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.
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