PowerCycle

Bad news I found out today. There’s been a huge wildfire burning in Torres del Paine national park for a few days and now I’m hearing that the park is going to be closed maybe for all of January. What a shame. It sounds like the fire was caused by careless backpackers (again–there was another big fire there in 2005 caused by a hiker’s stove). The fire is still completely uncontained thanks to dry conditions and winds of 56 mph.

Not much going on in town. I’m just about over this cold. 2 days of coughing but overall it didn’t hit too hard. The hotel hasn’t been a bad place to rest up and there are 2 huge supermarkets right down the street.

I’m stocked up on Chile and Argentina pesos because the ATMs south of here are probably going to be short on cash. I imagine quite a few tourists are going to try waiting out the fires in TDP and this is the start of high season when things are normally very busy to begin with.

I brought the bike over to a pretty decent bike shop called El Figon and had them clean the chain and cables for me. They were a little mucked up from the rain/dirt/ash north of here. I also asked them to take a look and see if they could make it so the rear brake would close properly but they said I’d have to buy a smaller tire. With the new 2″ tire on the back the brake won’t close probably because the fender presses up into the cable and I can’t lower it anymore or it’ll hit the tire. I ended up fixing it myself back at the hotel by adjusting the height of the brake pads and loosening up the cable a bit.

I’m planning on leaving Sunday.

12/26 Merry Christmas! This year was pretty quiet… spent Christmas Eve hanging out for a bit with a girl from Belgium who is hiking solo down to Ushuaia and her friend, a guy riding a motorcycle around South America. Christmas Day I hung out at a hosteria in Villa Mañiguales. There’s a Casa de Ciclista there but no one else was around and the beds were all sitting in the middle of the living room area so it would have been kind of weird (for me at least). I’m also a little sick with something I probably caught from one of the other cyclists I ran into on the road. Quarantining myself might not be a bad idea for a few days.

On kind of a whim I turned around after passing the entrance to Ventisquero Colgante (glacier in Queulat) and decided to go check it out. That was a mistake. I almost left when I saw that foreigners have to pay 2x what Chile people do ($8 US for me). That just pisses me off to no end. Do they charge foreigners in Canada or the US double? No, everyone gets ripped off equally. Just kidding. The major parks in my homeland(s) can at least justify the prices by having brochures in 14 languages, park rangers/guides, etc. Oh and they have actual wildlife whereas here they have cows and goats.

Knocked out the big pass in Queulat National Park. It wasn’t bad at all and I think they might have smoothed out the gravel a bit because everyone else said it was like a riverbed. Amazing views from the pass down into the next valley. It might have been the first time I thought, “Wow” after seeing mountain scenery. Growing up next to the Rocky Mountains might have set the bar pretty high for me.

On one of the paved(!) climbs to Villa Armengual I passed the 2 Japanese riders and the girl from Belgium. Lot’s of Belgium folks out traveling the world. Grabbed a room in a hospedaje for 4000 pesos.

The ride from Villa Armengual to Villa Mañiguales was all paved which was a surprise. Great scenery along this stretch. The next day into Coihaique was also paved with a big climb which included a very dark tunnel. I’m staying at the Residential Monica for 3 nights (wifi, big room, priv bathroom, 10000 pesos). There’s some bad weather coming mid-week and it’s New Year’s so maybe I’ll stay for a week. Not sure yet.

GPX track

12/23 The story is this section has been the weather and the roads. Aside from today its been raining constantly with temperatures hovering around 45 F. The few times the clouds opened up to let the sun through were moments of great happiness. The wind was light which made all the difference in the world. The road, as expected, was gravel but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. That’s not to say it was great but I’ve seen much worse. The surface was packed down pretty good, the hard part being the hills. The grades on most are 8 or 9% which can be tough on a loaded bike.

After 30 miles of cold, wet riding I made it from Futaleufú to the tiny village of Puerto Ramirez. There I stayed in a hosteria for 10,000 pesos (first one over the bridge). No wifi or TV and the bathroom is shared.

From Puerto Ramirez I rode 35 miles before stopping to camp just past some signs noting that I was in Region XI instead of Region X–whatever that means. Woke up in a near panic at 3am. The only flat area to pitch my tent was along the edge of a steep hill and I kept imagining the entire area sliding down into the very big and very cold Rio Palena. Well at 3am I woke up because I swore I could hear my sister saying, “Wake up!” That freaked the hell out of me so I’m grabbing for my flashlight wondering if this was it. It wasn’t. The hill was intact and no one had run off with my bike. Even from 7000 miles away she still manages to torment her big brother.

More climbing (2794 feet) the next day but only one hill, a brutal bastard, about 2 miles from the junction at Villa Santa Lucia. It wasn’t horribly long but it was horribly tiring because it was steep and wet. Saw 2 guys riding together heading north and another couple guys heading south. The sun peaked out a few times illuminating some rather impressive mountain scenery. It’s amazing how low the snow line is at this latitude. There should be a few glaciers coming up that I’m looking forward to seeing.

At Santa Lucia I hopped on the famous Carretera Austral (CH-7), a mostly unpaved road that winds 770 miles through rural Patagonia. I’ll stay on this road until the end at Villa O’Higgins and then cross back into Argentina via ferry (actually 2 ferries and a 5 mile stretch of muddy, wet unridable track where I might have to hire a horse to carry my gear).

In La Junta I tracked down a place to camp and called it a day. The camping spot was under a big tree next to the road in someone’s front yard. They have camping and cabanas available. Good hot shower and a hose to wash the bike off.

Saw 3 riders from Belgium and one guy towing a trailer. I heard about the trailer guy from some other riders– the trailer normally has his 3 year old kid in it but I guess the wife went ahead with it for some reason. Probably because the road is freaking terrible and that baby would have been scrambled.

I’m in a campground now about 10 miles south of Peurto Puyuguapi. The girl tried to get me for 5000 pesos but I got her down to 3000. Even three is too high. The place has a great hot shower and I picked up some beer before leaving the last town. Saw 2 Japanese riders and a couple riders from Poland. There were a couple Israeli backpackers on the road having no luck at all trying to hitchhike. I heard from a few people now that almost no one stops in Chile. I think if I ever went to Israel I would like it there because the people always seem pretty cool. Politically I’m not a fan but whatever. It was a few days ago that someone said that I’m the only American they’ve seen riding. I only know of one other guy ahead of me but maybe there are a couple off the beaten path.

The altitude where I’m at is 20 feet which surprised the hell out of me. I had to calibrate my gps but sure enough I’m at sea level. This “lake” is maybe a fjord since there’s a huge glacier nearby? Not sure what it’s technically called. The waters next to me definitely belong to the Pacific Ocean even though the main coast is 35 miles away.

GPX track

12/17 I decided to skip my planned day off in Trevelin so this morning I packed up and left without even telling the owners I was going. I’m not sure if they saw me but it would have been obvious, at least to the wife, why I was leaving. It was worth being out the $14 to avoid a brutal conversation with sheep-man. I’ll go back and update the post from yesterday with more info.

Other than a lot of bouncing up and down on the rough gravel road, the ride to the border and then into Futaleufú was uneventful. The crossing was fast since I was the only one at both offices. The Chile customs people did a good job digging through my food pannier and this time they confiscated some beans. He almost took my oatmeal because there were raisins in it. I’m surprised he didn’t. My bike tipped over from the wind and my rear kickstand broke. I hate that I haven’t been keeping track of how many I’ve gone through. This was the last one for a while.

In Futaleufú I tracked down a pretty cheap hosteria up on the hill by the hospital for 6000 pesos ($11 US). The town sits in a small valley and there are jagged snow-covered peaks on all sides. It’s one of the best views I’ve seen in a long time.

The ATM here isn’t on the Plus network which both my cards use. It’s a 7 day ride to the next town with an ATM and I only have 21000 pesos ($40 US). This should be interesting. I’ll try a couple credit cards tomorrow and see if I can get some cash that way. I can’t actually use a cc to buy anything because no one takes them. I should be able to make it as long as I stick to bread for lunch and pasta for dinner. If I run out of beer money things could get ugly.

Update: gusts to 47mph late Monday through Thursday and 2.2″ of snow/rain each day. If I can exchange some Argentine money tomorrow I might stay. The thought of sitting here for four more days is distressing. Update #2: OK I changed over enough money so I’m not freaking out now. Telefónica del Sur next to the panadería took care of it in <1 minute. I can't leave today because I have to watch Dexter before my sister spoils it. Tomorrow I'm out and I don't care how hard it's snowing.

GPX track