This post covers a week and a half of time spent crossing back and forth through Chile’s central valley near Los Ángeles and Chillán.

The riding was relatively flat and the scenery less spectacular than typical. We passed literally millions of trees on tree farms (they call them ‘plantaciones’ here). We also gained a deeply felt love-hate relationship with bicycle paths in Chile – it is incredible that they exist but they also start and stop suddenly and often end in a curb or a wall. It became a running joke that our favorite game is ‘find the ciclovia.’ At one particularly challenging intersection we asked for help from a local worker who laughed and said… ‘estan en Chile,’ which translates as ‘y’all are in Chile.’ I think he was laughing because yes, the magic exists, and then sometimes it changes to the other side of a four lane highway with no warning and no signs. You just gotta roll with it.

It became hard to find and plan for lodging in the central valley in this region since it has truly no tourism. After one town with literally only one hostal that was terrible, we decided to head to the coast. This post ends with our arrival in Cobquecura, a tourist beach town. We took 3 rest days to recharge and reset. It was very quiet since it is no longer the tourist season!

Instead of a longer narrative, we’ll include the girls’ writings (when available) and just throw in the pictures with captions for this post. Most of the days were pretty uneventful, but we did truly enjoy meeting the people in this tourist-free section of the country and seeing Chilean life. As you’ll see from A’s entries, much of what stood out in this section was the food we ate. The girls are becoming true fans of Chilean food. They request restaurant meals nearly every day and it’s easy to say yes. The food is affordable, and filling. A nice rest at lunch is often exactly what we need on the bikes too!

These journal entries make it seem like all the kids do is eat and play video games, but I promise we also do writing and reading and Spanish and hours chatting on the bicycles!

Day 100: Curacautín to Victoria (59 km / 37 mi)

Side note: CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, 100 DAYS????

A: Today we played lots of Zelda in the morning. The riding in the morning was extremely misty (scary level) and uphill. It was pavement though! For lunch on the side of the road we had leftover pizza from yesterday’s lunch. It was really cold.

The riding in the afternoon was cold and fast, mostly downhill. We stopped at the Unimarc <a grocery store chain> on the way to our hotel. We are staying in Victoria. The city feels old. The room is really nice and has breakfast. The same people who run the hotel own the in-complex restaurant. We had a dinner of ham, cheese, barbecue sauce sandwiches (though I do love fries a lot) after some Zelda and I think Mama had a podcast. That’s all for today! See you later!

H: I played Zelda immediately. We couldn’t see anything and it was uphill. We ate pizza. It was misty and cloudy and downhilly. We went to the store and played video games.

Day 101: Victoria to Traiguén (29 km / 18 mi)

A: Today we got cake with the breakfast they gave us in the restaurant. The riding in the morning was in flat farming and hazelnut tree farms. There were really loud trucks on the mini-highway. We took a nice paved shortcut to the beginning of town and got lunch at a sushi place. We ordered sushi bowls, sushi rolls, and fried cheese empanadas. It was good.

We also took a picture with the big Traiguen sign. We found our room in the hostel and I haven’t yet seen the rabbits though. There are two cute tiny dogs, a cat, and huge fluffy white dog. We then played Zelda and Mama played on the Stardew account she had gotten on her computer. Playing on a computer is weird. For dinner I had half a sandwich and some avocado and yogurt. I wasn’t very hungry because I ate a lot for lunch, though. And that’s all for today! Bye! See you later!

H: We had cake for breakfast. It was flat and downhill and misty and boring. We made it and went to the plaza and ate sushi. We got to our place and played video games.

Day 102: Rest day in Traiguén

Parent note: The girls don’t typically write in their journals for rest days, because we treat them like weekends with time off from their ‘school’ duties. On this day we walked around the little city of Traiguen, which was honestly delightful. It is a historical town with some cobblestone streets and a lovely plaza.

Our host at the hostel was particularly lovely. She introduced us to her giant rabbits that she breeds as pets and told us about growing up as the youngest of five siblings in the house her father built. He was an immigrant from Germany and built the cast iron wood stove that not only served to cook food and heat the kitchen, but also heat all the water for the bathrooms and showers. We were treated to boiled chestnuts and Chilean pine nuts as well. She had a huge wood-burning furnace in the basement that ran the boilers for the whole place, and it was a big place! It backed right up to open space next to a lovely river.

In short, despite the fact that it was raining and we were pretty lazy, it was still a magical day.

Day 103: Traiguén to Angol (60 km / 37 mi)

A: Today we had the same breakfast and played a lot of Zelda. The riding in the morning was up and down, and the road had giant cracks in it. Boo. For a filling lunch we stopped to eat menu and sandwiches with fries in Los Sauces. It was delicious.

The riding in the afternoon was also hilly and had logging trucks. The scenery was tree farms. At the cabin after a slight bit of gravel we played Zelda more. For dinner we had carrot, apple, rice, and tuna. It was fine. Bye! See you later!

H: I had an extra hour of videogames. The road was super bumpy. Lunch was super good. The scenery was grasslands. We made it and I played Zelda.

Day 104: Angol to Los Ángeles (65 km / 40 mi)

A: Today we had eggs and toast for breakfast. We rode toward Coihue on a noisy highway. For lunch we stopped in a little restaurant for completos and sandwiches. It was good. The riding in the afternoon was bad on the highway. The bike path hopped back and forth with no clue, so it was a tricky puzzle. Then the road went from four lanes to two lanes to (in the city) four lanes once again.

The hostal we were staying in felt like a maze because it was really long. We were in room 17! It was nice, though. We played some video games and went out in an Uber to get dinner out. The Uber ride took 15 minutes instead of the supposed 5! The pizza and brownies we got were really, really good! I like salmon pizza! We took a fast Uber home – 5 minutes – and are now writing in our journals. Bye! I’ll see you later!

H: Our cabin was full of spiders. We had to go back forth a lot of times for the bike path. We stopped at a restaurant for sandwiches. We went on the highway and it rained. We made it and played Zelda.

Day 105: Los Ángeles to Huépil (52 km / 32 mi)

A: This morning we had a really good breakfast at the hostal. I had chocolate milk. In the morning we rode through a quiet countryside after a bit of busy city. The the road turned to bad gravel and the scenery became tree farms. We got back to pavement and found our cabaña in the town Huepil. Our cabaña is nice. We then played Zelda til dinner. H has gotten 3 divine beasts! Dinner was salmon nuggets, chicken, and rice. The salmon nuggets were really good! Bye! That’s all for today!

H: Good breakfast. We went through the city. There were not many cars and it was quiet. There were millions of trees. We made it and played Zelda.

Day 106: Rest (rain) day in Huépil

Huepil had lots of places to shop and buy supplies, but not much to offer for tourism. Jason left the cabin multiple times for food while all the girls stayed inside and rested as much as possible. I know this sounds so boring, but after days of being outside on the bikes for hours and hours… sometimes we just need to lay low and read, play games, and update blogs.

Day 107: Huépil to Chillán Viejo (82 km / 51 mi)

A: Today for breakfast I had delicious chocolate chip pancakes. H stubbed her toe. Poor H. The riding in the morning was fast downhill through the countryside. We are going 82 kilometers today. For lunch we stopped in Pemunco at a little restaurant. I mostly ate french fries and drank my strawberry juice. It was also good. The ride in the afternoon was the same as in the morning with a bit more up.

We got our cabin after visiting a fruteria and me and H played video games until dinner. Dinner was tuna and rice and carrot. It was fun, but I had a heavy lunch so I ate light. Bye! That’s all for today!

H: Mama hurt my toe. There was a buncha downhill and going fast. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch. There were more tree farms. We made it and played Zelda.

Day 108: Chillán Viejo to San Nicolás (25 km / 16 mi)

A: Today for breakfast I had ham and cheese eggs. The riding in the morning was ‘chase-the-bike-path’ and it began to slight rain on us. For lunch we stopped in a food truck for fries and burritos in Saint Nicolas, then we got our hostal. It wasn’t very nice. Boo.

We played video games until dinner. Dinner was salmon burger. It was fine. And bye! See you later!

H: I skipped Spanish this morning <the girls do a Spanish lesson most mornings before riding>. We played a lot of ‘find the bike path.’ We went to the plaza for lunch. We made it and played Zelda.

Day 109: San Nicolás to Quirihue (44 km / 27 mi)

A: We went to get breakfast in the restaurant on the corner. We had bread and eggs. On the way out me and papa couldn’t find ham in four different stores.

There was a headwind on the way out of town. We stopped for a snack of potato chips at a intersection. For lunch we stopped in a driveway and ate nutella bread. We finally made it to our hostal in the town of Quirihue. The town was nice as well as our hostel. We also went out and ate some delicious stuff at a cafe. I got a chocolate milkshake. We also didn’t really have dinner. Bye! That’s all for today! See you later!

H: We woke up in a crappy hostal. We didn’t sleep well. We didn’t find ham. We stopped in a driveway for lunch. It was really hot. I needed to go pee. We made it and played Zelda.

Day 110: Quirihue to Cobquecura (37 km / 23 mi)

Parental note: Today the girls skipped their journals in the excitement of reaching the coast. We had good sleep in our hostel then rode up and over the coastal mountains through never-ending tree farms. The screaming descent into the beach town of Cobquecura was exciting for everyone – the ocean!!!

We rented a house near the beach for four nights to take a ‘deep rest.’ With the ocean waves as a soundtrack we settled in to eat and sleep and take leisurely walks. After ten days of criss-crossing the agricultural heart of Chile we were ready for a new region: the central coast.