Southern Exposure

Friday, March 20

It was a brisk 45 out when we woke up. I went outside to top off the oil in the bikes while Inna took advantage of the kitchen again to make us a tasty veggie and leftover chicken scramble. It was heaven to not have another miserly breakfast of coffee and stale bread. We even had enough chicken leftover to feed the puppy out in the yard.

After repacking the bikes, we headed southwest out of town. The pavement only lasted briefly and we were soon on a well packed dirt road. It was a bit daunting to consider we would see very little pavement for the next few weeks.

The road followed the Rio Futaleufu down the valley. The river itself was a divine shade of turquoise. It was like the waters of the Caribbean had been rerouted to flow down a mountain valley. The road itself wasn’t too difficult and we were able to cruise along between 30 and 40 mph.

We continued to track the river to the south west, and the valley we were in was surrounded by mountains. A few still had snowpack on their peaks even at this late summer date. We occasionally passed farm houses, or tourist lodges, but we increasingly felt wonderfully isolated and remote. It was thrilling to be riding out onto the Chilean frontier.

Eventually R-231 intersected with R-235 and we headed northwest to meet up with R-7, the Carretera Austral. We rode along the southern shore of Lake Yelcho Lonconan. The lake was surrounded by peaks, with a strange bulge like island peak to the north. The waters in the south were shallowed and covered in a field of reeds.

The road intersected R-7 in Villa Santa Lucia. There was an advertisement for a gas station but no gas. Immediately south of the village we stopped to chat with a hitchhiker from Holland. He had been working his way south from Mexico and was a very amiable guy and we were impressed he had gotten himself this far south.

The scenery continued to impress and I felt a great sense of exuberance. It was thrilling to be riding in such a beautiful place on such a wonderful, sunny day. The wilderness felt close at hand and I could feel we were near the edge of the continent and the bottom of the world.

We reached the town of La Junta, where we were able to fill up on gas. We were aiming to reach a hotel at the Termas de Puyuguapi, thermal springs across the fjord reachable only by boat. We rode out of town only to find the road was closed for another 45 minutes for construction. We had made a reservation to be met by the boat at 2, but it was clear we were not going to make it. Seemingly every road in town was under construction and blocked, so it took us half an hour to find a public phone in the maze of the town. After all this trouble, it turned out the phone was not working, but I picked up a wi-fi singnal on my phone, and used our laptop to make a call via Skype. We were told to call once we were near.

The road was open by the time we extricated ourselves from the maze and the under construction road was in worse shape than the road to the north. The bumps were bigger and the rocks were more numerous. It finally improved after 20 km, and we picked up speed. Once we reached the town of Puyuguapi, it was an ordeal to find a public phone. The main streets were also all under constructions, and the first three places that advertised having a telephone didn’t actually have one. The fourth was the charm, but the hotel told us we would have to wait two and half hours for the next boat.

This did not put us in a good mood as the delay burned precious time at the hotel. We debated just skipping it entirely and continuing south as we road out of town towards the pier 15 km south of town. When we arrived at the pier and parking area, we were split on what to do. A large tour bus was already there waiting, and we weren’t keen on spending another hour and a half in this parking lot. Fortunately for us, the tour group had more sway than we did and the boat had been sent for them. This settled it for us and we parked the bikes in the locked area and got ourselves onto the boat.

It was a quick but scenic 15 minute crossing of the fjord. The hotel was nice and deserted. It turns out the office season had started today, reducing the rates. The tour group was just there for a few hours for the hot springs, so we would be one of four couples in the hotel. The location was beautiful and our room had outstanding views across the fjord.

We didn’t waste any time getting changed and into the thermal pools. There were 3 different pools, all at a different temperature. The water felt great and we luxuriated in the views of the mountains over the water. Inna couldn’t resist, and swam in the cold waters of the fjord out to a diving platform to cool off. Freezing cold water is not my thing and I’m happy to leave it to the Russian.

We soaked as long as we could stand it, and retired to the room to enjoy the bottle of Montes Alpha Merlot we’d bought at the winery in Santa Cruz. I did some writing while Inna cleaned up. It was soon time for dinner, and let’s just say it was terrible and overpriced and leave it at that. We debated enjoying the night sky in the thermals after dinner, but it was cloudy. This was a real heartbreaker as the idea of floating in the thermals looking at the southern stars had been the real selling point for me. Without the stars, an early night’s sleep won out.