Night Rides.

It usually happens around 10 in the night. Slowly, one by one, as drops falling from the water tap we all start crowding Tom's den. Warming up our heads for what's to come is a ritual we must not avoid. It usually takes some time till the gang is complete or maybe incomplete, but once ready, we depart for the night.

Smoothly through the city we surf our way through the semi empty streets, the short traffic jams and passers by. Most of them are on their way home, for us, we are on our way to the skies. We are there to get rid of what the day threw at us, emancipate our souls from the bad and get rid of those thoughts that trap us in our minds. We are there to set our spirits free from everything. We are there to live.

It takes little to reach the base of the San Cristobal and the only back door we can use to enter the place. Usually the hype and the warm up makes us reach that point in no time. Still, we are far to complete our quest, we still need to avoid the guards that will try to get rid of us and cast us out of the place.

In pitch black night we start the ride, sneaking our way through the wannabe gates poorly guarded by a guy that maybe won't even notice we are there. Sometimes it may work, sometimes it may not, it will probably depends on the karma of the riders in the gang. Still, the speculations hits; “is it the right time to go up?”, “what if the guy is outside?” “and the pick up?”. The mind trying to play its tricks on us. Time to shut it down and start the ride.

Covered by the night we start riding up, in what will be next hour till we reach the goal for the night. Nobody says a thing. All silent we push our pedals up the hill protected by the darkness that sometimes, just sometimes, breaks due to the shiny city lights.

Down there, the city and the lights that won't break our darkness anymore. We still have to keep pushing up, and now, try to avoid the pick up that takes rounds from time to time. They want to cast out the probable intruders that sneaked through the only back door of the park. They are looking for us.

Covered by the night we make our way through the park, pushing uphill, alert to any sign of light in case we have to hide. We have to avoid the pick up that may block the pass and chase us down all the way to the exit doors. No way we want that. We are on a mission here and we need to summit.

We may get lucky as most times or we may not. Usually we reach summit and get our price; shinning lights all over the horizon. Distant sounds of cars, parties, people, buses, the monster called city. But the monster is down there and we are up here with the place only for us. Small tiny people existing down there not noticing in the monster they are living in, but we can notice for them. We are surrounded, trapped in the middle of shinny lights that have no end in the distance.

We are still half the way though. We still need to go down. Feel the the speed, the wind and the night. No lights will enlighten the road and show you the way. It's the bike, your instinct and you. For the new ones it gets hard at the beginning, some of them get tempted to turn on their lights and go slower as the way looks completely different once you go down. For the ones that have been doing this for a while, it's another successful night in which we got to be free. Far in the distant, like stars the city lights randomly show up through the trees. Nothing can stop us now, the pick up, the guards, some dogs, fuck them off, we already got to the top and we are paid for the job. It's time to go home. We sneaked in, and we sneak out. We don't really care anymore though.

We surf the now empty streets on our way home. We are the owners of the streets as few cars pass by on the late night streets. Slowly the gang dissolves as everyone takes their own roads home. It will be till a next night we say, we meet at Tom's den, where we will all gather to reach the top again.

Uncertainty no more.

On monday I went to talk to the diving guys. Their office is around 15 k away from Punta Arenas. As usual, I took my bike to place because still, after 2 weeks here, I have no idea how to take the buses. Walking and biking is the norm for me and I'll try to maintain it during the winter despite the ice and the wind, unless someone gives me a ride of course.

On my way to their offices I got the first sight of the hills behind the city covered with a thin layer of snow and small spots of snow here and there over the city. It's quite early for snow it seems and lots of folks are saying that this winter will be one of those we will remember in the future years. It snowed most of the morning and the wind was awfully cold. I couldn't help but think about those old days back in Norway and how happy the snow and the coldness make me. I felt like a small kid living the life and laughed like the mad guy I am.

After some minutes being lost, because I decided I won't look at maps anymore but will only ask people for guidance about finding places, I found the office of the diving guys. Patricio, friend with Kanaan received me at his office and showed me the equipment they use for the diving classes and told me a little about what they do and what they are currently working with. We talked about my journey to get here and how I wasn't sure about leaving for taking the course somewhere else. Coti, another of the guys who work for the diving company showed up and I got introduced to him. The usual talking kept on and then I mentioned how I would like to reach Antarctica if I stay around for the winter. Instantly Coti asked if I spoke english and if I knew how to cook, he asked for my number and told me he had some contacts that could have more information that may get me there. Wow, that was unexpected.

We kept talking for a bit more but my decision was already made, IpushPedals will go into hibernation mode for the winter and will turn into IdiveInTheStrait. They gave me so much information in so little time and told me about several places I could go that I felt I had to stay in the area for the winter and maybe a bit more in order to complete the diving courses I want to take. So if I stay in the area, the machinery to reach the white continent now will start to work in order to try to find a job for the next summer season. By then, if everything goes right IdiveInTheStrait will become IsailBoats, lol. But all of those are just ideas of the mind that are not worth of thinking yet. For now, I will stay in Punta Arenas, I will try to find a regular job and earn some money in order to pay all the courses that I will take and start diving by the end of may or the first weeks of june.

Funny thing, the diving courses are given during winter. Usually in the past years they gave the Open Water course in a swimming pool because the suits for that course are wetsuits which don't isolate that much from the coldness of the Magellan strait. This year though, the swimming pool is closed which means we will have to take the dives into the strait. I shall get ready for such experience, eating like a pig in order to gain some fat for my body. Good thing, I already took a swim in the strait to get a sneak peak of what's to come.

Everyone is in the right place at the right moment for some reason. Now that I look back, it's funny how I was lost in my mind and in imaginary things that weren't real at all and all of that jazz made me get confused and were guiding towards what I didn't want at all, for now. It's funny how when I decided I would stop thinking and picturing the future, deciding for things that still weren't real at all and instead I  would throw myself to life, everything changed for good. It's good that everything is clear now and that I am back in track. I guess I had to experience all of this uncertainty  in order to come back to the world of here and now. Good thing all is sorted. It's funny too to look back to the past week and realize how crazy one can go sometimes. I hope I don't forget the lessons.

Until then.

Cheers.

Lost in the mind, still in Punta Arenas.

It's funny how life goes on when you are somewhere you don't know, with some ideas that you would like to carry on but with not a clue on where to look for. It's funny how there is to learn to be patient and calmed and look around in the search of opportunities and just wait and hear what your guts, instinct, heart has to tell you to decide what to do. It's funny how easily I forget all these things and collapse in a world of decision making and start getting stressed out of nowhere because I need to know what's ahead. It's crazy to think that I know I shouldn't really get stressed by these things and how I know I have to hear what my guts tell me but still I forget all of it and fall into weird-ful thinking. It's funny how anxiousness ends up hitting me and guides me through the wrong paths. It was funny how I had to start talking to people to seek for some advice when I know I have to hear what my insides tell me instead of asking to others to tell me what my insides are telling them. I guess I still need more road time to tune my instinct and keep on with the learning on how to hear what the inner I has to say. Being surrounded by too many people disbalances me. Probably I have to learn how to live among people again.

I am about to start my third week here in Punta Arenas and I was about to leave this town for good as there was “nothing” to do. Still every morning I would wake up with the feeling of not leaving the city at all. Till today, I don't know why. It's quite weird considering Punta Arenas is just another city in the south of Chile and quite big for the Patagonia with no real attractive to a person like me. There is a mall, a huge tax free zone where you can buy lots of things, lots of shops in downtown, lots of people going and coming, lots of tourists in summer and winter, and still now, that winter is almost arriving, tourists coming and going. Still every time I take a walk next to the sea, or look up across the Magellan strait, or when I look up at the mountains, there is something that catches my eye. This city has something. Maybe it's the weather.

Still, not hearing at all this feeling I had decided I would go back north to Valparaiso and take a diving course there for the winter, then I would continue the pedaling north towards Perú and maybe to the Jungle across Brazil. Everytime I thought about buying the plane ticket and going through the process of organizing things to fly I would just feel lazy about it and would delay it mentally for the next day. Then in the evening I would feel anxious about leaving and with a weird do not leave sensation. Next day I would repeat the same. The idea of diving is damn amazing but once I picture myself going to Santiago and then to Valparaiso everything changes and procrastination hits.

I took the decision of going back because I got the answer from the ski center. They told me they didn't have money to hire me now so they could hire me in mid June. In the meantime a CEO of a big hotel wanted to talk to me and offer me some job. I went to him to talk about it and the offered me a position as a bellboy, but, I had to shave and cut my hair in exchange for minimum wage. The answer was simple, no fucking way. So after some fast thinking and being pressured by the starting date of the diving course in Valparaiso I decided I would leave. Still, 3 days later, I had no idea which day I would do it, and didn't feel at all like organizing things to leave.

Yesterday night, for some chances that life throw at us I met Kanaan again thanks to Alexandra and Bartosz. They are a couple of Polish bicycle tourers who are staying at the same hostal I am staying at. They invited me for a beer and to meet another bicycle tourer from Alaska who was on his way to Ushuaia. Knowing some of those bicycle tourers I asked what his name was, they told me it was something with K, like Kan, Kev, or something like that, I asked Kanaan? And they said YES!. What a surprise! Definetely I had to go and meet this man with who we had an awesome time at el Chalten.

Kanaan got quite surprised too and it was nice to meet again. He told me about his plan and his desire to maybe come back to Punta Arenas after reaching Ushuaia because for some unknown reason he liked the city a lot (sounds familiar). I told him what I was thinking but I wasn't feeling that sure about leaving the city for some reason and that as I didn't have much to do here I would probably leave, I mentioned him the diving course and this is when the shit hit the fan. He spent his stayance here in Punta Arenas with a diver who told him there is a course starting in the following weeks. The course is given during winter months and they dive at the Magellan strait and sometimes in the San Isidro Lighthouse. Uh?. Diving, San Isidro lighthouse, Magellan strait, winter. Click.

Kanaan told me he would send me an email with the email of the diving instructor so I can get to talk to him and check the information about the diving course. At the hostal they told me they have plenty of job to do for at least a couple of weeks so they have no problems in me staying around for some time till I figure out what to do. From what I've read the commercial diving license is valid only in Chile, on the opposite the license they give here is the PADI, not commercial, but valid everywhere in the world. For some reason I want to stay in the area and I think now I got some chance to actually do it. Probably I always had the chance but I was kind of blind thanks to the anxiousness. Tomorrow I will go and talk to the people and check what's gonna happen.

Until then.

Cheers.

Pandora's box gets open.

My time in Quellón has ended, tonight I will board the ferry that will take me to Chaiten and the start of my journey through the carretera austral, pandora's box for me as I have never visited the carretera austral before and I know that the place is more than awesome with pristine landscapes and fantastic nature to spend the time in. 

I wanted to make this post to spit some things out after being 2 months on the road. I have to say, that I have been having fun most of the time. There have been ups and downs, but for every bad things that has happened, several good things showed up on the way and made the bad things disappear quite fast.

People on the road has been fantastic, despite the fact that every person I meet warns me about being careful and not to trust anyone, because everybody else is bad. Experience has shown that the first approach that I have had with people has been positive. So, so far, people is good and not bad. Trust in mankind partially restored for me.

After couple of days I left santiago, my body started to change and to adapt to the road. On the way between Temuco and Metri (Puerto Montt) I didn't take a shower in 10 days, despite this, I didn't stink at all! It's fantastic to have a neutral smell. Compared to other people I've met on the road, who start smelling after a couple of days, I think I can spend several days without taking a shower and not have to worry about bad smells, because there are none. It's like my body was made for being on the road.

After realizing my knee pain I started working on it. Several days after I started working on it the pain disappeared, and little after Temuco, I forgot at some point I had pain in the knee. Now all is ok with my legs and I'm ready for what's next.

I can not say how happy I am when I realize I don't have to go to the office and spend the day in front of the computer. I am really happy because I get to drink pure water from coming straight from some spring up in the mountains. I'm breathing fresh and nice air everyday. I'm eating well and lots of food too. It's awesome to experience everyday as a different day, not knowing what will happen, where I will sleep or if I will manage to reach the goal for the day. Not knowing if I will encounter people on the road or if I will spend it on my own. Not knowing what lays ahead and get surprised every time I find a marvelous landscape or good people on the way. Everyday is a different day and an unknown day. At some point, someone asked me what would be a thing I missed from Santiago. Besides some people, I don't really miss anything from Santiago. I'm really happy I took the decision to leave that polluted city and the lifestyle I fell into in the past years for something different and that I get the vibe will get much better with time.

I have enjoyed the company I got on the road. It was nice to start alone from Santiago because then I got used to ride on my own and made a small routine for some things during my lonely days. Days that weren't really lonely, there was always someone around, be it a person or be it an animal. Then the company was nice because I got to explore another side of bicycle touring. Company was nice and I enjoyed it. I have to give my thanks to Daniel and Camila for joining me between Temuco and Puerto Montt and between Puerto Montt and Quellón.

So far, I always had clear destiny in mind, it was either to reach Talca and visit my old time friends. Or it was Temuco where I would visit Pancho and meet Daniel. It was Puerto Montt to see more friends and meet Camila who would be with me through Chiloe, or finally, it was Quellón where I would visit my friend Yovi. Now, I have no clear destination at all. I am entering the carretera austral and I know I have to reach Coyhaique but there is no one on the route that I have to visit, so from now on, all is new and I have no destination at all. I may take a parallel roads to visit hidden places, I may take a direct route towards some cities. I really don't know, I will just follow what my instinct says and will try to reach the southernmost point before winter arrives.

About the southernmost point, couple of weeks ago I started picturing Punta Arenas as a nice destination and for some reason, a lot of people I have met this past days has some relationship with that city. I decided that I will not come back from Coyhaique to enter Argentina and make my way towards Buenos Aires. Instead, I will head towards Punta Arenas and will try to reach it before extreme weather hits. What will happen there I can not really tell. I may get on time to then keep on towards Ushuaia I may not. I may get trapped in a storm before Punta Arenas or I may pay a visit to the Torres del Paine National park. Time will tell, but the goal is to reach Punta Arenas or get as close to it as possible. Once I reach the place I will decide what's next. For now, Coyhaique should be my next long stop, then Punta Arenas. The rest, just ideas of the mind.

So far I have not had any flat tires! The only problem with the bike has been the broken chain I quickly fixed. Bike has behaved fantastic despite having such a load over it. This has won the bike her name which I will not tell but it's related to the latter experiences I have had with the horses.

I'm really excited to see what's on the so famous carretera austral. I hope I get nice pictures and nice experiences. I think I will have to get wild and use all of the knowledge I've gathered in the past years about living in the outdoors. I have no idea when the next post will be and have no idea if I will get internet at all at some point. The spot that I got thanks to Fraunhofer hasn't been working properly, it hasn't logged my positions in the last days. According to their webpage it may be related to poor satellite coverage on this part of the world. It doesn't worry me but people has been asking me why I haven't been spotting. Well, the little thing doesn't work, still, I will be spotting from time to time in the hope the map gets updated.

Thanks to the ones reading the blog I'll keep on with the posts as long as I get internet.

Life starts at the end of your comfort zone and for reaching this end, there is just to let go.

Also, winter is coming.

Until then.

Cheers!

Santiago - Talca; the beginning of the journey.

It took me 4 days to arrive from Santiago to Talca, my hometown. Despite all the heat and my now arm sunburns I did it fast the first 3 days. I found mostly nice things on the road and found the usual when camping in nature such as mosquitoes and strange sounds at night. I managed to reach Talca at the 4^th day in quite good shape and with the spirit up. The only problem so far, one of my knees hurt. I'll have to rest and take it a bit easier to get better. Still everything went quite good. I don't know how long this post will be but I think a bit long. Take it easy when reading.

Leaving the City, Santiago to Rancagua.

We starting pedaling around 8.30 past Thursday, and as last time with Daniel, it took us quite long to reach the border of Santiago. The now loaded bike was weighting even more than last time, but we managed to reach the border of the city in around 2 hours. The gang this time was composed by Tom, Jota, Daniel and me. Right before reaching the city limit Tom bought a watermelon, we found a nice small plaza and ate it all, the sun was hiting hard on our heads and a fruit was very welcome, time for a “technical stop” at the border of Santiago.

The face of the Negro (Mattia) when he saw me riding my bike out of the city.

Buying the watermelon.

A slice for each of us.

The gang.

Our goal for the morning was to reach Buin, meet Camila there around 11-12 and have some lunch together. The last of the lunches some said. It was noticeable how my speed was different compared to the rest of the lads. Tom, Jota and Daniel would advance much swifter than me through the wind without the loaded bikes, the 110 kilos rolling against the wind do count. Still, we arrived to Buin a bit before 11 am. Right on time and with such munchies. We met Camila and headed for lunch.

For lunch I had a couple of lomitos italianos with some fries and a couple of Canada drys at the “All-in Ramirez”. Complete and healthy lunch. The place we chose for lunch was weird. They did a lot of other things besides food. They also worked selling vegetables, doing car parking, car washing and selling exotic meats. A wide variety of things. Exotic meats... what the fuck?.

After helado at the Plaza de Armas it was time to leave. We said our farewells with Camila and left in the middle of the heat. With full bellies we would ride round 20 minutes where I would depart from the rest but on the way we found a nice and cold Mote con Huesillos, a typical Chilean cold drink. With such a heat it was a sin not to drink one. This gave the group more energy and we kept moving on for around one hour more for the last of the technical stops with me. We stopped, said our farewells and we went our own ways.

All-in Ramirez; parking, fast food, car wash, food market, exoticarnes.

Camila, a 7 up, Tom.

One of the two Lomito Italiano I had.

The gang in Buin.

The rest of the road was already known for me. The only difference now was the heat. I hate the this damn summer, I can't wait to reach the south of Chile. After the first day I found out I have to sleep siesta in order to avoid the heat. It's much better to pedal in the morning and the late evening rather than in the middle of the day. I've started taking 2-3 hours siestas in order to avoid the heat, I'm such a bum.

Soon I reached Rancagua and Sergio was waiting for me there. First Warmshower host of the road. I called him right before entering the city and he said he would go pick me up on the way. We met shortly after and he told me we had to keep moving fast. The place I had chosen to enter Rancagua was quite dangerous as he told me. I didn't know this, I just used the road we used last time with Daniel when going to Coya. He said it's rare that you pass that area without being robbed.

At his place we shared beers and stories together with his wife Marcela while their kids were playing around. They invited me to once and we planned the road for the other day. Sergio would join me for a couple of hours the next day because the way out of Rancagua was tricky.

 

The armored resting a bit.

Somewhere over there Santiago, maybe under the grey cloud.

Somewhere there, Rancagua.

He wanted me to adopt him but I couldn't. Sorry mate, had you been a kitty...

Towards Santa Cruz.

We left Sergio's house at around 8.30. He would lead the way out of Rancagua towards Coinco where he could come back to Rancagua. The way there was mostly going down because we were going towards the sea, so it was quite easy to maintain the 28 kms/h. We managed good timing and after we said good bye I kept on till 1 pm where I finally stopped because of the heat. On the way there Fernanda texted me that I was going to pass near her work place so we managed to meet and have lunch where I stopped, right next to a huge cross with Jesus Christ. After that I kept on a bit more trying to find a good place where to have siesta, I wasn't going to sleep next to a dude in a cross bleeding and trying to convince me he would resurrect at the third day. Finally at 2 pm I found a good spot and fell there because of the heat. I had my 2 hours of siesta and kept on.

Sergio testing the armored. "How the hell do I drive this shit!"

Plaza de Rancagua.

This is bizarre. You can see the balls of the horse.

Why do politicians come here?

Around 1 hour later and while going uphill I met and old man sitting in a bench who asked me if I was carrying things for trading. I asked him for water but he didn't hear and asked me where I was coming from.We started talking, but he would keep asking me if I was carrying something for trade. He was 93 and had some hearing problems, he told me how he was born and raised there and that owned a small hill since 60 years ago. He gave me fresh water and asked if I was carrying things for trade, again. It was funny every time he asked me this. We talked like for around 1 hour more. And I after I managed to make him understand I wasn't a trader he wished me farewells and greets to my parents. Cool dude.

From then on, everything was sun and pain till I got to Santa Cruz. Well, it wasn't really painful, but I started noticing my knee was hurting a lot. I started realizing I was taking it too fast. As I'm not really counting how much kilometres I'm advancing, I'm just pedaling as much as I want. The first day I did around 110 kms. The second day I managed to pedal 115 kms. Quite a lot considering I planned all with 60 kms per day. At this rate I'm gonna cross the whole continent in less than a year.

Siesta place.

I didn't know this place existed! :O

Quite a nice town.

I reached Santa Cruz and stayed with my second WS host. Roxana is a girl who left the career of Biology and started working in tourism.She's doing tours around the wineyards, doing mountain bike tours in the hills of Santa Cruz and also around Chile. Right after arriving I headed for the veggie market, for some reason my body was begging me for tomatoes with garlic. A couple of hours before reaching Santa Cruz I started picturing in my mind a huge dish of sliced tomatoes with garlic  and olive oil. I couldn't stop thinking about it so for once I had my prize of the day, a banana, tomatoes and avocado. For washing my throat?, a nice cup of tea, one whisky, a glass of white wine and 2 beers. It's funny how everything escalated quickly. Roxana's brother was going to have a whisky so they offered me one, the rule is, you never deny whisky, so I had whisky. Then Roxana's mother recalled she had a white wine and offered me some, it was a nice late harvest, I couldn't skip the opportunity to try it out, so I had some. And then Roxana told me she was going to a local pub with some friends and invited me, ah what the hell, tea, whisky, wine, some beers won't do harm. And they didn't. The pub was really nice and the music was cool, no shitty things such as reggaeton gasolina crap but mostly a place to talk and have a drink. I met nice people and had fun but my body started asking me to sleep, at 2 am I needed to sleep so we left.

The road.

Drawings on the hills.

Third day, finally wild camping. 

I started the day at 7 am. At 8.30 I was ready to depart and so I did. I thanked for the hosting and said my good bye and left towards Lolol. Lol. I had a nice climb outside Santa Cruz but as always, if you have to go up, you will definetely go down at the other side of the hill. I reached the nice speed of 50 kms/h down the hill. It's amazing the speed the bike reaches while going down the hill, I feel like driving a small motorcycle. Mid in the morning I found a mobile vegetable market from where I bought a whole melon and had it all. Middle morning snack to keep on till midday.

In Lolol I bought some sweets at the local “OMG” shop, what's the deal with this town?. The lady that sold me the things actually said OMG when she saw me cycling with the all the things under such a heat. I then told her g2g and she replied gl and I left. lol. Brb. xD. (nerd :P)

Santa Cruz down there, somewhere.

Towards Lolol.

The "OMG" store.

After Lolol I started heading for the Maule Region but the pain on the knee would hit plus the road south had no trees on either side. It was 1 pm and I the siesta time was calling. At 2 pm I found an attempt of forest where I had my 2 hours of siesta and lunch. I started noticing the lack of houses and people now. The road went gravel and started crossing hills with less houses. After crossing this small group of coast mountains I arrived to the valley of Mataquito near the city of Curico where people started showing up again.

No trees where to have siestas.

No trees where to have siestas!!!

Some shadow where to have siesta.

At the end of the day I had managed to pedal 96 kilometres. Good thing I had decided to take it easier (irony). My knee was hurting less than the day before though, a good sign, but still was hurting. After entering a gravel road I found what seemed to be an abandoned house near a small artificial lake they use for watering the valleys. The house was indeed abandoned and seemed suitable for me sleeping in the surroundings, so I did.

As it's summer and the weather is nice, I didn't mount the tent, I decided to sleep under the stars. When the sun was finally away mosquitoes started attacking me, but definitely I thought it would be worse. I made of myself a cocoon with my sleeping bag, tried to sleep and left all the garlic I must have in my blood deal with the mosquitoes. Finally a night of wild camping and with it, the sounds of the countryside. At the distance I could hear a party with its characteristic Cumbia music mixed with some Mexican Rancheras. No gasolina crap either. Somewhere near the small lake, a tree full of birds, fighting I suppose, and maybe a pig being killed by some aliens that would come later and abduct me. Seriously though, it sounded like a pig being killed, I think it was the birds, they were big and fighting before sunset and made really strange sounds. Over my head, a mosquito trying to find a weak spot in my face to suck some blood. At the distance, a small dog barking, but weirdly barking. This kept on for around 1 hour, so many different sounds I'm not used to. Then the small barking dog started getting closer to my location, slowly till it was somewhere behind me. The small barking dog had a problem though, it was barking for its inside. A weird and perturbing sound that wouldn't let me rest. I thought it was a dog and that maybe would try to steal something from me or maybe bite me so I yelled to him; “what the fuck man, I'm trying to get some rest here, go away”. It got instantly quiet and after I flashed my flashlight at it, went away. Later in the night I would hear it again, flying over my head towards the distance, then I realized it was a damn bird! Doing that barking sound, such a weird bird, I wish I could have seen it better.

Sunset was getting closer.

Where I slept.

Gravel, Heat, Huasos, Pencahue, Talca. 

I woke up at 6 am. It was already clear and I could see everything around me. I had a nice sleeping night after all and for that day I would reach Talca. I started moving around 8 because this time I would face mostly gravel roads through the hilly countryside of Talca and I had to make good use of the morning and non heat hours. Right after leaving my sleeping place I met the “owner of all of this”. I had started pedaling and I saw a pick up truck I had seen the day before. The driver honked at me and did some light signaling so I could stop. He asked me where I was heading to and where I had slept because he saw me the day before while entering this road. I told him my story and asked where he was from, then after a mild laugh and a smile he said “I'm the owner of all of this.” doing in circle with his index pointing all the hills and lands around us. He smiled at the thought of owning all of that. He was nice and wished me luck and departed. I got the impression he was really happy owning all of this.

After a couple of hours riding thinking about the life of the owner of all of this I met a huaso riding his horse towards his mother. He was going to do some plowing for a short summer harvest. He told me the owner of all of this wasn't really the owner of everything but of just half the valley. There was another owner which owned the other half of the valley. He explained me how there were several families living around these valleys, working the land for the “owners of all of this”. They get to live there for free as long as they work the land and do tasks for every owner of all of this. They get most of the things from the land and get money for the work done so it's quite a great deal for them.

After a hilly section of up and downs, ups and downs and more up and downs that made me hate whoever designed that road for not going through the valley instead of the hill I got to the paved section. It was already late and siesta time but I decided to keep pushing in order to reach Pencahue.  The thought of a completo or a Lomito Italiano motivated me a lot so I kept pushing.

The bike likes to pose for the pictures. Ready to depart.

Stealing some water from the drop watering system that waters trees and other vegetables.

The valley of one of the owners of all of this.

Some horses doing their businesses.

Once I reached Pencahue everything was closed but some small place for general things. The completo had to wait so I sat next to the plaza when an old man approached me and asked how much I would ask for my motorcycle. He was and old timer and confused my bicycle with a motorbike. When I told him it was a bicycle he opened his eyes wide open and asked me where I was coming from. He didn't get it at the beginning but after a while finally understood what I was doing. He told me how he was single and free to do whatever he wanted and that he had to stop drinking alcohol because it hurted too much his liver. It was 2 pm and he was doing some time before going to the church, at 6 pm. He had nothing else to do in the rest of the day so he liked to wander around the plaza waiting for the church time at 6. I told him I had to sleep siesta because the heat was killing me and went to sleep in a bench.

Gold mine in the hills of Pencahue. Hidden but closed due to some accidents.

 When I woke up I finally had the completo I wanted to have. I then saw a man surfing the web with his phone next to the town hall. I asked him if there was some free wifi signal and he told me he worked in the city hall so he knew the wifi password. He procedeed to give me the password of the network and I got some internet. Soon he started talking to me and told me how he hated all the communists of this world because they are all lazy fucks. “Those motherfuckers want everything for free without any actual work, who the fuck do they think they are, now they chose Bachelet, this country is going to go bankrupt soon. Everything will go to hell thanks to this damn commies”. He then proceeded to talk about Pinochet and other generals and started to watch youtube videos of the Chilean army, the Pinochet funeral and the Chilean militar parade. Extremist guy. After a while, for some unknown reason, he asked me if I liked beer, I said yes. He then proceeded to open his suitcase, take out a 1 Lt bottle of cold beer and a glass, passed me the bottle and the glass and said; “serve yourself”. Shit, a cold beer with this heat, thank you very much sir. I had two glasses and after some more talking I left.

I met this guy going down hill. He saw a video on youtube with this kind of bikes, liked the idea and built one himself. This was his testing day with this kind of tribike.

The last 15  kilometers towards Talca were fine, pavement again and all went well till the highest point before reaching Talca. Going down Cerro la Virgen was awesome. 4 kilometres of paved downhill and my bike reaching the highest speed so far; 60 kms/h. I wonder if I will be able at some point of reaching more than 60 kms per hour. I don't think I've been able to reach more than that with this bike.

So far all has been good. I can't say I have had bad things on the road besides the heat and the sun hitting too hard on my now not so white arms and legs. Gladly I have this expedition like hat that covers my neck and face from the sun. First part of the road done. Next goal, the summit of Descabezado Grande.

It will take a while till I write again on the blog. Next friday I'll leave for the Descabezado Grande Volcano with Jota and Maximiliano. After that I may write a bit about the volcano.

If you want to see more pics of the road, check out this link: click here!

Be safe on the road.

Cheers!

It's time to leave.

Finally the day has arrived. By the time this gets published, hopefully, I will be on my way out of Santiago. It’s been around 10 months since I decided I was going to do this and time flew damn fast.

Past days here in Santiago have been good, since I realized everything was set I’ve been enjoying all the small good bye meetings, asados and onces I have been into. It’s been really cool to say good bye to everybody. Going breaking bad style has also been awesome. Too many stories to write them all, but all of them were epic.

It’s time to leave though and take a look out of the city, face the unkown, suffer, laugh, be sad, be happy, everything outside the city and somewhere around south america. Best way to do it is by bike. I thank you all who are supporting this in some way and are reading the blog. I’ll let you know how things are going. I hope I see most of you on the road at some point!

In drama they say; “break yourself a leg” to wish you luck, I wonder what bicycle tourers say to each other, maybe something like “let the dogs bite you”, hahahaha.

I though about writing a list of what I’m taking, but that would be too long and boring, I’ll save time for the road stories.

Below, some pictures of what I’m taking with me.

Cheers!

The Kitchen.

Spares kit.

Pump for the flat tires.

A SPOT gps tracker thanks to Fraunhofer. Check the map on the right side of the blog, you will be able to follow me in real time.

Dear employer, I quit.

A quick update post.

Today I handed my resignation letter. Time is flying at the speed of light! Damn, I still recall it as if it was yesterday when I told Jota; "it's like 6 months away but it looks like if I leave tomorrow!".
Time flew, and today I handed the official notice that I'm quitting. Not much to say though, almost everybody here at work knew I was leaving so it's not a big surprise. Still this makes it official and earns me a beer in December thanks to Lothar. We bet about me leaving, he said I wouldn't leave I said I would definetely do it. So the resignation letter is also a ticket for a pitcher of beer in the following weeks.

I'm still writting the last trip from Chile to Argentina, soon I shall post it. I need to start working in the last details of the trip too, as the departure date is approaching really fast. I have to work on the bike and buy the last supplies I will need. Busy times ahead, but fun time nontheless.

Days till departure?: around 37!

Resignation letter handed!

Hey, what are you running away from?

So far, most of my friends understand why I am leaving Santiago for the road and the unknown. But from time to time, new people, that doens't know me, start questioning what I am going to do. Most of them don't really understand how someone can leave like this all the comodities the city offers and what I have built in the time I've spent in this city. The idea of a lad in his mid 20's, leaving all behind doesn't seem to be sane at all. Some understand and agree, others share my points of view, others disagree completely, and I'm fine with all of them. This post is for those that wonder if I am running away from something in particular and are worried about that.

What am I leaving?

Currently I have a well paid job, I work as Bioinformatics Engineer for a well known german company now based in Chile. The salary is really good for what I spend monthly and I can pay all that I need with it. The working hours are ok and I still get time to do other things in my spare time. If I stayed, certainly good oportunities would come and I would go up in the ladder in my field because the work place I am leaving is really good and offers a lot of good things.

I live in nice big flat which I share with my friend Jota. I live in a secure neighborhood with a park right outside the flat. It's not that noisy at night and it's big enough to host people from time to time. It's not far from work, and I'm able to pedal everyday. My daily commutes take around 25 minutes at a steady pace. I don't have to go uphill so I don't sweat while going to work. Most of my friends here in Santiago live near there, so we can meet during weekends or do things during the week, not having to travel big distances to see each other.

I have a girlfriend with whom we've built an awesome relationship. She loves to do lots of things I love to do too, so we have a lot of things in common. We've been doing lots of things since we started our relationship and I really love to spend a lot of time with her. We are really similar in how we see many things of the world, but we are also quite different. It's fantastic to talk and talk non stop discussing different things we don't agree and agree with.

I have several friends here in Santiago, with whom we also share a lot of time. We party, we meet, we travel, we go to the mountains, we pedal. It's an awesome group of friends!

A picture from the last time we met with my friends here in Santiago. Don't ask what's going on. From left to right: Sara, Me, Jota, Tom.

I live three hours away from my hometown, so I'm able to leave during the weekends and visit friends in my hometown, visit my mother, and spend some time in the countryside too.

I'm leaving a city that has lots to offer, I'm leaving the capital of Chile in which I have been living since 2010. I'm leaving a city that offers thousands of different activities, and lots of different places where to go and visit. I'm leaving girlfriend, friends and work.

You are running away from something!

Most of the people that doens't know me like to theorize that I am running away from life, from work, that I am immature, and that this is just a way to escape from real life. The last and most funny of the theories I've heard lately is that I am running away from marriage (seriously? wtf people!). Others wonder if I went nuts to leave my comfort zone and face the unknown. Most of them tell me I shouldn't run away from things, and that I should think better what I am going to do, and so on. When I tell I want to do this, because it's my lifetime adventure, and because it's something I've been thinking from some time, they keep trying to make me change my mind.


So, Am I running away from something?. Of course I am, I am running away from Santiago de Chile.

Santiago de Chile.

I've been living in this city from around 2010. I came here to do my BsC thesis. After that I moved back to Talca, to find out the only place I could really find a job in Bioinformatics, by that time, was in Santiago. So I came back 6 months later. Since then, I've been working here.

Santiago, what you see if you google it.

Santiago has around 7.5 millions inhabitants right next to the Andes, and I'm sick of it. The public transport system is seriously fucked up. The subway is packed at every hour and it's incredible the amount of time and discomfort you have to face everyday if you use it. Have I mention the heat down there?. News use to say that you have around 5ºC more in the underground compared to the surface. Temperatures during summer in this city can easily reach 35ºC, so inside the metro you reach 40ºC. Add to that lots of people in suites, and all of them sweating. Add to this also no room to move, and people fighting in order to find a small spot to get inside the train. This everyday. Even Saturdays and Sundays. And the smell at the end of the day. Damn, we humans smell really bad.

Rush hour about to start in the Metro system. Picture from www.emol.com

So why not to take the bus?. Well, buses are pretty much the same, plus they get stuck in traffic jams. Traveling with the bus is damn slow too, so if I wanted to get to work from where I live now, it would take me around 50 minutes.

Wherever I go, it's packed of people, it's hard to find a place with no people and some silence.

Also pollution. Damn this city and its pollution, it's like smoking cigarretes everyday!. Since the public transport system is fucked up, lots of people opted for buying cars and motorcycles in order to get on time to where they go. This added lot of pollution to the city, and most of the days, the picture I posted is a fake picture because you don't even see the mountains thanks to the smog cloud above our heads. The only time you see a postal like that is after the rains. You can count with your hands the time it rains during a year. So most of the time, you only see pollution.

Hey dude! What are you doing to ameliorate things?

When I got here, I knew all these problems existed. Therefore I decided to buy a bike. Since then, I've been pedaling. I'm helping by not using the subway or the buses, not adding someone to the already congestion transport system. Most of my use of it involves moving to the bus terminal to leave the city to my hometown, Talca. I haven't bought a car, despite the questioning of some people and not even a motorcycle which seems to be useful to have in this city. More pollution? No thanks, It's way easier and faster to move by bicycle rather than using a car, getting stucked in traffic jams, and once on destination, try to find a spot where to park the car. Not to mention all the security measures you have to take so thieves don't steal your car.

Pollution, the most important thing to run away from.

Last Saturday I went on a morning bike ride with Camila, my girlfriend, we were going to a scout meeting. We had to pedal from downtown to the base of the Andes. One would think that living right next to the Andes is a good advantage. Well, not really in this city, most of the days you don't get a clear pciture of the Andes. Instead pollution a layer of smog would cover the mountains. The andes blocks the winds coming from the other side too, so there is no air flow to send the smog away. At the other side we have the coast mountain range, also a huge wall that stops the winds. Both this mountains trap the smog above the city.

Riding towards The Andes. Not really a clear sight, the layer of smog covers the mountains.

The next Sunday we decided to go for a hike. We hiked up the Manquehue hill. Its height?, around 1638 meters over the sea level. I got amazed by the picture you get to see up there. Seriously Santiago?. Really? Come on, that looks like a swamp!!! Well, yeah, the smog doesn't even allow you to see the coast mountain range which are 25 kilometers away from the city!. We should be able to see the mountains from this point. Instead, a wall of smog.

Santiago, from the top of the Manquehue. Down there, people, above the people, smog, and further above, some clean air. What you really see when you are here.

Seriously, am I living in this city? Is this real life? (irony) is this what I really want for the next 5, 10, 15 years of my life?. Certainly not, and that's what I'm running away from. I see this everyday from my office. I'm fully aware of the air I am breathing and the life style I'm having in this city, and if there is something I am running away from, is the smog I am breathing every day. Heck I can't even do sports properly without feeling the smog in my throat!

Window shot from my office right before luch. Back there, the smog covering the buildings in downtown. I see this everyday.

Compared to other places, at least for me, Santiago sucks, and I've been saying this since I came back here. I recently took a tour to the country side near my hometown. I loved it, so relaxing, so clear, so breathable, so free from people. Definitely a place I would like to stay for more time. I decided I didn't want to live anymore in Santiago, I decided I want to run away from the smog, the stressed people that fights to get into the subway and the collapsed transportation system. I decided to leave behind the angry drivers that fight every morning between themselves and with the cyclists because "you should be riding on the sidewalk!". If I have to say I am running away from something, I'm running away from Santiago and the pollution both of body and mind, and that's it. It's quite simply actually, I don't want to live in this city anymore and I have taken this as a starting point for a new cycle in my life. I am leaving for the adventure, or at least, 2 years of adventure. After that? I don't know, it's quite impossible to know what I will be doing after the trip. I could die during it, I could just continue pushing pedals further on, I could come back and work again (that's the plan so far) but planning that ahead it's pointless, what I can say for sure is, I will try as much as I can not to come back to live in this city again.

As for my friends, most of them already have plans to leave the city too, they are my friends and we share points of view, we all agree it's the way to go and that we have to do it if we care about ourselves. They all will do it at some point, I'm sure of it, so it was a matter of time who would leave first. It seems I'll be the first one and I hope others follow soon.

Country side near Talca. I'm leaving the smog for more of this.