In this entry we brave the morning rain to ride through another round of beauty between villages before we shelter from more torrential rains in a simple cabin.  Then on the next sunny day (which is the kind of day cycletourists dream of) we flee the cold and rainy Carretera Austral and reach the coast.  Finally, we take a ferry to the big island of Chiloé.

Day 59: Villa Mañihuales to Villa Amengual (59 km / 37 mi)

After three days in one place, we woke up on the fourth day to see more rain coming down.  However, a close reading of the weather forecast (actually, a close reading of four different probabilistic weather models), showed that there would be a good riding window in the afternoon.  We rallied as a family and packed our bags, waving goodbye to the little apartment and the village of Mañihuales.

The road undulated through small farms in the shadow of huge, deeply forested mountains.  We were clearly in a temperate rainforest based on the flora, and also based on the cold drizzle that was all around us.  The riding wasn’t fast, since it was uphill most of the day, and into a stiff headwind.  At this point in our journey we generally don’t remark on headwinds except to say…  this is nothing compared to Tierra del Fuego!

By lunchtime 20km into the day we were wet and cold.  We stopped the moment was saw a sheltered bus stop.  As we ate our avocado-tuna sandwiches the rain poured down, but miraculously it stopped as we began riding again.  For the rest of the day we were under a pocket of sunny skies with rain clouds ahead and behind.  It was an amazing afternoon in spectacular mountain scenery.

At one point we were riding on a long steep uphill when I looked up and saw a huge, sheer rock face right next to the road.  I gasped and said “Look, there’s half dome!’, referencing the extremely famous landmark in Yosemite National Park.  Of course, here in Patagonia it was just a sentinel to passing soggy cyclists. 

Our patch of sun followed us all the way to the very tiny hamlet of Villa Amengual.  This little village is perched on a hillside above a river, with towering mountains in every direction.  The girls stopped at the central square to test out the playground equipment and greet the local dogs.  As we rested there it started to rain (of course) and then the woman that runs the cabins in town came to find us.  We had been chatting with her to make sure a cabin would be waiting for us, but she revealed the other cyclists in town had decided not to vacate the cabin!  No worries, she had called around to find us another cabin up the road.  She said ‘Go knock on the door of the two-story white house.’ 

We found the two-story white house and someone quickly came out to welcome us. She took us to a very simple cabin down a soggy mud driveway, where a warm fire greeted us.  We were very happy to have a home out of the rain! The hosts were so friendly to us.  They brought lots of firewood (it was cold!) and shared many local history stories.  We learned about the priest that set up home in Patagonia in the 70s and 80s, connecting communities and facilitating trade (and many marriages).  We learned about the road construction, a mudslide disaster, and the giant satellite dish that made TV possible in the 90s–but only a Mexican TV station. 

Day 60: Rest day in Villa Amengual

Oh my gosh the rain would not stop!!  It must have rained 1.5 inches in a single day, just nonstop.  We only went out to track down food, which was actually difficult.  The village has three places to buy food, in theory, but one was closed and another was ‘open’ but no one was there.  The final store was on the other side of town along the highway.  It was actually open!  It was also the meat / butcher shop, so we were able to get what we needed for dinner.  It didn’t have vegetables, but we had inexplicably carried huge pieces of squash, cabbage, onion, and carrots from the previous town. Who would have guessed?

Day 61: Villa Amengualto Refugio Rio Cisnes (7 km / 4 mi)

We thought the rain had cleared up enough to make at least some forward progress, so we decided to ride a very short day to a nature preserve along the mighty Rio Cisnes.  We left town in a spot of sunshine.  It felt like an enormous privilege to be riding through the rainforest and past many rushing streams.  It was a bit of climb leaving town, and by the top of it… the rain returned!

As we crested the top and began the quick descent towards the river the beautiful sun spot became driving rain and dangerous gusts of wind.  We carefully descended, concentrating on keeping the bikes upright around the curves and through the gusts.  A couple of French travelers pulled over in front of us and lifted our spirits with balls of Lindt chocolate!  This was unexpected but delightful.

Shortly after the road straightened out we reached our destination.  It looked medium abandoned, but we stopped at the small building labeled ‘café’ to find a warm fire and a lovely spot to sit out of the rain.  Soon we were eating a delicious lunch of hot dogs and ham/cheese/egg sandwiches while our cabin was prepared.  When we finished eating we headed down to the cabin/lodge, which is set up to have rooms rented separately for up to 8 people.  We correctly had guessed that no one else would visit on this rainy day, and we got the entire picturesque cabin to ourselves.  It was lovely!  But also cold.

It took Jason four tries to get the wood fire started, since the wood provided was soggy and too green to really burn well.  Eventually he scavenged for better (older) wood under the cabin and soon we were in business!  We spent the afternoon reading, taking a little hike along the river, and preparing a surprisingly yummy chicken and green bean pilaf for dinner.  We all decided to sleep in the loft, occupying four single beds in the warmth above the stove.

Day 62: Refugio Rio Cisnes to Puerto Cisnes (55 km / 34 mi)

We awoke to perfect sun and blue sky. The mist was rising off the hillsides as we set out for a spectacular day of riding.  After so many cold and rainy days, we had made the decision to make a run for the coast and hop a ferry to the warmer island of Chiloe.  It was wonderful to have one perfect day of riding in this area before we left the rainy coast entirely. 

We rode in the shadow of the steep cliffs all morning along the beautiful Rio Cisnes.  It seemed that every hundred feet we passed another small stream/waterfall as it crossed the road.  We were in excellent spirits.

One noteworthy part of our route was passing the Piedra del Gato (cat rock) which is a sheer rock face above the river.  The road passes it in a raised section, and before the roadworks it took an entire day to get around this bottleneck.  I could see some of the ropes used by construction workers, still hanging abandoned on the rock face. 

In the early afternoon we turned off the Carretera Austral.  This was a big moment after nearly 800km on this one famous road.  It is one of the most famous cycling routes in the world, and for good reason.  Jason and I of course have already cycled it in its entirety, but we were delighted to turn off and pedal towards new routes.

The spur road to Puerto Cisnes was absolutely delightful as well.  There was almost no traffic and the grade was gentle as we zipped along the river valley.  We were delighted to reach the small port town at the mouth of the river.  We dropped our belongings (and the kids) off at our cabin and went to make sure everything was in order for the ferry to Chiloe. 

The ferry takes 12 hours and was scheduled to depart at 11am the next day.  We had already purchased tickets for the humans, but needed to buy tickets for the bicycles.  The bicycle tickets were surprisingly expensive, about $50 per bicycle.  Humans were $35 each, except H who was inexplicably free.  In any case, we got our tickets printed and paid for.

That evening we ordered pizzas and wandered town as they cooked.  It was such a nice town!  A lovely park straddled a stream in the middle of town, and there were all services you could need (including playgrounds).  We bought fruit at the fruit store, visited the ATM, and the pizzas were incredibly delicious when they were finally ready.  We took them back to our cabin where we ate and watched the second episode of Survivor season 50 (which is excellent as well!). Jason and A took a trip to a grocery store and were completely tickled to see a cat eating out of the sold-by-weight cat food bin inside the store! He asked the lady if cats eat free, and she said ‘Yes, this one does, it lives here!’

This is the kind of day that erases the previous 6 days of rain and cold.

Day 63: Ferry from Puerto Cisnes to Quellón (1 km)

The person that printed our tickets told us to arrive for the ferry two hours early, so around 9:15 we arrived at the dock… and there was no ferry.  Huh.  We asked around a bit and learned that the ferry wasn’t expected to arrive until 11:30!  We lamented a bit that we had arrived so early, but then we just settled in to wait.  The girls played Nintendo and Jason and I enjoyed chatting with the other passengers.  It was a mix of local people moving around the area for work or for family, and some tourists.

When the boat finally arrived the pedestrians and cyclists were allowed on first.  We settled the girls into our seats, then Jason and I set off to watch the cars load.  The boat has only one way on or off, so all the trucks and cars had to back onto the ferry.  It took a long time!  We finally pushed off from the dock at 1pm. 

The rest of the day was spent admiring the scenery, playing games, and just waiting. We were all reminded of Washington state and the waters around Lopez Island.  It was a perfectly calm and sunny day, so no one was sick.  The boat didn’t arrive at its destination until after midnight though, which was very late!  Luckily we had a small cabin reserved close to the dock.  It was an exciting and short ride in an unknown town in the middle of the night.  I bet the kids will remember this!  In any case we safely reached a small yellow house, parked the bikes and went straight to bed.