1/6-Part 1-El Barco

As I said in the last post, it was going to be an early morning. 

4:35am in Villa O’Higgins. 

We had an 8km gravel ride to where we would catch the boat to Candelario Mansilla. Fortunately, I had my headlight. Alex also had one, but Markus had forgotten to pull his out from one of his bags (remember, all our bags were locked in the office so we could ride to the boat without luggage). He said it was a dark ride for him. 

The road was mostly flat, but with a few rollers (made easier without luggage). We made pretty good time, arriving at 5:15. 

The “for real” end of the Carratera (but people only go there if they are taking the boat for crossing, or doing the glacier tour).

We weren’t the only ones. There were 11 bikes, and 3 hikers. 

At 5:30, the pickup and van arrived with the hikers, and our luggage. Alex, Markus, and I were the only ones who rode without our bags (but, we were also the only ones who had stayed at the Cabañas Rueda, which operated the boat). We followed them to where they parked. There were only two boats on that dock. One bigger trawler type boat, and a smaller one. Guess which one they loaded 11 bikes, all the bags (including three backpacks), 14 passengers, a pilot, and first mate. 

Yeah…not the big boat. Several bikes went up on the bow, lashed to the railings and each other. They told us if we had anything on the bikes we didn’t want to get wet, to bring it inside. All the bags were stowed inside in various cubby holes. When the bow was full, the guy loading the bikes told Alex and Markus their bikes would be inside. Then Billy and about 3 other bikes were put in the back of the boat. Tom, one of the backpackers, offered to take Billy down the stairs for me. I was ever so grateful. 

Then we all got on the boat. It was surprisingly spacious in that we all had comfy seats, and more leg room than you typically get on an economy flight. 
Markus and Alex

Me and Caroline (and Jeremy the photo bomber).

To load all the stuff, and people only took 30 minutes! We pushed away from the dock at 6:00. 

Sun coming up, time to go!

It was not the fastest boat, but we chugged along at a steady speed. 
A short time into the journey, the first mate came through the cabin with coffee and cookies! Caroline provided milk for everyone’s coffee. 

The early morning started catching up with people, and several nodded off. 

Snooze time for Alex. 

Pedro and another guy catching some shut-eye. 

Caroline saw we could go outside at the back. 

There’s Billy!

Obviously, Lago O’Higgins is a glacial lake. 

After I went back to my seat, the ride got a bit rougher as we turned to go across the lake. Even though it’s a lake, it felt like the sea. 

Once we got across, it wasn’t long before we were pulling up to the dock at Candelario Mancilla. 

Jeremy

The bags and bikes were unloaded, and we all claimed our stuff. A few hikers and cyclists who had been waiting to go to Villa O’Higgins boarded the boat, and they took off. 

We put the bags back on our bikes. Caroline put her backpacks on. 

Pretty loaded down!

It was one kilometer to where we would stamp out of Chile. Stay tuned for Part 2…