Trip Report Four: Carratera Austral January 31 - Feb 5, 2001 January 31 - The night before we prepared fajitas with guacamole, salsa, and beans for Maurizio and Jeanette, are Chilean friends. We wake up in the morning to the overpowering stench of garlic and flatulence. Combined with our wet sleeping bags and unchanged socks (two weeks for my current pair), the odor is nearly insupportable. We are entering a new phase of our travels -- the Camino Austral -- a remote section of Chilean 'highway' that is beautiful, but continuously wet. Locals tell us that this summer is the wettest since 1954. We plan our cycling to allow us to stay in small communities with hostals or hospedajes so that we won´t have to sleep in our moldy sleeping bags. We leave Cohayique in the rain and bike to Manijuales which happens to be the end of the asphault for the next 300 km. It rains the entire way (and the mountain tops are obscured), but the scenery is magnificent with hundreds of waterfalls plummetting from both sides of the valleys. We arrive at Manijuales and resign ourselves to the unsavory task of trying to appear presentable to the matron of the local hospedaje. This requires removing the bike helmet, wiping the mud specks from my face and forehead, and covering my malodorous polypropylene shirt with a dirty, but less stinky goretex jacket. I enter the hospedaje and the dour-faced 50-year-old (the older Chileans in this part of the country are of German ancestry and act the part) inspects me from head to foot, assessing whether I am of proper stock to spend the night (Hans usually remains outside with the bikes). With a sigh, our matron reluctantly admits there is a room available and leads me upstairs, informing me that I am not to put my bags on the bed. A half hour later she has her daughter come upstairs to repeat the information. Total distance 86 km. pictures: Hans biking along the paved Carratera Austral - Mileage sign February 1 - It is raining again (as expected) and we bike a relatively short distance to Villa Amengual. While enjoying a tea in the town hospedaje, we watch the rain come down in sheets. We decide to remain for the night and do a long day starting early the next morning. Total distance 56 km. February 2 - We wake again to rain and head north along the Carretera Austral. A young sheepdog from town follows us more than 30 km before we realize that the poor thing might not make it home alive. After about 30 km, it is desperately trying to keep up while yelping and squealing the whole time (its paws are probably in bad shape). We try to be mean (throwing rocks at the poor thing, pushing it), but we are only able to finally escape after biking fast down a long steep decline. The steep decline follows an equally long steep incline, up the Cuesta de Quelluat (a 600 meter vertical gain). The top of the pass is enveloped in cloud and pouring rain just like at the Cuesta del Diablo (just before Cohayique). We are in midsummer at the equivalent latitude to Portland, but it is absolutely frigid with the downpour and near-freezing temperatures. We were never this cold in Tierra del Fuego or Patagonia proper. We race down through the Parque Nacional de Quelluat to the Fjord of Puyuhuapi, past the town of Puyuhuapi, and onto La Junta. The last 10 km to La Junta are in pouring rain and in the dark. Luckily the gravel road is excellent and there are fewer than 4 cars an hour. It is our second highest biking mileage. To our relief, the matron at our hospedaje in La Junta is a younger woman who is quite friendly, and is able to see past our grunginess. In these instances I feel guilty about stinking up the bedroom as much as we do. Total distance 139 km. pictures: Hosteria in Manyihuales - Dog that followed us for 40 km February 3 - A noon start prevents us from getting as far as we hoped. The cumulative effects of hundreds of kilometers of gravel roads and sub-par personal hygiene conspire to produce a new improved strain of diaper rash. I change into Liz´s cleaner and decidedly more svelte bike shorts (they have white strips with pink and lime accents on the side). In the tiny community of Villa Santa Lucia I am a little self conscious as I buy bananas in the local store. >From Villa Santa Lucia we climb a 500 meter pass and then descend in the pouring rain to Lago Yelcho. We pull up to a dingy hospedaje at Puerto Cardenas in the dark. We cook pasta outside the house and are watched by dozens of slugs which crawl over the walls of the house. Total distance 106 km. picture: Escaping rain February 4 - I wake up early dreaming of slugs and make Hans wake up also so that we can get up to Puerto Chaiten and catch the ferry to Puerto Montt in time. We make a pitstop at the El Amarillo hotsprings and soak for a couple of hours before heading on to Chaiten. En route to Chaiten I get two flat tires and finally notice that my tire is ripped. I had hoped to retire the poor tire peacefully in Puerto Montt, but it died before I had the chance. I use the replacement spare for the last 35 km to Chaiten. During the last 35 km we run into more than a dozen cyclists (many of them Chileans) who are beginning a bike tour towards the south (the majority do only the Carratera Austral portion). In general, we have been crossing about 8 long distance bikers each day (one or two of them seem to be on epic year-long bike trips through South America or the world. One of the bikers we meet today is riding with a backpack in addition to his panniers and Hans and I wonder just how far he will make it. We arrive in Chaiten early enough to figure out that the normal ferry to Puerto Montt is booked for the next three days. To make matters worse, Chaiten is a gloomy place and our hospedaje matrons are as sinister as ever. When I ask for the promised hot water in the shower, one of the matrons tells me that in Chile one ¨must learn patience.¨ His tone is more condescending than I prefer. To make matters even worse, I can´t find my beloved cycling pants which I had attached to my bicycle while changing clothes. I figured that in a moment of sheer stupidity I laid them on the ground and biked elsewhere. Total distance biked 55 km. pictures: Flat tire number 2 - El Amarillo hotspring - Crowd of cyclists on the Carretera Austral February 5 - Sure enough, after searching all over town, I find my cycling shorts laying in a dirty puddle in one of the roadside trash sewers (hopefully it is not a refuse sewer). Because my cycling pants are now such old companions, I decide to give them another chance and wash them out in our hospedaje bathroom. I don´t see the leeches, but Hans (who uses the bathroom after me) tells me that there is one still stuck to the tub. Things improve later in the day when we find out that there is still space on the catamaran (not the normal ferry) which sails to Puerto Montt at two PM. We are not supposed to bring bicycles on the catamaran, but they let us bring them anyways. After a five hour passage we arrive in the city of Puerto Montt (the first place we have seen that has a McDonalds, hordes of tourists, and young ¨hooligans¨ with nose piercings). We are back on the gringo trail and from here to the north it will be tourist country (the Chilean lake district). For the next several thousand kilometers, roads are paved, traffic is heavy, and cycling is a much different experience. I already miss the biking in Patagonia (probably because I have already forgotten just how nasty the wind is). picture: Chaiten ferry terminal (end of bike trip for Hans) << Previous | Next >>