Day 376 Tuesday 25th November Chaiten to Puyuhuapi 212km

Last night Tex went Breakfast shopping and arrived with a big box of stuffs (yes, my word.) This morning I sautéed the onions (which I attempted to chop, using a normal knife you eat with, there were no real knives,) with some butter. I fried the bacon in a very little pan and Tex whisked the eggs with a fork and then I added this to the onions. I cut some tomatoes and put out the bread and butter and asked peens, who had slept-in, to cut the cheese, and then we had a feast, but not all together as we had to eat in shifts as our table only seated 4 people.

Then we all went to let down our tires as we were expecting 181km of gravel, our little Map said so. I was not looking forward to so much gravel all in one go as you need to stand while you ride gravel, or, not good gravel, and to stand for 181km is taxing on the legs. But, luckily our little Map was wrong as we did not have 181km of gravel today.

We stopped at a National Park 25km into the ride and were told bikes were not allowed to ride to the Glacier, only cars, and the glacier was 4km away, thus a 8km walk. Peens immidiately bailed and sped of in the distance to go and fish at the town where we are staying tonight.

The rest of us changed our boots for Tekkies and set of at a brisk pace in search of a glacier. I was not too excited as I knew the amount of glaciers we were going to see at the end of this Leg. But it was nice to just walk in nature, Patagonia is not famous for no reason, here are a few photos:

When we got to 2,5km into the walk I realized it was a big mistake to walk in my riding-pants as it was turning my inner thighs into mince very successfully, so I turned around, later Dog and Rocky turned around, but Pie and Tex and Millsy were on a mission and continued the walk. Millsy is suffering tonight as he did not even put on Running Shoes and walked in his riding boots, bet there are some damaged toes.

The road today was exceptional!!! Everything was clicking, Apple Lady was playing me nice selection of music, my mood was high and I was loving life. Some photos of the road today :

I suspect there was a Truck Accident at this spot with several people killed, a stark reminder of how dangerous this can be:

I stopped at a little “Shack” where I wanted a Coke, the “Chef” with Chef-Jacket told me excitedly in Spanish of his traditional food (was told this later by another person who stopped at the shack.) Mainly soups and meat. but he then brought me a traditional ice-tea I suppose made with tea and fruit and lots of sugar, and a ladle of Barley???? Delicious, had it with cake. I later had another when Rocky and Dog arrived, (think I might be regretting this as our little house tonight has thin walls and only one toilet.

My lunch:

The chef and his wife stays in a Bus:

I welcomed the others with their cup of Brooklax:

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The Chef is also a Landlord and rents out this Shack to cyclists who are desperate for a roof over their head when the tent gets too much:

The other 3 stopped at a better place and had Cup Cakes for lunch:

Then we continued along the road, it was beautiful, and no other cars or trucks, only the odd Adventure Biker coming from the front. Peens found us a very questionable cabin and saw there was a Braai, so then he went and shopped and we got Checkers Sixty 60 to deliver it to our house. And when I say “House,” I actually mean our own Shack.

Bunk Beds, when you are a big group and you are traveling very rural areas you need to take what you can:

Our house last night was not any better, and the mattress was an Oval Mattress, but I just felt my bed for tonight, and it is a new rectangular mattress, the water is warm, there is Wi-Fi, and a Braai, Lekker, who needs more???

Tomorrow we continue South along Route 7, also called Carretera Austral:

Groette

Fleisch