Day 3 in Puerto Montt-Making Progress of Sorts

I slept well last night, but had some trouble falling asleep. I would be laying in the bed, and I would start thinking about how I would say something in Spanish. If I couldn’t think of a word, then I would grab my phone and look it up. I did this a few times until I finally managed to fall asleep. At some point in my time in South America, I will probably start dreaming about how I would say something in Spanish, but because it’s a dream, something will prevent me from looking it up on my phone. That’s always the way it goes…Not only was I up later, but I still woke up earlier. I think I have reverse jet lag. I should be wanting to sleep longer. 

I ate some breakfast, took a shower, then went over to check on Markus. 

He’s alive!!!

He is starting to feel better. Enough so that he was able to put their bikes together. He did Alex’s bike first (“Violeta”). 

They are riding rigid bikes with the 18 speed Pinion and belt drives. They are doing a hybrid system of panniers in the back and fork bags on the front. 

Violeta was almost complete when I noticed the sun was out. I wanted to test ride Billy, so I went to our apartment and got Billy out. I only managed to ride to the end of the block before it started raining again, but Billy is fine…rolling, shifting, and stopping. 

Went back over to Alex and Markus’. Markus was pumping up Alex’s tires. Then there was another moment of sunshine. Alex managed the same amount of test riding as I did before it started raining again. 

Markus has his bike, “Max”, together, but hasn’t had a chance to test it. 

We are starting to formulate a plan, but it’s still in the early phase. Weather is the dictator. More on that, later. 

After some lunch, and a siesta for Markus, Alex, Markus, and I walked over to a coffee shop (Lani was taking a siesta). I had chocolate caliente. 

They even made a heart in my hot chocolate!

We walked from the coffee shop to Jumbo. I told Alex and Markus whenever I thought about Jumbo, I thought about Dumbo’s mother. 

See I was right!

I didn’t get anything at Jumbo, but I did a bit more scoping for what I will get before we leave. Soon, though, I will have to get more food because I will be running out of food to eat here. 

We walked back a different way. It was off and on raining, but for a moment there was this rainbow. 

Back at the apartment, Steve had arrived. After chatting for a bit, I got down to the questions at hand. What was Steve’s plan? Answer: Ride fast, ride south. Okay…perhaps more specific…when did he plan to leave? Tomorrow? Saturday? Sunday? Still not clear on his answer. I really wanted to get an idea because Alex wants to book the apartment for Sunday to Tuesday. We finally decided Alex would book the apartment for her, Markus, and I, and Lani and Steve would figure out what they wanted to do…maybe they go do a side trip, or maybe move to a cheaper place. So, it’s been booked. The weather improves toward Wednesday. Markus has a possible plan for the first four days of the ride. It’s not big miles, and we’ll have 3 ferries. A good way to ease into it. 

So, that’s pretty much it for today. We’ll see what tomorrow brings…