Cholila to Lago Verde (Thurs 2/11)

Stats:
- 29 miles (all ripio)
- 1900 ft of climbing
- precipitation = ZERO!!
- wind = very slight BREEZE!!!
- temps = I spent the whole day in shorts and a tank top!!!
- season = SUMMER!!!!!!!

Okay, Arn talked politics and the economy in Spanish with a man from Buenos Aires until much too late for me last night. So, I was sloooow to wake up. After a breakfast of toast, jam, and pound cake (plus the ham and cheese that I have resigned myself to as our only form of protein in the morning), we loaded up the bikes under sunny and warm skies!!  We headed off to the grocery store to buy lunch. On the way, we met Alex from Barcelona. He is cycle touring solo and spent last night in the campground. Cholilo is such a small place that he was totally alone in the camping area. That might have been a bit spooky for me, but then I'm a city kid.  So, the three of us headed off to buy lunch.

Today's ride was simply one of the best days EVER!  It was fantasimorigoricalawesome!!!  Really, the words do not yet exist to describe how out of the park this homerun experience was. 

Everthing was ripio. Yes, there were a few loose and nasty sections, but for the most part it was a nice dirt surface -- well compacted and no washerboard. The traffic -- I should not even use the word 'traffic' in this post, was very light.  I would say we saw 6-8 cars per hour!!! Clearly, today was too far away from anything and everything for the motorists to be interested. Most of the cars that passed moved very slowly. Head on traffic stopped for us to pass them. Wow! 

Now, the views....mind popping mountains, rivers, lakes.  The roadside was painted with blue, pink, and yellow wildflowers. You will just need to see the photos when we find a place to post photos again. And, I don't believe photos can capture the magic of today. Arn and Alex road together. They seemed to talk about everything -- in Spanish of course. Alex is a sculpture artist living in Lyon, France. While Arn practiced Spanish, I rode out in front enjoying the sound of only my wheels in the ripio and the birds --- no wind, no cars, no rain. The breeze was light and warm.

When we entered the National Park, several people were standing around. We stopped to pay the entrance fee. While Arn and Alex tended to the fees, I was acosted (completely friendly) by a group of Argentinians. They explained that they too are cyclists and that on the first day of their trip, one of the women fell and broke her ribs. The leader of their group gave everthing on my bike the once over. He even confirmed that my front spokes were loose (something we noticed a couple of days ago and tended to at the end of the day's ride).

Once in the park, we crossed paths with three other touring cyclists. It was three guys from Argentina.  In the park, it felt like we were in our own private paradise. I don't have the language skills to convey the granduer of the experience. There are days in life where you know you have been given a rare gift and it is yours to treasure. This was today. 

Now, while I was trying to talk bike parts with the people at the entrance to the park, Arn and Alex were gathering info about where to get lunch. They started to have choripan fantasies. Before arriving at lunch, we had a good uphill climb with a few switchbacks and huge vistas. By now, I had explained to Alex that Arn is a tiburon (shark in Spanish)...he is always in search of his next meal. So, I thoroughly enjoyed the climb while Arn and Alex described their respective food fantasies for lunch --- all the day down to the mustard versus ketchup.  

While choripan was not an option, we enjoyed cheeseburgers, fries and a beer for lunch. We sat outside in the sunshine at the edge of Lago Verde. This was our stop for the night. Alex continued south. He is making his way to Esquel where he plans to get a bus to the coast.  He Iis looking for warmer weather after a long week in the cold. So, we said our goodbyes and headed to our campsite. 

After setting up camp, we took a two hour hike to see the alerces trees, the lake and the river. It was a beautiful walk and a nice chance to stretch out after so many hours on the bike. We saw one alerce tree and it looks just like a redwood. 

Tomorrow, we will pack up and head to Trevelin. Our forecast looks good, so we are trying to make the best of our dry and sunny opportunities.

At some point in the day, Arn declared, "This is the best of the trip so far!" I agree. Today was awesome.