Author Archives: Jason

Bahía Murta to Coyhaique

This 5-day stretch ended in the largest town (a city!) in the Aysén region, Coyhaique. We started out with a pleasant night camping followed by a very wet climbing day. A long dry day was followed by a rest day in Villa Cerro Castillo. Then we went over the largest pass on the Carretera Austral, climbing 3000′ of elevation gain in a single day. Let’s just say that kind of gain was only possible since we were on pavement! In this entry we feature the kids’ writing and supplement it with a few adult comments.

Day 47: Bahía Murta to Camping Doña Dora (20 km / 12 mi)

Ut oh, A forgot to write something today!

H: I helped pack up a bag. It was easy riding. We’re staying on a farm again.

Departure from Bahia Murta on the paved side road

We loved being in our warm, dry cabin for a couple days of pouring rain. But, once the rain stopped we were ready to keep moving. Our first day back on the bikes was short and quick. The gravel road was soaked from the weather and there was little dust today. We arrived at the campground around 1 pm (after a very late start) and had our pick of campsites. Throughout the afternoon different cyclists rolled in: a couple different solo cyclists from Europe, a pair from Europe, a group of supported cyclists, and a couple from Indiana. It was a great, fun group to spend the evening (and morning the next day) chatting with – of course everyone was in the shelter cooking and eating out of the evening rain!

Day 48: Camping Doña Dora to Camping Rio Cajón (45 km / 28 mi)

A: Today for breakfast I had cookies and eggs. Eventually we got on the road and zoomed to the base of the hill we were climbing today. It was raining. 😢. For a lunch halfway up the hill we had smoked mackerel sandwiches. Delicious. On the downhill I got frustrated because we weren’t here yet. The campground had goats, horses, turkeys, duck, chicken, and possibly cows. We decided to stay indoors. Me and H played video games while Mama and Papa cooked dinner (I think). Dinner was lentils and pasta. I didn’t eat much. I’m getting bored of this meal. Bye! That’s all for today! See you later! 😊. Oh, and for a bit a puppy/dog chased us down the road. It was surprisingly fast.

Low clouds and rain meant we didn’t stop to enjoy the scenery

H: It was raining all day. There was a giant steep uphill. I saw a mouse shivering while we were riding. While the mouse was shivering, it had both of its paws like knuckles on its chest while shaking like crazy!!! (If you didn’t know that, give me double thanks for letting you know that information. It was really hard to figure out what the mouse was doing and what it looked like.) So this mouse looked like it had just fallen down a steep cliff right next to the road and then a car hit it and the mouse was in between its wheels cause the mouse was crying. Ha ha! Just joking! Because since it was raining, there were raindrops coming down the mouses face! So anyway we made it in the rain and we were supposed to camp, but got a room instead. I played video games and on Stardew Valley I made it to level 55 on the mines. I ate dinner but I couldn’t because I wasn’t hungry and I’m bored of having pasta and lentils for dinner and breakfast every single day.

This is what “tired of the rain” looks like

A has a very consistent descriptive narrative of each day. In contrast, H will often just give a few sentences so we were tickled by her long narrative today. The girls had it right though that the climb was brutal and wet. It was a hard day of riding, but it had to be done: the only way out is through. The hill was so steep. There was one point where I tried to switch to a lower gear, but it wasn’t working. I thought it was because A was still pedaling (you have to not pedal when switching gears with a Pinion). We ended up stopping suddenly on a steep, muddy section. I looked down to see what gear we were in, and realized we were already in gear 1. There wasn’t a lower gear, ahhh! This was the first time I’ve wanted a lower gear, which is really saying something because the gearing on this tandem is great for carrying heavy stuff up steep hills.

Walking up a steep section, one of several!

After serving dinner tonight Daisy and I really got the message that we need to switch up the menu! The farm where we spent the night offers camping, or beds in a house. I was considering camping but luckily Daisy was thinking fast and quickly signed us up to sleep inside. We had a quiet night and no other cyclists joined us. We really enjoyed seeing the sheep herding dogs do their job to bring the sheep into the pen at night. Also a herd of 100(+) goats walked by. What a menagerie. One strange thing was that there were no sheets on the bed. It was wonderful to be inside and dry, especially as it continued to rain in the afternoon and evening.

Day 49: Camping Rio Cajón to Villa Cerro Castillo (38 km / 24 mi)

A: Today for breakfast I had eggs and cookies. I had a lot of fuzzes on my socks from the bed. Soon we left and started biking. The road condition wasn’t good, but then again it wasn’t bad either. We biked through the valley and climbed up a huge hill in the middle of an island in the river! (Wow!) We almost ran out of water but stopped at a construction site for lunch and more water. By the time we left the construction workers had arrived. There was a different cyclist. Finally we rode down a huge downhill into town. It was hot. Once we found our place we all rested and took a little break and eventually ordered pizza (vegetarian and ham/tomato) from a restaurant. I think I’m going to take a shower next. Bye! See you later!

H: Horrible gravel, pavement, nice cabin, and video games.

Our morning descent into the Río Ibáñez valley

Today we reached pavement!!! But we had one more stretch of nasty gravel to get through first. The entirety of the 25km before pavement was through an active construction zone. The scenery was stunning – the mountains shot up the valley sides dramatically, up 1000 m (3300 ft). One had a high valley with a cloud trailing out of it like dragon breath. Yet the gravel was rough and somehow dry enough to be dusty already, despite the overnight rain. It was like riding on misshapen marbles, so in the afternoon when we reached pavement we really appreciated it.

It was dry enough that the little gulleys we passed all had no water and as we continued climbing we started worrying about running out. Instead of eating lunch, which would have also involved drinking, we pushed on hoping to find water. We were happy to find some at a viewpoint closed for construction. After the viewpoint the valley really opened up. The ‘Castle Mountain’ is very distinctive, a series of very sharp and pointy peaks.

We reached high speeds on our descent into the valley on a smooth road. As we rounded the final corner and saw town, we stopped to take a picture. Daisy and I took the same picture 11 years ago – you can see the town has grown! The left side of the road used to be fields and now it is has a gas station, houses, and a couple stores. All throughout the Carretera Austral we’ve noticed that the roads have more pavement and the towns are bigger and busier.

Our cabin is right off the main road. I took the time to bring our bags into the shower and wash them off. The bikes also got a (limited) bath. I’m sure we removed a couple of pounds of mud in total! For dinner we treated the kids to takeout pizza. It was very, very well received – and there were no complaints about it being a boring meal.

Day 50: Rest day in Villa Cerro Castillo

A: Today was a rest day. I practically just played video games and read all day. The meals were good. For breakfast I had egg avocado burritos, lunch – chicken avocado burger, dinner – potatoes (fried) and fish cakes. Mmmm…

H didn’t write anything today. Something unusual about today was that I went to the grocery store 4 times. We eat a lot, but that did seem a little excessive! Then again, Daisy told me she thought she ate 7000 calories today. A and I took a walk through town and played on both playgrounds. The clouds were very unusual today, looking like giant, smoothly-stretched fluffs. I think they might have been lenticular clouds.

Day 51: Villa Cerro Castillo to Camping at Laguna Chiguay (37 km / 23 mi)

A: Today for breakfast I had an egg and avocado burrito. It was delicious. Soon we started biking up the biggest hill of the Carretera Austral. At least it was on pavement, but wow it was still hard! For a snack on the hill we had gummies and oreos just before a set of switchbacks. We coasted down a bit on the other side and stopped for lunch at a trailhead. Lunch was avocado and tuna and mayo sandwiches. It was awesome. (I can’t believe we carried an avocado!) We walked a little on the trail and crossed a rickety wooden suspension bridge. It was fun. We then got back on the bikes and climbed the last 600 ft of climbing. The camping area was really nice. It was nestled in a valley beside a nasty lagoon with algae growing on its surface. Supposedly a special frog species lived there. I don’t see why they should have any reason to like it. There was also a special endangered deer species that lived in and around the valley. Me and H played with a koosh ball while Mama and Papa set up the tent (he, he, he!) and cooked dinner. Dinner was pasta, soy chunks, carrots and broth. I didn’t really like it. Me, Papa, and Mama took a walk down to the lagoon. The bathrooms here were really nice, they even had toilet paper! Yay! Bye! That’s all for this long day! Oh, we also climbed 3,000 feet today! See you later!

H: We ate breakfast, did a climb, and ate lunch. We went uphill, and got there. We played and we played video games. We climbed a total of 3100 ft.

We knew this day would be a big one, and it didn’t disappoint! The uphill started right away, as we climbed steadily along the valley. At the base of 7 switchbacks we stopped for our snack: a lot of chips, cookies, and gummies. (One of my bike-tour joys is eating junk food. With our elevated metabolisms we burn right through it all.) We entered the park and then reached the top of the pass. The mountain peaks here look different – dry, rocky, and barren. The contrast with the green valley was great. There is an endangered deer, the huemul, that lives in the area but we weren’t lucky enough to spot one. The descent through this high valley was something that stuck in my memory from 11 years ago and I was happy to repeat the experience.

It was like we were being followed by the paparazzi today. Cars kept stopping to take pictures of us.

A car pulls over, and just after this photo they get out to film us. I beat them to the punch this time!

After some more climbing at the end of the day, we ended at a campground in the national park. The girls and I played a ball game for awhile, and then they played more with their koosh. There’s nothing like the threat of throwing out toys, as extra weight that we don’t use or need, to get them played with! Daisy and I recognize this campground from being here 11 years ago, especially the old water heater and dish washing area.

Day 52: Laguna Chiguay to Coyhaique (62 km / 39 mi)

A: Today for breakfast I had coconut cereal and a spoonful of peanut butter. We soon left the campground and sailed down 4 or 5 kilometers of long downhill. Eventually I sadly realized we had left my water bottle (which I really quite liked, it had insulation,) at the campground. I was sad. There were a lot more up and downs before we made it to the teensy town of Blanco, where we stopped for lunch. For lunch we stopped at a restaurant and got delicious empanadas and we also refilled our water bottles. Then we finally started on the biggest hill of the day, a gradual 150 meter climb. It started raining and, apparently, the water we had gotten tasted weird. I didn’t try it myself, by the way. The wind was also like the winds of Tierra del Fuego. BOOOO!!! We stopped at a second small restaurant but decided to just push on to Coyhaique. Eventually we did after all make it to the city where we slowly made our way up the hill to our place. The house we were staying was really nice except it DIDN’T HAVE TOILET PAPER! We all couldn’t believe our ears!!?!? Me and H played video games while the parents made dinner. Dinner was teriyaki chicken (for me, beef for H) and rice. Also vegetables. It was good. Then Mama, H, and me (“us girls”) played Bubble Shooter on a phone. Me and Papa also took a short fun walk. Bye! See you later! That’s all for today!

H: Horrible wind and rain. Staying at place with no toilet paper. Mama mad at me for some reason.

This day was definitely harder than we planned! We came down into some rolling hills to see farmland with sheep, cows, and horses. Daisy spotted a puma (from quite a distance!) that we felt lucky to see. After lunch the weather really turned against us. The headwind and rain came and went as the traffic steadily increased. We arrived in town to realize we had ‘extra’ climbing to our AirBnB since the whole town spreads across a slanted valley. We finally arrived, soaked from rain, yet sweating in the sunlight, and definitely tired. The next day the clouds cleared and we could see the massive rock cliffs surrounding town.

Day 53: Rest day in Coyhaique

We spent our rest day exploring the plaza, finding a great playground, and getting some bicycle maintenance and chores done (including washing ALL our clothes). At El Escarabajo bike shop we had a great time meeting Nestor and his family – including giving them test rides on our tandems. And we are very thankful to the team at Co-Motion Cycles for responding immediately with help on our maintenance question. Our noises were ultimately coming from a sprocket with a loose lockring, and once we removed the caked-on mud we could easily see the pins to tighten it down. We also replaced some brake pads.

Torres del Paine side trip

Last week we attempted to ride the ferry north to Caleta Tortel on standby and we did not make it on. In the end, this was not too disappointing, since we instead took a lovely 3-day trip up and through Torres del Paine National Park. It is hard to express how beautiful of a place it is. Not only were we happy to have gone, now it is on our list to come back to for a multi-day hike around the towers. Tonight we will be getting on the ferry with our original ticket reservation. It is hard to believe it will be most of another week until we are back on our bikes!

The Philtrons with the Torres del Paine in the background

When we didn’t get on the ferry last week, Daisy began to plan a multi-day trip to see the park by car (*gasp*, car, I know!). We reserved a campsite for two nights, park tickets for the Mylodon Cave and Torres del Paine, and a boat tour to Grey Glacier. It was both fun and very strange to be traveling by car instead of by bicycle. As we were bumping along the gravel park roads, speeding up the steep hills, and kicking up immense dust clouds, I was happy we weren’t cycling!

The Mylodon Cave Park was, as you might guess, a big cave where the remains of a mylodon were found. A mylodon is an extinct 2.5-m tall sloth-like creature. It was a pleasant stroll to the cave and then a brisk hike up to an overlook. We felt the view was grand, but we were just getting started.

While driving north towards the park we stopped at several overlooks to view the majestic mountains and pristine lakes. It was not lost on us that the very strong winds were not a problem in a car. Eventually we arrived at the park’s edge and saw the famous towers. It was a truly amazing sight. The rock formations rise 8,000 feet from the foreground. We soaked in the view of the towers from different angles throughout the 3-day trip.

West of the towers is Grey Lake, named for its color due to the glacier-fed silty water. Glacier Grey is at the end of the 17 km lake, and is viewed up close during a 3-hour boat tour. The water was calm and we saw all three faces of the glacier. We were told the height of the ice face is about 90 feet above water and up to 300 feet below the water. It is immense and the pictures don’t do it justice. I especially enjoyed when the boat pulled up next to an iceberg, and one of the workers got out a long harpoon to hack off a piece of ice to bring aboard the boat for photos and to cool down drinks.

The Grey Glacier is part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field

This was right before Jason was told to not touch the ice

The area is filled with lakes and rivers – water seems abundant. (Or else it is melting ice that is abundant!) We took advantage of the many, many viewpoints during our drive through the park. By the end, we were leaving A and H in the car for our quick strolls to beam in happiness at the views.

Back in Puerto Natales we had a day to repack and prepare for the ferry journey. We revisited a few of our favorite sites: a playground, a cafe, and the big grocery store.

Not spinning our wheels

Between Porvenir and Punta Arenas we’ve had a series of rest days where we have been waiting for a good weather window while getting a few chores done. We also had the pleasure of a penguin tour! After almost a week of not riding we are getting antsy. And by we I mean Daisy and Jason, not A and H. They seem perfectly happy to spend the day playing video games without a care in the world.

Examples of A + H free time over the past week

We spent four nights in Porvenir, which we found to be a charming small town. Everyone seems to pass right by on their way to points further south (or north) and at most spends a quick meal or a single night here. We enjoyed eating at a local restaurant for lunch and having sandwiches for dinner. We visited the town museum and learned about some of the local history – from the four main tribes of native folks (who were sadly all killed or died of disease), to a local gold rush in the 1880s.

On our way out of town we took a quick detour to the Laguna de Los Cisnes Natural Monument. Once there we saw fossilized stromatolites. These are mounds of crusty cyanobacteria that represent an ancient life form from early in Earth’s history, billions of years ago. They are distinct mounds made of layers of bacteria that produced oxygen. Many looked like misshapen doughnuts, and broken spots showed holes inside the ‘dough.’ It is an amazing piece of living history which is only found in a few places on Earth. However, all that amazing information and understanding came from the internet, as there was not a single informational sign or label at the lake – simply a wooden boardwalk.

Fossilized stromatolite mounds at Laguna de Los Cisnes

We felt a real sense of accomplishment on the ferry, as we left Tierra del Fuego and crossed the Strait of Magellan. We arrived in Punta Arenas almost exactly 11 years after our first visit, which was the beginning of our Philtrons Pedal North journey to Colombia. Last time we were here we took a bus ride to see penguins, but those penguins no longer visit that area. This time we took a boat tour to Isla Magdalena to see a larger colony of Magellanic Penguins. We were lucky that it was not a windy day and the water was calm. However, that didn’t stop first A and then H from vomiting during the 80 minute ride to the island. Luckily they felt better afterward and were ready to do the 1-hour walk on the island.

We walked past hundreds, or thousands, of penguins, and enjoyed seeing them walk, swim, sunbathe, and honk their heads off. I noticed that some of the chicks were quite plump by this point – and looked larger than their parents! Human visitors are required to remain 2 meters back from the penguins. The penguins had no fear or qualms about walking towards or between us visitors, resulting in us having to stop and move backwards to get out of the way and give them space. The penguin population on the island is estimated at 60,000 breeding pairs. There are also (way too) many Kelp Gulls on the island, which produced additional noise and, well, bird poop.

Walking through a town is always an adventure and Punta Arenas is no exception. Within a block from our small apartment we can walk past an abandoned lot/building, a small convenience store, a hostel, and a fancy house that looks like it could be from Boulder, CO. The Plaza de Armas has these amazing, large trees. They are the same kind that we’ve occasionally seen out in the countryside in a very wind-swept form. In this case they have grown up strong and wide with the wind protection afforded by the buildings. A bunch of the parks also have what we’ve been calling “gumdrop trees.” We got a good laugh at how some of them have bad hair-cuts.

We are excited to get back on the road heading north! I wonder how much of the route ahead will evoke memories from a decade ago.

Tolhuín to Rio Grande

After a relaxing day in Tolhuin, we decided to tackle the 110 km in two days. Luck was with us, and for both days the wind was extremely mild compared to what is normal for the area. However, we are looking ahead at the weather forecast and weighing our options, as rain and strong winds are forecast for much of the next week.

For this blog post, A has agreed that we could use her (hand-written) journal entries. I’ve typed them here and added the photos.

Day 5: Tolhuín to Camping Norte (61 km)

Today we biked out of Tolhuín around 8:20 (A.M.). We were going 60 kilometers to et to a campground near the Atlantic ocean. The land was mostly down/flat with small or medium sized hills. When we stopped for lunch me and H had a stone-throwing competition. We ate Mayonnaise/Mayo sandwiches and I had tuna on mine. Just before lunch we had seen a fox den. We saw three cubs and a mother fox peek out at us, and throughout the day the family saw tons of guanacos. They had very long necks and some had black faces.

Putting binoculars to a more immediate use

Around 1 o’clock the headwind got really bad. But we could see the ocean so we all knew we were close. My opinion was that we were going way too slow. :(. Soon, we made it to the campsite. It was a lot less windy there. :). After dinner we all went to an outlook and down a hill to see a herd of around 25 guanacos including around 10 baby guanacos. (So cute!) By the way, we had hot chocolate for breakfast and eggs and pasta with carrots for dinner. Now we are all reading or writing then probably going to sleep. See you!

Day 6: Camping Norte to Rio Grande (50 km)

Snack time. Yes, we can eat a whole bag of potato chips!

Today we made it to Rio Grande. People say it is an ugly city but I think it is a perfectly fine city. To start it off, today we saw tons of guanacos and a couple big fat-looking birds. The scenery was very boring, just a buncha tall and short grass going on and on forever with small patchy groves of trees covered in pale lichen. Not my favorite. (But I do think the guanacos like it. We saw a herd of what seemed like 25 guanacos with at least 10 babies. Thought maybe that is not very exciting, because I told you the exact same thing.)

For lunch we had apple cheese sandwiches and I ate the apple separate from the cheese and bread. To get into Rio Grande we had to take a busy bridge over a river called Rio Grande. The name of the river was Big River. Then while we waited for our rental apartment to open we found a great park, me and H played on a couple long twisty tunnel slides. The family also took a photo with a huge RIO GRANDE sign. Then we went into our rental house. It is a great place with 2 bedrooms, a couch, and a kitchen. Mama and Papa were commenting on how bad the dishrack was. It was just super small. Now we’ve all finished writing. Need to go. I’m brushing my hair. Bye!