PowerCycle

12/16 I had a longer post written but it seems to be gone thanks to a bug in my offline blog writer thing (Blogdesk, that I love but I wish they would update it). Here’s a summary of the last 3 days: hot and hilly.

Update: OK, here’s the deal with sheep-man that I mention in the next post. After riding around trying to find a place in Trevelin that wasn’t $60 US I ended up at a campground on the north side of town called Otrebor. The place is run by a husband and wife. Besides the stupid dog that barks non-stop there are sheep and ducks running around all over the place. Besides the camping/grazing area they have a room with a couple bunk beds and a single bed for 60 pesos. It was cooler in there than under the 110F sun so I paid for 2 days.

Once settled in I went over to the shared bathroom and took a shower. While I was in there the husband comes into the bathroom and asks me where my bike is to which I yell back that it’s in the room. He walks out I head back to the room. Suddenly the guy starts banging on the door trying to open it and yelling for me. Fortunately I’d locked it but that didn’t stop him from pulling open the curtains and trying to get my attention that way (no glass/screen on the window). Thankfully I was dressed by this time.

I open the door and he walks into the room and tells me that I have to have to keep my bike outside. This room, by the way, has nothing in it besides the 3 beds. The walls are bare concrete, the floor is concrete with a big, nasty rug on it and my shoulders are wider than the beds. This wasn’t the Ritz in other words. I moved my bike outside and heated up a little water for some coffee. As I was moving the bike I kicked the rug and half a dozen bugs scurry out from under it. I look around and see a few bugs just about everywhere else, including on the beds.

I found the guy and brought him over to show him the bugs. He comes in and immediately points to my coffee and says the bugs are there because me/other people cook/drink in the room. Well now I know the guy is a complete idiot. I don’t give a crap what anyone did before me– the bugs sure didn’t magically appear when they smelled my cup of coffee. It’s his job to keep the place clean and if there’s a problem with people bringing food/drinks into the room he needs to tell them when they check-in. First time I’ve ever heard of a no coffee in the room rule but whatever.

Things just got bizarre after that. An hour later the power goes out in my room. The internet still works so I know it’s not the whole town. I go tell the wife. She is extremely nice and it’s a shame her husband is such an asshole. Anyway, she goes away for a second and turns the power into my room back on. I didn’t understand what she said but its pretty obvious that sheep-man turned it off to keep me from cooking (or heating water which is all I was doing). Bizarro thing #2 is when I go to get some dinner and I can’t find the key. I think he went into the room while I was in the bathroom a little later and took it so I couldn’t lock him out again. I would have just left but it was 10pm by this time so I decided to just leave in the morning. Oh, and I call him sheep-man because he’s short and has puffy while hair that makes him look like a sheep.

I don’t have too much to add to the hot and hilly description. I did meet 2 Swiss cyclists heading north. We talked for quite a bit while the horse flies ate us. Around Cholila I saw the famous Butch Cassidy hideout. I ended up camping in Cholila with a horse, dogs and cats in someone’s backyard that doubles as a campground. Good hot shower. I took a nap on the porch of a hosteria while they slept inside for siesta. The room was an oven and it was expensive which is how I ended up camping.

The next night I stayed at a CG on Lago Verde. This place was down a pretty steep gravel road next to the lake. I ended up having to push my bike back up the hill in the morning. They sell beer in a little store there so it was worth it and the CG was dog free so I slept great.

GPX track