A ride in the flowers

Dec 3-5 Chile Chico to Puerto Rio Tranquillo to Coyhaique

Chile Chico is quaint and we enjoy a nice meal of salmon w/ rice accompanied by a beautiful view of the lake and mountains on the other side. The whole town is not much more than a few blocks square and so a short walk about covered it, which was fine with us as we were a little tired and expecting a big day to follow.

The view outside the restaurant.

The view inside the restaurant.

Although we expected a big day of dirt riding we were in no way prepared for the overwhelming beauty of the area. The lake in C. Chico was just a teaser and at many times it was all we could do to concentrate on the road enough to avoid driving off of it.

We traveled East from C.Chico then south to a familiar town, by name anyway. Cochrane Chile lies in a spectacular valley with an emerald colored river flowing along the valley floor.

Brenda is filling her camel back from a spring on the side of th mountain.

We did not stay over in Cochrane, instead we chose to start our journey northward and stop over in Puerto Rio Tranquillo. It is difficult to tell the towns apart in this area as they all have similar housing and layouts. There does seem to be alot of sheet metal being used as both roofing and siding and the other houses are either rough plank lumber or shake siding. The wood sided houses are painted various colors creating a somewhat maritime appearance.  Aside from that it was once of the most specatular scenery days we have had in all our travels.

Around every corner and over every hill we were treated with an awe inspiring view, and just when we thought that it could not get any better we were gifted with unending flowers. It is after-all spring time in the mountains and the wild flowers are in full bloom accenting the emerald lakes, blue skies and lush greenery with their vibrant purple and yellow and red blossoms.

There were two other bike riders in the Hosteria tonight, Erik and Herton from Brasil. Herton speaks fluent English and Eric is teased that the more wine he drinks the more English he knows. He must have been shooting for full bi-lingual status because he had a bottle of wine to himself. They were also heading north so we figured we might cross paths again, we enjoyed talking about bikes and trips.

We of course seen them at breakfast and even though it was raining they were going to take a boat tour to the Caveos Marmot, which are marble caves created by erosion from the lake water. We waited for a while to see if the weather would clear but it was socked in without any sign of changing so we suited up and rode north and once we rode out of the bad weather we enjoyed even more great scenery, although it had calmed down a bit since yesterday it was still phenomenal.

There is construction happening all along the Caraterra Austral and soon enough it will be pavement from end to end. A sign of progress no doubt but also a turning point for the entire region as they will lose their secluded, remote lifestyle in return for increased tourism and general busyness. As we were told once a few years ago, “the gravel brings the good people, pavement brings everyone.”  Our hope is that with the increased accessibility the area retains it quaint charm and beauty.

During the hunt for a hotel in Coyhaique we drove past a rather large Honda/Suzuki dealership so once we checked into the hotel we went back to see if they could fix suspensions. A long shot but we had nothing else to do. The mechanic was optimistic that he could fix it and said to come back at 9am. I asked a few more questions regarding parts and such, to which he said he had all the rebuild kits as moto-cross is a big sport in the area and he rebuilds shocks all the time. I felt a little reassured by the fact that he was working on a BMW, had a Yamaha and a Honda torn apart and seemed confident in his abilities. The next morning we made our way to the shop so he could see the shock in person, he even gave the green light for me to use his shop and tools to remove it. Once I took off my jacket and started to look at his tools he fessed up that he did not have the specialty tools for the job and would likely send it out for rebuild.

This was a little bit of relief only in the aspect that he said this before I tore the bike apart. We drove away and rushed back to the Hospedajae to check out before we got charged a late fee or something. When we got back to the owner was chatting with mechanic friend of his who also said he knew a guy who could fix it, ok we will play this game again. We follow him to another bike shop and as expected there was no way he could fix it here. Everyone seemed shocked and embarrassed except us, we said it was ok and excused ourselves from the scene. Then it was back on Rte 7 for more great scenery on the way to Puyuhuapi. The first part of the day is on pavement and then as per the map there should be gravel or something similar the rest of the way. We just can’t say enough about the scenery here, just over the top spectacular.

Right on cue the road turned to gravel, what was not expected was that the road was temporarily closed until 5pm. Well we discussed our options on how to fill the next 3 hrs and the options were thin, partially due to where we were, and partially due to the rain that was falling. Had it been a nice day we likely would have rode the 30km into Puerto Cicnes but instead decided to stay put and wait it out in the bus shelter, at least we were out of the rain. There is not much to do except sit and try to stay warm, and eat some peanuts and try to stay warm. 

What we waited 3hrs to drive through.

A couple on bicycles showed up so we had someone to talk to, they were from France and riding the Caraterra Austral. This is very ambitious for all the same reasons that make it a challenging motorcycle route, times about one thousand because they have to pedal, sleep wherever they are when it gets dark, and pack enough supplies to last a few days. They laugh when we say how far we travel in a day, and vice versa.

The road opens as scheduled and we are once again on the move, in the dirt, in the rain, and through the construction. We could not get any pictures as there was a pilot vehicle to follow and a line of vehicles to stay in front of.  Much of this portion of road is being built through pure granite which explains why it is taking years to complete, the part that does not make sense it why they tackle such a long stretch at one time. The construction zone is about 30km long. There are a couple more stops for traffic control, then the tap got turned off and the road was dry so by the time we got to Puyhuapi we were almost dried out with the exception of our boots, they were still very wet. You are lucky you can not smell them, wow, how can that even be possible.

We circle the town a little bit then see a few bikes parked at a Hotel and as we pull in I recognize one of the bikes as Erik’s, the Brazilian guy we met a couple of days ago in Pta Rio Tranquillo. There is also a couple of young guys from Wisconsin there who have rented bikes and are enjoying a two week trip. Erik has already eaten supper and recommends the fish at a nice restaurant around the corner. This should be a good bet as there is a fish farm in the bay a few km’s from town. He is correct and we enjoy a fantastic meal of fish with rice, fried onions, and our new favorite topping...a couple fried eggs.

The shoreline view in Puyhuapi

As there is a not much else to do we stroll around town for a bit then head back to the hotel, the other guys are still hanging around and we end up talking in the lobby for a couple of hours before turning in for the night. 

Our dog of the day winner