We left the luxury of our hotel, of the last three nights, at 9:00 this morning. The gentleman that had taken all our bags to the room when we arrived, again brought his cart, and brought all the bags down to the lobby. When Markus told him we could do it, he did it was his job.
Getting out of Coyhaique was a pretty straightforward affair. Markus had planned a route that would avoid this one hill, but somehow we did the hill anyway. It was fine…a good warmup.
Moving on!
While the landscape has become more valley and grassland, there are still the mountains.
Some distances on the Carratera.
632kms to the end of the Carratera!
The only thing not so pleasant today was the traffic. There was quite a lot, even when we were well out of Coyhaique. But, in general (there is the occasional dumb-ass), the drivers are considerate, and wait until they can pass us safely.
We stopped for a little break. The rock formations were pretty awesome.
Billy and big rock
The fins on the side is of the mountain were pretty cool.
We came to a cool waterfall on the Rio Pullox.
Up on the hillside above the waterfall were these cool dome houses. They might be places to stay. Not far, there is a skiing place.
The wind had really picked up. We saw a couple of condors floating above.
You can see it only because I got the photo just as it was flying in front of a cloud.
We stopped to take a break at a bus stop. Across the way was this layered rock.
We ended up not staying too long because the only place out of the wind was on one end of the bus shelter. We got back on the bikes to be pushed the rest of the way to El Blanco. We had a most awesome downhill that I got up to 71kms/ hour! We pulled into El Blanco. There were four other cyclists (they had passed us) at the shop in El Blanco. Two were from London, and the other two were Colombian. The two Brits were Peregrine and Rosie. When Peregrine told me his name, I said, “Oh, like the falcon!” Then I said he was “Birdman”. They had started in Puerto Montt as well, but aren’t going to Ushuaia. Peregrine has 9 months, and doesn’t want to fight the headwinds going north from Ushuaia. Rosie has a flight booked from Santiago in mid-January.
Since El Blanco was our destination for today, we headed to the camping place called Las Confluencias. The one river is the El Blanco. We crossed it on the way to the camping.
Rio El Blanco. I’m not sure what the other river is.
This place is really great! Our tents are undercover, and sheltered from the wind. There is a really nice common building with a stove, fridge, sink, tables with cushions on the seats, and a fireplace. There are hot showers, and there’s even toilet paper in el baño!
Common building.
Tent spots
Cool wooden map of Chile in the common room.
When we arrived here, the daughter of the owners came out all smiles, and gave us each a hug! She showed us around, and we said, “Perfecto!” We saw the owners a little later, and talked to the woman. So nice!
It’s been spitting rain off and on, but nothing major, and besides, our tents and bikes are undercover, and we are nice and toasty in the common room.
Today was a short day, but we are really glad we came here. Tomorrow will be longer, and there’s a pretty big climb coming.
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