11/30-Change of Plans

So, we were going to leave tomorrow, buuuut the weather is still not great (supposed to be snow in the morning). Instead, we’ve decided to stay here until Sunday. That will put us in Puyuhuapi Sunday night (camping), then Monday, for my birthday, we will go to the Hanging Glacier in Quelot National Park. The weather is supposed to be nice. 

We are getting a little bit of “cabaña fever” here in La Junta, but if we have to be stuck in a town, it’s not a bad one. Tonight, we went to the same restaurant we went to our first night here. Across the street was another supermercado. So far, this was the best one. A good selection of snacks! AND…they had ziplock bags! 

They are only sandwich size, but they have Pixar characters on them! “Cars”, “Toy Story”, “Monster’s Inc”, and “The Incredibles” are all represented (okay okay…I know…we’ve been here so long, I’m excited about Ziplock bags)! 

Other than our foray out to dinner, we didn’t do anything else outside today. The rain never seemed to stop. I think tomorrow we will attempt to either go for a little hike, or maybe an unloaded bike ride, if we can get a little window of…less rain (it’s too much to hope for no rain). Oh, and I think there is one more supermercado we can check out (how exciting is that?).

11/29-A Warm Fire is Quite Nice on a Cold, Rainy Day

We didn’t do too much today. We took care of some chores. Laundry was a priority. The nice people at the Cabaña let us use the washing machine, and even brought us a drying rack. 

Alex and I made a run to the Supermercado where they had a pretty good selection of food, but no fresh veggies or fruit. Then we went to the Frutería. It was small, but they had a good variety of fruits and veggies. Alex was planning to make a soup for dinner. We got carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, and potatoes. The only thing we still needed was some crema. For that, we went to the Panadería. A successful shopping trip around La Junta!

Across from our cabaña is a tree with little yellow Pom Pom blossoms. 

Anyone know what these are?

I think they look a lot like the Pom poms on my Chuckabuckets!


Later we decided to go for café y Chocolate caliente. The place closest to us was closed. Instead we went back to where we had gone yesterday. The chocolate caliente was not quite as good as the one I had yesterday, but it was still good. 

No cookie this time (even though I could see them in the jar on top of the fridge).

On the way back, we made a detour to the Copec (gas station). It’s the only place in town with an ATM. I didn’t need cash, but Alex and Markus did. At the station, they also had fuel canisters and even dehydrated meals. They were a brand out of New Zealand. They only had a few flavors, and they are, basically, the same price as Mountain House meals. I didn’t get any, but maybe if I see them again, I’ll consider trying one. 

While Alex was cooking dinner, Markus and I (okay, mostly Markus) figured out our plan for the next section from here to Coyhaique. We’ll have a short distance to Puyuhuapi where we want to go to the Hanging Glacier in Quelat National Park. Then we are planning 4 days to Coyhaique. That is the biggest town next to Puerto Montt. 

Supposedly, good weather is coming. I certainly hope so! In the meantime, it nice to have a wood stove to heat our humble abode. 

Goodnight from Chile!

11/28-Waiting Out the Bad Weather in La Junta

The weather has turned back to rain, wind, and cold temps. It rained most of the night. But, of course, we are in a cabaña. 

This is it from the outside. Funny thing, every time we have stayed in a cabaña, it’s been #3. Markus and I decided we wouldn’t specifically request cabaña #3, but if we stayed in a different number, and it wasn’t great, we would then request #3. Because, obviously, 3 is our lucky cabaña number! 

We took a moment between rain showers to go for a walk. First we needed to let the management know we were continuing to stay. Alex and Markus wanted to pay by card, but it wasn’t possible here at Nathaly Cabañas. So, there is also Nathaly Tienda. A guy (maybe the husband of the owner of the tienda???) offered to give us a ride in his pickup to the tienda. It wasn’t really that far away, but he knew exactly where to go, so that made it easier. The tienda was a clothing store (tienda de ropa). Alex paid, and we told the guy we wanted to walk around. 

Santa María church (and a Monkey Puzzle tree)

Snowman made of tires. 

We stopped in what looked like a Visitor/Tourist Center. It had lots of crafts by local artists. Mostly it was wool stuff. I regret not bringing another pair of warm socks. They had some knitted warm socks for about the equivalent of $7.00. I’ll figure out where to pack them somehow. 

Warm socks to wear with my Birkies. 

Alex got a pair of leg warmers. 

Very colorful!

With warm toes and shins, we continued on our exploratory walk around La Junta. We were looking for a statue of Pinochet. It was supposed to be on the Carratera, but we didn’t find it (yet). Instead, we crossed over the Carratera to a park. 

It was also the trailhead for a trail into Lago Rosselot National Park. We walked up the trail just a short bit to a view of La Junta. 

La Junta is pretty big as Patagonian pueblos go. There are a few mercados, lots of Cabaña places, and several restaurants. 

We walked back down. 

Looking up the hillside, it looks like the leaves are changing, but really, it’s all the fire bushes. I liked this photo of Alex with her red jacket, and the red fire bush. 

We stopped in one of the coffee shops and had chocolate caliente. It was quite tasty. 

Even a marshmallow!

Back at the Cabañas, the rain began, and hasn’t really stopped. 

We are staying three more nights here because of the weather. Friday, the plan is to ride to Puyuhuapi. There’s a pretty good chance it will rain in the morning, but Puyuhuapi is only about 46kms away. Then the weather is looking a lot better. We want to go into Queulot National Park to the Hanging Glacier outside of Puyuhuapi. 

It might seem that we are not making a lot of progress, but I’m really enjoying this relaxed pace. I like, if the weather is bad, we can just hang out, and wait for it to get better. I have plenty of time, and there is no need to cycle in crappy weather. Also, the cábalas are cheap (especially split three ways). And above all that, I’m really enjoying Alex and Markus’ company. We keep saying we make a good team! I’m am very lucky to be doing this tour with them!

11/27-An Actual Really Warm Day!

So, the temps here have not been…well…overly warm. I mean, when we are climbing in the sun, we are sweating pretty good, but then going downhill, we have to put layers back on. Today was a little different. For the first time, I started out NOT in my rain jacket (not just for rain, but warmth too). I did have my leg warmers on, but they came off earlier than the other days. 

The terrain was very much a rollercoaster. We did less kms (69kms) than yesterday, but it seemed harder. Elevation was also less. I think it was just the constant up and down. 

The scenery was spectacular! It seemed, generally, a bit drier than yesterday before the long climb. Still we were surrounded by snow-capped mountains. 

There is now a lot more green fields/pastures. We say a bunch of cows, including this one. 

Yeah, “Road Cow”. 


The color of the water…

We stopped at a viewpoint halfway up a longer climb, to eat some lunch. There wasn’t any shade. It was quite toasty sitting in the sun. I eventually put my helmet back on to give me some shade from the Da Brim! Alex and Markus had another solution. 

Their buffs are just laying on top of their heads!

With lunch and sun comes the desire for a siesta. 

Markus enjoying some post lunch siesta time. 

After a shorter-than-usual lunch break, we had to move on because we were too hot! My Garmin enjoyed a good charging session! 

We went across two of these single lane orange bridges. 

The first one. 

The second one (almost to La Junta).

In between lunch and La Junta we came across this food truck in the middle of nowhere. It was the perfect opportunity to stop for a Coke. 


After the Coke stop, someone flipped the wind switch. Sadly, it was a headwind, and a really strong one! It continued all the way into La Junta. Sudden changes in wind usually signify a change is coming. 

We rolled into La Junta absolutely spent from the headwind. Alex looked up possible accommodations. We headed toward one, but ended up checking out another one on the way. It met our requirements (room for three, WiFi, and a kitchen). It even has a wood stove, which makes Alex very happy. Sure enough, it’s now raining and is supposed to do so all night. Sure is nice to not be in our tents!

In case you don’t notice the door is right there???

There is a bad batch of weather coming in, with even the possibility of some snow. We’ll stay two nights, then evaluate. The next town, Puyuhuapi, doesn’t have as much to offer as La Junta. 

After these last two days, we’ve proven to ourselves we can do longer distances. Now we just need the weather to cooperate. 

Oh, and I got this bag of Christmas cookies at the Panadería y pastelería. They are like homemade. 

11/26-A Day of Mosts, and a Fascinating Story About a Plane

Well, we were hoping for another sunny day, but it was raining this morning. It wasn’t terrible, almost more of a mist, but you know those mists can soak you just as much. It wasn’t too cold either. 

The worst part was that we were riding amidst a lot of mountains, and a couple of volcanoes, but couldn’t see much of it. 

The road was pretty flat, and we made good time, which was good because we had our longest distance to go today (76kms). When we arrived in the village of Amarillo we saw a cafeteria that had coffee and kuchen. Alex convinced us to stop. The place was called El Avión (The Plane). There was the body of a large plane there. More on how that plane came to be there in a moment. 

We enjoyed slices of lemon meringue tart, coffee, and I had a chocolate caliente. It was a great break, and warmed us up nicely. 

Back on the road, the rain had stopped completely, and the road was dry. We decided it was safe to remove our rain gear. While we were doing that, a big sow came out of the bushes, and crossed the road. 

Why did the pig cross the road???

Just a moment later, about 10 little piglets came out of the bushes. 

Uh oh…see the tractor coming? The piglets didn’t quite know what to do. Should we go across? Where’s mom? The tractor went by, and the piglets started running toward us. 

Well hello little piggies!!!

Finally, the mama pig came back out (in my opinion, she’s not the best mother…I mean, who lets their babies cross Ruta 7 by themselves???). We continued on our way. 

A few kilometers further we had stopped to take a break. Coming down the road was a vaquero on a horse. Behind him was a herd of cattle and another vaquero. 

As they were going into a pasture right where we were, they asked us to move to the other side of the road. 

Once again, we moved on. Soon we were approaching Lago Yelcho. It’s a pretty large lake. We crossed this bridge at the end of the lake where it flows into Puente Yelcho. 

On the other side of the bridge we could see a nice spot down by the lake (there was also a nice campsite, but we were planning to go further). We decided it was a good lunch spot. It also had a good view of the bridge. 

After lunch, we had about 15 more kilometers before starting our biggest climb so far on the trip. Strangely, today, my Garmin was not initiating the climb profile. But, of course, all we had to do was look ahead. The climb was a good 8 kilometers with probably about an average of 8% grade. At one point, I saw 15% on my Garmin. We just took it in chunks, resting when there was a good spot. Finally, we created the top. 

See my favorite sign?

We made it! We put our layers back on for the descent (another 8 kms). The descent was quite fun. I got up to 57kph. There was a brief bit of gravel. Not too long ago, a huge mudslide came down all the way to Villa Santa Lucia. It took out the first 10 houses, and buried the road under a wall of mud. 

Looking back up the swath made by the mudslide. 

We rolled into Villa Santa Lucía, and found Manió camping. It’s not bad. There are two long shelters. Our bikes are parked under one, and we’ve set up our tents under the other one. There’s a German kid here who is hitchhiking and bussing around South America. He has about 3 weeks left. 

This is what we get to look at from our camping spot. 



Pretty much surrounded by mountains (notice how low the snow level is). 

Today we had the most distance and the most amount of climbing to the highest elevation so far! Even though it started out wet, it ended dry and even a bit of sun. It was a good day. 

Moon rise. 

And now for a bedtime story…

How a Plane Came to be in Amarillo, Chile

As told by Beth at the El Avión Cafe

In 1974, a plane that had originally been in WWII (at Normandy), that was then purchased by the Chilean government, to use for scouting the route for the future Carratera Austral, was delivering blankets to one of the small villages. On its way back north, it suffered a mechanical issue that forced it to crash land. Prior to landing, the pilot radioed the Chaitén police sending the coordinates of where he was going to land the plane. It was on a long straight section of the future Carratera that, at the time was no more than a cattle trail. The pilot brought the plane down. The wings were immediately sheared off and the body of the plane came to rest on the cattle trail. Aboard the plane was the pilot, his son, and 6 other people. Everyone survived and were rescued 2 hours after the crash. The plane remained at the crash site for some time before a family asked if they could have it. They were granted ownership, and moved the plane by dragging it with oxen to its current spot in Amarillo. 

The family turned the plane into their home, and lived in it for 25 years. They also built a barn for storage, and for the animals in the winter. Eventually, they left, and the plane deteriorated. Some other people bought the land, and now have plans to turn the plane into a museum. So far, it has been raised up off the ground. They are fundraising to continue the project. 

Beth, who told us the story, operates the café, which is in the old barn. She is British, and has been living in Chile for the past 8 years. 

They just got electricity 7 months ago. 

11/25-A Rest Day in Chaitén

You might be thinking…a rest day after four days? The answer would be, yes. It’s like when I did the Appalachian Trail. It was strongly recommended to take a day off after the first four or five days. The adrenaline of starting out, and figuring out how things are here, in addition to Alex and Markus having been off their bikes for three weeks, it seemed a day off was a good idea. Plus, now we are planning for the next few days to La Junta. We need to have an idea of where to stay. Wild camping is a little tricky here. There are lots of fences, and where there are no fences, the vegetation is very thick. 

We went back to the Supermercado we went to last night (mostly, last night was to check it out so we would know what is available). It is quite small, but seems to have a little bit of everything!

There is more on the other side of the wall on the right. 

We really had to look all around. Most likely, if we looked long enough, we would find what we wanted. The only thing I wanted that they didn’t have were paltas (avocados). But, then I decided I didn’t really need them anyway. 

Walking back to the apartment, I spied this pretty flower. 

It really is Spring here. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s November. The weather today is not as sunny as yesterday, but we are on the Coast. I’m glad I got the photo of Volcán Corcovado yesterday because we can’t see it today. Maybe later…

There’s also another volcano that is active. It last erupted in 2008 (I think). They evacuated the whole village. Now it is still emitting puffs of steam. 

You can see puffs of steam coming up from the one with the snow. 

After a little siesta time, we walked to the water. We were guided by the dog from the cabaña. I named him Floyd (Christy, if you are by chance reading this, it seemed like something your Floyd would have done). 

Volcán Corcovado is out now!

Floyd took a real liking to Markus. 

These were already here. 

The overnight ferry from Puerto Montt. How do we know this? Because we met a couple from the US (Alaska), Robin and Caleb, who had just gotten off the ferry. 

Paño of the mountains. 

Beach art. 

Floyd loves to chew on wood. 

And bring big chunks! However, he was not good at fetch. He’d chase, but not bring back. 

Wherever we sat, Floyd sat too. 

There was lots of obsidian on the beach. These were just a few pieces I found. 

We named this island “Sleeping Dragon” (the head is on the right).

Clouds of coolness. 

We walked back to town, and went back to the restaurant we first went to yesterday. Alex and Markus had coffee. Markus and I had kuchen. 

Now that’s a piece of kuchen!!! And no, I’m not calling it “kuchen” because I’m with a couple of Germans. They actually call cake “kuchen” here. There is a fair amount of German influence in Chile…okay, I’ve only seen two things (besides the German imports at Jumbo)…kuchen, and Berliner (filled pastry kind of like…a filled donut). 

Later we are going to dinner. The restaurant has a king crab soup. Sounds good to me! I’m going to upload this now because there’s already 18 photos. 

Tomorrow we head out again…it’ll probably be a few more days between posts.