Photos now on Flickr

One final posting to let you know that I have posted about 150 photos from this trip on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/guyhc/collections/72157626176275593/

Thanks for following this blog.

Santiago Chile -- the bonus day

I have safely arrived in Atlanta (as have Beverly and Elspeth). Here is yesterday's post, written on the plane:


Today should have been an uneventful (almost boring) start of a long trek home. It turned out to be anything but.

We left Castro in our shuttle van with about 45 minutes of extra time built into the schedule for those of us with the early (1:50 pm) flight to Santiago. Things were going swimmingly until our driver, Carlos, abruptly pulled over to the side of the road. It turned out that the fuel line on this diesel engine had separated because the clip that holds it had failed. Carlos, tried to work on it, Bill, the engineer in the group, tried to help, and Jeff, our bilingual photographer got out to translate, while Mike and I got out to kibbitz.

Carlos at work with Jeff advising 

Despairing of success, Carlos called for a backup van – with an estimated arrival time of one hour. After we had given up, he walked several hundred yards to a home, obtained some fencing wire, and did a Rube Goldberg repair that held the line well enough that we got started again. Gambling on success, it was decided to have the backup van wait for us at the far side of the ferry crossing.

Driving as if in a rally, Carlos got us to the ferry in good time and we crossed to the mainland. With little time to spare, Carlos continued speeding to the airport, and the backup van followed in case it should be needed. We made it to the airport in plenty of time for those of us booked on the early flight to Santiago.

Now it is 3pm in Santiago and my flight to Atlanta does not leave until 10. An airport tout latches on to me, suggesting a city tour. When I decline, he graciously shows me where to check my bags, since I can’t check in for the international flight until after 7pn. Then, to make a long story short, I decide to take the tour of Santiago.

My new best friend connects me with Eduardo, “an English speaking guide” who will show me around the city and get me back to the airport in time for my flight. We agreed on a price of $80. WE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME. Eduardo’s English was about as good as my Spanish, and we just kept switching languages as necessary. He took me to all of the highlights of the city, and seemed to have a magical touch with the local constabulary. He parked wherever he wanted, despite the no parking signs, gave a nod to the nearest policeman, and walked with me to the principal attractions of Santiago – the Cathedral, the Presidential Palace, the Plaza de Armas, the Castillo Hidalgo and several other sites.

I am so glad that I decided to do this instead of simply sitting in the airport. I didn’t really appreciate how much of the flavor of a city one could get in such a short time.

I am writing this on the plane and will post it as soon as I have internet access – probably in Atlanta.

Guy with the carabinieri

The Chilean flag behind me

The Last Day

All good things must come to an end, and today was our last day of cycling in Chile. It is approaching midnight, and I still have to pack, so this will be brief -- not doing the day justice, but providing a flavor.

Although we only did 40 miles today, we did the most climbing of any day on the trip. Nearly 4000 feet, some of it at grades well above 12%. The payoff was the finale -- we descended into the town of Achao with stunning view in perfect weather with lots of sun.

To get to this finale, we started out in Castro and cyled northeast to Dalcahue, where we visited another of the magnificent old wooden churches that dot this archipelago. From Dalcahue, we took a ferry (about a seven minute ride) to the island of Quinchao. We rode our bikes right on to the ferry, and upon getting off, we had an immediate climb away from the shore. After a few more climbs and another great descent, we had a picnic lunch at the beach in the small village of Palqui.

We fell in love with Anastasia, the three year old daughter of our hosts. She had her own digital camera and was taking pictures of each of us, which she would then proudly show us. She did remarkably well. The lunch was a barbecufre of lamb cooked on a spit over a wood fire, and was excellent. While we were eating, Anastasia went around the table and gave each of us a friendly kiss.

The biggest climb of the day was immediately after lunch. From sea level to about 400 feet in less than a kilometer. This was followed by a number of rolling hills and the great descent to the town of Achao that I mentioned at the beginning.

We then ferried back to the island of Chiloe and shuttled back to the hotel. We had a wonderful farewell dinner (which is why I am writing this at midnight) and brought this tour to a pleasant close.

When I get home, I will be organizing my photos and posting them on Flickr, so look for one more blog post with details.

View from the Island of Quinchao

On the Island of Quinchao

Fishermen near our lunch spot

To the Pacific (and we're still East of Florida!)

Today started out a little chilly (no pun intended) but remained sunny up until lunch time when it started to cloud over. We felt a few sprinkles but never had real rain. We did about 35 miles total for the day, as well as two long walks in the National Park in the afternoon.

Our hotel is one of the many "palafitos" in Castro -- stilt houses. These houses, hostels and other buildings along the water's edge are built on stilts (at the rear) because of the tides coming in and out. The front of the buildings are at street level. My room is on the back, or stilt side, of the hotel. I don't have a picture of it yet, but here is a photo of some other palafitos.

Palafitos

Leaving the hotel, we had a few modest climbs and then left the main highway for a stop in the town of Chonchi where we visited the famous old church, which is built entirely of wood. Then it was back on the bikes. Shortly afterwards, we turned off onto a less traveled road, heading toward the Chiloe National Park. This was very rural farm country and very scenic. We had some fine views of Lake Huillinco which was "flat ass calm" (a term of art from Nova Scotia) and acted as a perfect mirror.

We continued on to a cluster of homes of about 30 families of the people indigenous to the island of Chiloe. At one of them we had a picnic of their typical food, which included sea bass empanadas, cheese empanadas, a delicious bread, and a pancake-like combination of potato and pork. We also had some delicious freshly squeezed juices. Four year old Matthias (son of our hostess) loved to pose for pictures.

Lisa with Matthias and his aunt

After lunch, we had only five miles or so until we hit the national park. The bikes went into the van, and we were led on a fascinating walk through the rain forest by our Chiloe guide, Juan Pablo. An agronomist by training, he is very knowledgeable and told us a great deal about the many plants we saw. One of these was a giant rhubarb-like plant. They do eat the stalk, as we do with rhubarb, but as a salad or appetizer ingredient, somewhat like celery.



With the "giant rhubarb"



 After that we crossed the road and walked for about half an hour to the Pacific Ocean. It struck me as amazing that we could be viewing the Pacific while two time zones east of the eastern seabord of the US.

Elspeth and Guy at the Pacific



After returning to the van we shuttled back to the hotel. Then, following a welcome hot shower, we went into Castro for some quick shopping and a dinner at a restaurant on the water. I had another "curanto" (see yesterday's blog), prepared in a kitchen instead of a fire pit. This one had mussels that were far and away the largest that I had ever seen. The verdict -- good, but not as good as the one last night.

Chiloe Island

Today was a transfer day. We shuttled from Petrohue to the island of Chiloe by van, ferry, and more van travel. We had lunch at a very pleasant cliffside restaurant in Ancud with a wonderful ocean view. From there, we continued by van to the Punihuil National Reserve for a boat trip around three small islets were we saw both Humboldt and Magellan penguins, as well as a variety of other sea birds and some sea otters.

The process of boarding the small fishing boats that took us out to see the penguins was fascinating. The boats come as far ashore as possible, and then the passengers are wheeled out to the boats on top of carts that resemble porters' baggage carts.

After the penguin visit, we contiinued driving along a narrow, bumpy, and hilly dirt road to a small farm where we enjoyed the typical food of the island, the "Curanto al hoyo." This is similar to what we know as a clam bake, or perhaps a luau. They build a fire in a pit, heat lots of stones in the pit, then pile in leaves and the food, including clams (lots of them), sausage, pork, potatoes, and some dumpling like patties made of potatoes. All the preparation was done before we got there, so we got to watch the unearthing and then enjoyed the feast in the dining room.

Since today was Maria Elena's birthday (she is one of the owners of Experience Plus) we had an extra festive atmosphere and a delicious birthday cake.

After dinner, we rode to the town of Castro (the third largest city in Chile) on paved roads, and arrived at the hotel where we will stay for three nights, until it is time for us to return home.

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Beach on Chiloe Island

Boarding process for the penguin viewing



Penguin of Chiloe Island



Sea birds of Chiloe Island



Penguins off Chiloe Island

P

Curanto al hoyo (dinner!)

Some of the crew

Day 7 -- a route change that led to another great ride

As originally planned, we were to continue riding around Lake Llanquihue in the direction of Petrohue, with a stop at the water falls on Lago Todos los Santos (Lake of all the Saints). However, road construction has made this route all but impassable, so we shuttled in the vans to the small village (hamlet?) of Ensanada, and got on the bikes for an out and back ride to Ralun.

This turned out to be a windfall. The road was very lightly travelled, had good pavement, lots of great views, and a considerable amount of climbing that never got real steep. Once again, the weather cooperated with clear skies and lots of sun.

Jeff Bartlett, a professional photographer on our trip took the photo of me (below) with my camera. For some really great shots of our trip, you might want to visit his blog at http://blog.photojbartlett.com/.

Yep, that's me!


We stopped at the turnaround point and ate what we had with us -- a banana here, a ceral bar there, a couple of energy gels, and some cheese that Elsbeth generously shared. For dessert, I just pulled over to the side of the road and got my fill of blackberries fresh off the bush. I didn't even have to dismount from the bike.

When we got back to the main road at Ensenada, we continued on to the famous "saltos" or waterfalls. After a pleasant stop and some very welcom ice cream, we loaded the bikes on the van because the pavement ended at this point and the last three miles to the lodge where we are staying this evening. This is also the terminus of the route from Barriloche (our starting point) that combines a series of boat and bus rides through the lakes of the region.

More beautiful scenery

Guy, Doug and Elspeth

 Tomorrow is the end of the first part of the tour and a few of our number will be leaving us for home. The rest of us will be transferring to the Island of Chiloe.

Rest Day

This morning we all piled into our two vans and drove for about 45 minutes to the Pacific port town of Puerto Montt. After a brief stop for picture taking from a vantage point high above the city we descended to the area where we would have lunch. We had almost an hour to roam around, take pictures, and purchase souvenirs from the myriad vendors of artisanal handicrafts.

The highlight was the fish market, a working market where small fishermen sell their catches to restaurant owners and others. I saw the congrio (conger eel) which I had eaten yesterday. They look very different hanging from a rack like sausage than they do nicely breaded and fried and served on a plate. Lots of workers were shucking and packing shellfish, especially sea urchins.

We had a very pleasant lunch in a small restaurant above the fish market itself. The height of the tourist season has passed, and we tend to eat early by Chilean standards, so we had the restaurant to ourselves for most of the lunch hour. The proprietor was extremely friendly, offering some complimentary salmon appetizers and delicious fish broth. We were invited to stand at the small kitchen area and watch the food preparation.

At our table, we share three main courses -- two "chupes" and some "loco" which is a very close relative of the abalone. The chupes were a sort of thick stew comprised of bread soaked in cream, lots of parmesan cheese, and seafood of your choosing. We had one with crab and one with shrimp. Both were delicious. The loco was also quite good, but one portion shared among four people was the right way to go.

Fishermen at Puerto Montt

Fishermen at Pueto Montt

Ashore at Pueto Montt

Preparing sea urchins

Crabmeat for the chupe

After lunch we returned to Puerto Varas for our "rest."  Attched are a few pictures from Puerto Montt.

After the rain, a great day

Sampling Mate

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sounds of high winds and heavy rain. It was still raining when we finished breakfast, and it was not clear whether we would be riding in the morning. We decdided to wait it out, and while we were doing so, Javier introduced us to the cultural phenomenon of drinking mate  (yerba mate), an herbal tea that is immensely popular in South America.

By 10:30 the rain had abated and Doug Darby and I set off on our bicycles. Several others opted to  have the van take them past the gravel road, or past the first climb. I started out with my rain gear (which turned out to be unnecessary) which quickly became a sauna suit, so I took it off about 40 minutes into the ride. The weather got progressively better as we approached Frutillar, our lunch stop.

In 1856, 47 German families settled in Frutillar and this village of about 5000 people still maintains many of its Germanic traditions. We had lunch in the German social club, with a menu in German and Spanish that included lots of pork and sauerkraut, as well as more traditional Chilean dishes. I had congrio (Conger eel) that was excellent. We then visited the museum that commemorates the colonization of this part of Chile by the Germans (jointly established by the Chilean and German governments), while Javier fixed my rear tire which was slowly going flat.

View of Orsono volcano from Frutillar

The afternoon ride was optional because of some very steep hills. At one point my GPS unit showed a 21% grade, but when I uploaded the data to the computer, it looks like our true maximum was "only" 18%. Both of the climbs were in the 10 to 18 per cent range and were quite challenging, even if they weren't long. They were worth it, however, because of the fantastic views of the Orsono and Calbuco volcanoes on the far side of Lake Llanquihue. We also saw some salmon farms in the lake.


Salmon farm in Lake Llanquihue

We arrived in Puerto Varas, our home for two nights, in late afternoon. Tomorrow is a rest day, with options of rafting, canyoning, or just relaxing and enjoying the pleasures of Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt. Several of us, including me, have opted for the latter.

Puyehue to Puerto Octay on Lago LLanquihue

Another fantastic day weatherwise and cycling wise. I can't believe our good luck with the weather. This morning, for the first time, most of started out in cycling jerseys without our jackets. The temperature stayed pleasant all day and the sunshine was perfect.

We have been following the principal road through the national park. Today we had a 3.5 mile detour on a side road and were told that there might be a "surprise" for us. There was (as you can see in the photo below). The surprise was that there was no fog to obscure the magnificent view of the Orsono volcano and Lago Rupanco in front. The view point was a place called El Encanto.

We did 38 miles before stopping for lunch at a pleasant restaurant where we had three choices -- roasted chicken, a thin beef steak, or trout.  I had the trout (in a sandwich) with lettuce, tomato and a wonderful avocado. This was followed by a choice of "kuchens." There is still a very strong Swiss and German influence here, so German words pop up quite regularly.

For those who wished to do the afternoon ride, we had to take about a 30 mile shuttle ride in the van around the city of Osorno. We then did another 20 miles on the bike into Puerto Octay. There was some climbing, but long flat stretches as well. The pavement was excellent, except for the last mile or so which was an unpaved road right into our hotel which is right on Lago Llanquihoe. From my room, I have a view of the lake and the Osorno volcano.

Dinner is coming up, so I will close.

Crossing into Chile

It is now after 11 pm and we have another day of cycling tomorrow, so I will be brief even though this was a full and interesting day.

What made it interesting, on top of all the majestic scenery and some good climbing, was the convoluted process of leaving Argentina and entering Chile. We had to proceed as a group, which meant that those who arrived at the check points first had to wait for the rest. The first check point was for leaving Argentina. The customs people dutifully recorded the serial number of every bicycle, so that Experience Plus could bring them back into Argentina without paying tax. The rest of the process was pretty straightforward, but we were there almost an hour in total. We then had 25 miles to go before formally entering Chile.

Those 25 miles consisted of a good climb (to about 4000 feet) where the actual international border is and where we had another good lunch. This was followed by a great descent down to the Chilean entry point. Apparently the reason for the “no man’s land” in the middle is that there is a lot of snow on the peak in the winter, so they put the border control at lower elevations. It took us almost two hours to get through the entry process. Again, we had to go through as a group, and they inspected every piece of baggage (mostly by x-ray for us, although they did thorough hand searches of individual autos) and hand searched all of our bicycle packs.

After that it was a pleasant ride through lush Chilean country side to the thermal spas of Puyehue, where we are spending the night. This is a very posh resort – a relaxing visit to the thermal pools was a nice way to top off a day of cycling that included about 55 miles with about 4300 feet of climbing, including a sustained 1 mile climb at about 6 and ½ percent grade near the end.

Due to photographer error, some of my “great shots” are terribly overexposed. Nonetheless, here are two photos that did come out ok. (I am using two cameras, which provides some measure of insurance.)