Valdivia - San Martín; The road shall provide.

And down the road we go again. This time the road would take us to cross from Valdivia, Chile to San Martin de los Andes, Argentina. Along the way we were expecting some beautiful lakes, wild country and a small mountain town that Camila had been in some years ago. I had put an eye over this route for some time already but mainly because of time, as usual, I never got the chance to do it. 

As I'm quitting Fraunhofer, the company I work for, they owed me some extra free days to “cash” before the end of the year. Enough days for taking the chance to ride some more before my trip. We planned the route with Camila and set for the adventure.

Valdivia, getting out of the city.

 

After reaching Valdivia by bus and spending the night at Kassandra's, we departed from Valdivia on Monday around 9 am. The goal for that day would be to get as close as possible to Panguipulli, a small town next to the lake of the same name. Panguipulli was around 100 kilometres away from our starting point, so we were expecting a long first day.

Leaving the city was a bit tricky because I had planned on following a dirt road that I knew wasn't used that much. While on the way out, we got kind of lost but managed to find our way till a neighborhood where the route starts . While on our way through this neighborhood Camila had a small problem with the load on her bike and her shoes fell from the rear rack. She stopped to fix the problem and while she was accommodating the shoes again, a drunk man started walking in our direction. The guy was yelling something to other guy lost in the distance who clearly didn't hear a thing. While he walked trying to catch the guy, he noticed me, looked at Camila and his eyes went wide open. He stopped the yelling and started walking towards me. I just looked at him trying to guess what his next move would be but I couldn't reckon as his balance got lost in the several bottles he may have drunk the past night. Once he reached me he extended his hand and politely said good morning and proceeded to congratulated me for traveling by bike. He asked where I was from and where I was heading to and went from being drunk and kind of angry to being drunk and happy. This guy claimed he also was a cyclist in his young times and that he had had a really good time riding back then. I asked him why he stopped and he told me he started pedaling in Valdivia with the intention to reach Arica, the northernmost point in Chile. Sadly, in Antofagasta, someone stole his bike and all his belongings. He had to start working his way back home but while coming back, his life changed and he couldn't ride anymore. Camila finished fixing the shoes and got closer to us. The guy also greeted her and congratulated her for travelling by bike. After some more talking we asked him how could we reach the road we were trying to find. He pointed the way and started blessing us and wishing us good luck waving his hand as we left. We said thanks and our farewells and kept on the move which hadn't been that much so far, we still hadn't left Valdivia.

The way the drunk man rode. From Valdivia to Antofagasta, he almost reached Arica!!! I wonder if I will end up like him.

Sea Lion in Valdivia.

Camila looking at how the earth rotates.

You are a Kitty!!! and you are there!!! Reference.

On the road again.

Finally we found the road and left the city. After around 100 meters of dirt and rocks, a good sign showed up. Pavement!. Quite a surprise, I was expecting dirt most of the way. They had been working during this year to improve the roads, and this one, was about to be finished. A really good welcome for the day having pavement instead of dust and rocks plus the beautiful landscapes and fantastic air to fill our lungs made it all awesome for the start!

The way towards Los Lagos. Paved and bicycle friendly!

Amazing landscape outside Valdivia.

After crossing Los Lagos, a small town 50 kilometres away from Valdivia, we started talking about lunch. Damn, you eat a lot while traveling by bike! I had been eating most of the way from Valdivia but still, I would be eating small shits like cookies or dry fruits. We like to joke with Camila how instead of going thinner while in my trip I'm going to go fat because I eat too much.

Panguipulli was 50 kilometres away and we needed a place to eat. We decided we would push forward till we could find a nice place where to eat when suddenly a small truck stopped and a voice yelled; “Where are you heading guys? Do you want a ride?”. After a fast look I said yes and the driver stepped out to help us put the bikes on the back side of the truck.

José was from Los Lagos and he was working on the road, literally. He is in charge of a crew of around 50 people who clean the roads from branches that fall from trees, rocks, bushes, and other things that may try to take over the way for cars. He told us about this spanish couple of bike tourers that he met at the fire station he is member of. He told us how when he saw us he just felt like helping us because we reminded him that couple. I give my thanks to that spanish couple, whoever they are, they earned us a ride and saved us near 50 kilometers of pedaling. When we were almost in Panguipulli, he pointed out the way he was supposed to go and then he said that he would ride us till the intrance of the town so we could cross it faster. Even closer than he said he would take us!! Once we reached Panguipulli, we thanked him for the ride and got our sight into the town.We had already ate some sandwiches while on the truck, so we weren't hungry anymore and kept on pushing forward.

Bulls ahead.

Soon it started to get dark and we decided to stop and camp. Sadly, our first attempt of stealth camping failed. We found a nice spot next to a river, thinking we weren't violating any private property we put the tent, collected branches, and were ready to cook when a man showed up with some dogs and asked who had we asked  in order to camp there. I told him no one because we hadn't crossed the fence he was behind and we thought that it was just public as there was no one around to ask to. He then said that we were in his property and that we had to leave immediately. Without waiting any reply from me he turned around and left to stop at some distance. From there he kept staring at us, not giving any chance to talk at all. With nothing really to do, and not wanting to cause any trouble, we left. 

It took us some time to mount the load on the bikes and now it wasn't that early. After pedaling some more, sunset started to approach and we still needed a place where to sleep. We decided to stop at the next house and ask if we could camp outside. We yelled hello at the next house. A young lad showed up and told us he would ask his father if we could camp there. Shortly he came back and said yes. After mounting the tent and when it was almost completely dark an older man appeared. José (another José!) told us he was just taking care of the place. The owners of the place and most of  the land around us was from some guy in Santiago who came only during summer for some weeks, the rest of the year he would be in charge of taking care of the land. He told us how one time another couple asked him if they could sleep there and how they arrived late in the evening and left early in the morning. He then asked if we needed anything which we didn't. We had everything but he kept offering something, and asked us to accept at least boiled water which we accepted. After some minutes he came back again with a huge 2 L. thermos and a couple of big home made bread. Still warm from the oven it seemed!. He said he didn't have bigger thermos but hoped that 2 L of water and the bread would be enough for the night. Way enough! I'm just carrying my 0.5 L thermos and that's it!. The bread was amazing too. We had bought some cheese in Valdivia so for that night we had some pasta with sauce and after that tea with bread and cheese. FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!. 

House next to the road.

Such a productive day for the first day! We had to idea to reach as close as possible to Panguipulli but we got around 30 k ahead of the town. The road provided with good things for that day, it was sunny most of the day, atypical for the south of Chile considering rains start at random. The road provided with transport, a place to spend the night and food and welcoming people who had things to say. Besides the angry lad that banned us from his land, all went way better than we were expecting it. And there we were surrounded by farm animals who were wondering who we were and why we were invading their land. With full bellies we were ready to let our legs rest for the night we head to sleep and get ready for the next day that would be way longer than the first one.