12/13-The Most Beautiful Scenery and Spectacular Downhill!

This morning while I was packing up inside my tent, Alex says, “Are you up?” I replied that I was, and she said, “It’s cold!” Not really a big surprise. However, once I was fully dressed in bike shorts, leg warmers, and rain shorts, plus 4 layers on top, I was pretty warm! Although, even with two pairs of socks, my feet were cold. The one day we wouldn’t have minded starting with an uphill, we had a long downhill. I didn’t take my puffy jacket off until we started climbing. The scenery was amazing! 

Layered rock. 

The road was okay, but there were these parallel gouges that were annoying. 

Once we reached the top of the 9km climb, we were at the highest point of the Carratera Austral. 

1102 meters

Notice I took the Da Brim off. It was too windy. 






It was a gentle descent at first, and with the headwind, pedaling was required. But then we got to the real downhill. I went ahead because I like to go fast. I came around a curve and saw a pullout. When I pulled over, I saw this. 

We’ve seen this in other cyclist’s photos. How much fun does that look!!! Yes, it was very fun! 

The downhill continued. Just 2 kms out of Villa Cerro Castillo, we saw this food truck. 

We stopped for something hot to drink. The woman also had sandwich bread, ham, and cheese that she could put in the grill. Si señora!

Alex attempting to warm her freezing feet. 

After a bit of refreshment, we continued into Villa Cerro Castillo. Because some rain is coming, we will stay here two nights. We wanted a Cabaña. The first one didn’t have any cabañas, only a shared room. 

Waiting outside with the bikes while Alex and Markus check out the cabaña possibilities. No room here. 

The second place was fully booked. The third place only had a cabaña for one night, but the woman who was cleaning, hooked us up with another place that could accommodate us for the number of nights we wanted. Norma is the owner. We have this cabaña that has two floors and three bedrooms. It’s quite nice, and only 70,000clp/night (like $25). It wasn’t ready yet, so we parked our bikes, and went to a restaurant. I had Pastel de Chokko, which is a traditional Chilean dish made with maize, meat (mostly chicken), and various things such as green olives and hard boiled eggs! It was really good!

10 out of 10, I would have it again! 

On the way back to the cabaña, we stopped in at a mini market. It was pretty good. Because we have a wood stove, I got a bag of marshmallows. We’ve been roasting them on forks in the coals. Have to be a bit careful…el tenedor is not too long…easy to burn one’s mano. 

Near the cabaña is this wooden statue of a gaucho drinking maté. 

Reminded me of our maté lesson with Nacho. 

 

Once again, it was pretty cold…until we got into Villa Cerro Castillo. Turns out it’s warmer when you are not high up in the mountains!