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The only way to continue…north on a ferry from Puerto Yungay

On the road in Southern Chile

Looking down into the valley, near the crossroads to Caleta Tortel

The road to Cochrane

Villa O'Higgins to Cochrane (Feb 16-20)

The 16th was spent freezing in the streets of Villa O'Higgins and trying to buy food. We found hot water for mate, bought food, and ate a late lunch. We pushed out of town and into dark skies up to a small lake. Tim had a flat so we called it a short afternoon, made a fire and sheltered under some trees. The weather looked ominous to the north.

The next morning we started late and it was raining before long. There was nothing to do but bike (literally there was not a thing to do but bike)… so we biked. It was our first taste of the hills. We climbed and climbed and climbed, but still agreed that it was all better than the wind. And then we rolled upon a little cabin and were informed by a German cycling couple that a cozy fire awaited us. It was warm inside but before long the odor of construction workers drove us back to the road. Soaked but in good spirits we finished off a 75km day underneath some Lenga trees by an unnamed glacial river. We were close to the Yungay ferry crossing but not sure how close.

After another late start in the morning, we took off into the pouring rain. The ferry crossing was 14 km. away and we made it for the 1:00 p.m. ferry after missing the 11:00 a.m. ferry by minutes. Not to worry, we had mate equipment and the technology to boil water! The ferry crossing was beautiful and short. As luck would have it, it was pouring rain when we got off. There was a small kiosk stand by the ferry landing and we bought a couple of empanadas and called it lunch. We then continued into the rain again, onward toward Cochrane. The hills of the Carretera Austral can not be put well into words. It is, at times, 45 minutes of climbing what is possibly a 15 or 16 percent slope at four kilometers an hour. Yes, you can indeed walk faster than that! So we climb and climb for 45 minutes, and all of our efforts are rewarded by the spectacular views that the road is know for. The characteristic mountains, snowcapped peaks towering above, stone cliffs dropping down to roaring glacial rivers 300 meters below - it is all a sight to see, breathtakingly gorgeous. We are constantly reminding ourselves that we are actually here, really seeing it all in person. It is an amazing feeling.

That night, we found a little gazebo-type structure that the Belgian cyclist had told us about and took advantage of the roof to hang and partially dry some gear. We were at a crossroads. One track went to Cochrane, and the other went to Tortel, a little village that is known for its infrastructure of boardwalks and no streets or cars. It dawned clear and beautiful the next day and we had enough food to warrant a trip to Tortel. We did it as a day trip, and spent a couple of hours in the village, which really wasn't what we were expecting. Slightly disappointed, we left in the afternoon, retraced our path, and headed past the crossroads where we had camped the night before. We found a nice place to camp by a river and called it an evening.

The next day we were happy to wake up to a beautiful day, sunny and promising warmth. We got off to a good start, determined to make the 100 km. to Cochrane. More of the same, we climbed and rolled down beautiful mountains, sweating and taking it all in. Tired, we arrived late in the afternoon of February 20th to Cochrane, a town of about 3,000 people. We bought some food for dinner and found a spot to camp right in the town. We showered for the first time in eight days, ate a huge dinner, and slept comfortably. The next day, we took advantage of internet access, ate, and, charged our energy reserves to begin the 350 km stretch to the next large town of Coihaique.