Well, we finished the Carretera Austral.

Technically we ‘skipped’ the last 45 km to the big city of Puerto Montt, but they were all paved and we took the unpaved alternated for an additional 60 kilometers of rough gravel. We decided to call this latest section the ‘Carretera Austral Plus’. If anybody asks, we’ll tell them we rode the whole thing!

From Chaiten we rode for a day through the beautiful park of El Pumalin. It is a very large private reserve (owned by an American, strangely enough), with many well-maintained trails and campgrounds. It was a mistly morning when we entered the park, but by midday the clouds cleared and we could see the lovely forest that was clearly recovering from the volcanic eruption. We even took a hike to see some old growth trees!

That evening we took a ferry across one fjord to a tiny spit of land between ferries. We decided to camp here for the night, which was a great decision. It was like we had the whole place to ourselves, and we wandered a side road free of traffic, just to see where it went. That night we camped in a shelter next to the following ferry landing.

The following day we had the whole bay to ourselves for the morning, and we lazed about reading and drinking tea. Just as the first group of motorists arrived a small boat motored across the water to unload a family and about a dozen coolers. They set up shop in the same shelter we had slept in, and proceeded to sell a delicious assortment of food. We bought empanadas and salmon ceviche from them.

The ferry eventually came and it was a production to get all the cars on and arranged properly. One long truck couldn’t make it around the tight corner, and it took about half an hour (and the assistance of another truck) before the long truck jolted down the hill and onto the ferry. The onlookers clapped.

That night, on the far side of the fjord, we followed a 9-year-old girl back to her house where her mom ran an unofficial campground.

From here it was only another half day of riding to the ‘end’ of the Carretera Austral, and to be honest it was pretty uneventful. The scenery got a lot prettier once we took a smaller route north along another fjord lined with steep mountains. For the next three days we wound along the side of the cliff over the saltwater, sometimes finding flat spots where rivers flowed. One night we camped in an abandoned soccer field. The following night we stayed at a very posh eco-campground with lovely sites on a river.

We finally reached the end of the fjord and climbed up and away from the ocean. The forest here was beautiful – lush and green with tall trees and ferns. As we rode we approached a perfectly conical 8,000′ volcano. It was topped with snow, and sometimes hid behind a bank of clouds. Now, we’re in the Lakes Region of Chile. There are volcanoes, large lakes, and farmland. We are looking forward to finding more and better produce in the town markets, and to riding the mostly paved routes that weave between the lakes.

It is our first night in this region, and we camped in the center of a small town. The wind is blowing off the lake (which is huge, by the way) in great gusts. Luckily, this budget site is well protected from the wind by a bamboo fence, even though it only cost $3 each. While we made dinner the campground folks played loud pop music, so we danced while the lentils boiled. It is a minor miracle, but we are still not sick of lentils – even after 3 months of eating them most nights!

It’s the end of our third week riding on the Carretera Austral, and we are in the comparatively large town of Chaiten.  This town is famous because in 2008 a nearby volcano erupted and buried it.  The inhabitants were vacated, and the town was relocated a few miles north of its previous location.  The volcano is clearly visible from almost anywhere in town, and it is still smoking.  Yikes!

It’s been an interesting and varied week.  We’ve been seeing tons of southbound cyclists – up to 30 each day.  It is the height of vacation season for the Chileans, so we meet many college students from Santiago out adventuring.  They are lucky to have such a fantastic area for adventuring just a few bus rides away.  For us, we’ve seen more mountains (of course), along with more towns.  There has been a series of construction areas that presented difficulties.  One in particular combined with a fierce storm and forced us to get our first ride since Washington State.

Leaving Coyhaique (where we last updated) there are two potential routes north: a paved route along the river, and a gravel road through the mountains.  You can guess which one we chose!  Despite some cold weather, a stiff breeze, and loose gravel, it was a phenomenal day of riding.  To illustrate:

That night we stayed inside for the first time in weeks.  It was only $8 each to stay in a very simple hostel, but it was actually very nice.   There were about 5 blankets on each bed!  We were happy to be inside, since the wind and rain raged all night long.  It stayed pretty rainy for the next day, and we kept hoping it would clear.  We spent that night camping along a lovely river, still hoping for clear weather.

It was not to be, even though the following morning hinted at better conditions.  The rain was on and off as we rode through the early hours, but it was all ‘on’ as soon as we started the biggest climb of the day.

This climb coincided with some nasty road construction that had more or less destroyed the road surface and made everything more difficult.  It really started to pour as we got higher and higher into the hills.  We reached the top and realized that the wind was insanely strong directly into our faces.  The rain was actually sideways.

We stopped to get some warmer clothes on, but it took us too long and we ended up chilled, wet, and not willing to start a long descent.  The only shelter for us was a plastic port-a-potty, which we were actually very grateful to shelter in (ok, it was disgusting, be we were pretty desperate at this point).  I (Daisy) tried to flag down a truck to carry us the rest of the way through the construction site.  The really bad part was that the road was to be closed for traffic from 1 to 5 that day, and it was 12:30.

I frantically waved down every truck that went by until we finally convinced two German tourists to let us pile into their rental truck.  Good thing too, since the rain continued sideways and the road was just awful going down the hills.  Even the truck had to crawl along in 4 wheel drive.  After about a half hour we got stopped at another construction block that wouldn’t open for two more hours.  The Germans decided they didn’t want to wait, so we had to get all our stuff out of their truck.  Once again, we were in the pouring rain and cold.

  Luckily, a lovely family took pity on us and made us cups of hot, sweet coffee.  It warmed us to the core.  We also found a truck carrying hitch-hikers that was willing to take us through the construction.  Again, we were very grateful for the lift as the construction zone was in awful shape (they were blasting up the sheer cliffs on the side), and the weather was nasty.   That night we were incredibly grateful just to be warm and dry in a covered tent area.

Since then, we’ve had some easy days through pleasant scenery.  It certainly hasn’t been spectacular by Carretera Austral standards, but it also hasn’t been raining!  We rode through yet more construction, too.

Last night we camped next to a glacial stream a little ways off the road, and the site seemed almost too perfect.  That is, until the giant bull came wandering into camp!  He was a bit upset that we were cooking dinner in his path, and he huffed at us a bit before sniffing the tent and rambling off into the bushes.  After that we used logs to build a fence around our sleeping area…

We have just a few more days left on the Carretera Austral.  It has been quite a ride for us so far, but we are looking forward to getting to know other parts of Chile.  A few more photos:

 

The Carretera Austral is a (mostly) gravel road extending into Chilean Patagonia. Construction of the road began in 1976, but didn’t reach the southern terminus in Villa O’Higgins until 2000. The road reaches into vast, untouched, and pristine lands of fjords, glaciers, forests, and mountains. Since it was opened it has gained fame as one of the world’s classic cycling routes, so of course we have to ride it. In fact, this route was a main motivating factor in our decision to fly south and ride north, since otherwise it wouldn’t be open when we finally reached the southern extreme. Enough preamble though – we are finally here and it is wonderful!

The first 100 km were some of the best of the trip so far. The traffic was almost non-existent and the road surface was pleasant despite being dirt. There were mountains everywhere, and we constantly were crossing streams from glacial run-off. In the afternoon the first day the weather took a turn for the rainy, and we decided to call it a short day. The road ahead seemed to lead straight into a nasty looking cloud. We found a great spot next to a clear, still pool and set up camp. It started to drizzle as we cooked dinner, so we retreated to the tent quite early. Out of boredom we ate too much chocolate and ended up being as giddy and silly as small children right around bedtime. Oops! Eventually we finished our sugar-high and fell asleep to the light sound of rain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we continued on this beautiful stretch of road, and finished off the day by taking a ferry across a wide river. This ferry was free, and there were beautiful waiting rooms on either side where many cyclists have spent nights. We had planned to spend the night in one of these shelters, but just as we were settling in an extremely chatty hitchhiker showed up to spend the night too. We decided that we wanted to actually sleep that night, so we rode out of town to find a wild campsite. In the end we slept on a gravel terrace with an amazing overlook at the river valley below. We’ve really slept in some wild places on this trip!

Next we took a side trip to the charming town of Caleta Tortel, which is famous for being a truly car-free community. It was founded in 1955 at the outlet of the untamed Baker River, its existence owed to the harvest of cypress trees. The town is built entirely of wood, and houses are suspended on stilts on the steep hills overlooking the glacial water. The buildings are all connected via an extensive system of wooden boardwalks. It was only in 2003 that the town became accessible by road, and all traffic stops at a parking lot above town. We loved wandering this town on foot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final leg from Caleta Tortel to where we are now (the big city of Cochrane: population 3,000) took 2 days over rough gravel roads. We got jostled, bumped, and jarred for hours, but luckily the scenery was enough to make up for it. There was rain, too, but we’ve got plenty of raingear and perseverance. We even got to sleep in a wonderful protected bit of woods with some other cyclists. Actually, we’ve been seeing 6-10 or more southbound cyclists each day. That is very “busy” in cycling terms, and reminds us of the California coast. The difference is only in the scale – we are in remote country here!

When we finally reached the town of Cochrane it was with great excitement and relief. We had just endured five shower-free days, and were ready for a good wash, a good dinner, and some electricity for our many gadgets. This town is like an oasis for us! A lovely camping area is a mere block from the central square, there is reasonably fast Wifi, and a large supermarket. Oh, and it’s cheaper than camping at many state parks with no services whatsoever. Win for Patagonia!

 

 

 

 

That night in camp we undertook a major project: cleaning our camping stove. Over the course of the last eight months its flame has gotten gradually weaker, until it was finally taking up to half an hour to get a liter of water boiling. In order to clean it we had to yank a cable out of a fuel line, swish it back and forth many times, and eventually flush the whole thing out with clean gas. Needless to say, it was not as simple as it sounds. It took about 40 minutes of yanking on that cable with all our strength before it was finally convinced to emerge from the fuel line! We persevered, and now our stove is back to sounding like a jet engine.

We took a full rest day in Cochrane, mostly charging devices and updating this blog. It was heaven to just sit around drinking tea all day. Tomorrow we head out onto the open road again, where we’ve been warned of the road surface, the wind, the steep grades… pretty much everything. These southbound cyclists can sure be full of gloom and doom! We know the truth though: we’ll be fine. We might be slower if the road is rough, the wind is bad, and the hills are steep… but we’ll get there!

Now, a couple bonus photos that didn’t make it into the narrative above.