First, we rented a Toyota Hilux pickup to go to Cabo Virgenes to see the penguins. That alone took a bunch of time, but it worked out. Mathias and Carmilla are going with us, so the rental is split 5 ways, coming out to 48,000pesos each. We had to rent the truck for two days because they are closed on Sundays. We will go tomorrow. It’s something like130kms one way, much of it on a gravel road.
After securing the rental (we couldn’t pick it up until 5:00pm), we took a taxi to the bus station for the next part of our plan.
We want to take a bus from here to Rio Grande. There’s not much to see, and the wind would be terrible. So, we asked at one of the bus companies (all those buses that have been passing us? Yeah, from here…) if we could take the bus to Rio Grande. Well, yes, but not with the bikes. Then we had another idea, and asked another company if we could take the bus with our bikes to Punta Arenas. It was maybe possible, if we packed the bikes (a little), and it was okay with the driver. Hmmm…
We went and sat down to think about this idea. We through outa bunch of ideas, like maybe we fly (no direct flights from R. Gallegos to R. Grande or Punta Arenas). We can’t rent a truck because the route crosses briefly back into Chile, and you can’t take a rental across the border.
We decided to go back and ask exactly how much the bikes had to be packed. Then, instead, we decided to ask the first place if we could go to Punta Arenas (ie would there be room). She can’t say for sure, because more tickets might be sold, and there wouldn’t be room for the bikes. But, what we can do is show up early on Wednesday, and hope for the best. Chances are better because Wednesday is generally quiet. And, we don’t really need to pack the bikes, just take the pedals off, and turn the handlebar.
That settled (we hope), we headed back into town for some lunch. After lunch, we killed time by walking down to the Rio Gallegos.
Most appropriate name for a restaurant.
Out in the distance is the Atlantic Ocean.
The Promenade along the river. It was so windy, I had to grab a lamppost!
Poor pilot is still in the plane.
The guy on the right looks like Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid.
Thinking thinking thinking…is our plan going to work???
Wall art.
We killed enough time, and walked back to the rental place to get the truck. The power was out (big surprise), so the credit card machine wouldn’t work. I told them to ask if they could just give the credit card info, and it could be entered when the power was back on. That worked.
We went to the mercado to get food for lunch tomorrow. Interesting thing here. If you pay by card, you have to show ID. Yesterday, I didn’t take my passport with me (who knew?). I ended up having to pay with efectivo (cash). Then I really kicked myself, because I forgot I had taken a photo of my passport on my phone. Instead, I severely depleted my collection of pesos. Anyway, this time I was able to use my debit card because I showed her the photo of my passport (they actually put only numbers in the computer, but not any letters. Alex said for Markus, they just put his birth date).
So, it was a long day, but we have a plan that we hope works out. In the meantime, we are going to go see some penguins tomorrow!
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