Category Archives: attractions

Week 2 on the Carretera Austral

During this stretch we hit the 10,000 mile mark! And also 782 miles from Punta Arenas.

Daisy started a new ‘tradition’ for writing blog posts recently – eating chocolate while typing! Since there are no bears here in South America, we can eat in the tent. The chocolate sure helps make typing a little easier, hehe.

Week 2 on the Carretera Austral

The past week we’ve cycled another 213 miles, from Cochrane to Coyhaique. We found an alternate road, enjoyed exploring the Marble Caves by canoe, saw more incredible mountain vistas and river valleys, and found some pavement. It has been an exciting week!

Many of the southbound cyclists we pass express doom and gloom about the upcoming gravel road and how terrible it is. Sometimes, they are right – it is like riding your bicycle over an old-style washboard. Often we find the road not nearly as terrible as they claim. For the road north of Cochrane we heard particularly bad reports. However, we also found out there was an alternate route for about 20 km.

Raft-like ferry powered by the river’s current.

If you’re thinking: “An alternate route to the gravel road at the end of the world? That can’t be good, Jason!” Then think again! The road was great. We crossed a river on a tiny two car raft-ferry, climbed a mountain, and saw plenty of horses and cows but absolutely no cars. After all the dust we’d been breathing, it was a welcome break. And, of course, the scenery was stunning.

Climbing up the alternate pass. It was so steep Daisy had to push her heavy bike.

Up top was very pastoral.

River crossing back to the main route.

We rode along several lakes in this region. We’ve seen many shades of blue!

The next day we ended our ride near Puerto Rio Tranquilo, which is known for boat tours of the Marble Caves. We stopped along the road next to a dirt driveway that went down to the lake where you can rent kayaks and there is free camping. As we started down the steep grade, we quickly learned that we had to walk our bikes and began questioning whether the trip down the super-steep grade would be worth the trip back up the next morning.

The texture of the marble reminded us of a golf ball.

The answer to that question was yes, the “caves” were awesome! It also helped that we found a nice couple from Colorado that agreed to take our bags up the driveway in their truck the next morning. Although we arrived at the boat dock around dinner time – which you don’t want to delay after a long day of cycling – we rented a canoe, threw in a bunch of cheese and crackers, the waterproof camera, and set out on the 15 minute paddle to the attraction.

Paddling out to the Marble Caves. Those islands are it!

From the advertising campaign, we were expecting a huge swath of marble caves. In reality, it was the base of about 3 and a half small islands. Although smaller than expected, they still provided plenty of entertainment as we maneuvered the canoe through rock tunnels and examined the unique golf-ball-like texture of the marble. It was fun to explore with the autonomy of our canoe. The boatloads of tourists also provided plenty of entertainment: like the girls who jumped in the freezing water to get their picture taken between two rock arches, or the guy who climbed the 25 foot cliff to jump from the top!

We shared the space with many tour boats.

A very unique geologic formation!

We enjoyed quick baths in the cold rivers to wipe off all the road dust.

For several nights we were lucky to find wild campsites along different rivers. Water is plentiful, and the combination of the sound of the river running and the beautiful setting made for great campsites.

Camping by a river

One of many beautiful river valleys

Side road with a ranch

A Patagonian cemetery

It is really steep sometimes! Here we think they took a downhill sign and turned it sideways.

These cyclists had a stray dog run along with them for several kilometers.

Yesterday, after winding along up and then down another mountain, we finally hit our first stretch of pavement! That is right, part of the Carretera Austral is paved. Actually, we’ll be hitting more paved sections going north, and a lot of roadwork. We’ve heard that in 5 years the whole route will be paved, which will certainly change the experience for future travelers.

Selfie with Cerro Castillo

In any case, we definitely enjoyed the break from the bumpy road surface. We completed the longest climb of the Carretera Austral – about 2500 feet. During the climb, the road winds up the side of a mountain to enter a high river valley. The climb was pleasant, and felt just as easy as going downhill on gravel. When we got to the downhill paved section, we thought we must have entered heaven.

Looking down at our sinuous climb (on pavement!)

Up top with rocky mountain slopes

A high river valley

Now we’re in a campground that is actually just someone’s yard that lives in the town of Coyhaique. A few hours ago we were excited to do our shopping at the huge Unimarc grocery store – where just the aisle of cookies was larger than any single supermarket we’ve been in for over two weeks. We’re looking forward to rest day tomorrow before we continue our ride northward.

They sure know how to pack in the tents.

Glaciers, plains, and finally entering the mountains.

The Perito Moreno Glacier.

Another impressive view of the glacier.

When last we updated, we had just completed our first week of riding in Patagonia. There had been wonderful mountain scenery, open vistas, and strong winds. We stopped for a day in the small town of Calafate, which is mostly new construction and infested with crowds of tourists. Because of this almost overwhelming tide of trendy tourists in outdoor gear, we didn’t spend much time in town. We did, however, go to the area’s main attraction: the Perito Moreno glacier. It was well worth it!

This glacier is one of only two in all of South America that is actually advancing. Every day it advances up to 2 meters, and chunks of ice are constantly breaking off its face to crash into the lake below. We took a 90 minute bus ride to the viewing area, which was actually 5 km of metal boardwalks that criss-cross the hill overlooking the glacier. It was incredibly well-done, and despite the large volume of tourists we never felt like it was a zoo, and we always had a great view.

The blue of a glacial lake never ceases to impress.

We even got to play with this piece of iceberg that some kids had retrieved from the lake.

It was fun to just relax in the sun and watch chunks of ice calve off the glacier. The glacier is as tall as a 24 story building. For you folks back in Bellingham – that’s 9 stories higher than the tallest building in Bellingham! The sound of the ice chunks falling all the way to the water below was a deep rumble that we could feel even from our relatively far off vantage point. We couldn’t get close because it is dangerous. Before they restricted access, 32 people had died at this glacier after being struck by ice spears. Scary stuff indeed.

Our first glimpse of the ice sheet as we approached the national park.

Exterior of the famous ‘Pink House’

After we left Calafate we headed back out into the Argentine plains for another couple days. The wind was yet again a major factor, but we were lucky to shelter in an abandoned house for a night. This house is somewhat of a legend among touring cyclists, and over time it has been cleaned up a bit with many cyclists having left their mark.

Interior of the house. We shared with Benjamin, a very friendly Austrian cyclist.

Our last day of riding through the flat, windy expanse was a bit of a tease. We could see the iconic peaks of the Patagonian Andes slowly growing closer over the course of five hours of riding. The wind got stronger and stronger, until we were crawling along at 6 miles an hour. Eventually, however, we reached the base of those incredible peaks and entered the small town of Chalten.

The ‘beware of wind’ sign really describes this area well.

Far off mountains in the morning.

After lunch, getting closer!

Almost there!

Holy mountains!

Casa de ciclistas – jam-packed.

Outside of the Casa de Ciclistas.

This town was like a theme park for hikers and backpackers. It is known as the ‘National Trekking Capital’, since for some reason here folks always ‘trek’ and never ‘hike’. Perhaps hiking sounds too mundane. In any case, the town was incredibly scenic and we enjoyed a free night of camping at our first ‘Casa de Ciclistas’. It was a private home run by a local woman who loved to host touring cyclists. Her backyard was jam-packed with tents.

When we finally left Chalten it was to ride 22 miles on a gravel road to a secluded lake where we would catch a pair of ferries separated by a hiking trail where we would need to push the bikes. More on that in the next post. For now, here are some photos from that phenomenal gravel road and the first boat ride.

Heading into the mountains!

Maybe we’ll use this photo for a calendar in the future.

A view of the water from the south side of Lago Desierto.

These four British guys were pretty excited to get their bikes on the ferry.

Argentine customs, with Patagonia geese.

We camped on the far side next to Argentine customs, and I’m not sure I’ve ever slept in so scenic a location.

The view from our campsite. No kidding!

Rest days in Merida and introducing… The Philtrons Pedal North!

We spent 8 wonderful days in Merida with Daisy’s parents, and had the full Mexican experience with them. Highlights include Mayan ruins, a horse-drawn tour of underground swimming holes, a broken down rental car, potential tourist scams, and a diagnosis of intestinal parasites. It is hard to believe we fit so much into such a short time!

The whole crew in Izamal: the yellow city.

Our first day here we went to pick up the rental car that we had reserved online months ago. However, we learned that reservations of cars are ‘subject to availability at time of pick-up’. Um… what?! This means that your reservation is more or less a joke, and in our case it was really a joke. There was no car for us! We had to come back the next day, wait for over an hour, and finally got a teeny -tiny car for a much higher rate than we expected. Oh well, we were so happy just to have a car. Booking tours for four people is pricey, and having the car meant freedom to plan our own itinerary for tourist sites.

The ruins near Merida were small but fun.

The ruins even had a cenote that we could swim in! The heads in the foreground are ours…

The first order of business was Mayan ruins. We visited two sites in the vicinity of Merida. The first was smaller, but really fun because it included a dip in a cenote. These are very deep freshwater pools that provided water for the Mayans and often ended up preserving many artifacts that helped archaeologists learn about their culture.

The second ruin we visited was Uxmal, a once-great city that is still beautiful. The carvings were exquisite on all the buildings, and there weren’t too many tourists to clutter up our photos (hee hee). We saw lots of iguanas lazing about in the sun, and even found some bats that had set up shop in the ruins.

Selfie at Uxmal

The carvings at Uxmal were exquisite

Our favorite tourist activity was a visit to three famous cenotes. The locals have set up a unique way to access them: horse-drawn rail car. We had to visit twice, since the first time we arrived in the afternoon and they had run out of horses to tow the rail cars about. The next day we arrived early and were among the first to set out. It was quite an adventure! The rail car seemed to be held together with a combination of metal wire and grease, and the horse bounced us up and down and all around. We even had to walk a section of the route since someone had inexplicably stolen some of the railroad.

Our horse and driver.

Pushing the cart where there were no rails.

Access to the first cenote. There is a tiny hole at the base of the tree.

The cenotes themselves were incredible. The first one was accessed through a tiny hole in the ground and a ladder made of re-purposed railroad ties. Once down the hole we found ourselves in a cave packed with stalactites and stalagmites. We descended to the water using a single rope to keep from falling, and the way was illuminated by our guide’s single flashlight. We lowered ourselves into the water and swam through the cave. It became pitch black when our guide moved his light elsewhere, and we had to find our way around by touch. It was incredible!

In the cave cenote.

A more typical cenote: streaming sunlight, clear water, reaching tree roots.

The other cenotes we visited were a little more stereotypical: crystal clear water in underground caves with rays of light streaming in from above. Tree roots descended from the ceiling in search of water, and we loved swimming in the cool depths. This is absolutely a tour we would reccommend, but not for the faint of heart! It was kind of scary getting into and out of the cenotes, but well worth it.

Panic time: rental car breakdown.

On the way back from the cenote tour we had another experience: rental car break down. We were driving on the highway when the engine just stopped working. I was incredulous, but luckily managed to coast to the shoulder and put on the blinkers. We were able to call the rental car company and they sent out a tow truck and a replacement vehicle within two hours, which was actually very nice. The whole family just relaxed and read our books, so it was really pretty similar to a siesta!

This was where we spent the afternoon.

Child seat Mexican style.

A few of the eight days were spent lounging and doing chores. While in Merida we took care of a lot of chores that we’ve been putting off for a long time. This means that we changed our bicycle chains, sterilized our water bottles (they all had some green growth at the bottom), and rotated our tires. We also managed to re-pack and get some new gear for cold weather (more on that below!)

We all went out to lunch a few times, with variable results. See photo below!

Jason and I ordered this: Relleno Negro. It is burned chile soup with turkey and really not that delicious.

Also in the good news department – I think we’ve finally got my ongoing stomach problems figured out. I got myself to a doctor, and got prescribed a round of antibiotics and anti-parasitics. Apparently folks in Mexico just de-parasite themselves every 6 months because they are so common here. I really hope the medicine works, since I am super sick of having stomach problems on bike tour!

Now, finally, the big news…

The Philtrons Pedal South is becoming The Philtrons Pedal North. Once we reach Cancun on January 11 we will fly (in an airplane) to the southern tip of Chile, and then we will ride north again all the way back to Cancun. We agonized over this decision, but in the end I think we will be very happy with it. Yes, it will break up the continuity of the trip and probably throw you readers for a loop, but we have good reasons!

There are roads in southern Chile that pass through incredible mountain scenery, complete with ferry rides, gravel, glaciers, and more. We have dreaming about these roads for years. The problem is that they are only accessible in the Chilean summer: January through March. If we rode our entire route North to South we would arrive far too early in the season to ride them… The solution? Ride the second half backwards! This also helps with other timing (like getting back to work, someday), and lets us avoid the problem areas of Central America until the end of the trip. In this way, we can get rid of everything valuable before entering areas where we are more likely to be robbed.

So, we hope you’ll keep following our adventures despite the sudden discontinuity! We’ll re-visit this decision in a couple more posts, for those folks that miss this one. We are super excited for this next leg to begin.

San Cristobal and on to Palenque: from mountain pines to low-land jungle

The language classes in San Cristobal were a success! After spending most of a week there, we headed “downhill” to Ocosingo and onward to Palenque. The trek took five days, although we could have easily done it in half the time. We saw two different Mayan ruin sites and made it past a road-block protest. However, Daisy took her turn at being sick.

San Cristobal de las casas to Palenque

Jason with instructor Laura and fellow student Carmen

The Spanish lessons were well worth the time and cost. In case you’re wondering, it is relatively inexpensive – for US standards. I signed up for 15 hours of group class over 5 days, and the total was M$1320, or US$90. I had a class size of 1 or 2, and had two very different but both knowledgeable instructors. I enjoyed the opportunity to practice speaking — and I’m sure Daisy enjoyed the break from giving the lessons herself!

This tarantula is out of the cage at the bug and insect museum!

So what did Daisy do during the week? Yes, she was busy too. The first couple days she took care of our hostel choice and related things while I was still sick. Then, she finished a final(?) draft of a paper. Impressive, no? All this while sipping coffee along the pedestrian streets and people-watching! It was strange to see the many, many tourists wandering around in hippy-style clothing. We called them the ‘raggedy-baggedies’ since they reminded us of the alternative-living-surfer-dudes that we saw in Tofino, British Columbia. The mornings were for studying and work, and the afternoons for recovering and wandering the streets or going to museums.

Raggedy-baggedy pants in this one!

We love the festive streamers on the pedestrian streets

When it came time, we were very excited to get back on the bikes and out of town. However, it was then Daisy’s turn for gastrointestinal distress. On day 1 out of San Cristobal we made it about half way to our intended destination – through a lot of up hill, menacing dogs, and way way too many speed bumps! We stopped in a town of 40 thousand-plus people, which was (of course!) in the middle of a large fiesta. After a bit of asking around (and difficult navigation) we arrived at the other side of the fiesta and finally found the two small hotels. Unfortunately, there was only one room available. It had dirty sheets, no electricity, and no hot water in the shared bathroom. There wasn’t even space for the bikes! After an unintentional detour on a dirt track to get back to the highway, we collapsed at the local medical center and they allowed us to camp there. It was a night filled with typical fiesta sounds, but we were tucked away safely.

This dirt track got really steep before we found the highway again. Needless to say, it didn’t end up being a shortcut!

Our resting place for the night – boxed in by tables, benches, and vehicles!

On day 2 we made it to Ocosingo (no uphill actually…) and got Daisy parked in a hotel to help her feel better. I spent a few hours in the afternoon taking a collective bus out to the ruins of Toniná. They were great – 7 terraces of buildings and pyramids built up and into a hillside. You were allowed to wander wherever you wanted. I even made a few Mexican friends!

Model of the ruins at Toniná

Looking up at the hill and 7 terraces

Looking down from the very top

I really was up there!

Jason chillin’ with two new friends. Apparently my blue eyes were attractive…

On day 3 we thought we were going to leave Ocosingo, but soon found out we weren’t going to make it anywhere. We left our hotel and biked about a mile to a large grocery store. From there we went up a couple steep hills on our way to the edge of town. Daisy was really feeling the stomach pain, so we decided to stop. I checked out the nearby hotels, which were all more expensive than the one from the previous night. We limped back to our hotel and were happy to move back in before they got the chance to clean our room! The internet was functional there — until the power went out for the whole town. We spent all afternoon and evening reading our kindles in the dark.

On day 4 we successfully exited town. Part-way through the day’s ride we ran into a looong line of parked cars. Immediately we wondered if there was a road-block ahead, as there was when we left Oaxaca. Sure enough, there was! The reason for the protest was that the Mexican government has taken Agua Azul out of the hands of the locals, so they are no longer getting the tourist revenue. In any case, we were able to barely sneak through. As we walked through the barricade, one guy was stopping us but a few others told him to let us through. Whew. The good news was that the traffic was really light afterwards! We decided to skip Agua Azul, and head on to Misol-Ha, another waterfall in the area.

Back-up from the road block

Jungle and farms. The blue river down in the valley is the one that agua azul gets it’s name from. It is blue.

Daisy enjoys a coconut water “to go”

Jungle converted to corn fields

Misol-Ha waterfall

On Christmas Eve (day 5) we arrived in the tourist town of Palenque. It was bustling! We did our food shopping, and then went to the hippie-ish enclave of hotel/hostels called El Panchan on the road to the ruins. We got the last room at the Jungle Palace. Although we didn’t see any monkeys, we sure got our share of jungle rain! We spent that afternoon at Palenque viewing many, many pyramids and other structures. The tourist load was a bit lighter than usual, but the stone staircases were definitely a bit more treacherous! The sheer number of ruins (and Mexicans hawking their wares) was very impressive.