the clear night sky we had above our heads. The wind hitting your face and the realization you managed the climb. Perfection after a whole day of pedaling.

After going down we reached Coya and got to the house of our warmshower, Aldo and his wife Rosario. They welcomed us and we had "once"/dinner with them. Daniel was falling asleep since we got to the house so we went straight to sleep after some talking.

First day, 120 kilometres ridden. Mission accomplished. We were damn tired but happy for the day that had passed.

Warmshowers friends from Coya.

Next day we chilled a bit. We got up kind of late and our new friends joined us for a bit of a ride. After setting things we departed. They showed us Coya and told us a bit of the history of the place. After half and hour we said good bye to the pavement and received greetings from the gravel road. No more pavement till our return. The guys rode with us till a bridge around 1 hour from their place and we said our goodbyes.

The way up was hard, gravel, sun, and a really long climb. For this day we had to go 25 kilometres with lots of climbs and gravel.

The one one.

Daniel next to a sign stating that the next kilometer was a climb.

Again, going up was a never ending story. The weight and the heat wouldn't help but the landscape would keep us motivated enough to continue pedaling. We again pushed the pedals the whole day but we were not stressed by the hours. Still some climbs were never ending and we had to use the one one gear in an attempt to not have to walk and push the bike up the mountain. Sometimes, we failed miserably at this and had to push anyways because the road was too steep and with too much gravel to be able to maintain balance. Sometime only one of us would fall and the other one would continue at the slow one-one pace.

When we were about to stop pedaling to find a place where to sleep we found an arriero. This guy that take care of animals in the mountains. He asked us if we had seen some horses, which we hadn't, so we asked back how far was a bridge we were supposed to cross. He pointed it was only a kilometer, so we pushed forward some more and we found the police station up there.

Empty police post. Mandatory control with the spirits of  the police.

The police station was empty but had a water fountain so we camped in front of it. I think this police post gets manned during summer season as more people reaches to the area. We had a nice camping night with a nice moon that allowed me to get a long exposure picture. I set the camera for 1 hour exposure and got a nice shot. Problem is this killed my camera's battery.

Next day we woke up around eight and wandered a bit around our camping area. At noon we decided we had to go back so we could do good timing on the way back to Santiago. Plus we would avoid the horde of people coming back to the big city after the weekend.

The way back.

The way back was supposed to be easier and faster. It was indeed, but not as fast and easy as one would think. According to a scientific study done by Daniel in the field while we rode down, if you reach 21 kms/h over gravel, your chances of falling start to increase exponentially. True. My pace going down in order to not fall was around the 15 kms/h. Still, we had to test some more this theory so we started pushing harder till we reached 35 kms/h and felt a bit of adrenaline.

We reached Coya and after a couple of empanadas and juice we started pedaling in pavement again. This time we had to climb the 5 kilometres that we went down the first night. Before entering this torture we took a rest in a really nice spot.

Resting before a 5 kms climb.

It's amazing how many amazing spots you find while pedaling, in contrast, when you travel by bus or car, you just get a glimpse of this hidden places, or sometimes you don't even notice them. 

Right before starting the climb we noticed these huge trucks coming down the hill at full speed. You could read "Danger. Do not mix the acid with the water. Highly explosive". My instant thought, a huge wave of acid would appear suddenly on the road, coming down at full speed against me, passing over and leaving but my bones melting with the steel of the frame on my bike and exploding after 2 seconds because of the water in my water bottles. After laughing about my thought we started the climb screaming some chants to the old gods in order to get the strength to climb the mountain. 

It took us one hour to reach the top. Finally, we were waiting for this the whole day, going down the 20 kilometres climb. 20 kilometres just going down over pavement. Everything started really well. I reached in no time 40 kms/h and suddenly was about to reach my cruise speed, 48 kms/h. Everything was going damn awesome till suddenly a roar right next to me made the bicycle loose some balance because of the wind. The buses from the mine were passing again. Same buses we saw during the climb, but now they were also going down. This time the scenario was different though. Most of the road down I would be riding at cruise speed. The buses would pass in groups of three, all of them fast. At the beginning I thought I would loose balance and fall, but then I realized I was like a small motorbike so I could do some maneuvers not so close to the border of the road. Still the wind made the bike tremble when the buses passed.

Finally we reached Rancagua after around 30 minutes. We had a completo and crossed Rancagua towards Santiago. A bit after sunset and after we crossed Rancagua we decided we had to find a place where to sleep. Problem was, there was too much people around. Lots of houses and fields with fruit trees, vineyards, vegetable fields, etc. This means fences everywhere. Dogs barking everywhere. People looking at two weird guys bicycling with big packs. We got lucky, and following a bit of instinct we found a nice spot in a field full of apple trees. We hid there close to darkness and decided to sleep at open air. Around 8 PM we were already sleeping. What else could we do? We were hiding and we had to leave early so nobody would notice us. 

The final push. Going into the city again.

Because we fell asleep so early we woke up at 4 am, not tired at all, and it was kind of cold. The craziness lead us to pedal at that hour. We picked our things and started pedaling at 4.30 am in complete darkness. Without noticing it was suddenly 7 am and we had advanced over 30 kms. We decided to stop to make a fire and had something warm while we waited for the sun to appear and warm us up a little bit.

Waiting for the sun to come out.

We managed the way back pretty quickly and around 1 pm we were already in the same dirt road from the first day. This time, entering the city. At around 2.30 pm I managed to get home and called it a successful 4 days tour.

What the road gave.

The road gave us lots of things and we lacked others. We lacked flat tires!. I think we got really lucky, neither Daniel nor I got a flat tire during the trip. We didn't have any mechanical problem with the bikes, they behaved as the best touring bikes ever. We also lacked days, the spot in the mountains was so nice I wished we could have stayed longer. A week up there would be enough to get to know the surroundings. Weather was the best we could ever get in the mountains. It wasn't too hot. It wasn't too cold. I was just perfect for a long and enjoyable time.

Boiling water with the nuclear in the morning.

The road gave us a slower living style. It's amazing how many details you notice while traveling by bike, while in contrast, if you travel by bus or car, it's harder to spot. It was really noticeable the difference between living in the city and living outside the city. People lives really different outside big cities, they take more time to do things. They stop to talk to each other. They wave at you or say hi to you even if they don't know you. You can get an easy short talk with a stranger with no fear of him robbing you.

Talking to a Huaso about the area.

Our friends at Coya, Aldo and Rosario, got out of the city because they also wanted a different life style. They worked in Coya as volunteers and stayed there ever since. Now they have their house and a family and still work there on their own.

The road gave us freedom, we knew we had to reach the Cajon Las Leñas, but we had no pressure to get to the place. We took it really easy, we even got behind the scheduled. We had to ride at night because we took it too easy. We faced the buses and trucks at night in a hard climb with no lane for the bicycles. We didn't even reach the furthermost point we wanted to reach. But, who cares?. We pedal because we like it, we pedal because we enjoy it, we pedal because pedaling gets you to see things you don't see while in the city, in the office, in the car, in the bus, in the hotel, wherever else. We don't pedal to get to a particular place in a determined amount of time. We just pedal because it sets us free. And that is exactly what we got. We lived those four days at a different pace from our daily life at the office. And we had lots of fun while getting all of the above.

For Daniel, this was his first bicycle tour. From what he has told me. He is already thinking where to go next. He is kind of thinking bigger now which is a really good thing. He will probably join me next year for a stretch of my tour. He's thinking in going with me from Temuco to Puerto Montt. A 10 days tour during summer which will hone his bicycle touring skills.

Daniel in a climb.

What's next?

Next, I will be getting the last things of the gear I need. Two friends from Germany are coming and they are bringing some more gear (front rack and converter for the dynamo hub). I'm thinking in taking some overnight tours during some weekends, also to the mountains but this time closer to the city. I still need to get the rabies vaccine series. And have to finish things at work. Also better weather is coming and it's time to do that I haven't done because of time/money. Jumping from a plane. Rafting. Bungee jump. Yes, I'm going crazy, but there is to live. Life is not about working inside the office 5 days to spend the other 2 days resting at home. Life shouldn't be working during the week to be able to have only 2 days to relax and do fun things. Life should be fun everyday. Life is to get out and enjoy what it's out there. And that's is what I have to do in the next months. Enjoy things here in order to be able to enjoy what's waiting for me on the road.

Coming back from Las Leñas.

I need a medic!! And an anamnesis for the adventure.

Anamnesis: O'car Campos, 26 years old, Born in 1987. Healthy, doesn't take medications. Travels from January 2014 by bicycle the whole South American continent, through the jungle, alone.

I got that Anamnesis from the Physician I visited.

I had been thinking about this post for a week or so but I didn't make the time to post it, finally I made the time to do so.

Two weeks ago I called the vaccination center to get information about the prices of vaccines that I will need and are mandatory in some countries that have jungle.

Countries such as Brazil, the Guyana jungles, and pretty much all the hearth of South America are supposed to request for a certificate proving you got the yellow fever vaccine. The vaccine prices aree high and I had to pay a visit to the physician before getting any vaccine because they need a prescription in order to vaccinate you.

After some talking with the medic I got several instructions on what to get/drink/eat/think if I get sick after eating something bad or if I get bitten by some poisonous snake and some salts in case I need to empty my bowels too often. I also got instructions on mosquito repellents but I doubt the effect will last long with that amount of  mosquitoes around, probably not much and I will end up chewing tobbaco and putting the saliva with tobaco in my face.

After getting a prescription for the malaria and several maps telling me where malaria is I got the list of vaccines to get:

• Vavilrix: 2 doses only If I hadn't got pox.
• Twinrix, 3 doses, this is for the hapatitis A and B for life
• Typhimvi, for the tifus
• Yellow Fever
• Verorab, 3 doses, for the rabies
• Menactra, for meningitis
• Adacel (dtp), for tetanus, Diphteria and pertussis

So I decided to get immediately shot against Yellow Fever, first of hepatitis series, Meningitis and the tetanus one. I headed to pay for the vaccines and back again with the bill to get the shots to my arms.

Four vaccines early on Friday morning to start properly the weekend and good bye till next month. I need to continue with the hepatitis series and start with the rabies. And I'm still missing the tifus ones. I will become strong against mother nature trying to get rid of me. Or at least I will try to, testing human biotechnology.

Water Purification - Microorgranisms

I don't believe that the water purifying systems can properly filter every kind of microorganisms. Knowing a bit about microorganism, parasites, bacteria and viruses I know life tries to find its way somehow and if I have to get water from some hideous source in the jungle some small virus (25–300 nanometres) may slip through the filter.

Small Virus

It may not be lethal or it may be lethal to get one of this "living" creatures in the organism, but anyways I don't want to get one while on tour which wouldn't allow me to continue pushing pedals.

Therefore I got the steripen, which uses UV light to kill any living creature in the water by damaging the core of life, DNA.

The steripen should be enough to kill any living creature dwelling water. The UV lamp should lasts for 8000 uses which is 8000 litres of water. In the worst case from part I the 2000 litres filter should last for a year, so the steripen should last 4 years. Again, I won't use the filter systems everyday because water will be available from fresh and clean sources most of the time so one of this should be enough for the journey.

The steripen I got can be recharged via mini USB, so the dynamo hub plays a nice role here recharging the electronics.

As the MSR Miniworks I got the steripen at REI store in the states and a co-worker (thanks Carito) brought it back to Chile.

More theory, and I'm longing for some days to go in  the mountains and test some of the equipment.

For more info about the steripen visit their web site: http://www.steripen.com/ultra/

Water Purification - Chemicals!!

I think at some stage I'll have to get water from anywhere. Including a river or a lake. In some areas it's going to be polluted probably but I'll have to drink it anyways. So I searched for some portable water purification systems that claim to effectively removes bacteria, protozoa and some other chemicals like pesticides.

The MSR Miniworks.

Discussing with Kevin one day he told me how polluted some channels and rives of some areas of Buenos Aires are, mainly because of the Bovine industry.

There were plenty of options actually, from very expensive systems used by professionals like army people till some cheaper but not lasting ones.

In the middle range there was the MSR MiniWorks EX Water Filter.


Almost every review on other blogs claimed that the system works as it says. Not big, acceptable fast and field maintainable. Being easy to clean anywhere it is an option that lasts for several years of use.

The filter of this pumping purifier should last me for 2000 litres.

I have set a time for being in every country, I estimate that it will take me around 2 years to do the round. If that is the case I think I may drink around 5 litres per day. So in a year I should drink around 1825 litres. For the 2 years I would need a spare filter.

There will be plenty of times I will be able to get water from fresh sources, like south Chile, and in the mountains of some countries. Also gas stations and people will be provide water.

So the MSR with a spare filter is enough for the journey.

Too much theory, I need more action.

The route - Why am I tracing the route?

Before posting more about the routes I should clarify something some people have been telling me lately about my route planning. I have been posting drafts of the routes I would like to take while on the route and how many kilometres I have to cycle in each of the countries I would like to visit, but this are drafts, not the actual route I'm going to follow while traveling.

A lot of people have told me that I'm going to change my route and that planning it's kind of nonsense, and yes, I agree with them partially, certainly if I reach a town and somebody tell me, you should follow this route, is going to be way more beautiful and shorter than the one you have planned, yes, I'm probably going to do some research and follow the advice, or if I meet other cyclist and he/she/they tell me it's better to cycle till some point and then take another route, again, I'm going to do some research and evaluate what to do.

So then, why am I spending time on tracing the route if afterwards I'm going to do something else maybe? Well, I've found out it's quite informative to do this, I have been finding some hidden gems and some problems I would like to have solved before I start the trip, mostly have clear information of what I'm going to find while on the road, for example I have found out that there is a really long distance between 2 cities in the Argentinian patagonia (from Comodoro Rivadavia to Trelew, around 3 or 4 days of just cycling with no towns in between and no water maybe). Also I found out that there is no bridge to cross the amazonas river and that I have to take a boat in one of three towns only to be able to reach Macapá. I've found out the guianas is going to be quite straight forward because there are no many roads to follow. I've found out it's way shorter to cross Brazil through the middle rather than following the coast but despite this I will have to extend my tourist visa because it's going to take me longer that 90 days (which are the days I'm allowed inside Brazil with no visa). I've found out that google maps sucks in some countries and that I shouldn't rely on this but on other sources of information for following maps (openstreet map maybe). And other kind of interesting information about places.

So this is why I'm tracing the route, mainly to get more info of the places I'm going, what to visit and where to head next. Because as long as I'm tracing I see pictures and find more info the places, when I find a problem I go to the interweb and try to find someone that have already been cycling in the place, info, tips, pictures, whatever info I can find. Also I can get an estimate of how long is going to take each country and the complete trip and decide if I need to find out how to extend my free 90 days visa in each country or not. So yeah, I will keep doing it till I end up with a round of the South American continent, because it helps me keep thinking about the travel, things I need and how to do it in case I encounter natural barriers, it helps me to imagine the gear I will need and what I should buy/get and so on.

So yeah, that's it, in case you are wondering why I'm tracing the route, I have some reasons and I've found out it helps, beacuse I've done it for previous trips.

My Shelter.

Tent or Hammock?

It took me a while to decide what kind of shelter to use, options were only 2 though; basically I would go either for a tent or for a hammock.

Hammock.

Tent.

Despite the fact that the hammock looks extremely comfy, light and useful in the jungle, specially for places like Brazil, the Guyana and Venezuela, I won't have all the time 2 trees or poles where to hang the hammock. This will be mainly when beginning my trip through Chile, the Argentinian Patagonia and then Uruguay. Therefore I think the best option is a tent.


I looked a lot in Chilean retailers and mountain stores for a tent but none of the ones I found would have what I want/need, something light, that would protect me from A LOT of rain and that can be used in warm weather. Sadly most of the things I can get here in Chile are for high mountains or extreme good weather.

Lucky me, my friend Jota is in Canada now and he can bring me a tent from there which as I expected, had more options where to choose. 

Mec and their tents.

Mountain equipment coorp offers a nice variety of tents and hammocks, among these the famous hubba hubba tent, some MSR, Big Agnes and their own Mec tents.

What I chose for the trip is the Mec Volt A/C 2 Tent for CAD$299. Is not as light as I would like but for the prices is quite OK I think.

Among the reasons why I chose this tent are:

• Is free standing, meaning I can camp anywhere.
• Has 2 doors, pretty good for the heat if I need a breeze to get in the tent.
• Inner walls are mostly mesh fabric, so in good weather I can use it without the fly and still not get mosquitoes in.
• Floor is 10000 mm waterproof.
• Fly is 1500 mm waterproof.
• It has 2 vestibules, one for the things one for me.
• I can use just the fly without the actual tent so If I need temporal shelter I can use the fly and protect myself.
• Because of the price I can also get a footprint.
• Reviews seem good and point to a good product.

Mec Volt A/C 2

The color of the tent is quite light for my like but at least is not orange or red, which makes stealth camping a bit more difficult.

Together with the tent, as I mentioned before, I'm getting a footprint to use the fly as shelter:

Tent's Footprint.

This will allow me to easily mount shelter for things and me if I need to wait some time or cook or I just feel like sleeping like that.

So that will be. My friend Jota will buy me the tent in Canada and bring it back with him. I got really lucky he's there now otherwise I would have had to buy it and then ship it which would cost lot more.

Eight Months till I start my journey!

Planning The Route - Argentina

Argentina is going to be tough. I plan to start cycling through the town of Ingeniero Palavecini right next to General Carrera lake. From there, there is to head east to reach the Golfo San Jorge. 404 kilometres till the Atlantic to have a rest for a couple of days. I estimate around a week in this first part.

The route in Argentina

I think it's gonna be a drastic change from the Austral Road to the Argentinian Patagonia, once side all green and rainy, and the other dry as a desert.

Carretera Austral, Chile

Towards the Atlantic, Patagonia Argentina

Once I reach the Atlantic I plan on taking the "Ruta Nacional 3" towards Buenos Aires. But first
there is to cross the road between Comodoro Rivadavia and Trelew. 375 kilometers of more Patagonia and no towns in the middle but "estancias".

Then I should reach Golfo Nuevo where I should be able to watch some whales because this place is supposed to be a major nursery and calving ground for southern right whales. (Source).

From the Golfo of the whales I continue up north to reach the Pampa, and finally Buenos Aires with its cattle industry. All this distance from the border in Ingeniero Palavecini till Buenos Aires capital city is 2319.6 kilometers. Cycling around 80 kilometers per day it should take me 30 to 35 days to reach the capital city. Maybe a bit more.

It's a good thing I can stay in Argentina for 90 days without paying a visa and I don't need any special vaccine or permission.

From Buenos Aires I will head north up to cross the Paraná river and enter Uruguay crossing the river of the same name.

From Buenos Aires to the border with Uruguay

Finally from the capital to the border there are 274 kilometres. Around 5 days to reach the border.

In total Argentina will be around 2594 kilometres of cycling from the patagonia to the Uruguay river and the beginning of the jungle heat. Cycling around 80 kms per day in 33 days I should go from border to border. This is not considering the stops I'm going to make in between for resting, getting supplies and getting to know around. In total I think a good number of days to estimate are 60 to 65, so then I can take my time in nice places.

As long as I don't spend more than 90 days in Argentina all will be fine.

The next post will be Uruguay.

Another perspective of the route for Argentina.

In green the longest distance between cities. Comodoro Rivadavia towards Trelew.