La Junta to Puyuhuapi (Tues 2/16)

Stats:
- 29 miles (all dirt)
- 1800 feet of climbing
- ALL ZEROS: roadkill, rain and wind
- Season = summer!

The plan was to meet Santiago at 9:30am to start riding. Arn and I had the typical Chilean breakfast: bread, jam, ham, cheese and instant coffee. I have a new name for the town of La Junta. I am going to remember it as "Cockroach Village". Again, as the girl looking for protein at breakfast, I have taken to eating a ham and cheese "sandwich". After we finished eating, I noticed a cockroach crawl out from under the remaining cheese on the plate.  (Note to self: when we reach the next town --- we need to stay at someplace cleaner!!!)

As we loaded the bikes, a morning fog layer was lifting.  The temps were cool. I started with a tank top (hopeful that things will warm up), wool t-shirt, heavy arm warmers, a long sleeve polypropylene shirt, a wind breaker, full fingered gloves, over-mittens, and cycling shorts. The town was covered in a hazy smog from all the wood burning stoves and fireplaces. We could smell the smoke in the streets. 

We rejoined the Carretera and continued southward. Over the last couple of days, there was "chatter" about today -- this would be a short ride and would be "like a day off".  While I didn't think it would feel that way, I was hopeful. 

As we left town, there was a HUGE peak to the west. It was something akin to Rainier. Later on a map, I noticed that there is a huge volcano to the west of Cockroach Village (sorry, I meant to say La Junta).  I am guessing we saw this volcanco. 

With more blue skies, things warmed up quickly and the layers came off one at a time. After two hours, we took a break for cookies and chocolate. By now, it was full summer and I was once again riding the Carretera in a tank top!  We met two young backpackers trying to hitch a ride south into the National Park. Standing around with the three of us and our bikes didn't seem to help their case, so they continued walking down the road and we enjoyed a break.

Our scenery continued to be excellent today. The road was frequently lined with white and purple foxglove flowers taller than me. We started to see huge, blooming fushia plants. The ferns increased in both number and size. It was a landscape that said --- "you really should be soaking wet in the rain to see such vegatation". So, it was not easy to forget just how sweet it was to have this on the warm sunshine!

We eventually entered the National Park. At this point, the road followed a lake and in the distance, we could see the sea (a huge fiord) and another massive peak (I think another volcano I saw on the map).  Now, when I say the road "followed the lake", you probably get the image of road at lake level that is flat and straight. This is where you would be wrong. Here, the mountains seem to spring up and the remaining valley has been filled in with water. So, the road "along the lake" has really been carved into the mountain. In this case, it curved up and down and wound around here there and everywhere. While in your dreams you would have loved to sling the downhill speed of your bike up and over the next rise, it was impossible. It was big gear riding down and granny-ish gear riding up. In other words --- hill repeats! Or as I prefer to call it: death by a 1000 paper cuts!!!  It was in this section that I heard Arn say, "My legs are definitely not great today".  While I already knew it to be true for myself, Arn and Santiago agreed that this was not an easy "rest day" of riding. 

During the "paper cut section", we met three riders headed the opposite way. Two were from Finland and one was from the UK. The Brit was actually riding a road bike with slightly wider wheels. One of the Fins was pulling a bob trailor. We shared all the standard info. All threes of us suggested they take a bus between El Bolson and Bariolche to avoid the death stretch. One of the Fins explained that they are bike messengers at home and they don't ride the "white line".  They get out into the lane and "claim it".  Now, between me and you -- I am married to a white line rider. I too think that this sets up the cyclist to get squeezed as the car doesn't move over. Riding down the west coast in the US, Arn typically rode in front on the white line and I took the lane. Once I found a place that I was okay with a passing car (ie not a blind corner), then I would pull out too. This typically resulted in the passing car slowing down before they reached us and crossing the center line to give us a better pass. Well, I tried this approch between Bariolche and El Bolson. I was run off the road by a bus!!  So, we listened to the Fin, shared our experience, and wished him luck. I am guessing the Finland and American drivers are more a like and the Argentinians are the "one of these things is not like the others". 

We reached the end of our "death by paper cuts" and were rewarded with a great view of the town of Puyuhuapi. The town sits at the base of the mountains and at the end of the fiord. The setting on the water with the mountains is fantastic. We pedaled past the visitor center --- it didn't open until 3pm. We rode to the hosteria that was recommended to us in Bariloche by a couple of American biologists that drove the Carretera. Well, we could only get single rooms (no doubles).  Now, I was prepared to sleep in my own room alone if it meant no cockroachs. A girl has to have a few priorities and no roachs is one of them. Anyway, the woman recommended a different place, and after a bit of a hunt to find it, we lucked into a very sweet cabana. One bedroom has a queen sized bed that nearly fills the room.  The other room has two sets of bunk beds. There is a shared bathroom and kitchen. So, Arn and I took the queen sized room and Santiago took a bunk in the other room. We joked that now he needed to find three other 'chicas' and he would have a sleepover party!  Given his serious girlfriend in Spain, this would probably not have been a good idea!

Having arrived in time for lunch, we enjoyed fantastic roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. We even enjoyed a few minutes of the Olympics. The afternoon's entertainnent was finding and using the internet, a long discussion about the sex gender of the person working in the visitor center, a trip to the market for supplies, and looking over the maps and discussing options. A quick note on going to the market here. It is not like the US. There are a number of items that are kept behind the counter. You ask for each item individually. This included shampoo, eggs (which you exactly buy the number you want and they are not refrigerated), chocolate, cookies, jam, and butter.  In the early evening, Arn and Santigo went for a walk to find a viewpoint that was rumored to exist near town. In the process, they met three more cyclists --- three Chileans. Theses guys are on a different kind of tour. It sounds like they don't start riding until late in the day -- 3pm!  And, they are going about 20 miles a day.  Perhaps, they could make it further of they started earlier!!  

While Santiago is headed south tomorrow (rain or shine), we are taking a day off. And while he is set on getting to Villa O'Higgins, we are determined to be opportunists. So, we are studying the opportunites as they present themselves.  More on this in a future post.  

Dinner was baked salmon and sauteed vegtables. Funny, no one wanted more potatoes!  Santiago had a slice of nut pie for dessert. Arn and I understood the choices to be nut or plum kuchen. Kuchen is a German pastry that loosely resembles an American pie. There were a number of German immigrants to this part of Chile. So, kuchen is pretty common.  As we left the restaurant, I noticed that the second choice was not "plum", it was "cherry".  Now, this was upsetting to my restaurant Spanish. I excell at food words and cherry kuchen would have been interesting to Arn and me. I confirmed it --- Arn understood it to be plum. Santiago said, "no, they use the same word for plum and cherry in these parts --- they don't have the word for cherry".  Bummer.  After hanging out and enjoying the heater in the cabana, we called it a night. It was another great day of riding and Puyuhuapi is a sweet little town.